Photo: Via Harper's Bazaar.The looming return of Homeland promises three things: edge-of-your-seat thrills, a tightly woven web of international intrigue, and, of course, Claire Danes' "cry face."
Over the course of three seasons of Showtime's hit espionage thriller, Danes has been giving her tear ducts quite the workout, as the manic but brilliant CIA analyst Carrie Mathison. In the process, her contorted "cry face" has spawned a thousand memes, with people from every corner of the Internet chiming in. Even SNL got in on the spoofing, forever entrenching it in our cultural lexicon.
But, at the heart of it all, lies something rather unsettling. Part of the reason Danes' "cry-face" has drawn such a strong reaction is because some viewers deem it too "ugly" for television.
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Danes for one, has been taken aback by the polarizing reaction. "I’m surprised it’s so surprising," the actress says in the new issue of Harper's Bazaar. "I have my guy, who thinks I’m pretty enough in our life together, so I don’t need to be seducing the audience that way."
According to the actress, the excessive trembling and grimacing that makes up her "cry face" is just part of her method. "I think it’s also just my style, what I like in creative work, what I’ve always been attracted to, even as a little girl...I always had an appreciation for the macabre." Danes adds.
For more on the actress—including her thoughts on the upcoming Brody-less season of Homeland, check out the October issue of Harper’s Bazaar, on sale September 3. The fourth season of Homeland premieres October 5 on Showtime.