Raised in a large Irish Catholic family of five siblings, Siobhan Fallon Hogan has carried her faith with her throughout her entire career. She received a Master of Fine Arts at The Catholic University of America, and was mentored by Gene Morrill and Father Gilbert Hartke.
After struggling to land parts on Broadway after graduating from CUA in 1985, she produced and starred in her own one-woman off-Broadway shows that got the attention of Los Angeles.
A couple years later, she was catapulted into the highest echelons of comedic performance as a Saturday Night Life cast member from 1991-1992. From there went on to character roles in films such as “Forrest Gump,” “Men in Black,” “Holes,” “Dogville” and “Fever Pitch.”
She eventually decided to found her own independent film company, Emerald Caz, with her husband and son. In 2021, she debuted her first independent film, “Rushed,” a harrowing psychological thriller about college hazing, written by Fallon Hogan and directed by Vibeke Musaya.
Her second film, “Shelter in Solitude,” was written during the pandemic and takes place during that period. In the film, she stars as a down-on-her-luck bar proprietor and faded country singer who, through her brother (Robert Patrick), takes a job as a prison warden and bonds with a death row inmate (Peter Macon).
A devout Catholic, Fallon Hogan has been known to turn down roles that conflict with her morals and has put Catholic characters in her film work.
Q: Today, I think of all [your fellow Saturday Night Live cast mates] as stars. Back then, did they think at the time they would be big, or did they not have the box office receipts to think they would be such successful people?
A: The ones who had been there for a while like Dana (Carvey) and Phil (Hartman), … but the younger cast, at the time, was [being told to] prove yourself, prove yourself. So you’re kind of walking on eggshells, you know what I mean? I remember David Spade was always like, “am I gonna get on or what”? And I was like “Well, I’m on but I’m not saying anything,” but he was like “at least you’re on.” So, it was very tense.
Q: But from what I’ve read, it seems like the cast a few years after you was at each other’s throats with people like Janeane Garofalo and Chris Elliott openly complaining. And the cast before you didn’t get along either. It seems, from what I’ve read you at least managed to get along.
A: We got along great. Chris Farley, David Spade, Adam (Sandler), Chris Rock, they were really good, funny guys, and the girls – the girls Beth Cahill and Melanie Hutsell came along later – but Ellen Cleghorne, and I were office mates and we’re still friends today. And Julia Sweeney was great.
Q: When they added two new women (Beth Cahill and Melanie Hutsell) to the cast, what did that feel like in terms of added pressure? Were you all worried?
A: I think so. …It’s almost like at [my child’s] Catholic school. There’s a basketball team, and to be nice, they put 25 kids on the team to make everyone feel better. But, they only play eight kids, so the parents all complain. But I think it was actually especially hard for the newer girls, but we were a couple months in when they came on, so even though we were only a couple months in when they came on, at least we were used to it and felt more comfortable. It was just sort of accepted in those days, that the guys would have like eight sketches and the girls had two.
Q: So how did you learn to cope with it?
A: I never complained, you know, because I’m part of history and I’m new. But also talking about that amount of people, each person was used to being the funniest guy at the party, you know? My dinner table growing up, my little sister was always saying “who gets to talk,” and we were saying “you can’t talk yet, you have to wait your turn”, so it was hierarchical.
Q: You had Macaulay Culkin on your show as a guest that season. How did you do that without breaking any child labor laws and was there worry about exposing him to the drugs, alcohol, and swearing that the place is known for?
A: Well, I have to tell you I never saw any drug use whatsoever, I really didn’t, and drinking that would not be until the afterparty. So, they had strict rules that they had to adhere to [with] kids. So, they had extras who were kids and they had to limit them to six hours. With us, those six hours had to be at night. Why you’d want to do that to your kid, I’m not sure if I wouldn’t do that with my kids, but they (the writers) were very well-behaved. They were classy people. It’s not like they were swearing in front of kids.
Q: You made a powerful message movie about college hazing in your screenwriting debut “Rushed. You were mentored by director Lars von Trier who is known for his cynicism of American Society. Your film expresses cynicism in the government, college administrations, and the press. Did you share that cynicism in making this film?
A: I guess I did. Well, I learned from Lars to not act the Hollywood way (the Danish film making industry treats actors and backstage talent equally). Well, the subject matter, I didn’t mean to purposefully be making comments and that kind of thing, but I just wrote about what’s close to me, and I was worried about my kids.
Q: Shelter in Solitude is about the pandemic which is unusual because many films in the past couple years have shied away from showing the pandemic because people are sick of it.
A: It came to me in the middle of the night when I was exhausted [from the post-production complications of Rushed]. I think it was like my father or God delivering the story. And I scribbled something down and the story came to me in three weeks. And I thought this was a gift from God. Of course, at the time, I [also] thought you can’t write a film about Covid because it’s the beginning of Covid and people are sick of it.
Q: It seems like this film doesn’t have the Lars-Von-Trier-esque pessimism that “Rushed” did. Is that accurate?
A: You’re absolutely right. What I was trying to show is that these broken people. My character is a wannabe cougar and no one will have her, she drinks too much and she doesn’t have a very exemplary life. And her brother, he’s kind of bitter and angry because his wife left him and he’s sick of not seeing his kids. And the prisoner is someone people say, “stay away from him.” And that old saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” so deep down these people are exactly what America needs right now. So, at its core these are really kind, charitable people. And they might not be the biggest church-goers, but when it comes down to it, they care for each other in their own rough way.
Q: You went to Catholic University? How does a University like that make your faith stronger?
A: My faith was very strong. When I went to Catholic U., they were very conscientious of teaching, for example, ethics. They taught don’t take something until something better comes along. A funny story, St. Elmo’s Fire was in town. I was supposed to be Ally Sheedy’s stand-in, for a young actor, I was going to make some movie and finally get my SAG card, but then I had been cast in “Blithe Spirit.” But then I learned I was basically in a role that was scenery, so there went my SAG card. We were taught by Gene Morrill to pray to St. Genesius, the patron saint of theater, and I still pray to him before every film performance.
Q: I do have to disclose I’m Jewish so don’t know all the differences between all the Christian sects. Are your characters generic Christian or are they distinctly Catholic?
A: Oh, they’re distinctly Catholics. We just got back from Nashville and our big premiere there. In Nashville, there’s a very big born-again Christian community. And I have one joke in there that “Catholics don’t read scripture much” and a lot of born-again Christians they know scripture best. I think that the film, and maybe tooting my own horn, but I think my film translated to all Americans of all faiths, and it translates to where we should be.
Q: Were you comfortable with having a flawed Catholic character on-screen?
A: I thought it was fair game because I’m imperfect and I don’t find perfect people to be interesting. I was also conscious of making sure not to be too disrespectful or mocking of the religion, only because Catholicism is often free game to mock.
