Sharon Horgan is currently starring in the true-crime drama The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, also starring Grace Van Patten, which is now streaming on Hulu. A prolific actor, writer, director and producer, she created and starred in the award-winning Apple TV+ comedy thriller series Bad Sisters, created and showran the HBO comedy series Divorce, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, and is best known for her multiple award-winning sitcom Catastrophe, which she co-wrote and starred in with Rob Delaney. She has also received two BAFTA Award nominations and two British Comedy Awards for her iconic BBC show Pulling, which she co-wrote and starred in. On the big screen, Horgan recently appeared alongside Nicolas Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, was the female lead opposite James McAvoy in the Stephen Daldry-directed film Together, and starred alongside Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman and Kyle Chandler in the hit comedy Game Night. (Photo courtesy Apple TV+.)
Three Great Things is Talkhouse’s series in which artists tell us about three things they absolutely love. To mark the August 20 release on Hulu of the new true crime series The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, starring Grace Van Patten, Sharon Horgan and John Hoogenakker, the beloved Irish actress, writer, director and producer shared some of the things she loves most. — N.D.
Running
I started running about five years ago. It’s one of the only things exercise-wise that I actually like, so now wherever I go in the world, whether it’s on holiday or for work, I pack my stinky trainers and my running bra and I’m off! It gives me the greatest pleasure, and it’s also so unexpected. Although I was a cross-country runner between the ages of 12 and 15 (just before I started smoking!), it was such a surprise that it came back into my life and that I continue to love it.
I was just in Norway and I was a bit nervous about the terrain there, so I would run in one direction for 20 minutes, and then just run back. I was in Spain just last week and it was the same thing; I ended up in the places I ended up. Which can sometimes be a little terrifying, but it’s about the freedom that comes with running. When I was in Rome filming for The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, I was running around city streets. I don’t have to run on dirt paths or up and down hills, I’ll also go running through a city, dodging people as I go; I’ll find myself in a municipal park, or running past some beautiful monument. I think it’s the greatest way to see a new place.
I’m 5K runner; I don’t run crazy distances. If I’m with someone who does longer runs, I’ll do 10 kilometers and love it, but around about the 8K mark it can get a bit painful, as I have pins in my hip (I dislocated my hip when I was a youngster running) that will go a bit wonky, and my knees also start shouting at me. But what running really does, even though I’m either listening to music or a podcast, is take me somewhere else mentally. It’s a weird mixture of taking in my surroundings and listening to my thoughts, and so from time to time I’ve got to stop running and write something in my phone. Sometimes I have breakthroughs, though true breakthroughs are so rare. Normally I have to sit there for hours and or call someone and ask for help, but when they happen, it’s just so great. I love when I hit on an original thought or something just comes naturally to me when I’m writing. When I just follow my brain. It’s not always about taking the most interesting routes; sometimes when you have to do something that takes you off on a tangent, it’s exciting.
Robert Crumb
I have a lot of Robert Crumb art up in my office and he was a huge part of my initial road to trying to be a creative person full time. In fact, graphic novels got me into storytelling more than TV, because when you think about it, a graphic novel is a natural storyboard, so it gets you thinking in a really visual way about narrative. Initially, before I started writing, I tried to draw comic books, because I just found it such a satisfying, immediate route into story.
Robert Crumb, apart from his artwork being the best out there, had such a natural way of telling a story, such a natural way with dialogue, and his work was always a bit depraved and perverse. I kind of like that, and I love that he started writing with his wife, that they made comic books together. I used to buy Weirdo weekly, which featured stories of their relationship where her really dodgy drawings are on one side and his beautiful masterpieces on the other. I just find it glorious; there was something so freeing about it in terms of expression, because you don’t actually value her contributions any less. Maybe that was partly because she was a constant critic of her own work, as well, but I just loved how the two sat side by side.
The depraved, subversive aspect of his work must have affected me creatively, because my output at the start of my career was all very bawdy sex comedy. And I’m delighted that I did that then, because maybe I wouldn’t be able to do it the same way now. Crumb’s work has that wonderful honesty about his deepest, darkest desires and thoughts and fears. God, it’s just such a relief to read someone who’s more of a pervert than yourself! But also, as an artist, he’s just at the top of his game. He’s the best at what he does. And that’s incredibly inspiring, too.
My boyfriend at the time was a huge comics fan, and so through him I discovered other graphic novelists and comic book artists. I didn’t ever get so involved in the counterculture of it all, though. I wouldn’t say there was an attraction for me going into Forbidden Planet to buy Weirdo, but I love the experience of something coming out every week. And waiting for it to come out. I think that’s just such a gorgeous feeling. You still get it occasionally now with episodic TV sometimes, but increasingly it’s something that’s dying out.
Fridge Magnets
This is very lowbrow, but I love fridge magnets. A few years ago, my daughters and I decided we were going to see as much of the world as possible. But we agreed that if we had one holiday where we were lying down on a beach, the next one had to be an adventure holiday.
When I was in Norway, we were whitewater rafting and ziplining, and I loved it. Travel has become a big thing in our lives. We’ve traveled about four times already this year, and we’ve started collecting fridge magnets wherever we travel to. I actually started collecting them when I used to go to Los Angeles for work, when my girls were much younger and they couldn’t always come with me. There was a shop called the Daily Planet in Franklin Village which had these beautiful fridge magnets, which were usually cat-themed, so we started this tradition of buying fridge magnets when I went away. Now my fridge is a horror show of magnets, but they’re from all over the world and there’s all sorts of different ones. For example, my daughter just traveled back from Guatemala and she got me a worry doll-type fridge magnet. And when we were in Bergen, in Norway, they have these colorful houses with absolutely beautiful facades, so there’s a magnet of those which is sort of 3D.
The magnets on my fridge right now are anything and everything, and they actually bring me such joy. The magnets don’t always have to be connected to a place, though; I’ve got a gorgeous Sonic Youth magnet which says, “I stole my sister’s boyfriend. It was all whirlwind heat and flash. In a week we killed my parents and hit the road.” I feel like there’s a whole world of fridge magnets out there now, and I wonder if I’ve become slightly more hoarder-y as I get older … I mean, if you saw my desk, you’d call the police. There’s so many little bits of nonsense all over the place, so the fridge magnets kind of feel part of that. For me, it’s about wanting to commemorate important times, but it’s also about my inability to just not buy tat … That is what it comes down to. On my desk, I’ve got stuff like a little toy boat and a bottle of pills that helps me with my compassion levels – it’s ridiculous. In the past few years, I’ve started buying this stuff. I don’t know what it is. In my head, I’m slick and I’m all clean sides and I’m steel and chrome and black, but I’m not. I’m just a borderline hoarder!
