In an exclusive conversation with Hollywood.com, Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham uses almost as many words as her hyper-verbal TV character to dish about her co-starring role in the new film Because I Said So, her story arc with Steve Carell in Evan Almighty, her television future and even a decidedly, um, salty conversation about partying with Diane Keaton.
Hollywood.com: How hard is it for you to find the time for a film like Because I Said So with the demands of your TV schedule?
Lauren Graham: It’s hard. This was the first time that something changed at the show, where I thought, “I’ve been doing the same show for six years,” at the time. Because this came up, and they were willing to be flexible, which is really a big deal. You know, that’s a hard production, but this was short enough for my part. And they made it work. And it’s also hard because everyone who might be occupied on a TV show is off at the same time. So you know, it’s tough out there.
HW: You seem to have made pretty good choices, though. The movie that you’ve done when you’ve had time off have all been good roles for you. Slightly different from Lorelei, but not like you’re playing, you know, a junkie hooker. Is that a conscious thing?
LG: You know, most things are. All you really have is what you say no to, and you also have what you can do. And I’ve just tried to have a different kind of cool experience. I’ve missed a couple things I would have liked to have done, and then I’m glad to have said no to a couple of things. But mainly it’s just that I’ve been lucky that what has come to me also kind of suits my taste. The toughest thing was getting out to do Evan Almighty, which was in a different state and overlapped work by a month. But they were great, the show was great, Universal was great. That was really a tough one.
HW: Have you been tempted? Have you had roles dangled in front of you where you would be the main star of a movie, but the movie wasn’t so great?
LG: Yeah, yeah. Because I’m not, like, Julia Roberts. So, the stuff I get offered is nice, but there’s usually an element of making a decision about it, because I haven’t really been the lead in a film yet. And I don’t care. I mean, I just think about, “Do I like the material, do I think I can do well, and do I like the people involved?” And will I get something out of it—either just fun, or learn something? At this point—because when you do a show as long as I’ve done this [knocks on wood], anything’s like novelty. It’s like, “Oh my God, this is so different than what my normal day is.”
HW: I think an obvious assumption would be you don’t want to play Lorelai when you go do a movie, don’t want to do anything close to her, but not really for you, right?
LG: I don’t think that’s true, actually, because so much of that character is me—that’s TV. It exposes you like that. And also, you don’t often play a character role on television, because you’re moving at such a close pace, everything is filtered through who you are and they begin to write for you. They begin to write to speak to what they think you can do well. And so, how could I possibly get away from something that’s so close to me? One of the things I have to offer is that kind of part. Everybody in town, they don’t need you to play something different. They want what they liked about you to begin with, and you have to really embrace that. I think that’s really important. It’s more like I want to play people with different circumstances. I don’t mind if it’s a comedy, or if it’s someone who’s verbal, but what I feel I crave now is stuff that’s a little bit darker, or a little more adult. A little more sophisticated. There is a sweetness to the TV show that I love, but, you know, I just read this series that I was interested in that’s different—more adult, I guess, and that’s, I’m finding, is sort of appealing to me.
HW: Sharpening the edges a little bit?
LG: Yeah. Playing relationships that are just slightly more complex or something. So much about the show is the language, and the sort of comedic way we speak, and wackier situations. It just would be growing that up just a little bit. That would be a variety more that I would go for.
HW: Let’s talk about Evan Almighty. How did that come to you?
LG: I have no idea. It’s a total mystery. [Director] Tom Shadyac is a very particular—apparently he kind of meets you when he’s fairly sure you’re the person. And I had been part of the conversation, I guess. And I don’t know that he is familiar with the show. I just don’t ask too many questions. I’m like, I’m just so thankful. I had a really fun, great meeting with him. And I had really thought a lot about Bruce Almighty. I’ve thought in my life about that kind of role, which is the sort of wife to the funny guy. It’s not about me. It’s really about how can I best be a believable partner to the lead guy? And I really was very interested in Steve [Carell] as an actor, and really a fan of his. So I felt like I could really get excited about what that relationship would look like in the movie. And then the big issue was the schedule. And I think I almost lost it a million times over.
HW: Do you get some funny bits for yourself? Hold your own against Steve?
LG: Not really. I mean, yeah—no. What happens in the movie’s funny. Steve is very funny. I really take pride in making it believable. What I don’t like about some broad comedies is when you don’t invest in the relationship between whoever the people are, the family that you’re supposed to care about. And so I really just wanted it to be real, you know? And really, it’s a very real story of, like, how would you feel if you thought your husband was going insane? It’s kind of scary, you know?
HW: With Gilmore Girls, you’ve talked about how the show could be—I don’t know, maybe not restrictive, but constrictive in the way that it was done. Was it different this year, following the departure of executive producer Amy Sherman-Palladino, who was the writing voice that drove the series? Did you guys take the opportunity to break the show open? Did you hear Amy whispering in your ear at the back of your head about Lorelei?
