"Then Guest gave O'Hara some unexpected advice: "Don't worry about being funny," she recalled later in an interview with The New Yorker. "Just be in the scene." When the film came out, O'Hara's portrayal of Sheila Albertson, a goofy travel agent who's sharper than she lets on, stood out even amid a sparkling cast of actors playing memorable weirdos. Her wacky asides, undergirded by a subtle poignancy, both gave Guffman a zany edge and helped transform the mockumentary genre itself."
"A comedy giant, O'Hara, who died last week at 71, was known for lending an eccentricity to her characters: a worried mom in the box-office juggernaut Home Alone; the dippy Moira Rose in the sitcom Schitt's Creek; a salty therapist in the dystopian The Last of Us; a shrewd former movie executive in the Hollywood send-up The Studio."
Catherine O'Hara arrived in Lockhart, Texas, in the mid-1990s to begin shooting Waiting for Guffman and felt spooked by the improvisational ease of her co-stars. Christopher Guest advised, "Don't worry about being funny. Just be in the scene." O'Hara's Sheila Albertson combined goofy asides with subtle poignancy, standing out among a cast of memorable characters and helping to reshape the mockumentary form. O'Hara became known for lending eccentricity to roles across film and television, including Home Alone, Schitt's Creek, The Last of Us, and The Studio. Her four films with Guest — Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration — represent transcendent examples of her comedic skill.
Read at The Atlantic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]