Molly Gordon on Playing the Disarming “Claire” in ‘The Bear’ and Her Return for Season Three

Molly Gordon entered season 2 of The Bear as a love interest for Carmy (Jeremy Allen White). Show creator Christopher Storer could have taken a conventional route from the way that they meet to how their relationship progresses. Instead, he allowed Gordon (as “Claire”) to use her own natural, disarming gifts as an actor to play into their budding romance. Claire drives the relationship, not the man–as would be typical in most productions. In our interview, Gordon reveals how she came to the show, the freedom that Storer and Jeremy Allen White provided her in the part, and the eccentric / disarming personality that she gave to Claire, which is key in her getting Carmy to open up.

And oh yeah, she’s coming back for season three. Cheers.

Awards Daily: The way your character worked in the last season, you really kind of turn the show on its head in a really positive way. You’ve been doing some very good work recently before you took on this part, but how did you get involved in this show? The Bear brings in some pretty heavy hitters to do one or two episodes here or there. It doesn’t seem like an easy place to get into because the quality level is so high and the expectation level is so high. How did you get there?

Molly Gordon: I ask myself that question all the time as I’m here filming again, I can’t believe that I am allowed to be. Everyone is so special (on the set) and deserves to be celebrated, because they do such an incredible job. The crew is on such a high level. I met Chris on a show called Ramy, on Hulu many years ago. I had two days on that show and I was so excited about acting when I worked with him. This is why I wanted to be an actor. It was this electric feeling. The set was so happy. The crew was so alive. There was such a sense of play, yet he was so prepared. So, I just kind of wished that I could work with him again, and he always said to me we’re going to work together again. People always say that, but that never actually happens. I had reached out when the show came out, saying this is my favorite thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m so proud of you. Of course, I would play a dishrag, but also I just wanted to celebrate you, and you are extraordinary. Then he gifted me this incredible creative journey that I’ve gotten to go on. He is a vibes guy, and I feel like he just had a feeling that we would all relate and that Jeremy and I would have a connection. Ayo is one of my closest friends, and she also met Chris on a show many years ago. That was another thing. I think he just loves to bring together like-minded people who aren’t assholes and be creative together. I feel just blessed that he gave me this opportunity.

Awards Daily:I interviewed Holt McCallany for The Iron Claw and, unprompted, he brought up working with Jeremy saying what a committed actor he is. He has this quality that, to me, reminds me of a young Sean Penn. What was it like working with him?

Molly Gordon: He is incredibly committed. He is so supportive. He is such a curious scene partner. He listens, which you won’t find in a lot of actors. I was coming into a show that was already so popular, and he welcomed me in and made me feel a part of it immediately and was just very open. He’s a very open scene partner, and I think we also just got to know each other as people. We were new to each other, so we got to explore that on camera, that kind of curiosity. I felt like it made me step up as an actor in a big way, getting to work with someone like him is like getting to work with the Dustin Hoffman, the Sean Penn, the Meryl Streep of our time. I’m like step the fuck up, Molly. (Laughs). And, it was a gift. I feel like I’ve learned so much from him, and that scene in the market was one of my favorite moments of my life. I just felt so alive. From the way that Chris was directing it, and from what Jeremy was giving me back, it was just the most connected I had felt to someone on camera.

Awards Daily: That scene in the market, which is so well done, feels real. I love the way your character Claire sort of wrong foots him in a way. Carmy has a lot of defenses, and Claire gets through those with a mixture of humor and sweetness. There’s a certain particularness and maybe even peculiarity about her personality that just throws him off, and he can’t be as guarded with her, and it’s immediate. How did that scene play out so that you could sort of feel that sense of play?

