{"id":68202,"date":"2022-11-28T19:06:26","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T19:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=68202"},"modified":"2022-11-30T15:25:25","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T15:25:25","slug":"lizzy-caplan-talks-fleishman-is-in-trouble-2022-cover","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/lizzy-caplan-talks-fleishman-is-in-trouble-2022-cover\/","title":{"rendered":"Lizzy Caplan on Filming 2 Dream Projects, Embracing Motherhood and Staying Off Instagram"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lizzy Caplan in a Prada dress, prada.com; Maison Miru earrings, maisonmiru.com; AGMES ring on left, agmesnyc.com; Jenny bird rings on right, jenny-bird.com. Photographs by Emman Montalvan. Styling by Kat Typaldos. Makeup by Ericka Verrett. Hair by Rick Verrett. Nails by Sarah Chue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By now, you may have heard the buzz circulating around the new must-watch, binge-worthy streaming series: Fleishman Is in Trouble<\/em>. It\u2019s based off the 2019 novel of the same name starring Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, Adam Brody<\/a> and Lizzy Caplan. Despite what the title suggests, it\u2019s Caplan\u2019s portrayal of Libby Epstein, a college pal of Eisenberg\u2019s character Toby Fleishman, that steals the show with her superb acting and narration work throughout the series. She may not star as the titular character, but she makes her mark \u2014 and acting abilities \u2014 known. Staying out of the limelight but letting her talents shine parallels Caplan\u2019s own life, too.<\/p>\n

Odds are you probably don\u2019t know much about Caplan herself \u2014 she\u2019s not on social media and despite decades of successful roles, she\u2019s managed to avoid the spotlight\u2019s glare when it comes to her personal life. She was able to quietly welcome a son last year with her husband, the actor Tom Riley, but as the rave reviews for her role in Fleishman Is in Trouble<\/em> keep coming, it\u2019s clear her star is only going to continue to rise and fans inevitably will be clamoring to know more about her. Caplan might not ever want to live life in the pages of tabloids, but she\u2019s opening up to GRAZIA USA<\/em> about her marriage, her son and what comes next.<\/p>\n

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Lizzy Caplan in a Gucci shirt, gucci.com; Pamela Love earrings, pamelalove.com. Photographs by Emman Montalvan. Styling by Kat Typaldos. Makeup by Ericka Verrett. Hair by Rick Verrett. Nails by Sarah Chue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After catching up with the Emmy Award-nominated actress, it was immediately clear just how focused she is on her craft. Her dedication explains why she\u2019s one of the few stars who hasn\u2019t given into the pressure of being on social media. \u201cThere was definitely a period of time, probably around 2016, where it was starting to feel mandatory that if you were an actor, you had to also have this social media presence,\u201d says Caplan, 40. \u201cI managed to avoid it and I still am happy that I did. I do think that it makes the job more difficult. The more people know you and have opinions about you as a person, the harder it is for you to be believable as you disappear into a role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caplan notes that social media platforms have their benefits, like helping to raise awareness about global social concerns such as the protests in Iran but, overall, she believes the negatives \u201cfar outweigh\u201d the positives.<\/p>\n

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Lizzy Caplan in an Herm\u00e8s jacket, jumpsuit, hermes.com; Maison Miru earrings, maisonmiru.com; AGMES ring on left, agmesnyc.com; Pamela Love ring on right, pamelalove.com; Valentino shoes, valentino.com. Photographs by Emman Montalvan. Styling by Kat Typaldos. Makeup by Ericka Verrett. Hair by Rick Verrett. Nails by Sarah Chue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s made everything worse in the world and everybody more unhappy generally,\u201d she says. \u201cI think it\u2019s making us all much more inward-glancing and insular. I never liked it; I still kind of don\u2019t like it, and now I just feel like a dinosaur. But there\u2019s a part of me that thinks I\u2019m going to be proven right or everybody just decides that they need to delete their social media. So, we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lizzy Caplan wears a Balenciaga turtleneck, skirt, balenciaga.com; Maison Miru earrings, maisonmiru.com.
Photographs by Emman Montalvan. Styling by Kat Typaldos. Makeup by Ericka Verrett. Hair by Rick Verrett. Nails by Sarah Chue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She may be on to something. When it\u2019s pointed out that many users have abandoned Twitter after Elon Musk purchased the company in October, Caplan jokes with deadpan delivery: \u201cYeah, I called that one. I was talking about it in 2016. I knew that Elon Musk was going to buy Twitter and drive it into the dirt within three weeks. I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

