Its fitting, then, that 2021 was a big year for Hahn, too.
Its bonkers, she bluntly admits.
I can’t even take it in.
Image via Marvel Studios
I really can’t even process it.
It feels like it’s happening to someone else.
Kathryn Hahn Never Thought Shed Be On-Screen
Perhaps her humility is a Midwestern thing.
Image via Disney+
Hahn is thrilled when I tell her Im talking to her from my sisters place in Ohio.
You know Im from Cleveland Heights!
I love telling those stories, she says of the flawed heroines who dominate her filmography.
Image via Disney+
I feel that’s something I’m really proud of if I look back at this last chapter.
The rest of her resume boasts names likeTamara Jenkins,Liz Tigelaar,Nicole Holofcener, and many more.
I always felt like I was not normal growing up, she reveals.
Image via Disney+
There was something about me that made me feel like I didn’t quite fit in.
However, once she started doing theater, everything started making sense.
The only thing I ever wanted to do is be an actor.
Image via Disney+
She ultimately chose the latter, though it wasnt all smooth sailing.
For some people, they come right out of the womb with that.
For me, it definitely took a second.
Image via Disney
I pick up my costumes, Im in control of my props Im very self-sufficient on set.
I think that she is a ham.
I think that she loves performing so much that I felt a very kindred spirit with her.
Agatha Harkness, following the events of “WandaVision,” embarks on a quest to reclaim her lost powers. Teaming up with unlikely allies, including the son of her former enemy, she faces new mystical threats while navigating a complex world of magic and intrigue.
But theres more to Agatha than that bravado alotmore.
I get a bashful smile in response.
I don’t knowwhatis wrong with me, she says before giving credit to creator Schaeffer and her team.
Im an actor that everything is about the director.
That relationship is so paramount.
You have to really trust because you’re really taking a lot of risks.
But Hahn is quick to offer perspective.
Not real risks, she clarifies after a beat.
We know what real risks are.
But emotionally, to be able to hurl yourself into something… it’s a weird job.
I mean, this is all so hilariously relative.
We talk about the stakes or whatever, but we all know what that is.
It’s an interesting business.
Because I feel like Jac Schaeffer gave me an opportunity to do everything in one part.
That’s the dreamiest for me as a performer.
So I do feel it was like a combination of everything I’ve done before.
It feels very right.
Hahn goes on to say that theres something magical about the timing of it all, too.
I couldn’t have played her a decade ago.
Not only does Hahn relate to Agatha, but she also finds her confidence inspiring.
How Did Hahn Fully Embody Agatha Harkness?
Hahn credits the comics with helping her develop this.
That’s my favorite Agatha, Hahn gushes.
He was the assistant forWandaVision, so he’s really baked intoAgathaas well.
The costumes really helped.
There was something in the corset.
Those things, as an actor, just kind of inform you of who this part is.
There were hand-drawn runes on the silk on the inside protection ruins.
It really did feel like a sacred garment.
That was definitely for Daniel and for those amazing seamstresses that worked on it, Hahn admits.
I was like, I gotta give him a twirl because this is too good.
I love the Agatha that’s very ‘from another era.’
The beginning ofAgatha All Alongeven sees Hahn playing Agnes again but with a twist.
In typical Hahn fashion, she makes it look easy, though its anything but.
Shes playing a character whos brainwashed into being adifferentcharacter one who doesnt even know who she is.
Its a unique acting exercise, to be sure, though its one that Hahn welcomed.
It was such a fun challenge to play.
When it starts to really, really fall apart was really fun.
Because you do feel like, What is reality?
Everything is a prism all of a sudden.
She doesn’t know if she’s a human being.
She doesn’t know what is going on.
She thinks for a moment.
It’s always like, Why am I doing this?
That’ll never go away.
If anything, I just love an ensemble.
No one can do it by themselves.
I know from experience.
The feeling that you’re free to do anything.
Because it only makes the scene better.
But Ill tell you Joe Locke?
Didnt have to do any of that.
At others, shes condescendingly calling him her pet and growling about how hes just like his mother.
Hahn recalls him bringing that fiery attitude even during the audition process.
He is so good.
He definitely kept me on my heels.
I was not expecting this beautiful human to have such power and such beautiful eyeballs.
Our chemistry was so rad right off the bat.
That’s an interesting one.
Even inWandaVision, there could be a maternal quality of her to the Scarlet Witch.
I think that there is something lacking that she is longing for.
And that could be a connection with other witches, but there is definitely a hole.
And that could be filled with many things.
Without missing a beat, she recognizes the filthy elephant shes put in the room.
I don’t mean to make it a dirty pun, she flippantly says.
