Sky Cinema’s Mass: An Actors’ Journey with Ann Dowd and Martha Plimpton

Premiering at Sundance Film Festival 2021, the Sky Cinema film Mass observes two sets of parents (Reed Birney and Ann Dowd, with Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton) who agree to meet after an unspeakable tragedy in an attempt to move forward. The film follows the parents’ journeys of grief, anger and acceptance by coming face-to-face with the ones who have been left behind.

We’re joined by Ann Dowd to discuss her experiences working on the film. Ann will be in conversation with host, Wendy Mitchell about her the research and preparation for her dialogue-heavy, emotive performance. From reading Sue Klebold’s book and table reads to tips on playing characters with an intense emotional experience, we’ll hear about her journey to becoming Linda.

Mass will be available to watch in cinemas from Thursday 20 January 2021 as well as available on Sky Cinema and streaming service NOW. Attendees will also be offered the option to select a ticket to view Mass. A link and access code will be shared ahead of the event. To receive a screening link, you must book a ticket by 12:00 on Friday 29 October.

Ann Dowd (Linda) Ann Dowd has been gracing the stage and screen for more than 30 years, and was the recipient of the 2017 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as “Aunt Lydia” on Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel. For her work on the show, which will enter its fourth season next year, Dowd has also won a Critics’ Choice Award and was nominated for a Golden Globe award and multiple Screen Actors Guild awards. Dowd also received a 2017 Emmy nomination for her performance as Patti Levin on the beloved HBO series The Leftovers, a role she played for three seasons.

For her work on the big screen, Dowd was the recipient of a Best Supporting Actress award from the National Board of Review for her performance in Craig Zobel’s psychological thriller Compliance. She was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and Critics’ Choice Award for the role. Additional film roles include Hereditary, American Animals, Captain Fantastic, St. Vincent, Marly & Me, Garden State, Flags of Our Fathers and Philadelphia. She will next be seen in Fran Kranz's Mass which is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in 2021.

Other notable TV roles include the award-winning Foxtel series Lambs of God, Olive Kitteridge, recurring roles on Good Behavior, Masters of Sex, Quarry, Nothing Sacred, Judging Amy, Third Watch, Freaks and Geeks and memorable appearances on At Home with Amy Sedaris, True Detective, Louie, Girls, House, Chicago Hope, The X-Files, and NYPD Blue. She has portrayed nine different characters in the Law & Order franchise.

On stage, Ann has appeared on Broadway in The Seagull with Kristen Scott Thomas and Carey Mulligan, Taking Sides with Elizabeth Marvel, and Candidaalongside Mary Steenburgen, as well as notable productions of plays including The Normal Heart, Doubt, and Blood from a Stone.

Martha Plimpton (Gail) An accomplished and Award-winning actress, Martha Plimpton has achieved success across stage, screen and television. Plimpton will next be seen in the HBO Max series, Generation, one of The Hollywood Reporter’s most highly anticipated shows of 2021. 19-year-old Zelda Barnz co-created and co-wrote the half-hour dramedy with mentorship from Lena Dunham, who also serves as an executive producer. The series follows a group of high school students whose exploration of modern sexuality (devices and all) tests deeply entrenched beliefs about life, love and the nature of family in their conservative community.

Additionally, Plimpton stars in the upcoming independent film Massopposite Jason Isaacs, Ann Dowd, and Reed Birney. The film is written and directed by Fran Kranz and takes place in the aftermath of a violent tragedy that affects the lives of two couples in different ways. The film will premiere at Sundance on January 30.

Plimpton was recently seen on the small screen in multiple episodes of Brockmirewith Hank Azaria, NBC’s The Blacklist and Younger created by Darren Star. Prior to that, Plimpton starred in the ABC series The Real O’Neals as well as the FOX comedy Raising Hope. For her work in Raising Hope, Plimpton was nominated for an Emmy® Award for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series” and twice for a Critics' Choice Television Award for “Best Actress in a Comedy.” In 2012, Plimpton won the Emmy® Award for “Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series” for playing attorney Patti Nyholm in the CBS legal drama, The Good Wife. She was also nominated in this same category for her role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2002. Plimpton has also appeared in episodes of Flack, At Home with Amy Sedaris, The Guest Book, How to Make it in America, Fringe, Medium and Grey’s Anatomy.

Plimpton’s numerous film credits include the Disney sequel Frozen 2,The Goonies, Parenthood, Running on Empty, Beautiful Girls, 200 Cigarettes, The Mosquito Coast, Pecker, Eye of God, Small Town Murder Songs, and Hello Again.

On stage, Plimpton recently starred in Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize winning play Sweat at the Donmar Warehouse and The West End and made her London stage debut in Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities at the Old Vic. Sweat was awarded with “Best Play” at the 2019 Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

On Broadway, Plimpton starred alongside Stockard Channing in Pal Joeyfor the Roundabout Theatre Company, garnering her third Tony® nomination in a row, as well as a Drama Desk nomination for “Best Featured Actress in a Musical” and a Drama League nomination. In the prior season, Plimpton starred in Top Girls for the Manhattan Theatre Club and received Tony® and Drama Desk nominations. Contiguous to that, Plimpton appeared in Tom Stoppard's nine-hour trilogy, The Coast of Utopia at Lincoln Center Theater, for which she earned a Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Tony® nomination. Plimpton is the only actor in history to be nominated for a Tony® Award as a featured actress in three consecutive seasons for her performances from 2007 thru 2009.

Other stage appearances include starring alongside John Lithgow and Glenn Close in Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance at the Golden Theatre, in the New York Philharmonic concert of Stephen Sondheim's Company opposite Patti LuPone and Stephen Colbert, Shakespeare in the Park's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shining City, The False Servant (for which she received a Drama League nomination), HurlyBurly, and Lincoln Center Theatre's production of William Shakespeare's Cymbeline. Plimpton is also the recipient of an Obie Award for her performance off-Broadway in Hobson’s Choice at the Atlantic Theater.

Plimpton was a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble from 1998 until 2019. At Steppenwolf she appeared in John Millington Synge’s Playboy of the Western World, Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, Stephen Jeffries' The Libertineopposite John Malkovich, and made her directing debut there with Absolutionin 2001. Plimpton currently serves as a Senior Artistic Associate at The Bush Theater in London.

In 2012, Plimpton co-founded the women’s rights organization A IS FOR, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing women’s reproductive rights and ending the stigma against abortion care. By partnering with and supporting reproductive rights organizations, A IS FOR works at the intersection of the arts and reproductive justice. A IS FOR envisions a world in which every person has access to the full spectrum of reproductive choice. The organization hosts the only annual abortion right-focused fundraiser on Broadway, Broadway Acts for Women, and recently held its first annual Playwriting Contest and One Act Festival, for which Lynn Nottage and Katha Pollitt served on the jury.

Plimpton lives between Brooklyn, London, and Los Angeles.

Wendy Mitchell is a journalist, moderator and film festival consultant. She is a contributing editor at ScreenDaily, where she previously served as editor in chief, and is the editor of the European Film Academy‘s Close-up magazine. She is the Nordic and UK delegate for the San Sebastian Film Festival and a consultant for the International Film Festival Rotterdam – IFFR, Zürich International Film Festival and Zürich Summit and Connext by Flanders Image. In the US, she previously worked on staff at Entertainment Weekly, IndieWire and Rolling Stone.

Event Schedule:

17:55: Please join the webinar waiting room

18:00: Wendy to lead conversation

18:45: Attendee Q&A opens

19:00: Finish

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