Are your characters in the book or were they written for the script?

Mary: [Director] Ken Kwapis showed me where [my character] is in the book, but it’s very different. She doesn’t grin maniacally at Robert Redford [laughing].

Kristen: My character Mary Ellen is definitely in the book; I think pulled right from the pages with exact dialogue.

You’re kind of brutal to Robert and Nick. Was it hard to say those things to them?

Kristen: She’s just honest.

How hard is it to get a good role when there are a lot of mediocre parts for women?

Mary: That’s what we’re all hoping for and looking for. This book was around for a long time, so it’s kind of a miracle it did get made. That had so much to do with Robert Redford. That book is so amazing about the environment. There are facts in that book that were shocking to me. It’s a beautiful book environmentally. I’m proud to be a little part of it.

Speaking of non-mediocre work, you were both on 30 Rock. I actually saw one of your episodes [to Mary] recently.

Mary: Someone told me they were running again.

What’s it like working on 30 Rock? I would have loved to have been on that set. Let me live vicariously for a second.

Kristen: The weird thing is how meta it is. It’s a show within a show, it’s hard to get used to who you’re talking to. Is it an extra pretending to be a crew member or is it an actual crew member? That would always catch me off guard. That was my favorite show too and I had always wanted to meet Tine Fey. She’s a hero of mine. I was able to meet her at her level and meet her as a peer instead of as a fan. The fan part of me never went away unfortunately. I’ll get over her. You’ll see.

Mary: It was kind of a shock when they called me. I’d been a fan of the show and they told me that I was going to play Alec Baldwin’s mother-in-law who I have an inappropriate with. I don’t get scared that often in my career anymore, but I was a little scared because I’m such a fan of Tina and the show. They were so welcoming. It was a wonderful environment. The only thing that was hard for me is that I’m southern and my rhythm is very slow.

On 30 Rock, everybody talks fast. I had one day where I kept stumbling over my words because I was trying to talk so fast. They were so adorable about it and I had the best time. I found myself struggling not to laugh during takes. Tina’s just brilliant and on every single, she’d do something a little bit different. They’d rewrite a scene in the middle of the day and make it 10 times funnier. The commitment to making the show great was astounding.

Kristen: It’s true. There are so many jokes in the dialogue that you have to talk really fast to get them all in.

Mary: Yeah! And that’s really hard for me. I had to work at that, but, oh my God, I loved it.

Your son [Charlie McDowell] directed The One That I Love. Ted [Danson] was in it.

Mary: My voice was on the answering machine. I’m hoping in his next movie that I get to be in the background of a shot or something [laughing]. That was his second film and he just shot a pilot for HBO.

Kristen: Maybe he’ll give you little roles like [Martin] Scorsese does for his mother.