Frances McDormand
I read Olive Kitteridge and saw the HBO series after Melanie’s recommendation of both.
The series did indeed highlight what a great actress Frances McDormand is.
She rose to fame as the detective in Fargo, a typically unglamorous rôle, in which she is mainly in a bulky anorak to keep herself warm in the Minnesota cold.
It is she who unravels William Macy’s plot to have his wife killed. It is an early Coen Brothers film and she is married to Joel Coen.
She is particularly adept at interpretation, often eliciting a surprising endearment in playing an unsympathetic character.
I can see why Melanie might prefer the novel as there the interpretation is left to the reader, not the actor.
Nonetheless – and as usual – McDormand does very well as Olive Kitteridge, making her one of those refreshing people who call it as it is, not like her worthy husband Henry who calls it as he would like it to be.
Frances McDormand likes to call herself an actor not a film star. Whatever the description she is one of the best.
