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While in Italy, the depressed and slightly manic Frances stumbles upon a crumbling estate and spontaneously buys it.
Its all very Nancy Meyers by way of a drunken Fellini.
Lane is the films center of gravity.
Without her, the whole thing would feel frivolous and unbelievable, too fantastic even by early-aughts standards.
Its a conundrum of huge proportions.
Ive never had to get a visa to film here, and Ive filmed here more than anywhere else.
Im super-grateful, though, that people are all taking it seriously.
Nobody has any denial.
I mean … Dont get me started.
I know where youre going, and Im right there with you.All the unmentionables.
I was just watchingUnder the Tuscan Sunagain last night, and I found myself crying.Which part got to you?
Theres something about women and flow.
Every known meaning of the word.
Do we have to talk about that?
Its been a minute.
Thats where I was at in my own motherhood journey.
But you know, this movie is so beloved.
I see it come on top-tier streaming services with no commercials, and Im like, You see!
We still get love and respect!
Were you ever worried that you wouldnt?Not at all.
Its just that you never know.
Were always throwing it at the wall.
Are you kidding me?
If they knew what made hits, theyd make more of them.
Thats my bumper sticker on the whole industry.
Especially in this medium.
Suddenly, youre promoting it and youre like, Oh, right.
She just had a brilliant mind, and her empowerment of me cut through my own self-doubt.
When I said to her, I have to be completely honest with you.
I read the script and I dont see the humor.
Thats my aha moment that came after.
No medals of martyrdom in that department.
Its not terminally unique.
But at the time, you dont think so.
But there was no plot there that you could make a movie about.
But she was doing it with a husband!
Because you go through each stage: doubt, horror, regret, feebleness.
Your guts are on the floor.
And lets start from there.
Where youre slipping in your own viscera.
Wow.Thats kind of what its like, when youre starting from scratch.
I dont think anything dies harder than a dream.
Audrey said she never considered turning to anyone but you to play Frances.
Did you know that at the time?No.
I wave away compliments.
I dont take them well.
I just smile and look at my feet, and Ive gotten better at saying Thank you.
But no would be the short answer to your question.
She probably said it many times, and I didnt believe it.
One of those, Oh, you say that to all the girls.
I dated a director before.
I know how actors are spoken about when theyre out of the room.
I completely understood her.
What were you referring to?I had started from scratch multiple times in my life at that point.
I was like, Bye, gotta go!
But I came crawling back to California, happily.
I did Santa Fe, New Mexico.
I reinvented myself in terms of pulling a geographic [relocation].
It takes some stoicism.
It takes some long-distance friends who reminded you what you were thinking, why this was a good idea.
Its a great piece of Velcro.
it’s possible for you to understand somebody if they have the appreciation of a poem that you share.
What poems are helping you right now?Funny you should ask!
This one is calledStaying Alive.Not the Bee Gees song.
Real Poems for Unreal Times.
I thought,Im pulling that down off the shelf!
This [book] is from 2002.
Im like, You think it was crazy then?!
Once I had a little wind in my sails, I was completely seaworthy.
You need somebody to believe in you a little bit.
You cant put a value on that.
I just gotta say it out loud.
It was a beautiful thing to behold.
And to do it in Italy, surrounded by men taking direction from her?
Thats no small feat.
I dont think I answered your question.
I think I dodged it.
You want me to put a caboose on that train?
[Under theTuscan Sun] was like a salve on a wound.
It was a very long and arduous shoot.
Sometimes you want drama, to be taken out of your life in a different way, but …
I keep thinking of the scene where Im jumping on the bed, screaming, I still got it!
As a woman, that was hard.
I wanted to ask about that scene!I mean, come on now!
Id never lost it at that point.
This is another thing about the movies.
I think the entertainment industry fears age and experience in some way.
Of course.You say of course, but why?
What is this criteria that we internalize?
We witness this woman whos internalized this stuff, and its just kind of preposterous.
But we experience the preposterousness of the internalization of this self-doubt.
If you want to feel young, just look at your old pictures.
Youll go, Why did I feel so old and insecure then?
Now Im 95, and I was doubting myself at 79?
I had a lot going for me at 79!
I think its a common human Achilles heel to have a sense of discomfort around numbers.
Im interested in your experience of it.
you could harness it and have a good time.
Or you’ve got the option to panic, freak out, and drown.[Laughs.]
There are many options between those two extremes, but thats how I look at it.
Im always accepting things on a daily basis, especially now, during this dang pandemic.
Its such an inside job, happiness.
Do you ever go back and watch your old work, watch your younger self?No, no.
Sometimes its like, Did I really live that?
Or did I dream that?
Maybe another actor would.
And in an awkward way.
