Kate Mara discusses her new series, ‘The Bachelorette’, and her work saving the Chimpanzees
The actress also revealed what game day is like for her opposing NFL families.
Actress Kate Mara is starring in a new series called ‘A Teacher’, and sat down for a virtual interview on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres’ Showto discuss her new show, her obsession with watching ‘The Bachelorette’, and her amazing work she does with her sister Rooney Mara for the Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection organization to help orphaned chimpanzees. In addition, she revealed what game day is like for her NFL family.
Mara spoke to Ellen about her latest miniseries, ‘A Teacher’, in which she portrays the role of Claire Wilson. Mara described the show to Ellen as “a teacher who has a very inappropriate and illegal relationship with her students. The season sort of follows the consequences of those terrible choices.” As Ellen points out, “there’s a lot of sex happening” in the show which made it a proud but ‘complicated’ moment for Mara’s parents Timothy and Kathleen Rooney.
The actress explained, “you know, my parents are so sweet, they want to be supportive and watch the show. I just told them they’re going to have to fast forward through some things. But you know, that sort of eliminates a lot of the show.” Mara continued and said that when they talk on the phone they’ll say things like, “’Yeah, we only had to fast forward four times tonight,’ but that literally leaves probably 10 minutes left of the show - so yeah, it’s complicated for them.”
Ellen then took the convo from awkward sex talks with your parents to good old fashioned football. Mara is related to the owners of two of the NFL’s most venerated franchises, the New York Giants and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Her mother’s great-grandfather Art Rooney founded the Steelers and her fathers great-grandfather Timothy Mara founded the Giants.
For people who actually understand the NFL - this is a big deal. Ellen was curious and wanted to know how game days are in the family. “Its, complicated,” Mara joked. “If everyone’s winning, then it’s really happy. But you know, at the beginning of the season, it was pretty dark for the Giants. And now, all of a sudden, we’re in first place, which is completely mind blowing. But it’s a stressful situation, you know, constantly. But, it’s also really amazing, because, you know, someone’s most likely going to win, right? One of the teams is going to win.”
Mara also revealed that she is apart of ‘Bachelor Nation” and is a fan of ‘ABC’s The Bachelorette’. Something that Ellen said she just can’t devote 2 hours of her life to watching anymore. Mara agreed, “yeah, two hours is a lot of the time. I agree with you. The first hour is kind of exciting and I also fall asleep at 9. So it is a long time.” Ellen joked and said every year she tells herself she isn’t going to watch it but gets sucked in. “I’m mad at myself and I feel badly about who I am as a human” Ellen joked. Mara laughed and agreed, “Oh my god, I feel exactly the same way… we should start a support club.”
Mara isn’t just wasting 2 hours of her life every week watching the Bachelorette every week and has been involved with a great organization that protects chimpanzees. Mara explained that she and her sister and fellow actress, Rooney went to visit Liberia a few years ago “to see the situation there” where her friends were staying and overseeing the care of more than 60 chimpanzees there who had been abandoned after being used in research. Mara explained, “so our friends there are trying to build a bigger, better, sanctuary. And so my sister Rooney and I have been very involved in trying to raise money to give these orphans the best life that they can get.”
‘A Teacher’ is available now on FX and on Hulu with new episodes every Tuesday
