Katherine Waterstonhas had a unique journey in the industry as the daughter of an accomplished actor who strove to hone her craft and find her own success. With Waterston’s latest release,The World to Come, now available to digital, she took the time to join us for an episode ofCollider Connectedto highlight a bunch of pivotal moments in her career, like scoring a breakout role inPaul Thomas Anderson’sInherent Viceand joining her first big franchise withFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
In addition to that, we also spent a good deal of time talking about those early days and how being the daughter ofLaw & OrderstarSam Waterstoninfluenced some of her formative decisions, like her choice to study acting formally:
“It was really important for me to study and then it was at least as important for me to throw it all away, sort of abandon everything I’d learned. In a way maybe studying acting was just some kind of strange exercise for myself to prove to myself and to anyone around who was paying attention - although I don’t think anyone really was [laughs] - just how serious I was about it. And maybe that had something to do with being a second generation actor, that I didn’t want to be perceived as some kind of silly dilettante who is bopping around and hanging off the coattails of her dad, that I was interested and really trying to be good at this thing.”
The thing is though, for Waterston, her acting education in school wasn’t the same as the education she got while out in the world performing, specifically while performing on stage. Here’s how she put it:
“But then when I got near the end of my education I found that I didn’t know anything, not anything really useful or what we really needed to know. And I realized everything I could find out, I’d find out from being in front of a live audience and it’s just such a brutal reality if the scene isn’t working, they’ll let you know. You’ll hear the rustling of the candy bag or just really loud yawns or people start talking or you make a joke and nobody laughs, and you know. So I realized sort of in retrospect that to a certain degree that I’d gotten really good at talking about acting and I had to get on my feet and really figure out how to draw an audience in. Those were the dreamiest years. I look back on them - although I was nervous about, ‘Oh, will I really work? Will I make it?’ - those first jobs I was given in the theater where I figured out how to tell a story in front of an audience, I learned more in weeks on stage than I ever did in school.”
Years later, Waterston is mighty busy bringing that passion and expertise from project to project. FromInherent VicetoAlien: CovenantandFantastic Beasts, Waterston is often a standout whose personal work undoubtedly ups the quality of the project overall, andThe World to Comeis no different. She leads the 19th century American Northeast-set romance as Abigail, a farmer’s wife drawn to her new neighbor Tallie played byVanessa Kirby. To hear more about Waterston’s experience making the film, check out our full Collider Connected conversation at the top of this article.
The World to Comeis now available to buy or rent on digital.
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Katherine Waterston:
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