"Amanda Peet"
This SmartList podcast episode features Amanda Peet discussing her career, personal challenges including her recent breast cancer diagnosis and her father's death, and her transition into writing. She talks about getting published in The New Yorker, creating Netflix's 'The Chair,' and her new film 'Fantasy Life.'
Summary
Amanda Peet joins the SmartList podcast to discuss her multifaceted career spanning over 25 years. Born and raised in Manhattan to parents far from entertainment (a corporate lawyer father and psychotherapist mother), she initially faced skepticism about her acting aspirations. She started with teenage acting classes at HB Studios at 13 while also undergoing psychoanalysis. After studying American history and literature in college and struggling to get cast in school plays, she eventually studied under renowned acting teacher Uta Hagen. Her early career included the challenge of hand-delivering headshots to agents, who even suggested she address facial hair issues. Peet discusses her collaboration history with Jason Bateman on films like 'Southie' and 'Identity Thief.' She reveals deeply personal recent challenges, including being diagnosed with breast cancer on Labor Day weekend while simultaneously dealing with her father's death and caring for her mother with Parkinson's disease who lived with her family for seven years. Despite these hardships, she successfully underwent cancer treatment and is now clear. Her writing career flourished during this period, culminating in a prestigious essay published in The New Yorker about these experiences. She created and showran Netflix's 'The Chair' starring Sandra Oh, inspired by a controversy at her old Quaker school. Her new film 'Fantasy Life,' which won audience awards at South by Southwest, represents her return to movies after a ten-year gap. Throughout the conversation, she demonstrates the humor and resilience that have characterized her approach to both personal struggles and professional challenges.
Key Insights
- Peet argues that as soon as you want to be good as a performer, you're dead, citing advice from actress Mira Sorvino
- She explains that her stage fright was worse for highbrow projects, making it easier to book commercial work than prestigious theater
- Peet reveals she had dense and busy breasts, a medical condition that makes cancer detection difficult and requires frequent testing
- She describes receiving cancer diagnosis on Labor Day weekend while simultaneously dealing with her father's impending death
- Peet states she gave her children her anxiety, noting both kids declined higher-level soccer opportunities due to nervousness
- She argues that psychoanalysis and storytelling are very similar, both involving creating narratives about inciting incidents
- Peet explains she created The Chair after being inspired by a teacher controversy at her old Quaker school involving cancel culture
- She claims marriage to David Benioff encouraged her writing, particularly after Studio 60 was canceled
- Peet describes caring for her mother with Parkinson's disease in their home for seven years while maintaining her career
- She reveals she's currently dealing with sleep issues and catastrophic thinking, particularly about mortality
- Peet explains that Quaker philosophy influenced her upbringing, emphasizing that no one is closer to God than anyone else
- She argues that her mother's sharp Jewish sense of humor provided a model for finding humor even during illness
Topics
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