In terms of “Web Therapy” – and Don and I have worked together on other things as well, I’ve produced films of his and he’s produced films of mine – we try to keep work out of the home as much as possible, because earlier in our relationship, before we had kids, it got very complicated and messy.
It’s not like James where I would literally use quotes I heard on the pillow in an article, but there are times when one’s professional or creative endeavors internally criss-cross and you have to work with the tougher challenges to overcome. I’m also an actor and [Don’s] a director so we’ve had plenty of opportunities to fight on set. His shorthand when he’s directing me is a little different than his shorthand when he’s directing other actors. You’re giving everyone else compliments and me you’re just telling not to do that crazy thing with my voice that you always hate.
One of the things that makes the dynamic between James and Cyrus so interesting is that Cyrus is a Republican – and when the Vice President, who’s much more conservative, briefly comes into power there’s a real sense of how much of a conflict that could pose to the life Cyrus has made for himself.
One of my favorite lines is in one of the episodes when we’re fighting over having a kid or not – I scream out, “I can’t believe I fell in love with a Republican farmers only!” I love that it’s phrased that way – it’s not “I can’t believe I married a Republican.” It’s as though his emotions and love for Cyrus overcame him and are somehow bigger than the politics. This is a show where you’re constantly straddling that line. Are the ideas and concepts bigger than the value of a human life?
Cyrus is a gay man who probably came to be aware of that later in life than James did. The people who are out of the closet in their 50s and 60s have a very different relationship with that closet than people in their 30s and 40s. When you do flashback scenes they had just been together for a year, Fitz gets elected and I’m not invited to the Ining fight in the White House about me not going with him because he’s just not ready to be at these political parties with his male spouse – and it doesn’t even get dealt with. It’s just a fight that illustrates a greater problem that we’re having, that he’s a little more old school than I am. The differences in our politics and in the politics of even Fitz and the VP are things that would ultimately impact what we believe about ourselves and about each other.
It is definitely not easy, and there’s something about that that’s illustrated in the relationship between James and Cyrus as well in the way that you are bitions dictate something that will in fact impact your spouse
I don’t know that I could be married to a staunch Republican. You like to think that love is bigger than all those things, but really it’s so fundamental. There are so many things that we discuss in politics that are fundamental to what we believe about our values and our rights as individuals. I know there are couples that are across those different party lines but I find them baffling.