“I got a call from Jamie Lee Curtis,” says revered character actor Margo Martindale over Zoom from her Connecticut home, explaining how she scored the juicy lead role of Ruth Landry in Prime Video’s “The Sticky.”
The half-hour crime series launches worldwide Dec. 6, inspired by the real-life Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist of 2012, in which thieves absconded with the contents of almost 10,000 barrels of the sticky stuff — worth more than $17 million Canadian — from Quebec’s reserve. In the dark comedy, created by showrunner duo Brian Donovan and Ed Herro, Martindale plays a foulmouthed, no-nonsense maple farmer who becomes the felonious trio’s leader.
“[Curtis] said, ‘I was going to do this, but I can’t, and I thought the only person that reminds me of me is you,’” continues Martindale. “I wanted to say, ‘In what world?’”
Martindale cautioned Curtis — whom she did not know — that she’d have to review the material. “And she said, ‘No, I just want you to say yes,’” remembers the actor, who nonetheless insisted on reading the script. “I thought it was just wonderful. I really did. Because it’s so wacky and fun.”
“The truth is she’s way better at Ruth than I would’ve ever been,” confesses Curtis, who executive produced the series but bowed out of starring due to scheduling conflicts, taking a smaller — yet still pivotal — role. “She has both the humor and the gravitas you need to be Ruth. The show has ‘Fargo’-like qualities, and at the same time, it has real depth, real emotion, real feelings.”
It’s this complexity that attracted Martindale. “I love that she swings so far from one side to the other. That’s one of the most fun things you can do as an actor.”
Familiar with neither the true caper nor the significance of maple syrup to Canada’s economy, Martindale quickly immersed herself in the show’s world. The East Texas native’s greatest concern was perfecting Ruth’s Canadian accent. “I can hear that I succeed most of the time but not all,” admits the actor, who also focused on Ruth’s appearance. “I was looking at hair. What does it matter? I wear a hat the whole time.”
Being a French Canadian born in Montreal and raised on maple syrup, this writer can confirm Martindale and company utterly nailed “The Sticky.”
“I don’t think our expectations could have been higher,” says Herro of their star. “That usually ends in disappointment, but it did not this time.”
“What’s so important about Margo is you never feel like you’re looking at acting,” adds Donovan, who admits to a Martindale obsession. “As incredible as she is, I think this is her first time at the top of a call sheet, being No. 1.”
“When you allow someone to really shine, and really take the light, it’s beautiful to watch,” Curtis says. “And it happened here. We all just sat back and watched Margo Martindale drive that pickup truck, dragging that tree, and it just was fantastic.”
Does Martindale consider herself a late bloomer? “Well, I won my first Emmy at 60,” she says, referring to the statuette she earned in 2011 for her supporting work on “Justified.” She has two others, both for guest actress in “The Americans.” At 52, she was Tony-nominated for playing Big Mama in the 2003 Broadway revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” “In that sense, yes. But I’ve been working constantly through all those years.”
Martindale, 73, landed in New York City 50 years ago and immediately began wowing audiences. She’s amassed more than 130 theater, television and film credits. She was in the original off-Broadway production of “Steel Magnolias”; has appeared on the series “The Millers,” “The Good Wife” and “Mrs. America”; and has roles in such movies as “August: Osage County,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “The Hours,” “Dead Man Walking” and “Days of Thunder.”
She loves each medium but finds theater “physically hard, and you have no life.” Yet she’d like to do another play. Maybe.
Movies are one-and-done.
But TV is “alive,” a place where, over time, a savvy actor can wield influence on creators. “Television is easier, and a lot more money,” concludes Martindale with a chuckle.
One thing the veteran refuses to envision is retirement. She considers her husband and daughter her “greatest blessing” but says, “I love acting. It’s my joy. It’s my fun. It’s my social event. It’s all of that. I mean, the fact that you can go and sit in a hair and makeup trailer and talk to everybody, and howl with laughter, is just joy.”
Having worked with some of the biggest, brightest stars in the universe — Julia, Meryl and Nicole, to name three recognizable by their first names — Martindale has been adjacent to megawatt fame but harbors absolutely no envy. “I like where I am. I get stopped a lot, but nothing to interrupt my life. You know, working with Meryl — I’ve worked with her four times — it got hard sometimes for her. I would not want that.”
Yet “Margo Martindale” might soon finally become a household name. Should “The Sticky” — whose Season 1 ending is just another beginning — prove a hit, Season 2 will surely follow. If so, Martindale’s all in.
“My biggest joy were the people I worked with,” she says, embracing the entire Canadian cast and crew but especially her closest co-stars, Chris Diamantopoulos and Guillaume Cyr. “It was like we were the Three Stooges. I’m the brains, of course. Chris is the criminal muscle. And Guillaume is the heart. Together, we’re one thing, and I like that. The most fun scenes were the scenes where we were in the car all together.”
Her success is their success, so Martindale’s plea to audiences is to give “The Sticky” a chance. “I really want people to watch it, and watch it all the way through. I think it’s different from almost anything I’ve seen. It will draw you in. It will draw you in. You just gotta give it a little tiny bit of time.”