Rosemarie DeWitt has had a “busy” few months as a leading actress in Hollywood movies and television. In October, she starred in the long-awaited Halloween blockbuster Smile 2, and this week she shines as the mother of a girl with cerebral palsy in Disney’s heartwarming Out of My Mind. Beyond her on-screen talent, DeWitt is also known as a devoted mother of two girls and the wife of Ron Livingston. (He may have played Berger on Sex and the City, but she not only played Aidan’s ex-wife, Cassie, in the reboot, but also played Miranda’s co-worker, Fern, in the original series.) ) In between all of that, as DeWitt told us, she’s been working on teaching her kids about self-care and beauty, while slowly carving out time for herself whenever she can. I’m here.
Congratulations on “Out of My Mind and Smile 2.” This series is definitely scary. How can you play the part of something so terrifying?
It was interesting. I’ve never done anything like this before. I don’t think I could have created this work without the human element in my story. It was a story about a mother pushing her daughter past breaking point. I hope I’m not that kind of mom, but that perspective was interesting to me. There was a scary element, a very scary human element. That drew me into the field. And let’s be honest, there’s a lot of disgusting, fake, wet, cold blood in there. It affects you a lot. You wake up in the middle of the night sweating and say to yourself, “This isn’t real!” But all that fake blood starts acting on your nervous system.
It’s funny and scary. How do you remove all the makeup and fake blood before your head hits the pillow?
Let me just say this: wipe-off cosmetics are not effective. You use a cleanser and scrub there, then a scrub again and a hot shower. I had a particularly bad smile day, and I took three or four showers. It wasn’t because I was worried about clogged pores. You literally can’t live with all of this on. Fake blood is no fun.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more minimalist when it comes to skin care. I’m cutting back on facials and increasing Retin-A. But once the shoot is over, you’ll need a lot of hot towels. A hot towel and an old-fashioned cleanser.
That’s interesting. I have two girls, ages 9 and 11. And they are more passionate about their beauty routines than I am. Just before she turned 9, I asked my daughter what she wanted for her birthday, and her answer was skin care. I was surprised! “Girl! Skincare! Do you want skincare? What do you mean by skincare?” I think I’ll buy her a panda sheet mask and call it a day.
But to be honest, I need to teach my daughters how to take care of themselves. It’s a way to make time for yourself. And they need to do it when they get older. However, we often find that we don’t have time for beauty. I just try to remember to floss.
Essentials. Your daughters are still young, so you are busy. How do you keep things going? How do you make time for yourself in other ways?
Walking is my best friend. Walk the dog or just go outside and get some fresh air. Breathing is the key. It’s great to do yoga classes.
You played a wide variety of roles. Is there anything that particularly stands out to you about expressing your character in an appealing way?
I love wigs. I don’t like wearing wigs. It’s hot and hard. But I love wigs. When I played a real person in The Staircase, they put me in a very blonde wig. I love prosthetics. I love it when I can’t see myself in the mirror. Strangely, I didn’t like Grams before. I always wanted to play a real person and I wanted people to believe in me, so I always played roles without makeup. I really liked that Smile 2 had glitter eyelashes. It was really fun thinking, “What would Beyoncé’s mom wear?”
That’s fun. As the end of the year approaches, what are you looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to the holidays. Not a frenzied shopping holiday, but a cozy holiday, let’s get together, let’s all sit on the couch. When the kids don’t have school for 4 or 5 days, we can all get together in bed and make tea. I’m really excited to unite with my family as well as friends. Now we need time to take care of each other comfortably.
