Carrie Coon rejects likability at VIFF Luminary honour
Carrie Coon has little interest in playing likable people.
The actor told Variety that “likability is an overrated quality” and that she finds it more interesting to play a character who is not simply likable. She spoke in an interview published on 7 October 2026 after receiving the Vancouver International Film Festival’s (VIFF) inaugural Luminary Award for acting. The prize recognises acting work.
Coon’s route to that stage began on stage. She started in Chicago’s regional theatre scene before moving to Broadway and then to film and television. Her screen credits include The Leftovers, The White Lotus and The Gilded Age, according to Variety. Each step widened her audience.
Her latest role is Rita in The Liberation, directed by Guy Nattiv and shot on Vancouver Island. Rita is a Holocaust survivor who leaves her family to join an all-female cult. That group is led by a charismatic figure played by Lily James. The part does not trade on charm. That is exactly the point for Coon.
The story has a personal root for its director. The Liberation was inspired by Nattiv’s grandmother, whose recorded testimony about her wartime experience is held by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and archive. Coon studied that archival testimony closely before filming began. It gave her a direct link to the woman behind the character.
VIFF put the film and the actor at the centre of its 2026 edition. Festival listings place The Liberation on 4 Oct in the programme, and the festival also staged In Conversation with Carrie Coon, a public talk built around her career. Both events brought Coon before a festival audience in Vancouver. The talk and the screening ran side by side.
What makes this stand out is Coon’s appetite for friction. She prefers characters who divide a room. For fans, this means Rita will not ask for sympathy.
