Catherine O'Hara on playing Marilla in new Anne of Green Gables audio drama

Catherine O'Hara has been a household name since the 90s when she played Kate McCallister, the mother in the original Home Alone movies, followed by Beetlejuice, and more recently, Schitt's Creek from 2015-2020, which earned her Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards. 

In her most recent performance, she voices Marilla in the Canadian Audible Original series Anne of Green Gables, which is now available on Audible.ca. Directed by Megan Follows, the 20th-century classic is brought to life in an immersive audio drama, starring Sandra Oh, Victor Garber and Michela Luci.

We caught up with the 69-year-old actress via Zoom to talk about being a part of the Anne of Green Gables cast, her love for the Canadian classic and the next chapter of her career.

What drew you to this project?

I was fortunate enough to be offered the role. And then I got scared [laughs] because it's a beloved story, not just for Canadians, but for people all over the world. I wanted to do it justice. Then I had a lovely conversation with Megan Follows… there's no one who knows more about this story, who feels the story more deeply than Megan, who played Anne for so many years. So I knew right away that I was in the best hands. It was a wonderful, really lovely experience recording this; we got to be in the same studio in Toronto, which was great. There was this young woman who read with me. She read every character opposite my reading as Marilla and it was just the best. The same must be for the actors who read with Victor and with Michela because I listened to the Audible last night and it's so beautiful and we sound like we were together on the farm. But it's amazing, beautifully done. 

I'm surprised to hear that you said you get scared as well. Do you still have that feeling with all projects or is it particularly with this one?

I most often get nervous as soon as I say yes to a job. What if it's not the right thing to do? What if I'm not good? ... But no, in this case, I knew I hadn't made a mistake in accepting the offer. There was a good pressure to do a good job because it is so beloved. It was maybe not quite nerve wracking, but made me more nervous maybe than other projects because everyone knows it already and everyone knows Colleen Dewhurst for one, who I tried to channel as Marilla. All the beautiful actresses that have played this role and nevermind the actresses, it's just what people have imagined Marilla to be when they read the books. I think you can't even try to live up to that, it's all too much. You just have to do your best and thankfully, I had Megan guiding me.

How do you balance between trying to bring a little bit of yourself to the character and make her your own?

The character is so alive on paper. She's so real. I'm not trying to bring myself. I can't help but bring myself. I only have me [Laughs]. I mean, I'm starting with me, but then thankfully I have this wonderful story, this beautifully written character to work with it. And then you know Megan's direction and Megan's knowledge about that period and that world. So I have, of course, been given a lot to work with, but I can't help but bring myself to it. I just denied my own ways of thinking to get into Marilla's head because Marilla is containing so much. I would say bottled up, but it's for survival. Just don't think about what you've been through, don't think of the heartbreaks that she reveals to Anne later in the story. She could have had love in her life and thankfully, she has her brother to keep her from being totally lonely. But she's just getting through in life by working hard, keeping the farm inside and out impeccable, staying out of gossip — just keeping a low profile and doing her work. She lives for her work. She doesn't want to be gossiped about and then this beautiful creature comes and opens her up slowly, but surely.

If every character is a little bit of the actor who plays them, how much of yourself did you bring to Marilla? Especially with how you're describing her feels like you really knew her on a different level trying to unlock that?

You have to, that's your job as an actor, and if I wasn't gonna go that way, Megan would have kept me in line [Laughs]. Every time Megan would remind me about the fixed rules of society at the time and how spirit crushing, in my opinion, they were. It would take me a moment to be like, 'Wow, yeah, people actually thought that way.'  And people still do, who are we kidding? All over the world, this kind of repression and oppression is still going on. God bless us every day. I'm living my fortunate life in North America and was raised by a very cool woman, my mom, and my cool dad, who encouraged us to live the lives we were given. 

I don't think I felt that different from Marilla; she was holding a lot of that in tune. She would reveal opinions here and there because she was safe as she grew to love and she felt safer and safer with her to reveal how she felt about things. I'm talking about women, you know, a girl should get education and find a way to take care of herself and survive in this world on her own in case she needed to, even though every other rule was you find a man to take care of you, which is an evil thing in itself. You could see she was rebellious and she had good strong opinions, and she knew what was right and wrong, but she was in this world and kept a low profile and didn't really reveal what she really thought about the world until Anne opened her up.

In 1985, the miniseries was the most popular program to ever air in Canada. Do you remember watching it and what sort of influence it had on you?

Oh, yeah, of course. Well, I did add an 'E' to my name. And I don't know if it's because of that. My middle name is Anne. And I keep having to remind myself when I look at my passport or something like 'Oh, yeah, the original names, there's no E.' I don't know why I did that. I didn't remember that till today. Yes, I did watch this series, and I was in love with it just like everyone else. I talked about the fixed rules of the day, but it was also genteel and lovely and there's nothing wrong with behaving respectably around others. We celebrate the opposite of that too often now. 

How does storytelling, whether you're doing it on screen or as audio performances, satisfy you creatively as an artist?

It's satisfying because in this case, it's a beautiful, beautiful book and the adaptation is beautifully done. I wouldn't say it's any less satisfying than any other form of entertainment or education. It's just wonderful to be taken into another world and to be allowed to use your imagination at the same time.

You have such an imprint on Canadian cinema and TV, what is the legacy you want with your body of work, if at all. 

I want my kids to love me, that's all [laughs]. Especially in this world now that we live with the commenting. I've always tried to resist what people think of me. But like Marilla, I'll try to behave respectably and I'll be trying to keep a low profile and be grateful. I am just really grateful for the opportunities I've been given. Well, really just getting into Second City in Toronto, when I was still a teenager was the most fortunate thing in the world for me and opened every door since. And then recently getting to work with Eugene, who I met at Second City when I got that first job and to still get to work with him. And then the friends that I met back then. I've been really fortunate. 

What does the next phase of your career look like? 

I do want to keep working. I just did Beetlejuice 2. And I'm going to do, if it still happens, a show with Seth Rogen and his partner Evan in LA, which is funny not to go on location. I think that it's gonna be with Apple. And today, we're gonna go see a movie I did a couple of years ago called Argylle; a big action movie,a Matthew Vaughn movie.