In Union Square, a new film co-written and directed by acclaimed director Nancy Savoca, Mira Sorvino and Tammy Blanchard star as two estranged sisters who unexpectedly reunite over Thanksgiving in the Union Square of New York. As Bronx resident Lucy, Sorvino shines in a performance that blends the comic moments she’s known for in such films like Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion and Mighty Aphrodite (for which she won an Academy Award) with a surprising and effective desperation. Blanchard’s uptight, perfectionist Jenny, on the other hand, is a wound-up ball of stress, thrown into a tailspin at the sudden reappearance of her sister in her life.
Filmed in sequence over a span of two weeks and a micro-budget, Union Square is a return to the independent films of the latter part of the last century in which storytelling and performances took precedence. I sat down with both Mira Sorvino and Tammy Blanchard this week to discuss the film.
Blanchard, whose career has included stints on Broadway in Gypsy and, most recently, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (two performances for which she was nominated for a Tony), films like Rabbit Hole andThe Good Shepherd, and an Emmy-winning performance as a young Judy Garland in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, completely disappears into her role as Jenny. In real life, the glamorous New Jersey native is bubbly and charming, the complete opposite of her most recent film appearance. We chatted about working on the film, the emotional byproduct of a small-budget film, and how she learned how to act from watching the best in the industry.
