Laura Linney Jokes She ‘Would’ve Read The Phone Book’ To Work With Maggie Smith & Kathy Bates (Exclusive)

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‘The Miracle Club’ fit exactly what Laura Linney was looking for when she chooses to take on a new role.

While Laura Linney is an icon herself, the Emmy Award winning actress literally leaped at the chance to work with industry legends Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith on the new film, The Miracle Club. “To be able to work with Maggie and Kathy, I would’ve read the phone book!” Linney joked, while chatting with HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY at Cinema Society and Sony Pictures Classics screening of the film in NYC. “Honestly, I would’ve done anything to work with them. I was just lucky that it also involved a story that was charming and had big heart.”

The three-time Oscar nominated actress began her career on Broadway in 1990 and has worked steadily since, starring in the beloved holiday film Love Actually, the miniseries John Adams and, most recently, Ozark. When it comes to the kind of work she seeks out at this point in her career, Linney explained it need to have at least “one of three things: It’s either a great script, great person to work with or a great director.” In the case of The Miracle Club, all the boxes were checked.

“When you get to work with people at this caliber, it’s just really an exciting experience and I just loved going to work every day with them and watching them work and seeing the choices they would make,” the New York native gushed over co-stars Bates and Smith. “I think we all learned a lot from each other.”

While she was unable to pick an absolute favorite performance from the Downton Abbey and Titanic alums, Linney noted that Smith and Bates’ “theater work is what first made [her] fall in love with them.”

Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s The Miracle Club tells the story of three generations of women — Lily (Maggie Smith), Eileen (Kathy Bates), and Dolly (Agnes O’Casey), and their dream to leave their hard-knocks village of Ballygar in Dublin, and visit the sacred French town of Lourdes. The ladies have the opportunity to win a chance to make the pilgrimage to the city that promises miracles, but their plans are sidelined when their old friend Chrissie (Laura Linney) returns home from America for her mother’s funeral.

Andrew Saffir of Cinema Society and Sony Pictures Classics hosted a special screening of the film on July 11th at the Tribeca Screening Room, followed by a celebrate at Lauderée Soho.