Interview: Kate Mara on the complicated nature of consent in ‘A Teacher’ and if she’ll act with husband Jamie Bell again [VIDEO]

You might know Kate Mara best as Sue Storm in 2015’s Fantastic Four. Or maybe as Heath Ledger’s daughter in 2005’s Brokeback Mountain. Or from her Emmy-nominated work as Zoe Barnes in House of Cards. Whatever it might be it’s all been leading up to her stirring role in FX’s A Teacher, which explores the complexities and consequences of a predatory relationship between Claire Wilson (Mara), a young teacher at a suburban Texas high school and her student, Eric Walker, played by Love, Simon‘s Nick Robinson [interview].

The limited series deftly navigates how boundaries are crossed, and a subtle and dangerous game of grooming begins. The permanent damage left in the wake of Claire’s choices becomes impossible for them, and their friends and family, to ignore.

I talked with Mara about the enormous responsibility of taking on a character like this, the complicated nature of consent, her animal rights activism and whether or not she’d co-star with husband and Fantastic Four co-star Jamie Bell again (where I reveal to her my secret tie with Bell).

A Teacher is currently available to stream in full on Hulu. Kate Mara is Emmy eligible for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Movie and, as an executive producer, Outstanding Limited Series.

Photo: Chris Large/FX

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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