Julia Garner reveals how shyness ‘became my secret weapon'

Sunday World

17 hours ago

She found global fame with Ozark, went on to become part of the Marvel juggernaut and now stars in creepy horror Weapons, but Julia Garner tells Esther McCarthy how she got into acting in a bid to overcome timidness
It's a super screen summer for Julia Garner, who is starring in two of this year's most-anticipated movies following her star-making role in Ozark.
As well as her recent turn in Marvel hit The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the actress is starring in the gritty new horror, Weapons.
Yet the US star has revealed her success came about because of her struggles with shyness when she was younger. In a bid to overcome it, Garner signed up for acting classes — and although she's still shy by nature, she says her new hobby quickly became her greatest passion.
'I started in this business because I was very shy,' she says. 'I am shy but with this job you have no choice — but I love my work and I love working with people and meeting new people.
Julia Garner with Jason Bateman in Ozark
'I started taking acting classes to overcome my shyness. I used to do a lot of student films for Columbia Film School. The student film-maker's girlfriend was interning at a casting office and my first audition was an open casting call with thousands of people. I didn't get the job but a couple of months later she cast Martha Marcy May Marlene and that was my first movie.'
That US indie proved to be a gamechanger for many emerging stars when it first screened at Sundance in 2011, as it focused on a woman (Elizabeth Olsen) dealing with the aftermath of her time in an abusive cult. It was critically acclaimed and although the then-teenager Garner's role was a supporting one, it marked an early indication of her raw talent.
It was perhaps no surprise, however, that the young Garner would turn to the arts, given her family background.
Julia on the red carpet
Born in The Bronx before attending school in Connecticut, mum Tamar was a therapist who also worked as an actress and comedian, while dad Thomas is an artist and art teacher.
It was playing the foul-mouthed and fearsome Ruth Langmore in the critically acclaimed crime saga Ozark that made Garner a star, bagging her a Golden Globe and three Emmy Awards in the process.
Julia Garner at the Weapons world premiere on Broadway last month
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Ozark was no one-off and soon the actress was finding roles in gritty indie dramas with a tinge of horror.
She took the lead role in the much-talked about The Assistant, filmmaker Kitty Green's excellent tale of an intern who finds herself in a film company with a cynical and abusive culture.
Julia as Justine in Weapons
She teamed with Green again for The Royal Hotel, a tale of two young backpackers who find themselves out of their depth in the Australian outback.
Out in Irish cinemas from this weekend, Weapons sees her star opposite Josh Brolin in a chilling tale of a how several children from the same school class vanish on the same night at the same time, all going missing with no apparent reason why.
The less you know about the movie going in, the better, she reckons.
'Weapons is a crazy kind of mystery horror movie that has so many elements,' she says.
'It's multi-layered and totally amazing. It's a movie that is actually hard to describe. This is a movie you need to discover and experience for yourself. It's that kind of crazy experience,' she says, adding that the movie taps into 'the fear of the unknown and the lack of control that comes with that. There is also a lot to do with addiction in the movie and how all the characters are having to deal with that in some way'.
Julia with co-star Josh Brolin
As her previous movies reveal, Garner has always been drawn to the dark side of human nature and starred in a number of gritty and scary movies before turning her attention to Weapons.
What is the draw for her in such material?
'The thing that always interests me about horror is almost in the same way how people talk about comedy, which is the timing. That is always a challenge. Timing can make the movie and it can ruin the movie so it's important to nail it and to get every jump-scare just right. But Weapons is not really a typical horror movie. It's different. It has comedic elements and, well... you have to see it.'
As is often the case with making horror movies, there was often a fun atmosphere on set as people look for some light relief between takes. In Garner's case, much of the laughs came courtesy of her co-star, Josh Brolin.
'He is such a brilliant actor and just a great guy. He's hilarious actually. We giggled all day, even though it was very serious work. But the whole cast was amazing. I had such a fun time, despite the subject matter, which is often the case, weirdly. It's like the heavier the movie, the more fun you have,' she laughs.
The older star — whose many roles include playing Thanos in the Marvel Universe — also spoke with Garner as she prepared to take on her first role in the blockbuster series.
She plays the humanoid alien with metallic skin, Silver Surfer, in the new Fantastic Four movie.
'He told me a little bit about what to expect because he also did a lot of motion capture for Thanos. He gave me some great words of wisdom.'
In real life, Garner is married to Mark Foster, the frontman of indie pop band Foster the People.
The couple have been together since 2019, and while her hubby has been supporting her on her Weapons press tour, they keep their romance low-key. The couple, who first met at the Sundance Film Festival, got married at New York's City Hall — just like Julia's parents did four decades earlier.
While her roots are in episodic TV and indie movies, earlier this summer Garner dipped her toe into the Marvel Universe, taking on the Silver Surfer role in one of the biggest comic-book movies of them all.
Shot in Pinewood Studios near London, the actress is now a leading character in one of summer's biggest hits. 'It's pretty fun. It's kind of empowering. You feel like a little kid again. But the whole experience, shooting at Pinewood, everything was just incredible.'
Still, she tries to avoid getting caught up in the inevitable attention that her growing on-screen profile brings.
When asked how she feels about being one of Hollywood's most in-demand young stars, she says: 'It's really hard to answer that because I don't think of myself like that. I just focus on the work. I can say that I feel very lucky to have these opportunities and to get to play complex and interesting characters. I'm just happy that people are interested in the characters too.'
Weapons is now in cinemas.