In Rooster, Katie (Charly Clive) isn’t doing all that well after her husband Archie (Phil Dunster) has a very public affair with grad student Sunny (Lauren Tsai), which results in her getting pregnant. Having her dad Greg (Steve Carell) around on campus creates a new dynamic as she struggles to figure out what she wants and Archie isn’t nearly as absent as he should be.
Awards Buzz spoke with Clive about whether she enjoys Katie’s constant state of public embarrassment or prefers when she scores a rare win:
“I’m biased, obviously, but I don’t think Katie has done anything wrong at all, including and especially the burning down of a house. I think a really nice thing about playing embarrassment is there are loads of levels to it. It depends who Katie’s around. If she’s around Archie, she’s a certain way. If she’s around her dad, she’s a certain way. If she’s around President Mann, she’s a certain way, and the uncomfortability is quite fun. I think it feels a bit like being a teenager again, being Katie. It’s really nice to play the full spectrum of it. Obviously, I’m rooting for her hugely, as I hope we all are, and so the moments of real satisfaction are well-earned because of all of the having to sit in the uncomfortability.”
She also discussed how Katie might be different if – like Clive – she was British rather than American:
“If Katie was English, I don’t think she’d have burnt a house down at all. I think if Katie was English, I think there’d be a lot more drinking involved. England’s so small that Katie probably would’ve gone to her parents rather than her parents coming to her, which would’ve changed everything.”
Watch the video above to hear her take on working with Steve Carell and Connie Britton as her parents and what she’d like to see for the character in season two.
Season one of Rooster is streaming on HBO Max.