With so much career success at her back, Caplan continues to walk a fine line between safeguarding the online anonymity she holds sacred, but she\u2019s happy to open up to GRAZIA USA<\/em> about a very important development in her personal life \u2014 and who could blame her? She\u2019s thrilled to embrace the joys of motherhood after welcoming a son, Alfie, in 2021 with her husband of five years, the English actor Tom Riley. \u201cThere are moments where you\u2019re just watching this little person do a thing and you\u2019re just beaming at him and you don\u2019t even realize you\u2019re beaming until maybe you see a picture of yourself watching him do this thing and you realize, \u2018Oh my, I\u2019m smiling so much right now.\u2019 I was smiling without being totally aware that I\u2019m smiling \u2014 it\u2019s like this unrivaled pure joy,\u201d she gushes.<\/p>\n

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Lizzy Caplan in a Gucci jacket, shirt, pants, gucci.com. Photographs by Emman Montalvan. Styling by Kat Typaldos. Makeup by Ericka Verrett. Hair by Rick Verrett. Nails by Sarah Chue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Lizzy Caplan in a Gucci jacket, shirt, pants, gucci. com; Pamela Love earrings, pamelalove.com. Photographs by Emman Montalvan. Styling by Kat Typaldos. Makeup by Ericka Verrett. Hair by Rick Verrett. Nails by Sarah Chue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The star waited until later in life to have a child with 41-year-old Riley, whom she calls \u201cfather of the century.\u201d \u201cWe got a lot of life in before we had a kid, so we were both very ready to do this,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd it\u2019s just so much more mind blowing and better than you could imagine before actually going through with it. That\u2019s been our experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another thing that adds a special connection to their relationship is their shared profession. Caplan acknowledges that some actors never want to date another actor, but the actress says she doesn\u2019t really understand that viewpoint. \u201cI like having the common ground,\u201d she says. \u201cI like that my husband and I can talk about anything that\u2019s happened on set and he will know exactly what I\u2019m talking about. The trade-off is that you\u2019re both in such an unpredictable line of work, and that of course has its ups and downs. But for me it\u2019s not even a question that getting the understanding that comes with it is worth all of the other stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lizzy Caplan in a Fendi jacket, skirt, shoes, fendi.com; Maison Miru earrings, maisonmiru.com; Falke socks, falke.com. Photographs by Emman Montalvan. Styling by Kat Typaldos. Makeup by Ericka Verrett. Hair by Rick Verrett. Nails by Sarah Chue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As for parenting together, she \u201ccan\u2019t imagine\u201d doing this with anybody else \u2014 or with anybody who wouldn\u2019t want to be as involved as Riley. \u201cThe division of labor can really fall to the woman in the majority of cases. I definitely could not have worked as much as I\u2019ve worked this year if I didn\u2019t have this partnership with my husband. But also, it just wouldn\u2019t be as fun if we weren\u2019t sharing all of it 50-50. We\u2019re pretty good at seeing the funny in stressful situations. I do feel very, very lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just three months after welcoming her son, Caplan got back to work filming Fleishman Is in Trouble<\/em>. After production wrapped, she returned to set to shoot the new Fatal Attraction<\/em> remake. Three days after that was finished, she hit the red carpet at the Fleishman<\/em> premiere. \u201cI\u2019ve never done two projects back-to-back, so it\u2019s just been kind of this insane whiplash. But as an actor, all I\u2019ve ever kind of wanted is to be able to do different stuff, so I\u2019m forever grateful that this is what this year looks like.\u201d In addition, she also stars in the animated Netflix show Inside Job Part 2, <\/em>out now.<\/p>\n

