Lily Tomlin said that playing the title character in “Grandma” was incredibly relatable, given Tomlin’s own life experiences.
“I know a lot of women who were writers during the resurgence of the feminist movement in the early ’70s,” Tomlin said in an interview for the Actors/Directors/Writers issue of TheWrap Oscar Magazine. “And they made a living and they were quite celebrated in certain circles. And then they sort of lost — their fame waned a bit. So I knew essentially that character.”
In the film, Tomlin plays an aging poet whose longtime life partner has died. Except for the last part, Tomlin was familiar with that world as well.
“My partner and I have been together 44 years — and she’s certainly not dead, pray God — but I understood that too because I knew people who had lost a longtime partner,” she said. “It’s just sort of in my DNA, knowing that part of the life.”
Ultimately, Tomlin believes the film is really about women. “It’s about women coming together and making the most of what’s left of their lives and for the young people to be spirited with a new kind of life and demand for life,” she said.
Tomlin was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her role in the film, which again saw her collaborating with writer/director/producer Paul Weitz. The two previously worked together on “Admission.”
Watch the video above. And click here to read more from the Actors/Directors/Writers issue of TheWrap Oscar Magazine.
