Greta Lee Is Officially Ready to Leave Sci-Fi Tech Behind
Even before her big star-making breakout role in Past Lives, Greta Lee had made a name for herself as one of the most versatile performers in the industry, with her roots in the comedy world and key roles in the likes of New Girl and Inside Amy Schumer. Since playing a hopeless romantic in the aforementioned Past Lives, Lee has fleshed out her resume with other memorable roles like a snarky AI in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, a National Security Advisor in A House of Dynamite, and a noble tech pioneer in Tron: Ares. 2026 has been particularly strong for the Emmy-nominated star, with two back-to-back hits with Pixar’s Toy Story 5 and Netflix’s The Last House. Lee is also set to reunite with her House of Dynamite co-star Rebecca Ferguson for the upcoming rom-com, Honeymoon/Funeral.
However, another recent performance from Greta Lee that shouldn’t be overlooked is Late Fame. Starring Willem Dafoe as a former writer who rediscovers his love for poetry when he has a chance encounter with fans of his work. His new friend group leads to him meeting Lee’s character, Gloria, and the two quickly start a surprising relationship that changes both of their lives forever. The film was directed by Kent Jones (Hitchcock/Truffaut) and was written by Samy Burch (Coyote vs. Acme).
Late Fame is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and PVOD, and to help promote the film’s recent release, I had the opportunity to chat with Greta Lee about the critically acclaimed film. Additionally, some of Lee’s other films and shows came up, including her work in Toy Story 5, Tron: Ares, and The Morning Show, all of which have themes of humanity vs. technology. When asked if there was something about that topic that she found particularly interesting, not only did Lee say she wants to start moving away from tech-centric stories, but she also knows exactly which genre she wants to try out next.
“Well, look at the world we live in! Of course it’s interesting; I can’t escape it. I think that is sort of the zeitgeist of the moment that we live in. I, just like everyone else, am asking those questions myself,” said Lee. “The big questions and sometimes scary questions of finding ways to hone in and recenter what it is to be a person. What’s the human experience, and what is human connection in this crazy moment where it feels like everything is tech?” Lee continued, admitting she’s ready to break the mold of her most recent projects:
“I’m trying to think what I can do now that would break that theme. Like a period piece where I’m on a boat, and it’s like the 15th century, and I’m like a horse wrangler? I don’t know, maybe it can swing the other way. There are many different stories that I want to tell. […] I would like to do a Western! And I would be thrilled to not have tech be any part of that at all.”
“I’m trying to think what I can do now that would break that theme. Like a period piece where I’m on a boat, and it’s like the 15th century, and I’m like a horse wrangler? I don’t know, maybe it can swing the other way. There are many different stories that I want to tell. […] I would like to do a Western! And I would be thrilled to not have tech be any part of that at all.”
Four icons and four completely different ways of walking into trouble.
This is the one you would have been out there, why it fits, and what it would have cost you.
You have never explained yourself and you have never needed to,
because people work out fairly quickly that you are the most capable person in the room
without you ever having to mention it.
- Eastwood built the character out of everything he refused to do, stripping away the
backstory, the speeches and every bit of reassurance until only the competence was left. - You keep your own counsel, and while other people occasionally find that unnerving, you
have never felt any real need to fix it for them. - The Dollars films work because he genuinely is in it for himself right up until the
moment he is not, and he never explains that part either. - You would be gone before anybody got a chance to thank you.
You are the funniest person in most rooms and the most loyal
person in all of them, and you would be genuinely insulted if somebody suggested those two
things were in any tension.
- Doc has no real reason to be in this fight beyond the fact that his friend is in it,
which is the only reason he has ever needed for anything. - You lead with wit, and it does a very effective job of hiding how seriously you take the
handful of people you actually care about. - Val Kilmer’s performance is the most quoted in the entire genre because the jokes keep
getting sharper as the situation gets worse. - You would spend everything you had on this and still describe it as a good week.
You never wanted this job, and you took it anyway because the
alternative was standing there watching somebody less careful do it badly, which is the most
Western reason there has ever been.
- Earp is the reluctant authority figure, a man who came to town specifically to be left
alone and somehow ended up answerable for all of it. - You are protective by instinct, so when something goes wrong your first thought is who
is exposed rather than who is to blame. - These films understand that keeping order costs far more than breaking it, and that the
person holding the line almost never gets thanked. - You would do the whole thing again, and you would complain about it the entire time.
Nobody has ever successfully talked you out of something you had
already decided was right, and a long line of grown adults has found that out the hard way.
- Mattie is the most relentless character in the Western canon and she manages it through
argument, paperwork and flat refusal rather than a fast draw. - You have no patience for being managed, so you negotiate, you check the details and you
turn up exactly when you said you would. - True Grit is the rare Western where the moral centre is the youngest person on screen
and every adult around her has to catch up. - You would get what you came for, and the film is honest about what that takes out of
you.
Greta Lee on Working With Willem Dafoe in ‘Late Fame’
Another person who has had plenty of experience with tech-based stories is Norman Osborne himself, Willem Dafoe, who Lee describes as “What I want in a scene partner” in a glowing endorsement of the beloved actor. “He is incredibly present, prepared, bold, giving, and supremely playful, which was so necessary for us,” Lee told Collider. “And I would say specifically for playing the role of Gloria Gardner because I think the idea and vision that I had for her was so fully formed in my mind. In talking to Kent [Jones] as well, I don’t know if I ever felt a character was so vividly alive to me specifically.” Lee continued speaking about her character, saying:
“There is a largeness to her and a performativeness to her and an old-school kind of glamor and style, but all of those things required a person who could be my match. Who could be grounding and meet me in the truth of who Gloria was. I was so afraid Gloria would a sketch of a person, but I knew that underneath all her masks there was a very real and very interesting woman. It was so paramount that I could have someone who would be able to meet me in that truth. And it’s Willem as well. For days, for years, for eternity, I could not love him more.”
</blockquote>“There is a largeness to her and a performativeness to her and an old-school kind of glamor and style, but all of those things required a person who could be my match. Who could be grounding and meet me in the truth of who Gloria was. I was so afraid Gloria would a sketch of a person, but I knew that underneath all her masks there was a very real and very interesting woman. It was so paramount that I could have someone who would be able to meet me in that truth. And it’s Willem as well. For days, for years, for eternity, I could not love him more.”
Late Fame is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and PVOD. For more on Late Fame, check out our full conversation with Willem Dafoe here. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Late Fame
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Ed Saxberger
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Greta Lee
Gloria
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Edmund Donovan
Meyers
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Stephen Badalamenti
Irv
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