Eve Lindley Feels Perfectly at Home in ‘Elsewhere’

AMC’s Dispatches from Elsewhere is a lot of things at once. At its basest level, it’s a funhouse mystery, a story about a group of emotionally adrift people thrown together to investigate the Jejune Institute. Under the surface, though, it’s a complex discourse on human connections, embracing yourself fully as a flawed human being, and exploring your untapped potential. Based on the documentary The Institute, Dispatches from Elswhere is the brainchild of writer, director, and star Jason Segel and features stellar supporting performances from Oscar-winner Sally Field, music legend Andre Benjamin, and breakout actress Eve Lindley.

Lindley’s acclaimed performance in Dispatches from Elsewhere as trans woman Simone has earned raves from critics and audiences since the series premiered in early March. Lindley’s ability to so closely connect with her character is partially due her own background as a trans woman.

Here, Lindley talks about what in Dispatches from Elsewhere appealed to her as an actress. She also talks about the challenges of exploring such emotionally resonant material, particularly since she leveraged much of her experience as a trans woman to create the character. Finally, she talks about exploring romantic relationships as a trans actress through her art.

Awards Daily: What appealed to you about AMC’s Dispatches from Elsewhere when you were exploring it as a potential project?

Eve Lindley: I think there were a lot of things, and it would be sort of impossible to pinpoint just one. But I did like the idea of a “motley crew” going on a journey. I grew up loving the movie The Wizard of Oz, and that was a big influence on this show. When I figured out that the show was influenced by that, I knew this was exactly what I wanted to be doing. It really resonated with me in that moment.

AD: When you came on board, did you work with Jason to flesh out Simone’s episode to ensure that it fully represented concerns and anxieties that a trans person would have or did he have it nailed already?

EL: From the very beginning, all of the scripts were so expertly written. There was never something that was upsetting or uncomfortable. There were a few instances where I thought maybe she wouldn’t say this or that, and it became an organic process. Jason is very receptive to the actors in front of him, so I think some of our changes came from doing the scene to see how it would go.

AD: One of the things I love about the show is how the characters evolve. It forces its characters to explore their inner demons, their insecurities, and their life choices. Was that challenging for you to portray that inner turmoil? 

EL: It’s always a little bit of a challenge to be vulnerable. For me, it’s mostly the crew and the amount of people that are sort of around watching you do these personal, vulnerable moments. Obviously, as an actor, you know there will be other actors, a director, and people watching, but when you’re really there and there are 120 people around, that’s sort of when I get a little nervous. I will say that as the show progressed, I got to know a lot of the crew members and became very comfortable in front of them. It got easier. But my first day or two, I was unsure if I could emote at particular moments because my exoskeleton would come out because I was feeling overwhelmed.

AD: I imagine that Jason, being an actor himself, would sympathize and create an environment conducive to emoting at that level.

EL: Yes, one of the things I said to him was, during the pilot episode, I kept forgetting that he’d never actually directed anything before. It was so seamless to watch him talk to Sally and to Andre and when he would talk to me. Some of my favorite days and moments on this show were directed by him, and I guess that’s probably because he’s an actor. He’s kind of a seasoned vet at 40, which is very impressive.

AD: Talking about a seasoned vet, you walk on set, and there’s Sally Field. What was the experience sharing so many scenes with her?

EL: It was definitely a “pinch-me” moment. For me, I’m good at the audition, and then when I get the job, that’s when I start to get nervous and worry. When I found out that Sally and Richard (E. Grant) were in it, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, what am I going to do? What is happening?’ We did a table read one day, and that’s the day I met Sally. I remember I was a little late to the table read because I was coming from a fitting. As I walked into the building, she was coming out of the bathroom, and we locked eyes and met up. She shook my hand, but before she shoot my hand, she was wiping her hands on her pants. She said, ‘Don’t worry. It’s because I washed them!’ And I knew that I would like this woman, and I could tell that she wasn’t The Sally Field. She was this lady, Sally.

AD: When we first see Simone in the pilot, she’s open to the excitement and wonder of the experience, but later, she becomes increasingly reluctant. Why do you think she starts to regress? 

EL: One of the things that struck me about the pilot and the whole character of Simone… There was this moment where Peter (Segel) says, ‘I was just thinking about how I was so scared and she was having so much fun, and it made me think that her life must be so different than mine.’ I’m sure that most people know that the life of a trans person is filled with fear: fear of rejection from your family, fear of being attacked on the street. There’s a plethora of things that could hurt you as this world isn’t set up for trans people to exist safely. For me, I thought that, when we meet her, there’s no fear there. It took me a second, and then I started rolling with the idea that the game gave her this freedom. She thought it was a game, and in a game, there’s no real danger. She thought it was all fun and not her real life. For me, the pulling back or regressing of Simone was real life seeping in. In the first moment, the game is fresh and new, but then little by little, real life keeps sneaking up on her.

AD: We see that fear and reluctance in the Simone-focused episode where she is hesitant to join the Pride parade. Obviously, that’s written into the script, but were you drawing on personal experiences to realize that moment?

EL: I’m not really a public or large groups of people person. I’m much more comfortable in smaller settings. I’m just a homebody, so I haven’t done too much Pride parade celebrating. I love Pride, and I love the whole month and the fun stuff that normally happens that’s not happening this year, of course. But I definitely related to her getting to a parade that is just utter chaos and then having a total panic attack. That is not something I had to imagine.

AD: The series also explores the relationship between Simone and Peter. As a trans actress, which would you prefer to see explored in art: a man entering into a relationship with a trans woman or you playing a non-trans woman embarking on a relationship with, in this case, Peter?

EL: I think there’s room for both of those things in my future. I am not somebody who doesn’t enjoy playing trans characters. I love exploring that and exploring the intricacies of it. I don’t think it’s done enough. It’s kind of what I predict will be the next trend of trans storytelling that will come. I think to explore the idea that this relationship really should not work… There is no movie or TV show in which a relationship like Peter and Simone’s is celebrated and deemed worthy and not made fun of and not made worthy. The conflict to me was so real. It was such an opportunity to really see the people walk away from each other because the world doesn’t want them to be together no matter how much they want to be together. There’s a lot there that could lead to really rich stories.

I have played characters who are undisclosed cool or quirky girls. I’m sort of a character actress is what we’re called, so I want to play people of all different walks of life and all different personalities. Good people and bad people. I don’t discriminate against the characters too much in that way.

AD: Sure, and to your point, there aren’t enough stories out there about trans relationships. It’s not like we’ve just gotten tired of them because there are so many.

EL: Yeah. Exactly. We haven’t finished telling those stories yet.

Dispatches from Elsewhere is available on AMC.