Connie Nielsen has a lot to celebrate right now with the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max and with Nobody arriving in theaters on March 26th. But Collider Ladies Night also gives us the opportunity to look back on the earliest days of one’s career and how the steps they took paved the way to their most recent achievements. Not only is Nielsen’s filmography loaded with unforgettable titles like Gladiator and Wonder Woman, but her journey in the industry is also a true inspiration packed with passion and drive to get the opportunities that spoke to her most, while contributing to the push to tell more stories about women in the process.
Nielsen’s very first project had her starring opposite a mighty popular comedian and actor - Jerry Lewis. While one might expect that to create a good deal of momentum right out the gate for Nielsen, she explained that wasn’t exactly the case and also added, “What’s worse was that I was this tall blonde woman and they kept on asking me to play these bombshell blondes and I was not into that at all.” Ultimately Nielsen did find her place in film, but it did take some time and required a move to the United States. “I feel like in Europe I was condemned to always be the blonde.”
Who gave Nielsen the nudge needed to move to America? It was actually acclaimed writer, director and producer Lawrence Kasdan:
“Larry Kasdan was casting French Kiss for the French girl in that and said, ‘Look, you don’t look like the French girl for me,’ and he said, ‘You should go to America.’ And when I got there a friend of mine then said, ‘You know, what agent are you looking for?’ I said, ‘I really want a female agent because I really am so tired of being thought of as this blonde. I just don’t want to be seen as a bombshell. I’m a super serious person and I didn’t start doing this job so that I could play some idiot blonde. It’s not what I want to do.’ And so I said, ‘I really need to be represented by women so that they don’t cast me like that and that they see through that. Whatever people see, that they see past that, that they see the person that I am and what I think of and the artist I want to be.’ And so he said, ‘Well, you know, Claire Forlani’s a friend. I’m gonna ask her.’”
Eventually that led Nielsen to two people who’d prove to be just who she needed to put her on a path to scoring the opportunities that felt right to her - Estelle Lasher and Perri Kipperman.
“I sit down with them and they totally get me. They totally get me. They then say, ‘Okay, you have to actually give us six months where you’re here for six months for real.’ So I come back with my kid, ’96, and I said I’m gonna use my savings, we’re gonna stay there for six months. And the first couple of weeks I get offered these things like right away, and I won’t say what it was, but it was pretty nice stuff. But it wasn’t what I wanted. So I said no, and then I met with Taylor Hackford for Devil’s Advocate.”
If you’re familiar with Nielsen’s body of work, you know that’s only the beginning right there. Check out our full Collider Ladies Night conversation in the video at the top of this article or the podcast below to hear more about her time working on The Devil’s Advocate, working on Best Picture winner Gladiator, joining the DC film franchise with Wonder Woman, seeing Zack Snyder finally get the chance to share his cut of Justice League, watching Bob Odenkirk become an action star in Nobody and so much more!
Connie Nielsen:
- 00:43 - How her family inspired her to become an actor.
- 02:30 - When Nielsen first pictured herself “making it,” what did living the dream look like?
- 03:40 - How Nielsen booked her very first audition when she went to Paris at 18.
- 06:15 - Working with Jerry Lewis on her very first film.
- 07:45 - Did that first film give her the momentum needed to book more roles; Nielsen details her experience working on Colletti bianchi and needing to learn Italian.
- 11:18 - Lawrence Kasdan encouraged Nielsen to make the move to the US; how she scored her role in The Devil’s Advocate.
- 13:33 - Nielsen looks back on making The Devil’s Advocate with Taylor Hackford and Al Pacino; filming that third act set piece.
- 17:28 - Looking back on Mission to Mars which was set in 2020; working with NASA astronaut Story Musgrave.
- 20:50 - Director Brian De Palma called the Mission to Mars experience “relentless;” did Nielsen feel that way as well?
- 23:53 - Why Nielsen has questioned if Hollywood is a place for women; “you have to know that it’s worth fighting for what you are fighting for.”
- 26:12 - Nielsen revisits her work on Gladiator and needing to convey a lot with little dialogue; why working with Joaquin Phoenix and Russell Crowe was an unpredictable gift.
- 29:55 - The important lesson Nielsen learned while making Gladiator.
- 31:01 - Nielsen offers an update on the Gladiator sequel.
- 33:05 - How Warner Bros. supported Nielsen as a working mother while making Wonder Woman.
- 35:20 - Nielsen explains how Patty Jenkins stopped the Amazons' original, traumatic origin story.
- 38:47 - Nielsen offers an emotional play-by-play of watching Zack Snyder's Justice League evolve.
- 44:21 - What were Nielsen’s expectations for working with Ilya Naishuller on Nobody after seeing Hardcore Henry?
- 45:05 - Watching Bob Odenkirk show off more range and add another layer to his career through this film.
- 46:00 - Is there another layer Nielsen is eager to add to her own career?
- 47:20 - Nielsen teases the mystery behind how their characters met.
- 47:50 - On Odenkirk’s commitment to being a believable action hero hiding inside a “nobody.”
- 48:46 - Random questions begin! Find out the most recent show Nielsen binge watched, the most cherished piece of wardrobe she’s kept from set, the new hobbies she picked up while in lockdown and her biggest fear overcome.