Kate Mara Talks 'Class of '09,' NFL Family Ties & Lifelong Chimpanzee Obsession

(audience applauding and cheering) - Love this. - Thank you. - It's so nice to meet you. I love everything you do. But I will tell you, the thing I've seen you most in is... - [Kate] Oh, God. - I'm obsessed with Shooter. (chuckles) - That's such a... - [Kelley] I'm literally... - Blast from the past. - I know, but I'm a dude. Like when it comes to films, a lot of times, I love action. And I just had to tell you. I've literally watched that film 39 times. Yeah. - Well it's so weird. (audience chu

ckles) I shot it like a 100 years ago. - I know. - And it's on TV all the time. - And I have seen it. If you're like who's been watching this the whole time? - You! - It's me. (audience chuckles) - Is it true that you used to be really shy? That you used to give your mom notes and not tell her. You would just give her notes and not talk about it? - Yeah. I... - This is funny. - I was so shy. I had a hard time sort of expressing my needs or my desires. - Yeah. - And my mom was the best mom ever,

used to leave me little notes on my pillow at night just saying, I love you. - Yeah. - Or, you know, good job today at school. And so I thought, oh well that's a way that I can get what I want - [Kelley] Communicate. - without speaking to you. So I used to like slip things in under her door at night, you know, I really want that Barbie or whatever. And then it became sort of more complicated. Like when I turned I think 9, I would write I really want an agent. (Kelley and audience laughing) And s

he was kind of like, I have no idea how to get you an agent, but that's really cute. (chuckling) - [Kelley] Yeah. You knew that young? That's incredible. - [Kate] Yeah. - Not everybody has that. - Well, did you know young? - Not at 9. - No, no, no. - Oh. Okay. (audience chuckles) - Like I sang, like in church. - Yeah. Like every other human in my community. (chuckles) So like it wasn't special, so I didn't. No I didn't know till I was... I don't know, like teens. - [Kate] Yeah. - Yeah. - No, I d

o think it's lucky to know at a young age. - [Kelley] Yeah. - Yeah, for sure. - And a lot of people will go through their life and not, you know, they're a jack of all trades, but master of not one that they really focus on, that they love. So it's cool when they, we find that, that young. - I do feel, yeah... I feel lucky that I love it as much today as I did then. You know? - Yeah. Oh, that's special. - I know. I feel like when that goes, people always ask me like do you think you'll ever reti

re? And I'm like whenever I'm tired of it or if it gets boring. - [Kate] Yeah. Yeah. But I still love it. - [Kate] Yeah. - So, yeah. Yeah. Well one of your first acting jobs was actually a Super Bowl commercial, so that's elevated. (audience chuckling) I was like, that's incredible. - It was really very exciting. It's still exciting today to watch it because I wish I wasn't in a Super Bowl commercial today. - [Kelley] I mean, they're huge. - [Kate] They're huge. (audience awing) - Oh yeah. - [Ke

lley] Look how cute you are. - [Kate] I felt like I was filming a movie. Like that's how exciting it was at the time. - Well, cause it's like the first thing. - Yeah. - Were you more excited about craft services? Like, (chuckling) I always feel like every time I talk to people, they're always like craft services was incredible. - I brought one of our kids here today and the thing he was most excited about was the food that was gonna be around. - Exactly. - Yeah. - Check out the hallway. There's

a big hallway full of stuff you won't want him to eat. - Yeah. (chuckling) - So you come from a, a huge football family. I actually did not know this about you, but one of your parents owns the Steelers and one owns the Giants. - [Kate] Yeah. (audience chuckling) - And I'm gonna let that sit for a minute. Yeah. Cuz' I was like, wait, what? And then what are football games like at your house? Because they get intense at my house. - [Kate] Yeah. - And no one owns anything. You know, we feel like w

e do in spirit, but like... - Yeah. - Yeah. Literally y'all own them. So like what kind of chaos ensues out of football? - It's pretty wild. My dad's side of my family, who are the Giants side of the family, there's 11 kids. So my dad is one of 11. - Wow. - [Kate] So that's insane anyway. - Yeah. - And then they're all psycho Giant fans. - [Kelley] Yeah. (audience chuckling) - So you can imagine how crazy it is emotionally. But then I married someone who is a psycho English football fan. - [Kell

