What drew Kate Mara to play a teacher who seduces a student?
Kate Mara spent a long time waiting to hear that the FX on Hulu drama A Teacher, which she starred in and executive produced, was a go-project. When the call finally came, however, she had to inform the powers-that-be that she was in the family way. The dark limited series, based on creator Hannah Fidells 2013 indie film of the same name, is about a married thirtysomething schoolteacher who engineers an illicit relationship with one of her students (Nick Robinson). We had to schedule around me having my child, says Mara, who, when she first started talking to Fidell and producer Michael Costigan, about expanding the movie into a 10-part series, probably never imagined shed be filming intimate sex scenes while tending to an infant, including frank discussions with her co-star about feeding time. We were very open about it on the set, says Mara. Sometimes Id be in the middle of a very emotional scene and Id be like, Uh oh. We had to do chemistry reads with me nine months pregnant, which is very awkward. We have tapes of me reading with a couple of different, really great, actors. I look ridiculous, fully pregnant, and theyre trying to avoid looking at my baby bump. But thats how it happened. It was a whirlwind. We only had two months to shoot the entire series. It was crazy. Advertisement  Kate Mara as Claire Wilson in A Teacher. (FX)  [There were] a lot of women working behind the scenes on this show. I had the baby on set with me every day and was breastfeeding between takes. I definitely wouldnt have chosen the timing. I wanted to be cocooned in a house with my child. But I felt so much support from our director, producer and DP. I knew I was going to be taken care of. Ive always been fascinated by the real-life stories of a student/teacher [relationship]. Not really the headlines, but more how and why it happens, from a teachers point of view. I think for a lot of people, its really hard to wrap your head around that. As an actor, Im always looking for things that I find hard to connect with. I want to explore human emotions, people who have different mind-sets than you do, but who you also relate to in some way. We wanted to make her not just the villain. We wanted people to connect with her on a human level. Its a human desire to be seen, not just romantically speaking. That was something that I was really holding on to when we were building her backstory and sort of who she was today, and why she ends up in this predicament, why she makes these horrible choices. At 6-foot-1, Nick Robinson towers over you. One hundred percent. This was actually a part of our pitch. Whenever youd see [a newspaper story], thered be a picture of the teacher and one of the student. Of course, there are different scenarios, but almost always they look the same age. Im really tiny. Most guys are taller than me. So that wasnt very difficult. We thought, If we can visually have them look not far off [in age] it does do something very odd to the human brain. You go, Oh, is this OK? Obviously, its not. Theres a serious abuse of power happening. But its interesting what happens to peoples thoughts when [they] get confused visually. Advertisement  As an actor, [casting] can be a frustrating experience. You get feedback where theyll say things like, You were so good, and [talk about] how it was so hard for them to not cast you. And you roll your eyes and think, Thats a really stupid thing to say when youre not hiring me. I dont even want to hear that. But being behind the scenes, watching all these great actors audition for roles, I can appreciate how hard it can be. There are so many great actors and people bring different qualities to the roles. Its the greatest compliment ever when SNL does a parody of your work, says Kate Mara of the sketch shows take on A Teacher. (Kirk McKoy/Los Angeles Times)  Talk about the Saturday Night Live sendup where the teacher rolls her eyes at her students attempts to woo her. That was so exciting. We were all, like, screaming. Its the greatest compliment ever when SNL" does that. Kristen Wiig and I are friendly and I texted her immediately. I think she probably had other things going on, like her kids. [laughs] I think she genuinely was like, I dont know. I just didnt think of it.