It would be nice to be funny on purpose sometimes.
I do feel sometimes that I am a bit outsized.
I tend to want to rein it in a little, Lane.
In your real life or performances?Yeah, in my real life.
And then I see my performances and Im like, Why didnt you trust yourself?
You should have put it out there more!
An actor is a tortured soul.
Thats what keeps us addicted to the experience of wanting another swing with the bat.
To get back to Tuscany: What was filming in Italy like?
Were you going out every night, drinking wine, eating pasta?Oh, golly.
I remember going to a little taverna that made the best minestrone I could get my hands on.
Id eat a big bowl of that with bread and butter.
I felt so nurtured by real, living food from the earth.
You cant replace things being made by hand.
Nothing about it was trucked in, except possibly vegetables from another town.
Its just a different way of treating agriculture and food, getting out of the large scale of America.
I was keeping to myself.
Id prepare for the next day.
It was a tough workload.
There was no scene I wasnt in, hardly.
I had to pace myself.
So sometimes Ill look back and say, Did that go as well as I think it did?
And it did, it really worked.
It has to go well.
Which is very interesting, because Audrey was a jazz DJ in college in Sausalito.
I think,Houston, we have a theme here.
Is there a specific scene you remember going well?Well,Lindsay Duncan.She is a formidable actress.
Her tortured soul or I should say inspired soul.
Talk about a muse!
Her character, Katherine, she defies gravity in terms of the way Frances was experiencing it.
And sometimes you have to see somebody do it to believe it can be done.
Of course it hurts to risk.
But to not have risked is a different sort of pain.
I also enjoy that awkward moment of an American woman being seen through male European eyes.
And thats in the script.
They deal with it a little bit.
It was refreshing to consider, Oh, we are not the end-all.
There are other cultures with other versions of how to be female.
How fantastic would that be?
Can we swap for a few weeks and get a break from our old programming?
So we can be refreshed with the opportunity to see ourselves in different lights, different frames?
Andmy first husband was European.
So I always vibed with that sense of exploration.
There are these scenes where shes being chased around and hit on by Italian men.
Was that your own experience there?[Laughs.
]Well, I was always on duty.
I had to go back to Cortona a year and a half later.
For what?For fun!
Because I didnt get to have any when I was there.
I mean, thats not true.
But I didnt get to have any of the experiences that my character did.
I wanted to have them, not just film them.
The [film] posters were still up!
And it was so corny.
I was so embarrassed.
Id hide and run.
I wouldnt stand anywhere near that poster.
I knew exactly where I wanted to go and stand.
I knew exactly where I wanted to go and sit.
Where I wanted to have my cappuccino.
Sit while the bells were ringing.
Alleyways to walk at night.
So I did selfishly allow myself that experience.
Its the only time Ive gone back to a location and claimed it.
Did you go alone, like Frances?No, but thats okay.
They didnt get in my way.
Well, theres a lovely quote: Jane Fonda attributes the Diane Lane Thing to one thing: Vulnerability.
You want to protect her.
You know shes kind, theres not a mean bone in her body, and you sense that.
Had you read that before?
Jane has a very she does not mince words.
She doesnt say anything she doesnt stand behind.
So I felt very complimented.
And I have survived a bunch of things.
Its funny, because I used to really be uncomfortable with that word,vulnerable.Oh, man.
Some people fear it.
Some people bury it.
I remember that word coming at me out of the mouths of directors.
Thats what they wanted, the vulnerability.
But once you say it and name it, does it chase it away?
Does it make it self-conscious?
And being vulnerable is an experience, and then conveying it is something else.
I think its important to have [vulnerability] for my craft, for my characters.
But I also I dont know.
I dont see it as a weakness.
Thats one thing Ive learned over a long period of time.
That vulnerability is a tremendous gift, certainly in my line of work.
I dont know anything about rhinoceros skin.
Maybe its sensitive and delicate, I dont know.
Now it seems like the whole world is in on that act.
Some people like it, though.
Who approaches you the Tuscan Sun, men or women?
Not a lot of men really kind of cop to that.
Sometimes they were angry about oh, Im confusing it withUnfaithful!
Men would come up to me and theyd be upset.
How could you betray him?
But thats because I was in Italy [whenUnfaithfulcame out].
It was challenging to be a woman in that culture.
you gotta have a certain strength and I dont really know what that is.
I never found it.
At group dinners, Id notice that other people would get their food, and mine wouldnt show up.
It did happen but I think its a metaphor for a larger thing.
But people would tell me they really appreciated and felt touched by [Under the Tuscan Sun.]
There was a knowing sense of, I vibed that.
I vibed the awkwardness and triumph.
It was as though wed read the same poem.
