Allison Janney on Becoming an Action Hero in 'Lou' and What Makes a Great Awards Acceptance Speech

Allison Janney found that depending on the person and location, people want to talk to her about different projects .

"Sometimes a person approaches me and I'm sure they're part of the 'west wing' but they say 'Drop Dead Gorgeous' is their favorite movie," the 62-year-old actress says. "Or I'll think they're about to talk about 'Mom' and they saw me in 'A View from the Bridge' on Broadway. It's really funny that people know all these different things. "

Yet after so many iconic roles, Janney still finds she can do new things at home. 'screen. For example, her latest film, "Lou," now available to stream on Netflix, finds her playing an action hero. Not only that, she's the lead role in the film - something she didn't realize until an interview with Variety.

"That's funny, I hadn't thought of that," she thought to herself. "But to be honest, I always think about working on things together as a group team effort anyway, so even though I was number one on the call sheet, it's a whole thing. - the whole game is."

Janney plays the titular "Lou", a mysterious loner who prefers the company of his dog to people and lives a quiet life in the woods. As a storm rages one night, her tenant and neighbor Hannah (Jurnee Smollett) comes to see her after her daughter (Ridley Bateman) is kidnapped by the girl's father (Logan Marshall-Green.) Only then Hannah ( and the audience) begin to learn more about Lou's past - and exactly what she is capable of.

This is an action-packed adventure from director Anna Foerster who never lets up on surprises . Janney was more than happy to play the physical role.

"I really want people to have fun and have a good time and watch these women giving kicking ass," she said. "And being the lead in a movie at 62 and an action hero? Come."

When they first sent you the script, did they give you an idea of ​​the type movie it was, or did you read it and realize you had to be an action hero?

When I read this I thought: this is exactly what I was looking at do - something completely different and with action. I love the character. I like the fact that she is a woman with few words and a lot of action. She's pragmatic and enigmatic and something completely different to me. And then I met Anna who said to me, "Are you ready to mess with me?" And I was. After I got the pear, there was a moment when I was like, "How can I get out of this?" But I was glad I didn't.

This came to me from Bad Robot, J.J. Abrams' company. I love J.J. and have always wanted to do something with his business. And that was such a cool start for me. Learning these fight sequences was like learning a dance. In some ways, I felt more comfortable doing them because they were so rehearsed. It was extremely fun.

How did you physically prepare for the role? Do they send you to some kind of spy school and teach you how to shoot and fight?

My grandfather used to shoot skeet so I held guns before. And I was an athlete. What I learned for this film is to fight hand to hand. Our fight trainer was Daniel Bernhardt, who had just worked with Bob Odenkirk on “Nobody”. I did it three hours a day and ended up loving it. I'm ready to do more.

I'm happy because I would love to see you as a Marvel hero or the next James Bond.

Love the way you think! I would like to be an action hero. How great would it be to see a woman in her 60s as a superhero? That's what I loved about this movie – it shows someone that age who is also incredibly capable, strong and fierce. And that's the story I want to tell more - more women who can lay down and take care of themselves.