Credit her keen observation of real life for the perfection with which Catherine O’Hara portrays vain and narcissistic characters. In Time magazine’s recent profile on the comedic actor, writer Judy Berman thoughtfully connects and contrasts O’Hara’s iconic, outsize roles on film (“Home Alone,” “Beetlejuice,” “Best in Show”) and currently on the TV series “Schitt’s Creek.”
Compared to the histrionic, snobby matriarch of a family who lost their fortune and moved to the titular podunk town (which they actually own), Berman found her interviewee O’Hara to be “warm, self-deprecating and animated without being effusive.”
Helping to explain why and how O’Hara uses her observational skills to inform her acting, Berman notes, “She seems happier carrying on a reciprocal conversation than talking about herself.” [Bold italics added for emphasis!]
O’Hara is not a fan of social media; she’s disturbed by the appropriation of “followers.” She values the town-square style of interaction central to life in “Schitt’s Creek,” offering, “It’s a nice example of how we should behave in this real world.”
O’Hara, 65, exudes wisdom, confidence and other “remarkably human qualities,” Berman writes. Self-effacing, perhaps being among her best, O’Hara humbly admits she’s not immune to the self-obsession of her profession and this era: “I love the idea that human beings — including me, right now and always — think they can control the impression they make.”