ey] Okay. - So we've got football on the brain at all times. - Oh so you means soccer in that sense. Yeah. Well football. - [Kate] Yes. But I can't call it soccer. - Football. I know it's called football there. I just mean... So that's a lot of sports going on in the whole household. - It's a lot. - [Kelley] Yeah. - It's a lot. - You've sung the national anthem, so have I, at an NFL game. So here's the thing though, yours was pretty intense. Yours was an emotional one, cause it was a connection

to your family, right? - [Kate] Oh yeah. I think one of the last... I don't know why I ever sang the national anthem. I was a young, I'm not a singer. I definitely shouldn't ever... - I think you are. - [Kate] No. Like a fun, I'll sing in the shower or sing Disney songs. But my grandpa when he was alive used to ask me to sing it. - [Kelley] Yeah. - And so I thought, well yeah, I should do that if he asked me. But now I just can't even. I don't know how I ever got the guts to do it because I... -

[Kelley] That's the beautiful thing. - Again, I don't feel confident doing that. - I know, but don't you wish you could carry that over into like adulthood? Like how even in the Voice, when I have like younger artists that I'm working with they don't even know to be jaded, or scared, or fearful. - [Kate] Yeah. - They just go for it. - [Kate] I know. - Which is such a way that you should live your life anyway. So I love that. I almost wish we could carry that over. - I wish. Yeah. I wish I was a

s brave now as I was then for sure. - [Kelley] Yeah. - Yeah. (audience clapping & cheering) - The new series is called Class of 09'. (clapping) - Can you tell us about it? Seems intense. - Yes. It is a action thriller that follows a group of FBI agents through 3 different time periods of their lives. - Yeah. - Yeah. It's very suspenseful. - Oh, I'm gonna love it. - [Kate] Oh, great. - I love action. - [Kate] I love it. - Love that. - [Kate] Okay good. - I love all of that. I love stories like th

at. Is it good storytelling? Like you love the writers? The cast is pretty cool? - The cast is so great. - Yeah. - Brian Tyree. - [Kelley] Love. Yeah. - He was attached to it before I read the script. There he is. - Yeah. - We just... We became a family when we were making the show. - [Kelley] He's so talented. - He's so talented. Everyone on it. We really bonded intensely over the 7 months that we shot it. - That's fun. Well, apart from acting you also have a passion for animals, which I love.

So you just posted this, so where are you in that photo? - [Kate] Yes. We were in Florida. I took my daughter to a sanctuary there called Save the Chimps. And it is such an amazing place. They have hundreds of chimps that they've rescued from different scenarios. A lot of them are from the entertainment industry and they... Look at how free... I mean that's just a giant sort of playground for them and that's just one. - [Kelley] First of all, I look at that and I'm like, my kids would want that.

- Yes. And my daughter wanted to go play on it. - I was like, monkeys and children. - [Kate] Yes. Exactly. - Yeah. - [Kate] But yeah it's... - That's magical that you get to show that kind of experience to your daughter at like such a young age. That's cool. - I know it was her first time seeing them in person and she was definitely amazed. They kept doing crazy things like, you know, they would say hi to us and then they'd run off, and come back, and spit water at us. Or they'd bring a stick o

ver and try and get us to scratch their butts. That was a big thing. (audience laughing) - Yeah. - Can you get this for me? Yeah. (chuckling) - Yeah. Exactly. - So I know that Dr. Jane Goodall is a role model. So when do you think she became a role model for you? When you were young? - Yeah. My sister and I, for whatever reason, when we were kids, I think it started when someone gave my sister a stuffed animal that looked very realistic and it was a chimp. And we became very obsessed with them a

s kids. And then she and I got invited to go to Liberia about 10 years ago to visit a sanctuary there. - Yeah. - And it just changed our lives and that's when I really got to know all the amazing things that Jane Goodall has done for the chimps and just for our environment in general. - In general. Yeah. I agree though, I've been fortunate enough to where I've been able to do things and experience things like up close and personal with just the most majestic animals. And you're like, it does som

ething to you, and not makes you feel a little in a bad way, makes you feel so small and like we're such a part of something so much bigger. And it's a beautiful thing. I think more people should do things like that. - [Kate] I agree. - It's healing as well. It's very healing and it reminds you that we are all connected. You know? That's the biggest thing that I feel every time I'm around them, is that we're all the same and so we should be treated equally. Is is my big takeaway every time I lea

ve a sanctuary of any kind.