Claire Danes goes topless, discusses “Homeland” role

In the latest issue of Interview Magazine Claire Danes goes topless and talks with Dustin Hoffman about her Homeland character Carrie Mathison (but not at the same time.)

“I’d actually only done one series before Homeland and I was 14 when I did it, and we only made 19 episodes (My So-Called Life) so Homeland has really been my first time aging with a character and experiencing her develop and change.”

Claire says there was a lot of similarities between herself and Angela Chase from My So-Called Life, but that isn’t so with Carrie. “I was the same age as the character,” she said of Angela. “There was an incredible symmetry between us-unlike Carrie Mathison, who in no way resembles me. I would be the worst case officer on the planet. I am so ill-suited to Carrie’s vocation.”

Claire also had to research bi-polar disorder, especially manic episodes, to be able to accurately capture what Carrie is going through. Dustin Hoffman did some similar research to portray a man with autism in 1988’s Rain Man. The big difference was that Dustin had to go visit people in their homes and hospitals to study their behavior, while Claire pored over YouTube video diaries people made while in a manic state.

She also hopes to take a break from Carrie every now and then. “I would really like to play another character to deviate from Carrie for a second just because I’m starting to think that acting is this, and while this is one of the most fulfilling expressions of acting that I’ve found, it’s not why I do it. It’s not it,” she said. “I think I’d appreciate her even more if I could take a little vacation from her and inhabit somebody else for a while.”