Lola Petticrew on Starring With Julia Louis-Dreyfus in ‘Tuesday’

When Lola Petticrew first read the script for Tuesday, a heart-wrenching, fantastical movie about a mother and daughter learning to confront death, they fell in love with the titular role because it was unlike any part they’d been up for before. It was only after being cast that the Irish actor (Wolf, She Said) learned they would be starring opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in the role of their character’s mom. “I watched Seinfeld growing up of course, and I loved Veep, but I also spent a year of drama school obsessively watching SNL,” Petticrew, 28, says over Zoom from their Belfast home. “And Julia was my hero.”

The gig of a lifetime grew more enticing (and surprising) after the cast and crew arrived in London. “I’m not sure where the wires got crossed, but I thought this was another really small independent film like the ones I’d been doing,” explains Petticrew. “We were all out for sushi and the producers kept bringing up A24. I was like, ‘Why do you guys keep talking about that studio?’ And they said, ‘Because this is an A24 movie.’ I choked on an avocado roll.”

In director Daina O. Pusić’s film, due out June 14, Petticrew plays a terminally ill teenager who is visited by a mystical talking bird who acts as a sort of grim reaper, while Louis-Dreyfus’ character tries to keep it at bay. The shoot called for Petticrew to sometimes act opposite “bits of tape on a stick” (filmmakers added the CGI bird in post) and to breathe in a state of near-hyperventilation in order to replicate their character’s illness. “This was my first job where I had a hard time not taking it home with me,” says Petticrew. “I would go into panic attacks because of my breathing, and my body would stay in that fight-or-flight. I learned how important it is to leave work at work.” Pandemic precautions (production took place in 2021) kept Petticrew from meeting Dreyfus until the first day of rehearsal, but they say their reverence for the actress made it easy to fall into the rhythm of mother and daughter. “The first day, I remember we talked for a bit and then I went outside to the balcony for a cigarette and she told me off for it,” Petticrew says with a laugh. “I don’t smoke anymore — maybe that’s the reason.”

Later this summer, Petticrew will star alongside an ensemble of fellow buzzy Irish actors in the FX adaptation of Say Nothing, author Patrick Radden Keefe’s exposé about the 30-year-long saga of violence in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles. Getting the job was a major coup; Petticrew felt a deep personal connection to the material, and wrote a long letter about why they felt they were best for the part — although, unbeknownst to them, they already had locked in the role. “I was a cease-fire baby; I felt like I’d be able to be a voice of somebody who was from the region,” says Petticrew. “When I started auditioning, I went to a coffee shop to read it and eventually had to leave because I just kept sobbing. After that, I was like, ‘I’m not going to not get this job.’ ” The show hits screens during a period of Irish domination in Hollywood — Petticrew is following in the footsteps of Cillian Murphy, Jessie Buckley, Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan, and says they, too, can feel something very exciting happening in the country. “Maybe we owe it all to the Derry Girls,” adds Petticrew with a laugh.

This story first appeared in the June 5 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.