Warning: This post contains spoilers for Episode 2 of Euphoria.
Much to the delight of Euphoria fans, Martha Kelly returned in Season 3 to reprise her role as Laurie, the home-bound drug dealer with a sleepy disposition. Her backstory is as disturbing as the way she ensnares Rue into a life of crime: Laurie’s a former college athlete who started taking painkillers and now peddles drugs to support her ongoing habit.
Speaking with Gold Derby, Kelly — who had her breakout role in the FX series Baskets — talks about her decision to play Laurie without expressiveness, and whether Rue’s debut is forgiven now that Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) now owns her former drug mule.
Gold Derby: Laurie actually yelled in this week’s episode! That’s a first for your otherwise droll character. Was there a lot of discussion over whether Laurie would raise her voice during her phone call with Alamo? It’sthe first time we’ve actually heard Laurie lose her cool.
Martha Kelly: I don’t think we talked specifically about me raising my voice. We just did several takes, and some of them were angry, and some of them were cold and controlled anger. We did a lot of takes because [Euphoria creator] Sam Levinson asked us to improvise. The one where I yelled is the one they went with, which I think is good.
Were you asked to improvise a lot during Season 2?
No. I do know that we changed and cut some lines, which I always love. There was one part in Season 2 when Rue comes to Laurie’s house. She’s in withdrawal, and Laurie’s getting her hooked. There’s a long speech that Laurie gives about her background, and I remember Sam saying: “You know, maybe we can kind of tweak this and make it a little shorter.” I was like, “I think we can make it a lot shorter because my natural inflection — I don’t know if that’s the word — is to speak in a monotone voice, even when I try hard not to.” So, a long piece of dialogue for me is not that great for the pace of a scene.
When you originally cast, was Levinson specifically looking for someone with that kind of monotone delivery?
I first learned about the part in 2019, and we didn’t shoot until mid-2021 because of the pandemic. My manager said: “Sam’s writing a villain for Season 2 and he wants you to do it.” He probably already had in mind the way that I talk, and I think he also knew people when he was younger who were mild-mannered, but dangerous. I don’t think that he technically wrote the part for me, but he already had in mind how scary it would be to have a soft-spoken, even-keel villain.
Your delivery makes you even more intimidating and scary.
That that’s the smart thing about Sam’s writing. It can be very scary to deal with a calm person who intends to hurt you, which she clearly does.
Speaking of that Season 2 scene where you put Rue in the bathtub: Was Laurie trying to genuinely help her with the morphine shot or get her addicted to something else?
I think she was trying to get her addicted onto injectable drugs. She had a suitcase full of a bunch of other stuff. She lied and said, ‘I don’t have anything except injectable morphine.’
Is Laurie still an addict herself?
I think that she is still addicted, yes. That was the reason that she and her common-law husband Bruce (Melvin Estes) were passed out in that episode when Rue escapes their house. The implication is that Laurie has a chronic pain issue and stayed addicted. That’s why her affect is so flat, and why she made the terrible decision to give a suitcase full of merchandise to a teenager to sell who she knew was also a drug addict — and then passed out and let her escape.
Goodness, why did she trust Rue?
I should have asked Sam about this. I’m not good about asking for motivation because of the pace of shooting. In my defense — not that anyone but me is criticizing me! — but the pace of shooting was so fast that I didn’t want to slow anything down by asking questions unless I had to. But I should have asked him, “Does she give Rue the suitcase because she hopes to ensnare Rue, or does she do it partly because Laurie herself is high and careless?”
It seems like it’s the latter.
I think it does make more sense. Even if you wanted to entrap a kid into selling them into human trafficking, you wouldn’t risk $10,000 worth of your merchandise.
Are you surprised at how much you’ve learned about narcotics during this experience?
I was surprised to learn about what drug mules do. What I had pictured is that maybe they get a large bag or balloon of drugs and have it implanted. I had no idea about the process they showed this season, swallowing all those little balloons. I did not know that’s how they did it, and I didn’t know the gross way they had to get them out. That was so horrific, but such great acting by Zendaya and Chloe Cherry. It was a stark reminder that Laurie doesn’t care about anyone’s wellbeing because she’s forcing Rue to do that.
Did Levinson warn you that you were going to see some crazy stuff unfold in Laurie’s apartment during Season 2?
The great thing for me is that I when they did the scene with everyone taking their clothes off in the kitchen and people getting hit, my character is in the living room, so I don’t see any of it. But I did hear them all getting beaten up, especially Chloe, whose head was pushed into the wall for many takes. Of course, it was a collapsible wall, so it’s not like she was really getting hurt, but it sounded real. It was intense and unpleasant to hear people getting hit, but I didn’t see anybody naked, which I was relieved about. That will never be me.
God bless Sydney Sweeney, too. She’s very comfortable taking her clothes off.
There’s nothing wrong with it if you have a beautiful body and you want to let people look at it. Matthew McConaughey famously took his shirt off all the time in movies when he was younger. Good for them. They’re beautiful.
Let’s talk about the conversation with Alamo and how he ends up obsessing over Laurie’s use of the word “pig.” That exchange was funny, considering how heavy the subject matter is in this show.
There are parts that are supposed to be funny. Sam has a great sense of humor. There was one day toward the end of shooting where I asked him if I could try an alternate line to make it funny. He almost always says ys to that stuff; he’s very open to and supportive of actors saying, “Can I try this or try that?” I did say, “I don’t know why I’m always trying to make this into a comedy.” And he said, “Well, it is also a comedy.” He intentionally wants there to be humor to break the tension of how heavy the subject matter is.
So now that Alamo has bought Rue, does this mean her debt to Laurie is forgiven?
I don’t think that Laurie is the kind of person who would ever just let anybody forgive their debt. My assumption is that Laurie feels something has been stolen from her and she’s angry about it, so I don’t think she thinks the debt is forgiven.
Will we see Laurie again this season?
Yes.
How was it working with the pig?
I loved her. Her name is Maple, and everybody loved that pig. She’s gigantic, and I did not know how big she would be before they brought her in. The first take was what went into Episode 2. I found out how gentle and very much like a dog Maple is; she’s so good with dealing with the annoyance of being pushed and yelled at in a scene.
What’s the reaction been like to Laurie’s return?
Well, I live on TikTok! I’m terminally online, and it has been great. I don’t know why the Euphoria fans like Laurie, because she’s such a terrible person, but they’re so nice and supportive. My TikTok following has gone up by 50,000 followers since the Season 3 premiere, which is crazy.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity
