Death takes on an unexpected form in Daina O. Pusić’s Tuesday, a film about a mother grappling with her terminally ill daughter’s impending death. It’s a strange, surreal story with fantastical elements, but it’s also deeply grounded and moving in a way that’s unexpected. In a canny move, Pusić cast Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Zora, a single American mom living in London and trying to avoid the inevitable loss of her teenage daughter, Tuesday, played by Lola Petticrew. It’s Louis-Dreyfus’ most dramatic role to date and one that takes advantage of her formidable acting skills as Death (voiced by Arinzé Kene) shows up in the body of a colorful macaw. There are some unusual narrative and visual turns, which both actors say they took in stride.

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“As an actor, it’s your job to figure out why you’re in the scene and what it is you want,” Louis-Dreyfus tells Observer. “And once you’ve answered those two questions so much more follows. But you really need to know why you’re there. So [your character] may have eaten something unusual or you may be a different size, but you still have to answer those questions.”

“And then when you’re in a scene with someone so much of what you do comes from them,” Petticrew adds. “If they’re rooted in truth and open and giving, as most actors that I’ve come across are, then there’s very little that you have to do other than respond to that and be open and alive to what they’re giving you.”

The pair spent two months shooting in 2021 in the midst of the pandemic, facing both literal isolation and the intense emotional quality of the story itself. But the resulting film is deeply moving and uniquely told as it reflects on the ways in which we deal with loss. Here Louis-Dreyfus and Petticrew discuss being part of Tuesday and how it affected their own perceptions of grief.

Coming into the film, did you have an understanding of what the scope of the film would be?

Lola Petticrew: I think you have an idea, but when you really get into it—and not even in the sense of the fantasy, but just the emotion—it’s so much bigger. It’s all there when you first read it. You can absolutely see it. But meeting Daina and speaking about it you realize how big it all is.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus: I needed to talk with Daina to fully understand her intention. And then once I spoke with her it all clicked for me. We were on a Zoom for over an hour. Just discussing the emotional life that’s going on, the metaphor, how death was going to be portrayed—all of these things. I wanted a fuller sense of what was on the........

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