Podcast Episode · Headliners with Nihal Arthanayake · 27 April 2025 · 1hr 1min
are you ready for a tldr tribute to my absolute favorite of all the interviews genevieve has done for andor? truly some wonderful gems, and the host is so thoughtful and asks her such amazing questions about mon, andor, as well as craft and storytelling. some of my fave lines (with commentary because i am obsessed):
1.)
NIHAL: How good a politician do you think you could be in real life?
GENEVIEVE: Oh, no, I'd be terrible. I think I'd be terrible.
NIHAL: Why?
GENEVIEVE: I think politicians have a connect between their cerebral ability and a thick skin that I think isn't very common. I would take things far too much to heart, and I would get lost down rabbit holes of empathy. I would be terrible politician.
rabbit holes of empathy!!! what a beautiful turn of phrase - she speaks so elegantly, i wouldn't be surprised if she was a writer also
2.)
NIHAL: What do you think has had to die inside Mon Mothma, the character you play in Andor, in order for her to not only survive but to send other people into situations that are way more dangerous than even the one she faces in Andor?
GENEVIEVE: So the idea of resistance within being a politician, like, how do you how can you be an effective politician and resist at the same time within a violent strategy? And then I went kind of 100 years later, and I looked at the Irish president at the time, who was Mary McAleese, and remembering her work to invite the Queen to Ireland to acknowledge reconciliation. And just within that 100 years, the breadth of those two women and what's important to hold at each moment, at which moment, at each moment, can you actually be a different leader? Do you know what I mean? Perhaps each moment requires different leadership.
genevieve didn't quite answer the question -- though it was a great answer for sure, and interesting in its own right to hear her process and which models she looked to for mon, and the idea that different moments require different kinds of leadership. but so many of the mainstream portrayals of mon are of the selfless, tortured leader, but almost none about the brutality and coldness it takes to send other people to die, which is the side of her as the leader of the rebellion i'm so so curious about.
3.) re: the leida/mon wedding scene
NIHAL: You do crushed very well. Emotionally crushed very well. *laughter*
GENEVIEVE: I also have a 15 year old daughter, and the idea that she could turn around and say something like that. First of all, you can see it as a parent, so when Bronte [Carmichael] and I played that scene, it wasn't a very big leap for me to be able to feel that crush, because it was brutal.
ouchhh i mean it was brutal for me even without a child, and the fact that she has a daughter that exact age must've been so gutting
NIHAL: Would you describe yourself as a workaholic?
GENEVIEVE: No, I don't have enough work to be a workaholic. *laughter*
NIHAL: What an honest response to a direct question. 'I wouldn't be talking to you if I was a workaholic now, would I?'
GENEVIEVE: Look, I think when I am working, when I'm on a set. Which I, like I said before, is the place you want to be as an actor, you want to be creating. But there's a lot of work around that to make all that happen. And yes, I really love being on a set and being with a group of people and being a part of the story, but that's just a part of me, and it's a really important part of me that I'm also a mother and I'm also a partner, and I'm also a daughter and I'm also a member of my community. So I think I'm good at being okay with that, having many hats and trying to enjoy each of them.
pls have enough work to be a workaholic genevieve, pls
5.)
NIHAL: What number [on the call sheet] were you on Andor? Or does it not work like that on Andor?
GENEVIEVE: There's less of the ostrich feathers and massages, but there is somebody not very far away with a headset who says things like -- and I remember the first time it happened to me, I actually nearly fell on the floor and weed myself laughing -- was when I just walked somewhere to go outside to get some air or something. And I just heard this person to the right, and he goes, 'Genevieve is on the move. Genevieve is on the move. Information, Genevieve is on the move,' into their headset. And I just thought that was so funny. And that's obviously for practical reason, because they need to know where everyone else is. So that they can say, 'okay, camera's ready, let's go.' But it's so funny, because when it's about yourself, there's no moment in life when somebody says, 'Okay, now she's going to the bathroom.'
my absolute fave moment because she's soo real about this. but! it's interesting that she never answers the question as to what number she is on the cast list -- obvi diego is #1, which she says -- but she must be, what, at least #3 behind stellan or something? she so expertly navigates that question, but she must be high up there
6.)
NIHAL: How do you judge the point at which you stick to your guns and the point at which you take advice, because you talk about it being collaborative, but also, there are so many chefs in that kitchen aren't there, right? So there has to be a point where you're kind of clear and focused and say, 'Actually, yeah, maybe I'm going to die on this hill?'
GENEVIEVE: Yeah, gosh, you're great -- that's a great question. And not every production allows you those hills to die on, but Tony did. And I remember there are a few times in my mind when he would be ringing. This is kind of in between seasons, and we were talking about things like, for example, at the end of season one, her bringing her daughter to marry into this horrific relationship of far too young and within was all very complicated. And her being able to do that, I was in bits about that. And then in between seasons, saying to me, there's going to be a wedding. Like, 'oh no, Tony, oh no.' He said, 'Yeah, she's gonna marry her off. It's gonna be wedding.' And I remember saying, 'Are we really going to do this? Are we going to do this?' And he said, 'Yeah.' And I had to go away and think about it, and I remember having that conversation with him. In fact, I was outside my daughter's art class, and I was on the phone to him one Sunday evening, and I was in the car, and I said to him, 'okay, I can't -- I'm not sure if we can really say this, because I don't want to give away any spoilers -- but there was a moment and I said to him, 'I think we need to think about it this way.' And he straight away went, 'Yeah, yeah.'
she's talked about this before i think, that it was her idea to give leida an out in that moment and not just sell her off. i do think it's brilliant and brutal, and much needed, and at least adds a moment of humanity for mon as a mother. i personally think it's such a wonderful character flaw for mon that her first and only real love is the rebellion. and that she sacrifices (often without even caring? realizing?) her family, so much so that she becomes this larger-than-life figure but has such nonexistent personal relationships. i will die on the hill tho that they needed to further explore that side of her (for the love of god how was it so easy to shed her entire life + husband + child without looking back and head straight to a shabby jungle in this essay i), and i do think that that was what needed to die in mon for her (and did it have to die or was she only content to live in those big impersonal spaces) to be a truly effective leader. and they talk about the collaborative nature of tony as a creator that i think only hugely benefitted andor, which i really think is truly rare esp in something as big as sw and disney
ANYWAY this is long and it's much better to listen to it as a podcast -- she also raves about stellan and other creative projects and is generally so articulate and gracious. this is available in apple, spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts ✨
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