LG: No, I feel real ownership in this show. I feel very invested in it. I care very much about it. I don’t feel any more like a hired hand, you know? It’s a strange feeling—I feel personally responsible for how the story goes. What happens. What the weaknesses are. And so in a way, some of the changes gave me an opportunity to have a voice in a different way. But ultimately, you know, my show runner is my boss. And so I just want to be in support of, in this case, him. But it’s been helpful to have that opportunity, because like I was saying, I do think that’s more the kind of role I would take the next time around. That’s just the natural progression. I’ve kind of put in the time. And I see now so much more clearly, just when things work and why. And what’s important about keeping a set happy, and I see all the other pieces, and how they can help make a great show. And so I think that’ll be next.
HW: Does “next” mean the show is winding to its finale this year?
LG: I don’t know if this is gonna be the last year. It’s such a funny time, because it, to some degree, would be up to the actors. And that makes all the people in charge very squirrely. It’s like, this strange game of chicken, where they have expressed that they would like another year. But then, nothing exactly happened. My gut feeling right now is that we could finish it this year in a really classy, nice way, and you wouldn’t feel like, “But I need to know another year’s worth of what happens to those people!” I feel like it could be nicely finished this year.
HW: You would do another TV show right away?
LG: Yeah, I would. I love television. I don’t like working this hard, exactly. But then, I think it’s important: You build a great ensemble. I like what’s happening in comedy. Like, I love the show 30 Rock. I think it’s such a smart show. You know, it would probably be a half-hour, the next thing I would like to do. And it’s just fun to think about. I’m sure there’ll be a strange transition of, you know, what happens next. I have learned so much about every aspect of television. I feel like what I would like to do next is have a stronger creative hand in what I would like to do. I would like to be a producer of the next thing I do. I have a little more knowledge about just people I’d like to work with. It’s an exciting thought to imagine what the next thing would be. Probably it won’t last a year. Because it’s an accident when a show stays on the air certainly as long as we’ve been on. And you see all these wonderful people… I mean, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss had a couple shows before this one [clicked]. It’s just a strange chemistry, when all of that can come together. But I would hope to, not right away, eventually do another show, and do more movies.
HW: We’ll bring it back around to this new film, Because I Said So. This is really built on the female relationships. And you were raised primarily by your dad, right?
LG: Uh-huh.
HW: So how easy is it for you starring on a show where it’s really driven by female relationships, and now a movie with a similar dynamic. Is that odd for you?
LG: I know, it’s so weird. It’s funny to me, because I was such a tomboy. Like, a lot of my best friends are guys. But I didn’t end up on, like, My Boys on TBS. I ended up on, like, you know, Gilmore Girls. You know, that’s not really how acting works in my mind. It’s not like, “Well, this reminds me of when I…” You know, it’s not like that so much. But I think maybe in a way, because I didn’t have an idea of “Moms are all like this, and mothers and daughters should always…” The show has a different kind of mother-daughter relationship. It’s more of a buddy relationship, and that’s a little more what I’ve had with my Dad. But also, I didn’t have anything I had to deconstruct. I didn’t have any bias about what that relationship would be. I just kind of came to it. But it is funny to me when I end up in kind of more girly things. But the character makes sense. I mean, that character, the minute I read that, I was like, “Oh, I…You know, that sounds like I could do that.”
HW: Last question. Diane Keaton’s birthday party. Go.
LG: Okay. It was totally beautiful. It was at the Mondrian. Apparently Jack Nicholson was there. I didn’t see him.
HW: Awww.
LG: I know! Well, I was there! No, we had a great time. It was like, indoor-outdoor. She looked beautiful. I mean, what can I tell you without really telling you anything? There was all sorts of scandal, but I can’t talk about it! No, there wasn’t any scandal, really. So, we had only known each other, like, a week and we didn’t know what to get her, and it’s impossible to get her anything. She dresses so beautifully, even at six in the morning, coming to the trailer. What do you get her? So she had mentioned that she liked salt. And I was like, “Oh, have you tried…”—this was my idea, and now it’s embarrassing—because I really like fancy salt – you know, just, different sea salts, and whatever. And I was like, “Have you tried this kind of salt?” And she was like, “No, just regular salt.” And I was like, “Oh, my God. You guys, we should get Diane, like, a huge gift thing of salt!” And they were like, “Mmm—all right.” And then when you walk in, there’s like, a gift table, and it’s, you know, dripping gifts. Like, the gift is the box – I mean, the box is so beautiful, like, why open it? That kind of thing. And so, we got her a huge box of all different salts—salt that you eat, then bath salt, and then that book Salt that that guy wrote about salt. And she was so nice about it. Because, you know, the next day she was like, “That’s just the kind of present I like. You know, it was so creative and fun, and I’ll really enjoy that.” And we were like, “We got you salt!” But seriously, what do you get her?
