Julia Louis-Dreyfus' new film 'Tuesday' explores death and grief: NPR

Julia Louis-Dreyfus has spent her career making us laugh – as a cast member Saturday evening liveas Elaine Benes continues Seinfeldand like Selina Meyer further Veep. In a surprising twist, her new film, Tuesdayis a meditation on death – and the stages of grief along the way.

“I hope it will promote conversations about these issues, some of which are very difficult to talk about,” she said. Morning edition host A Martinez. “How to deal with these big things that happen to all of us. And yet we don't really like to think or talk about it.”

Louis-Dreyfus plays Zora, the mother of a terminally ill daughter named Tuesday (played by Lola Petticrew). Zora struggles to come to terms with the inevitable. She refuses to involve her daughter in the subject of death and even hires a full-time nurse to care for her – an expense Zora struggles to afford – to avoid having to suffer on Tuesday.

But Death arrives in the form of a giant macaw (voiced by Arinzé Kene) to take her daughter away.

Tuesday left, played by Lola Petticrew, and Death in Tuesday.

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When Zora meets the bird from the outside, her denial sharply turns to anger and bargaining as she furiously searches for ways to buy her daughter more time. “I don't know what I am without you, who I am without you,” Zora tells her daughter.

“I was immediately drawn to the script,” said Louis-Dreyfus. “The themes of the bond between parent and child, the themes of grief, loss, denial, death – these were interesting ideas. And then the fact that these kinds of shape-shifting macaws exist, [this] alien representation of death, I thought, 'Whoa, this is a crazy city!'

Louis-Dreyfus realizes that a film about death is not quite what fans expected from her comedic work. “There's comedy in everything,” she said, just before sharing a very personal example.

“When my late father was dying, we were in the hospital. I remember a woman came in with a bowl of cheese, crackers and salami. I mean, one enormous dish as if you were having a party for 50 people. And I said, 'Oh, this can't be for us.' It was just me and my dad there. And she says, 'Oh no, when this happens (pointing to my father, who is about to breathe his last), this is what we do.'” She laughed at the memory. “I will never forget it.”

Louis-Dreyfus reminds us that even in our darkest moments, “there is a cheese plate to look forward to.”

Watch the trailer here:

The audio version of this story was produced by Nina Kravinsky. The digital was edited by Obed Manuel.