Mack & Rita star Taylour Paige: sometimes a “warm hug” of a film is what we need

Not only does Mack & Rita star Taylour Paige participate in cinema’s time-honored “best friend in a rom-com” role, she gets to do so opposite screen legend Diane Keaton. When 30-year-old Mack (Elizabeth Lail) accidentally gets her wish granted to become her 70-year-old self (Keaton)—via magical Palm Springs tanning bed, just go with it—it’s Carla (Paige) who helps “Aunt Rita” navigate her new body and persona. “The throughline of the character is that she genuinely loves her best friend,” Paige tells The A.V. Club.

Carla’s sincerity dovetails nicely with Paige’s philosophy, both as an actor inhabiting characters and as a person navigating the world today. For her, telling any story is an act of empathy, and therefore necessary. Just because Mack & Rita is, as she says, a “warm hug” of a comedy—neither a high-stakes stripper saga like Janicza Bravo’s Zola nor a twisted coming-of-age tale like Lena Dunham’s Sharp Stick—doesn’t it make it any less impactful, especially for audiences craving light, frothy fun these days. Paige dives deep on her creative process, from costuming to her dance background, and where it overlaps with her artistic mission.

AVC: So what did you learn from playing best friend to Diane Keaton in this film? You joked you’ve waited your whole life for her. How do you approach working with acting legends of her caliber?

TP: Yeah, it doesn’t get old. It still is magic to me. You grow up admiring these wonderful people, these artists. It’s Diane Keaton, you know? She is so her. They say don’t meet your heroes, but maybe we should, in this case. But, yeah, every project demands a different version of me: maybe something I’ve healed, maybe something that’s still loose that needs to be looked at. And I look at it all as a prayer. What is the prayer here? That’s kind of how I enter it.

AVC: Let’s talk costuming. What is this specific movie saying about how clothes represent a person? And in general, do costumes help you build a character? Lena Dunham mentioned you were always in costume between takes on Sharp Stick.

TP: Yes. I have been lucky to work with really great costume designers who are super collaborative. With Lena, I just wanted to be super specific and nuanced to a social media, TikTok influencer: the nails, braids. I’m not a TikTok influencer, I wanted to pay respect to that [being] a hustle, that’s a business. With Ma Rainey’s [Black Bottom], we had Ann Roth, who’s a legend. And with Carla, I believe we pulled in a lot of favors [asking for clothes].

I want to get Taylour out of the way so that me, the vessel, can serve the person I’m playing. Carla isn’t a huge departure from me. I’m a 31-year-old girl that’s living her life in L.A. Do I dress like Carla? No. But is it believable that I would? Yeah. And sometimes it’s a compromise—sometimes the DP’s like, “Can she please not wear that color?” It’s collaborative. But I think that here we wanted her to reflect a sunshine—warm, young, sweet.

AVC: Relatedly, where does your dance background factor into your creative process? You must really construct your characters with a physical approach.

TP: I do. Character-wise, I always work on how they walk first. That’s always my first approach. Like, is this person pulled up? Does this person maybe have scoliosis? Does this person go to the chiropractor, do yoga? Do they work out? Do they not work out? Those walks are different. I think the approach, though, is because I was a dancer, I have to sometimes look like I’m not a dancer. So how do I deconstruct that, so it’s not distracting that I have a certain type of posture? Yes, dance or lack thereof is important to inform the character I’m playing.

AVC: You’ve talked about how empathy connects us, artists and just people alike. What would you say is your artistic mission?

TP: I think it’s an ever-growing, breathing thing, but I definitely think it’s ultimately about compassion and understanding, which kind of are like sisters. And how do we get back to love? How do we love each other, love ourselves? How do we serve each other? And at least when I’m reading [a script], I’m asking, “Why are we telling this? Does the world need it?” I really appreciate that this film is like a warm hug. It’s nice and sweet. We’re living in the world right now, and it’s pretty… [She smile-grimaces.] Why am I smiling? As if, “I’m fine, everything’s fine.” [Laughs.]

AVC: Right, why are we laughing? But what else are we going to do?

TP: Yeah! But I think there’s an infinite well of compassion. [It’s about] actively having empathy for someone else, what they’re going through. There’s always work for us to do, daily. And I wonder what that would look like in the world if we all were conscious of that. First, with our own side of the street… like if everyone lived the way that you lived, it would be paradise. Keeping that in mind is hard to do. Like, shit’s annoying, you know? But coming back to that, “Oh, I was really unconscious there. I could have been more kind, or I could have been more patient.” I don’t know, just being better.

AVC: On the one hand, it’s funny that we would apply any of this philosophical stuff to a movie like Mack & Rita. But to your point, a “warm hug” can be an exercise in empathy.

TP: And I think that, when we shave it down to what [modern life] is at its purest, it’s people being afraid. There is this large cry for love and figuring it all out, soon. I mean, when I ask—it’s rhetorical, but—what’s the alternative? We know what the alternative is. And is that working for you? Like, is the world we live in working for you? Because I’m not interested in this one.

AVC: What is your relationship with earnestness? It seems these days our storytelling is leaning on the side of irony, whereas something like Mack & Rita trades in sincerity.

TP: Yeah, I mean, when did we become so cool? But I do think that sincerity is going to save us, if anything. Sincerity. Kindness. The truth is, we know what feels good and we know what feels better. And for as free as I want us to feel, I also wish we were more disciplined in the love and how to get there. We need a balance.

AVC: Freedom and structure, yes.

TP: Structure, because within structure, there is freedom. When things are taken care of on [a movie set], I can do my thing. When things are a mess, no. If I was at the top of a mountain, if there was a little bit of a parameter, I could look around, the panoramic view. But if there was nothing, I would fall off the mountain. Now we’re going a little esoteric with it, but yeah.

AVC: This movie captures our zeitgeist right now, especially L.A. these days. After helping tell this particular story, are you optimistic about where our culture is generally going?

TP: Actually, I’m going to say yes, I am hopeful, because that’s all I’ve got. I think that modern life is painful. But then I also think, When has the world ever been great? Unfortunately, we’re the most conscious and have the most resources, so it’s a little embarrassing. But at the same time, look at—50 years ago, what would I be doing? Or a hundred years ago? I do think it is the best time because it’s what we have, it’s right now. And if we care enough…I’d like to believe things can get better. And that’s what keeps us marching along, we have to believe that it can get better. So, yes, I am hopeful. I’m always hopeful. Sometimes more faithless than other times, but I still have hope. I think getting up in the morning, we all have a little bit of hope—in seeing that person you love, in reading something inspiring. Hope in an answer, hope in connection. Hoping the sun is rising again, I guess.

AVC: Lastly, who are your dream collaborators? Which filmmakers or actors would you just love to work with next?

TP: Oh, man, so many. Well, Auntie Meryl Streep. Al Pacino. Pedro Almodóvar. The list is pretty extensive.

AVC: We’re manifesting! You’ll get there.

TP: Yeah, I will get there! Guillermo Del Toro. Greta Gerwig. I worked with Denzel because of Ma Rainey’s, he was a producer, but I would love to actually act with him. Frances McDormand. The Coen brothers. If Daniel Day-Lewis decides, “I actually am coming back to acting, one more time,” hopefully it’s with me. Anybody who’s interested in colorful filmmaking and expanding what we already know and have, I’m down.