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Lizzy Caplan in a Miu Miu shirt, top, jeans, belt, boots, miumiu.com; Maison Miru earrings, maisonmiru.com. Photographs by Emman Montalvan. Styling by Kat Typaldos. Makeup by Ericka Verrett. Hair by Rick Verrett. Nails by Sarah Chue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cDifferent stuff \u201d is what Caplan\u2019s career is all about. Ever since she started acting at 15 and landed her first role in the beloved but short-lived TV show, Freaks and Geeks<\/em>, she\u2019s had diverse roles across every genre. There are her well-known comedies, (Mean Girls<\/em>, The Interview<\/em>, Bachelorette<\/em>), heist thrillers (Now<\/em>
\nYou See Me 2<\/em>) dramas (Allied<\/em>) sci-fi action (Extinction<\/em>) and cerebral TV (Masters of Sex<\/em>). She notes that she usually gravitates towards playing \u201ccomplicated\u201d women who are \u201cmaybe not so easily compartmentalized\u201d and got both in the roles she played this year. \u201cThese two characters, these two shows, they just couldn\u2019t be more different. It\u2019s like absolute polar opposites, which was a wonderful challenge as an actor. It\u2019s kind of a dream challenge for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caplan is happy Fleishman Is in Trouble<\/em> is faithful to the book, written by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, and viewers are clearly just as delighted, including critics who are praising the show \u2014 and her performance. They may be just as thrilled when they see the remake of the 1987 hit Fatal Attraction<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Caplan shares that this new Paramount+ version, in which she plays Alex Forrest (originally portrayed by Glenn Close), delves deeper into the character\u2019s psyche to know her as a \u201cmore three-dimensional human being.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lizzy Caplan in a Gucci jacket, shirt, gucci.com. Photographs by Emman Montalvan. Styling by Kat Typaldos. Makeup by Ericka Verrett. Hair by Rick Verrett. Nails by Sarah Chue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The \u201880s version also starred Michael Douglas as Dan Gallagher, a married man who has an affair with Alex. \u201cThe [original] movie still is great. It\u2019s still scary, and makes you ask big questions, but there were two different endings and there was one ending that Glenn Close preferred, but they ended up going for another one,\u201d Caplan notes. \u201cGlenn Close was sort of fighting to protect her character Alex\u2019s fragile mental illness that she was dealing with. None of that was really reflected in the film. Audiences saw it very much through a 1980s perspective \u2014 this amazing guy makes one mistake and now this horrible woman is trying to ruin his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caplan says she finds it hard not to ask herself what Alex Forrest went through in the original film \u201cespecially because Glenn Close is doing such subtle, careful work that if you\u2019re looking for it, it\u2019s all there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The actress adds, \u201cIt really shows how far we have come. I don\u2019t think that we\u2019ve arrived at any finish line in terms of everything that\u2019s happened with #MeToo and what that set in motion. But the idea that you could never make the 1980s version of this now, shows some degree of progress. I think when they\u2019re at their best, that\u2019s what the reboot would do and hopefully our show does that.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the term \u201creboot\u201d comes up, inevitably, many fans of Caplan\u2019s remember her instantly iconic role as Janis Ian in 2004 hit, Mean Girls<\/em>. Her co-star, Lindsay Lohan, recently expressed interest in a revival, to which Caplan immediately responds: \u201cI am so on board with this return of Lindsay Lohan. I\u2019m just pumped. She was such an incredible talent when she was working as a kid and a young adult so I\u2019m happy to see that she\u2019s coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lizzy Caplan in a Proenza Schouler coat, proenzaschouler.com; Herm\u00e8s sweater, hermes.com; Pamela Love earrings, pamelalove.com; Maria La Rosa socks, marialarosa.it; Jimmy Choo shoes, jimmychoo.com. Photographs by Emman Montalvan. Styling by Kat Typaldos. Makeup by Ericka Verrett. Hair by Rick Verrett. Nails by Sarah Chue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Caplan doesn\u2019t know what the story would exactly entail for a Mean Girls<\/em> reboot, but if Tina Fey wrote some incredible script? \u201cOf course I would want to be a part of it; I would be an idiot not to join,\u201d she says, adding, \u201cBut to me it feels like Mean Girls<\/em> had a really good beginning, middle and end. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s left of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

After such a whirlwind year filled with work commitments, Caplan now looks forward to spending some down time with her most favorite project yet \u2014 taking care of her young son. \u201cI have no hobbies; my hobby is him,\u201d she says, joking she has \u201cno time for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Caplan wouldn\u2019t trade that for the world. \u201cMotherhood\u2019s good stuff,\u201d she says. \u201cHighly recommend. 10 out of 10 would recommend.”<\/p>\n

Read GRAZIA USA<\/em>\u2019s Winter issue featuring cover star Lizzy Caplan:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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