Molly Gordon: Having that kind of ease on camera is the hardest thing to do, and it was because of Jeremy’s openness, and Chris just knew that the energy was going to be right. I think Chris knows that I will not let someone hide in a conversation, I’m a very disarming person. I use my humor as a defense mechanism, and I think he knew that in this show that’s very high stress, it was nice to have this breath of humor and pause. I think he knows that I have that as a human, but that I also, like Carmy, need that. I need people to kind of stop me and bring humor into my life. So it felt like I was getting to act out something that I need and also something that I do a little bit. It was really special to get to know that the show is like a moving train and that that scene was like we’re going to stop. You have to have this conversation. He (Carmy) kind of couldn’t look away, and it was the first moment of this sense of calm when he just wants to keep moving. It also felt really romantic. I just feel like the movies that I grew up with and the art that I love has this nostalgic romanticism to it that doesn’t exist that much anymore. I loved that Chris just had the scene about two people reconnecting. The shots were so close and he wasn’t running away from just two people talking.

Awards Daily: Typically needle drops are put into a scene after they are shot, so I’m assuming the REM song “Strange Currencies” wasn’t playing at the time you were shooting it. What was it like watching it back with that song, because it’s so perfect. The music supervisors, I know Chris is one of them, do brilliant work on song selection. Did it feel different when you watched it back to see it all together like that?

Molly Gordon: Yeah. That feels like this weird hymn of Carmy and Claire’s love. Then it becomes an anxious hymn, and a romantic hymn. I thought this song was so perfect for this moment, and I’m such a big fan of theirs. Chris is such a huge music buff and knows so much stuff. He knew The Replacements song was going to play for our kiss and he played that when we were kissing and that was so incredible and felt so electric to know that that was happening. That song just feels like a jolt of energy, but “Strange Currencies” was a surprise.

Awards Daily: I like Monster as an album, but it’s not considered one of REM’s better albums and I feel that they sort of saved that song from obscurity by bringing it in.

Molly Gordon: I feel the same way, and then they made a music video of moments from the show. That’s what’s so cool about putting music in film. It happened like that with that Kate Bush song on Stranger Things, it blew up. It’s surprising that people didn’t know that song, but it’s like welcome to what we all already knew.

Awards Daily: It was really important that your character Claire isn’t just a girlfriend part. Claire has agency of her own. She has a career. We see her at work. I hope this sounds right when I say it, but 20 years ago, the way this would have been played is that the guy would have been trying to get to the girl. You’re the person that’s driving the relationship, and that’s not typically how it worked for a long time. You’re getting around his defenses. Was it particularly special about this character to have somebody who wasn’t just showing up to go on dates, but actually had inner life and a real part?

Molly Gordon: Totally. I mean, the scene where she’s like did you give me the fucking wrong number is so real. It’s kind of an imaginary life on screen that men will just meet us and we’ll go out to dinner. Sometimes you gotta pull them in, men or women or anyone. It takes a little bit of a push, and I loved that it was flipping that gender dynamic. I really was attracted to that and thought that was really disarming. It was fun to do that. Carmy kind of does what he wants in his life, and she’s like I kind of think you want this. I can tell that you want this. You just need a little bit of a push. I loved that I got to play that. Chris and I have talked about the fact that Claire in her life has needed a push, probably in her last relationship, and then you’re the pusher in the next. That’s how it works. You learn that I don’t really want to run from good things, I want to run towards them. What is fear and what is instinct and what is gut, and how do you discover that? Where is someone in their trauma? Are we meeting in the bridge of this moment at the right time for each other or are we not? That’s kind of what Chris is exploring.

Awards Daily: About the fake phone number: A lot of people would be like this jerk gave me a fake phone number, right? They’d ditch. Did you find it difficult to figure out how to get around that, to play a person who would say he gave me a fake phone number, but he’s not getting away with that?

Molly Gordon: I think because Carmy and I have known each other our whole lives, and I’ve known that he’s had a crush on me, I’m like fuck you, dude. Seriously, we’re adults now. I think that allowed for the playfulness. I also think having some goodwill and knowing what he’s been through with Mikey and his life, and then her being into it. Like I have with people I’ve known my whole life and I’ve grown up with, you have this familial kind of negging of each other.

