I said, “God, please, can a director that I’ve worked with before, like Hal, just give me a call?” And what do you know? Within three days, Hal called me and said, “Karen, it’s not a big part - it’s six scenes - but would you please be in my next film?” I’m going through everything and realizing there is so much work that I’ve done and I want to be working again. I’m getting all of my “Under Suspicion” - my kids have never seen them, and my friends have never seen it - some of them, but not most of them. I did his first senior thesis called “Kid,” which I just saw because I’ve been going through all of my old VHS and digitally transferring them, which is crazy. I don’t think I’ve been happier to see anyone onscreen as when you made a short appearance in “Ned Rifle.” Since you’ve worked with Hal Hartley quite a bit, was that a favor or were you ready to get back into movies? With high spirits that were infectious following a recent successful bow at Frameline in San Francisco, Sillas spoke of getting back into movies, her personal connection to the material and why we won’t likely have to wait as long to see her in something new. Naturally, Sillas makes playing a difficult character look effortless, giving the tough-minded Trish considerable empathy and even showing off her comic chops, perhaps as much a welcome byproduct of how excited the actress seems at the thought of getting back to work as it is of skill. Forced to confront a spouse she no longer seems to have anything in common with and a mother (Phyllis Somerville) who she may share grief with, but little else, Trish either must find a way to forge ahead or remain stuck buried in the proverbial “Stuff” of the title that’s only bound to get worse as Deb’s eye begins to wander towards the mother of one of her daughter’s classmates (Traci Dinwiddie). In writer/director Suzanne Gucci’s second feature, Sillas plays Trish, a dentist who has slowly but surely prioritized her career over her family, due in part to her inability to accept the death of her father five years earlier and the decision by her wife Deb (Yvonne Jung) to stay at home to raise their kids. Still, absence makes the heart grow fonder, which is why her appearance in “Stuff,” making its Los Angeles debut as part of Outfest this week, is a cause for celebration. Our whole home is artistic, so it’s not like I ever left.” I still do plays and theater, and my husband is a writer. “I went MIA, but not really because I’m still an Actor’s Studio member - east coast, west coast. “I didn’t feel I could be a good mom and be a good actress at the same time,” Sillas said of her tim away. When our call was briefly interrupted by a smashed keypad at the hands of her young daughter, it was no longer necessary to ask why she took a hiatus, though she was happy to offer one up anyway. It was no wonder when TV shows came calling, it was often for attorneys or cops, such as the detective she played on the underrated procedural “Under Suspicion,” almost always intimidating at first before exposing all the little costs of having such conviction, her subtlety at playing these emotional purges particularly affecting over time.

(For the record, it’s “Sy-las,” rather than “Sill-us” or “See-las.”) But it’s understandable why she might be having a little more trouble these days.Īfter seducing audiences as a regular in Hal Hartley’s dramedies or her spellbinding turn in Tom Noonan’s “What Happened Was,” Silas walked away from the movie and TV business around 2005, leaving behind a gaping hole where her specific mix of fortitude and vulnerability has been sorely missed. It was both a relief and, in some ways, a validation to hear this, for all the years I’ve been properly calling her an acting god. This, best as she can surmise, can be attributed to her Grecian heritage, her family softening the “Syllas” surname for American consumption when they came over generations ago. “How do you pronounce your last name?” she asked, with an enthusiasm I wasn’t expecting from someone so often cast for her air of authority. Although we were set to talk about her new film “Stuff,” it was only seconds after picking up the phone that Karen Sillas turned the conversation around on me.

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