Sarah Bolger
we were so happy Sarah Bolger made time to meet up just before taking off to Australia to work on a new project. her current hit show MGM’s The Westies will air it’s final episode on 8/23. her talent really shines in this piece with a standout performance. she arrived to our studio in a tank and jeans accented by the coolest animal print sling backs and beautiful luminescent skin (due in part to her hardcore sun protection and Irish ancestry) so scroll on down for some candid snaps and her thoughts on playing Bridget and what viewers are getting from the gritty crime drama, being Down Under, skincare of course, a dream role, bare essentials (including cheese care packages) and just how overrated perfection is.
the bare magazine: your character Bridget is described as calculating, steely … a rebel. what qualities about her were most interesting and challenging to play?
Sarah Bolger: I think what interested me most about Bridget was how contained she is. She watches. She waits. She doesn’t feel the need to explain herself, which I really liked. There’s an intelligence to that kind of restraint.
The challenge was probably not trying to soften her too much. As an actor you can have this instinct to make sure the audience understands why someone is behaving badly, or at least give them a little doorway into forgiving them. Bridget doesn’t really ask for that. She can be cold. She can be incredibly calculating. And sometimes you just have to let her be those things without putting a little apology underneath it.
Also, I’m not sure Bridget would ever call herself a rebel. She’d probably roll her eyes at the word. She thinks she’s doing what needs to be done.
bare: is it true you were inspired by your Irish grandmother to help shape the role?
SB: Yes, but not in any literal sense. My grandmother wasn’t secretly running around New York doing what Bridget was doing! It was more something about that generation of Irish women. There was a toughness that wasn’t talked about very much. My Mother’s family had that. I think I borrowed some of that lack of fuss for Bridget. Strength that doesn’t need to keep announcing itself.
bare: what do you think audiences are responding to the most about the show?
SB: I’m so grateful to hear from people online and am thrilled people are enjoying it. I love hearing maybe that nobody is particularly clean in it. Morally, I mean. I love stories where you find yourself understanding someone you probably shouldn’t, or defending a character and then ten minutes later thinking, “ Oh God, why am I on your side?”
There’s also something fascinating about watching people create their own moral codes. These characters live inside a world where loyalty can be a virtue one minute and something quite destructive the next. I think audiences like being trusted to sit with that rather than being told who the good people are.
bare: we were so glad you found time to shoot with us before you took off for Australia. the jet lag must have been tricky! any highlights you can share so far?
SB: I honestly don’t know if I’m jet lagged anymore or if this is simply my personality now. Australia has been gorgeous. I’m back in Melbourne and I really love it here. I walk an enormous amount, drink far too much coffee and have developed very strong opinions about where to get the best chips.
bare: is there a genre or type of role you’ve never played that now as you’ve been sharpening your craft you’d like to try?
SB: Recently I’ve been playing women who are carrying the weight of the world, or at minimum have had a truly terrible week. I would love to play someone ridiculous for a while.
bare: would you say there is less and less emphasis put on looks, superficial perfection and age for women these days?
SB: Yes! I think there’s less pretending that women don’t age, but I don’t know if I would say the emphasis has disappeared. I do think what people find beautiful has broadened. I want to see a face that tells me something. I want women on screen to be peculiar and complicated and vain and brilliant and exhausted and sexual and funny — all of it. Perfection gets quite boring after about five minutes.
bare: what are the most important self-care rituals and confidence-building practices you do for yourself to feel good?
SB: I’m pretty militant about SPF. I was filming in Korea last year and came home completely inspired by how seriously they take sun protection and skincare. Sunbrellas, hats, SPF constantly — I loved all of it.
Ridiculously, caring about people now seems to manifest itself in me forcibly applying SPF to them. The important people in my life get sprayed against their will, and occasionally receive unsolicited packages of hyaluronic acid with very little explanation.
I do love skincare generally, though. I find the ritual of it quite calming, particularly when I’m traveling or filming and everything else is changing constantly. There’s something nice about having those small routines that are yours wherever you are.
bare: please list your top 5 bare essentials (anyone or anything you can’t imagine your life without)
SB:
My family, obviously. They are the best people in the world
Barry’s Tea. I carry it in every pocket of my suitcase.
Books. Usually my Kindle because otherwise my luggage would be completely unmanageable.
A lovely person sends me cheese care packages to my hotel. (Any kind of cheese!)
My Still Here, childhood jeans. They are just the best denim and work with everything.
photos/makeup: tina turnbow
hair: corey tuttle using oribe
sarah wears her own clothing
fedora: bailey hats
shot at bare studio brooklyn