But I also think she does have a soft spot for certain beings for sure.
Yeah, mother-daughters, Hahn quips.
Light backstory to work with.
Turning more serious, Hahn reveals that this trauma was paramount to helping her understand the character.
There’s big, big feelings and big stakes already in there.
Who can get in there, and who can’t, and why?
It’s kind of like the spell at the beginning of the show.
It feels like she’s underneath her own protection spell.
Im visibly impressed by that analogy, and she grins.
Ohh, I just came up with that!
It feels like [Agatha]’s underneath her own protection spell.
It feels so vulnerable once she’s born.
And this, especially, felt like we were in labor for areallong time before we delivered.
I mean, our text chain is just… we’re so excited by it.
We were wondering, like, Who is gonna be more interested in watching it?
And it seems to be such a broad spectrum.
I wanted to know, then, what isHahnconnecting with?
I feel like this chapter of hers has been so exciting to watch.
Hahn describes the relationship between Agatha and Rio as centuries-old and very complicated.
There’s clearly a history there.
To the delight of fans everywhere, their history is revealed early on to be of theromantic variety.
Hahn divulges that to achieve this, she and Plaza kept their distance until it was time to film.
We kind of kept to our corners.
I think if we had tried to talk through anything, it would have been dead theater.
It feels like exactly where we should be right now.
I’m so proud that it exists for audiences that maybe haven’t seen themselves in the MCU.
When I press for details, Hahn pulls up the top of her shirt to cover her mouth.
There definitely was one between us and the producer that we kept adding to as the show went on.
Maybe one day we’ll have to.
She tugs on her collar, fanning herself.
She really was a way in, Hahn says of the latter.
Just thinking of her.
Talk about volcanic rocks….just the best.
Considering Agatha is 350 years old, Im curious as to what Hahn thinksshelistens to.
She ponders this thoughtfully.
I think she loves a really long Wagner, she finally decides.
And then, I think that she also loves a pop song.
I think she would love a rave.
I think she would be really fun to dance with she would definitely be dancing by herself, though.
And I think that she loves a chant.
I think she would loveEurovision.
I think Eurovision, she would be in the front row.
Whats Next for Kathryn Hahn?
I would say I’m an introverted extrovert…or extroverted introvert whatever it is, Hahn divulges.
I like to be by myself.
That was another challenge that I never could have seen coming.
When they asked me, I was like, Yes.
And then, the next day I was like, Why did I say that?
And I was terrified.
But then, I was like, All right I’m just going to fling myself into this.
What’s the worst that can happen?
Again, priorities and stakes.
I had so much empathy for us as interviewees.
It is legitimately terrifying, and there are people who are really, really good at it.
Beyond Kimmels team, she also reveals she found inspiration in an unlikely source Agatha Harkness herself.
It felt like another extension of Agatha, in a weird way.
It felt like something that she would do, and she would be able to slip in totally seamlessly.
Definitely, there was some Agatha in there.
The music training she got forAgatha All Alongcertainly came in handy.
That was so fun!
When I mention the project, Hahn throws her head back and laughs.
The Studiois so freaking fun and a big other swing.
It felt very familiar to me.
It harkened back to when I was doing comedies back in my 30s and that genre.
I mean, Catherine OHara is a goddess agoddess.
I pose the question again, asking what she took from Agatha to get into that role.
Maybe her unawareness, Hahn says.
And also her ability to take over a room.
She just enters a room, and all the walls are just filled with her energy.
Her not giving a shit is what I think I took.
Theres a beat as she realizes she made it an impressive 38 minutes without cursing.
First time I swore in this interview, she recognizes.
Thats good for me.
Usually, it wouldve happened a long time ago.
I suggest maybe its because wed been talking about Catholic school.
There could be a nun listening.
As far as what she physically took?
A lit mushroom from the Witches Road set and a picture from Agnes house.
That I took because I thought it was so rad.
I hope it was a copy.
If not, sorry.
Agnes' house was so witchy, and there are so many Easter eggs in there.
I can’t wait for people to see that again after watching the whole show.
There are so many little things that pay off later.
You cant blame Hahn for resorting to some petty theft here and there.
Surprisingly, I have not gotten that much merch, she reveals.
I bought my own Lego figure!
I bought it for myself, and then I put it together, and it’s on this ledge.
But yeah, it’s bonkers.
Still, the fact shes not getting truckloads of Agatha swag feels wrong.
I suggest that we should write to someone about that so they can hook her up.
Yeah, Hahn agrees.
At the end of this interview, be like, Marvel…Disney…give this woman some merch.
Agatha All Alongis now streaming on Disney+.
