BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Oct. 15, 2000 — Yes, she’s from the Valley. And yes, her most memorable roles are the well-meaning but dim-bulb ones.
But Lisa Kudrow‘s imbecility ends there. A biology graduate of Vassar College, Kudrow‘s ambitions actually lay in the research lab rather than a set, studying the evolution of brain chemistry through environmental influence on social behaviors. Not exactly the starry eyed dreamer type.
And get this: When acting sidelined her biology career, Kudrow trained with the famed Groundlings improv troupe before landing a gig on “Friends,” which became of the highest-rated sitcoms of the ’90s. Her big-screen career took off with turns in “Mother” and “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion” before winning acclaim and Oscar buzz as a repressed spinster in “The Opposite of Sex.” So where else does Kudrow need to go?
Villainous, according to her latest film, “Lucky Numbers.” Showcasing the latest of Kudrow‘s shrewd big-screen choices, the 37-year-old actress plays a role that might shock her audience: a Lottery girl named Crystal who schemes with local weatherman Russ (John Travolta) to rig the state drawing. In her obsession to get away with the crime, however, Crystal begins to reveal a very sinister side, often resorting to sex, lies and even murder to get her way.
“She’s the kind of person who has no fear,” Kudrow muses. “You meet people who seem so ambitious or out of line at times, and I decided she was out of line all the time. … She just has a low opinion of everyone around her that she can be so obvious and obviously awful — and get away with it.”
In fact, Kudrow had a little too much fun with the R-rated comedy, improvising a tirade of expletives that will likely surface only on the film’s DVD version.
“I think I got carried away at times,” she jokes. “Because I know they had to take away a lot of the bad language I added.”
It’s nothing you’d see her “Friends” persona do. In fact, Kudrow‘s work as the sweet but dense hippie masseuse Phoebe Buffay has been singled out from the ensemble cast, earning five supporting actress Emmy nods (winning in 1998). When contract negotiations put the show’s future in question, it was Kudrow who reportedly stepped up and led her co-stars to stand firm until a more satisfying salary agreement was reached.
But contrary to popular belief, Kudrow hasn’t picked her roles based on their contrast to her “Friends” persona.
“Maybe that’s why those are the more interesting ones to me,” she allows. “But it wasn’t something I had to think long and hard about. Nora Ephron calls you at home and says, ‘I’m directing a movie. John Travolta is the star and it’s a great script.’ And you read it and it is … it’s not a lot of work to decide to do it.”
But Kudrow, who lives with husband Michel Stern and their 2-1/2-year-old son, Julian, is at a place where her versatile career choices have provided her with success beyond the craze her sitcom has generated.
“Before I became an actress, I used to think, ‘When I get famous … there’s so much love for you. And I think that’s what everyone’s after with trying to achieve celebrity. And the truth is I’m glad people are finding it, even for 15 minutes, so they can then learn that that work has to be done by yourself. It’s not gonna come from out there.”
She adds: “I think there’s both [love and hate from the public] there. And neither one can mean much to you.”
Smart girl.
“Lucky Numbers” opens Oct. 27.