Awards Daily: You were talking about how the show is often very fast paced, and one of the neat things about the show is how it can ratchet way up high, and then slow down. With your scenes, a lot of it is about bringing down the pace. I’m thinking the long car ride to deliver the letter is just like this little mini road movie that breaks out. Carmy is in the car with you, and he’s got nowhere to go. It’s another case of you sort of capturing him and putting him on the spot, so to speak. And then you take him to a party, which is totally not his scene.

Molly Gordon: Chris and Joanna and I had talked about how that episode has a Garden State vibe, and it’s like this bottle of something else, and like he’s never been to a party for so long. The way Jeremy played that line (about having never been to a party) so that you really felt like he was kind of excited and scared. I don’t really feel like she forced. That episode is the first glimpse that he wants to be close to somebody. He just doesn’t know how. That party and witnessing him making those people laugh and the fact that he’s not gotten to enjoy his life and has hidden a lot in his work and hasn’t found that work / life balance, which I actually think is impossible. I don’t think it exists, but I think he does need more joy in his life. I love that that episode was kind of like him getting to go back to college and a regular life, and the fireworks and everything just felt kind of romantic, like this different thing. Then we go back to the restaurant and it’s like back to the mayhem of the usual vibe of the show.

Awards Daily: Speaking of the romance and how romantic the show can be when played out between you and Jeremy, there’s the scene where he takes you to the restaurant as it’s being constructed. There’s a couple of people that are there when you first get there, but eventually it’s just you and him. There’s this shot of you behind the counter that’s like a frame within a frame: the frame of the unfinished construction and then you behind it. The way the camera sits there an extra beat, which is a thing that The Bear does a lot, It’s just so artistic. You have to as an actor say, we’re doing something different here. If the scene hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t know that you’d missed it, but once the scene is there and it’s shot that way, you can’t imagine it playing out any other way.

Molly Gordon: Yeah. That kind of smile, that moment, he plays the reality of it. On a normal TV show, it’s like okay, let’s get this scene done. When you actually have a crush on someone and you’re worried, you’re about to maybe kiss, you’re going to stare at each other for a little too long and it’s going to get uncomfortable. Chris lets that linger. A lot of actors will be like I’m going to go to my trailer for this part, because I’m not on camera. Jeremy just stood there and I just stared at Jeremy all the way. I think we both just felt giddy and this bubbling up of oh my god, they’re going to finally kiss. We got to play out this feeling of knowing someone for my whole life and we’ve always liked each other and now finally we’re going to try this. That frame and that lingering is all of those feelings and Chris and Joanna let that just sit for a second, which was cool to be part of.

Awards Daily: Claire’s heartache at the end when Carmy’s stuck in the refrigerator on his big opening night and he’s talking about you like you’re not in the room, because he doesn’t know you’re in the room. There’s this tension between him and his partner, played by Ayo, about is it good? Can you have a relationship and run a restaurant? Is Claire in the way is the question. Carmy, in this moment of terrible frustration, says these things not knowing you’re out there and that you hear. Maybe he’d take them back in 20 minutes, but because of the timing and everything. The pain was so immediate, and it was like your character had to extricate herself.

Molly Gordon: I feel connected to that. We’re talking about flipping these gender roles. A woman doesn’t have to beg someone to be with them. If this is how you feel, and if you feel like I don’t deserve to give happiness, and I don’t deserve to take happiness, then you have a lot of work to do, and I hope that that brings us back together. But also, you have to figure that out. And I think knowing him his whole life, Claire in that moment was feeling sadness for herself and sadness for Carmy. It’s just so sad that he’s in that place. Then, as an actor, I feel so connected to what Carmy’s going through. I struggle with that every single day. We’re talking about work/  life balance. It does not exist. I think Chris’s decision to have that moment of her taking that in, and then that moment with Ebon is really beautiful to me, her still just being really happy for them. This is a huge accomplishment, and her needing to leave and then staying with Carmy for that. Him in the fridge is one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s such an insane metaphor, and we’ve all been in a fridge in some way in our life. I thought that was just such a sad and epic way to go out.

Awards Daily: So, you are indeed in season three?

Molly Gordon: I’m here shooting season three, so yeah. It will be fun. I’m playing a completely different character, no I’m not. (Laughing).