With director Anna Foerster’s Lou now streaming on Netflix, I recently spoke to Allison Janney and Jurnee Smollett about making the action-thriller. Written by Maggie Cohn and Jack Stanley from a story by Cohn, the film is about a woman, Lou (Janney), who is trying to put her dangerous past behind her when she is asked to help a desperate mother (Smollett) find her kidnapped daughter during a massive storm. Lou also stars Logan Marshall-Green, Ridley Asha Bateman, and Matt Craven and is produced by Bad Robot’s J.J. Abrams, Hannah Minghella, and Jon Cohen.

During the fun interview, Janney and Smollett talked about why they’re excited for people to see Lou, how Janney got ready to film her big action scenes, what it was like filming in the rain at night over so many days, and how Janney never thought she’d get a role like Lou. In addition, Smollett talked about being on Full House when she was very young, and Janney talked about making True Love with Gareth Edwards and Greig Fraser.

Watch what they had to say in the player above, or you can read our conversation below.

COLLIDER: So I have to ask, I've seen these setups where you guys are looking, is your computer monitor this tiny little window, or do you get a real screen?

ALLISON JANNEY: You're a small TV set, kind of thing.

Exactly.

Jurnee: You're like the size of a computer screen.

Allison: Yeah, computer screen. That shows a generational... TV and computer screen. And is that Ultraman behind you, or am I that old?

It's because of the computer screen you're on. It's Iron Man. Before I get into asking you about the movie, I like throwing a curveball at the beginning. For both of you, if someone has actually never seen anything that you've done before, what is the first thing you want them watching, and why?

Jurnee: Whoa, we're going to take this entire interview time to think about this.

Allison: Listen, I would have to take this entire interview to choose between all of-

Jurnee: Your illustrious work.

Allison: Yeah. I mean, I'm going to pick Lou, because we're talking about Lou right now. And Lou, I love to see people see me as this mature woman, in a role that you don't usually see mature women in, kicking ass and being a badass, and surviving, and going out for justice, and just being an incredible woman going through it. I don't know.

Jurnee: I'm going with you right there, woman. I'm with you. I want them to see that too. We never get to see this. We rarely get to see a woman, this fierce and mature, and…She's lived life, Lou. And yet, Iyou're standing right there with the best of them. That can, when you take that can of the neck, that was threatening.

Allison: I have to say, it was a thrill to get to do because I've always wanted to play in this genre. I just never thought I'd get an invitation to. And this script from J.J. Abrams was just a gift to me, and I was excited to portray this character. I loved how quiet she was, how serious, how no-nonsense, and just incredibly strong. And yet, obviously incredibly flawed, which was wonderful... Jurnee's character, she got through to that side of Lou that she doesn't often show. She's a woman who works by herself and resents having to work with Jurnee's character. Just the exploration of these two women and their different paths in life and their judgment of each other and ultimate respect for each other was a great story to tell.

To be honest with you, the reason I wanted to cover this junket is because I'm a big fan of your work, and I want to see more women kicking ass in these kinds of roles. So I'm happy to talk to you guys about it. Do you have a newfound respect for Liam Neeson and what he did with the Taken movies, after doing the physicality of this film?

Allison: Yes, I do. I really do. I don't know how old Liam was when he started doing those Taken films, but at 61, it was a huge, incredible thing to challenge myself with and the physicality. I was scared, I'm not going to lie. I did a lot of training, but I was also like, please, oh God, please don't let me... I just didn't want to hurt myself and not be able to get through the film. And I didn't, and I thank Daniel Bernhardt, the choreographer, who made it safe for us in all those fights. I knew exactly where he was, and where his arm was coming and that was all worked out so specifically and technically that it made it almost impossible for us to hurt ourselves. And that was great. We just felt protected on set, by the crew, by our director, Anna, we felt it was a safe environment to take chances, physically.

For both of you... I know how films are made and the long hours. And when you're filming on location like you did for this film, it's a challenge. So, for both of you, was it in the script that it was going to be raining all the time, and on what day of the shoot were you like, okay, this is starting to get pretty challenging.

Jurnee: Do you remember? Anna, maybe two months before, she actually put it in the script where the rain was happening. No, I mean, we knew it was a storm, but we didn't know it was every single scene was taking place in the storm.

Allison: And I also remember saying to her, shyly, I said, "You know, storms can happen during the day too. You might save money." Oh my God, night shoots, one of my least favorite things to do as an actor, I thought, okay...

Jurnee: Outdoors, night shoot...

Allison: We're going to do it, outdoors, night, with rain-

Jurnee: Rain.

Allison: And mud and bugs and everything. We just-

Jurnee: But it's a character in the film. The storm-

Allison: Yeah, it is. Storm... Nature...

Jurnee: The elements that these characters have to work against is its own villain. And so as an actor, we just used it, because the more discomfort that we were in, the more-

Allison: We didn't have to act. It just showed on our faces, the exhaustion and frustration. And it was incredible. But thank God I had Jurnee to do it with me, because she's fearless and didn't once complain. We both were like, we sort of relished it once we were in it. We're like, we're wet and we're dirty and let's do it.

Jurnee: Let's go, man.

I actually have an individual question for both of you. Jurnee, early in your career, when you were a little kid, you worked on Full House, and I'm just curious if you remember any of that, of working on that series.

Jurnee: I know I was cast when I was like, four or four and a half.

Allison: Oh my God. That's incredible.

Jurnee: So I can remember a little bit of it, like the feedback from the audience and that high of getting that live reaction, of them laughing or whispering. That was my first experience with that, but I don't really remember a lot of it. Yeah.

Allison: God, four. My career didn't start until I was 38. That's incredible. I wonder what I would've been like as a... I would've been too tall. I was too tall, always to be cast in anything. My first role was the undertaker's son in the play, Oliver! The musical.

Jurnee: That's amazing.

Allison, I have an individual question for you. I am a big fan of Gareth Edwards and Greig Fraser, and you are part of their new movie, True Love. What can you tease about it, what are you looking forward to people seeing?

Allison: That was also an interesting opportunity for me. We shot that in Thailand. That was an extraordinary experience to go... I've never been to that part of the world before. And that was an extraordinary experience. And working with John David Washington, who was just loveliest man on the-

Jurnee: Oh, he's so lovely.

Allison: I cannot tell you how much I fell in love with that man. And-

Jurnee: He comes from great stock though. Pauletta and Dee are just...

Allison: Marc Menchaca, and just Gareth was a pleasure to work with. Again, a different, I haven't been in that world either. I've sort of wanted to play in different arenas and... The action thriller, and then the sci-fi kind of play... I cannot wait to see what they do with it. Because I saw all the previs for what the actual location looks like, and then what they do with it in post, and the layers of coolness they put on it. It's going to be awesome.

Jurnee: Coolness.

Allison: Layers of coolness. And I'm excited about that.

Thank you so much for your time and congrats on the movie. I hope a ton of people watch. Have a great day.