Since breaking out as the unofficial muse of Canadian auteur David Cronenberg, Sarah Gadon has done a little bit of everything — multiple Canadian indies, a Spiderman movie, and last year’s critically acclaimed Alias Gracemini series, which nabbed her a Canadian Screen Award for best performance. Up next, the Toronto-born 31-year-old will appear in the new season of True Detective (beginning January 13), playing a true crime reporter opposite Mahershala Ali. It’s yet another interesting career move from an actor who isn’t up for the typical “pretty girl” roles. In advance of the show’s premiere, Gadon spoke with Refinery29 about how True Detective changed TV, her wack New Year’s Eve wellness ritual, and why even celebrities suffer from Insta-envy.
I follow you on Instagram, so first thing’s first: Can you explain why you spent NYE in an ottoman?
Ha! We were at a dinner party at a friend’s place in Vancouver. It was actually his parent’s house, and he told us about this game that he played growing up where everyone in his family would get into the ottoman. So we decided to do it, but with a New Year’s theme, so you had to get in, we closed the ottoman for 10 seconds, and then you had to burst out and yell what your focus of the new year was going to be.
That’s some X-treme wellness. As a Toronto person, I have to say it sounds very Vancouver.
It is totally the most Vancouver thing you could ever do. It was like a re-birth. It was actually really fun.
What did you yell out?
“Year of the breath: never shallow, always deep.” That was my tagline. I’ve been focusing on breath in my work for the past year, so this is about carrying it into my life.
Meaning like, slow down, take time to breath?
In a personal context, yes. In work, I started studying with Lindy Davies a couple of years ago who is an acting coach. She does a lot of breath work. I trained as a dancer for most of my life and the breathing in dancing is completely different than with acting, so I basically had to retrain my body to breath from my diaphragm. It helps you to remain present and manage emotion.
Continue reading Sarah Gadon’s Super Simple Cure For Insta-Envy & The Best Part Of Starring In ‘True Detective’ Season 3