I feel reinvigorated as an actor, she tells Deadline.
I was like, you dont understand.
This is an 8-year olds dream.
Jennifer Carpenter as Marshall Mamie Fossett in season 2, episode 5 of 1923 streaming on Paramount+.Lo Smith/Paramount+.
Watch on Deadline
DEADLINE How was the role pitched to you?
JENNIFER CARPENTERIt was pitched in seven pages that were sent to my inbox.
Of course I did.
But then I didnt hear anything for a while.
And then I got a note back with one question: gangs.
It felt like a lot of auditioning, and I loved it.
DEADLINE Wait, you started running cross country at 7?
CARPENTERMy sister said, if you want to make friends, youve got to be on a team.
So I picked the most solitary sport.
DEADLINE How do you feel about doing self-tapes these days?
CARPENTEROh, I love it.
I have no problem with auditioning.
Ill do it in the room.
Ill get on a plane and pay my own way.
I want the part, even if I get it for three minutes, four minutes.
I have a point of view and I love to be invited to the conversation.
And I dont take it personally when I dont get it at this point.
Im sure there was a time when I did.
DEADLINE What can we expect of Mamie Fossett,who was actually a real person?
CARPENTERSo little is known about Mamie, or at least that I could find on the worldwide web.
they didnt knock on houses and ask if they could sleep there for the night.
There was a lot of meat on those bones.
What I thought about was how she signed up for the deadliest job available at the time.
So thats where I operated from.
That is how I lived within this show under the Texas heat with my beautiful horse and my costume.
DEADLINE And be sexist.
Ill help them put their turn signal on and bring it back to what the subject at hand is.
Wait, not a turn signal.
I guess it would be like click your horse a little on the left side.
DEADLINE How did you, quite literally, find Mamies voice?
CARPENTERRalph Zito was my vocal coach and teacher at Julliard when I was there.
About a month ago, I reached out to him to do some private work.
I have to say the environment really helped.
It was a bunch of small moving parts that hopefully came together when the cameras were on.
Thats all I can hope for.
So it was more about turning a psychology into a behavior.
Shes so quiet, so still.
DEADLINE So you were out in Texas the whole time.
Were you outdoors most of the time?
CARPENTERMost of the time, yeah.
Even the indoor scenes were painful because youre locked inside that heat.
But I adored it.
There was a lightning strike.
There were so many moments that were just such a gift for me personally.
And even about pacing.
It felt like a lesson to me.
Here I am away from home, and it was for something.
DEADLINE So how does she feel about the priest and his goddamn henchman that hes traveling with?
What does she think about those two?
CARPENTER I think I have instantaneous judgments about it.
And it irks me.
It irks me to watch him dance around in his costume.
But my first thought was to have compassion for him.
So thats where you start.
DEADLINE Will your character be prominent for the rest of the season?
CARPENTERIll be in it until the end.
DEADLINEIm assuming you will remain hot on the trail for Teonna.
Are you going to be mean to her when you find her?
CARPENTERIm going to be honest with her.
Thats one great thing about Taylors writing.
He doesnt cut corners.
And I was like, how are they paying anybody?
Wait until you get to the finale.
I knew what was going to happen and it ruined me.
And I went willingly.
All of a sudden there was adrenaline everywhere.
I didnt know where that was coming from.
Tears were falling out of my face and nobody had shot a frame.
Could one of my distant relatives moved like that?
They worked so hard for that small luxury to experience New York.
Im just thinking of the Ellis Island episode.
Its like Im 8 years old again, wanting to be an actor.
