CraveOnline: I don’t know any of those types of details about my grandmother, but Kate did remind me a lot of my Midwestern grandmother. You were born in rural Illinois, did your family have long ties to the region?
June Squibb: Yes. The Squibb family came over together in the mid 19th century and both sides of my family went to the Midwest, but then one split to New York and started The Squibb Pharmaceutical Company (now a part of Bristol-Myers Squibb, valued at $31 Billion).
I’ve heard that it’s common for Midwestern families to visit gravesites first things first, like Kate does in the funniest moment in Nebraska… As a child or adult would your family do the same?
Yes, we used to. When my parents were still alive, the first thing we’d do when I visited Vandalia, Illinois was visit the graveyard. Maybe it is Midwestern. We do often go back and stand over the graves.
But you don’t flash them?
[laughs] I never saw that.
One thing that I really liked about Nebraska was that there is a very distinct shift in the narrative of the film once your character stands up for Woody (Bruce Dern). Was that tonal shift evident in filming?
I felt, when I read the script, that she definitely loved him. It was very important for me to know that. So I felt all along that everything that she did I had to know that there was love there.
The longer you are together, the easier it is to fall into the ruts of sarcasm …
Yes. I think that what she wanted to be more than anything was Woody’s wife.
You have an upcoming two-episode stint on Girls as Hannah’s (Lena Dunham) grandmother…
Yes. She’s very different from Kate. She critiques Hannah on her weight, but that’s about as snarky as she gets.
To borrow a line from Girls, as a woman, who do you think was “the voice” of your generation?
Georgia O’Keefe. I’m older. I even remember Eleanor Roosevelt very well and she was a great woman. I remember being very impressed by Eleanor when I was young.
Looping it back – Nebraska looked great, but there’s a strong aversion to making and distributing black and white films. Is there anything different about acting in black and white?
None. Except our costumes on set look weird. They use different colors to make different shades of gray in the camera.
And looping it all the way back. What do they serve at the Academy Awards lunch?
[laughs] I think it was fish. I’ve forgotten. I’ve gone to so many dinners and lunches, I’ve forgotten. I’m sure it was very impressive, though.
NEBRASKA is now available on DVD/Blu-ray; the Academy Awards air on Sunday, March 2nd.
Brian Formo is a featured contributor on the CraveOnline Film Channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @BrianEmilFormo.
