Laura Dern reflects on her role in Bradley Cooper's new film Is This Thing On?, drawing parallels to her past collaborations with David Lynch. The actress opens up about a year marked by profound grief, including the deaths of Lynch and her mother Diane Ladd. She emphasizes the film's themes of intimacy and loss while advocating for the theatrical experience.
Laura Dern began shooting Bradley Cooper's Is This Thing On? this year, finding her dynamic with the director reminiscent of her work with David Lynch, who cast her in Blue Velvet nearly 40 years ago. Cooper operated the camera himself, much like Lynch, creating a raw partnership. "People might think, appropriately, that this would be the first time I’d have had the experience of the director being the camera operator," Dern says. "But I’ve been lucky to have that experience firsthand [repeatedly], in a very raw way, where your director becomes your partner."
Lynch, a longtime collaborator on films like Wild at Heart, Inland Empire, and Twin Peaks: The Return, died just before filming started. "It was a very tender, heartbreaking time," Dern admits. "I feel like I’m still just at the beginning of it." This loss compounded Dern's grief in 2025, a challenging year in Los Angeles, where she was born and raised. January brought Lynch's death and wildfires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Last month, her mother, Oscar-nominated actor Diane Ladd, died at 89 by Dern's side. Recently, the killings of Rob and Michele Reiner, with their son Nick charged, added to the city's sorrow.
"Literally, my kids are in this house like it’s the countdown to Christmas, but it’s just for getting to the end of this year," Dern says with a weary laugh. On processing these events, she notes, "I just haven’t gotten there yet — I haven’t let myself be in it yet." Yet, she finds solace in the film's focus on intimacy, grace, longing, and grief. "This was my first opportunity and blessing to be part of a movie that I knew Rob Reiner had gifted us," she explains, praising its balance of truth and hope.
In the film, Dern plays Tess, a separated spouse who stumbles upon ex-husband Alex (Will Arnett) performing stand-up about their breakup. A silent reaction scene highlights her nuanced performance, captured intimately by Cooper. "It takes a filmmaker who wants to not only hold on an actor’s face, but let the actor in real time catch up with themselves," Dern says.
Dern met Cooper a decade ago and collaborated on A Star Is Born and Maestro. With Arnett, they vowed vulnerability. The modest character study arrives amid box-office struggles for adult dramas. "We’ve all become desensitized by fireworks, maybe," Dern observes, urging theaters as vital for shared experiences. "What worries me is the noise of, ‘I guess people are just only watching it at home.’"
This marks Dern's biggest onscreen year since 2019's Oscar for Marriage Story, Little Women, and Big Little Lies season two. Her 2025 role in Jay Kelly, a Netflix film with George Clooney, continues her Baumbach ties. On Netflix's potential Warner Bros. acquisition, she hopes it preserves theatrical releases. "I’m deeply hopeful that with the news at hand that what can come from it is a trust in cinema."
Dern, 58, reveres filmmaking, recalling a set moment with Cooper: "He’s staring at me through the lens, and I’m looking at him, and we’re waiting through this moment, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, it’s you and me and we’re doing this.’" Behind the camera, she co-created Enlightened, developed Palm Royale and Tiny Beautiful Things. With her child now at NYU, directing beckons. "God knows I know how much there is to learn as a filmmaker, so I would never do it unless I believe that I was the person to tell the story," she says.
