(January 2007) Lauren Graham talks about turning 40, the future of her hit show, and branching into movies
Jamie Portman, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Saturday, January 27, 2007
Anniversaries can be times of excitement. Or they can be downers. Or sometimes they can be a mixture of both. Lauren Graham has a couple coming up. She turns 40 in March -- and that's the kind of milestone that calls for personal reappraisal.
But in addition to this, Gilmore Girls -- the TV series that has been the mainstay of her existence -- will complete its seventh season this spring and that means contract renewal time, assuming that the show continues and that she wants to stay on.
It so happens that she can't decide how she feels about either event.
Graham, who has won a bouquet of awards for her performance as Lorelai Gilmore, is uncertain about what she would like to see happen to the show.
It might be easier if she had some idea of the intentions of the WB network in the U.S. about the future of this durable series -- carried in Canada by Global -- about a mother-daughter relationship so close that the two are often mistaken for sisters.
"It's very strange not to know," Graham says. "And I have mixed feelings about it. I love that show. I love that character, but I'm tired of doing those long hours for seven years now."
She admits that the work schedule for Gilmore Girls is starting to take its toll.
"I have missed people's weddings. I have missed babies being born. I don't see my friends that much. At best, it's a 12-hour day, and it only goes up from there."
Yet she's clearly torn.
"You know, I'm so grateful. You can't just say -- I want to move on. You can't allow yourself that luxury because there's not enough work. On the other hand, it's no way to live."
Furthermore, Graham has added to the pressures by doing movies whenever possible. She opens Feb. 2 in Because I Said So, a romantic comedy starring Diane Keaton as a mother who has raised three wonderful daughters (Mandy Moore, Piper Perabo and Gilmore) who both adore her and frequently want to strangle her because of her interference in their lives. Graham jumped at the chance to portray the most stable of the three -- a successful psychologist who proves to be a resource for both her mom and sisters -- but she couldn't have done the role without the co-operation of the producers of her TV show.
"It was around this time last year -- a week around Christmas where the show was actually off but the movie was shooting, and they just worked it out. It was so worth it to me because I just can't tell you -- to do this small thing with somebody like Diane after seven years on a TV show -- it just brings me back to all the reasons why I wanted to be an actor in the first place, and makes me a better actor on the TV show."
Moreover, she really loves Because I Said So as a movie. "It's the kind of story I really like. I like stories that are just about how families communicate and relationships and finding love. That's what I like -- and I wanted to work with Diane."
Graham has a second movie, Evan Almighty opposite Steve Carell, opening June 22 -- and she says this was an even more gruelling experience because she was constantly flying back and forth between Virginia and Los Angeles. Often she would have to travel overnight in order to be on the Gilmore set the next day. "It was just incredible that it worked out because it was the only way I could do it.
"But," she adds with a laugh, "at some point I'll find that I can't work like this any more because it is really hard."
She's certainly not the first actor to be in this situation. On the one hand, there is the security of a long-running TV series; on the other hand, there's the attraction of being a freelance performer -- the downside being the lack of job security.
Her own devotion to Gilmore Girls, in which Alexis Bledel co-stars as her daughter, has caused her to turn down some movie offers because she thought they were too similar to the series in dealing with parent-child relationships.
"I'm already on a show that is so well-written. It's about this great mother-daughter relationship and I'm not trying to get away from that ... but in a movie I don't necessarily need to do the same thing. The show I do is already the smartest version of that."
And she certainly doesn't want to start playing the kind of "generic mom" whose main function is ask the kids what they did with the peanut butter.
"It could be me playing the mother of 50 other people. It doesn't feel specific."
Meanwhile, she has no idea how she really feels about turning 40.
"I wouldn't even think about it, except that I'm in this job where people ask me about it," she smiles. So, having been forced to think about it, she's concluded that maybe, just maybe, this would be a good time to cut the cord with Gilmore. When she was a kid, she didn't ever think it possible that one day she would be 40. "Now, it's different. I think it's kind of a cool time, possibly, to be in a place where I'm not working on the show ... There's a lot I want to do in the next 10 years, so the fact that maybe the show is ending and there happens to be this birthday -- it just sort of feels like a mark of time. Those are the years that you did that, and now these are the years where you're going to move on and do something else."
Of one thing she is certain. The show could not continue if either she or Alexis Bledel dropped out.
"It's a package deal," Graham says firmly. "I would never go forward if Alexis wasn't going to be in every episode. It should only be as it is.
"We have always been a good team. We relate in shorthand. I'm not a mom in real life -- I just play one on TV -- so all I knew how to be was like her friend. I would never presume to really mother her in real life -- it's more of a sort of peer relationship."
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen
Published: Saturday, January 27, 2007
Anniversaries can be times of excitement. Or they can be downers. Or sometimes they can be a mixture of both. Lauren Graham has a couple coming up. She turns 40 in March -- and that's the kind of milestone that calls for personal reappraisal.
But in addition to this, Gilmore Girls -- the TV series that has been the mainstay of her existence -- will complete its seventh season this spring and that means contract renewal time, assuming that the show continues and that she wants to stay on.
It so happens that she can't decide how she feels about either event.
Graham, who has won a bouquet of awards for her performance as Lorelai Gilmore, is uncertain about what she would like to see happen to the show.
It might be easier if she had some idea of the intentions of the WB network in the U.S. about the future of this durable series -- carried in Canada by Global -- about a mother-daughter relationship so close that the two are often mistaken for sisters.
"It's very strange not to know," Graham says. "And I have mixed feelings about it. I love that show. I love that character, but I'm tired of doing those long hours for seven years now."
She admits that the work schedule for Gilmore Girls is starting to take its toll.
"I have missed people's weddings. I have missed babies being born. I don't see my friends that much. At best, it's a 12-hour day, and it only goes up from there."
Yet she's clearly torn.
"You know, I'm so grateful. You can't just say -- I want to move on. You can't allow yourself that luxury because there's not enough work. On the other hand, it's no way to live."
Furthermore, Graham has added to the pressures by doing movies whenever possible. She opens Feb. 2 in Because I Said So, a romantic comedy starring Diane Keaton as a mother who has raised three wonderful daughters (Mandy Moore, Piper Perabo and Gilmore) who both adore her and frequently want to strangle her because of her interference in their lives. Graham jumped at the chance to portray the most stable of the three -- a successful psychologist who proves to be a resource for both her mom and sisters -- but she couldn't have done the role without the co-operation of the producers of her TV show.
"It was around this time last year -- a week around Christmas where the show was actually off but the movie was shooting, and they just worked it out. It was so worth it to me because I just can't tell you -- to do this small thing with somebody like Diane after seven years on a TV show -- it just brings me back to all the reasons why I wanted to be an actor in the first place, and makes me a better actor on the TV show."
Moreover, she really loves Because I Said So as a movie. "It's the kind of story I really like. I like stories that are just about how families communicate and relationships and finding love. That's what I like -- and I wanted to work with Diane."
Graham has a second movie, Evan Almighty opposite Steve Carell, opening June 22 -- and she says this was an even more gruelling experience because she was constantly flying back and forth between Virginia and Los Angeles. Often she would have to travel overnight in order to be on the Gilmore set the next day. "It was just incredible that it worked out because it was the only way I could do it.
"But," she adds with a laugh, "at some point I'll find that I can't work like this any more because it is really hard."
She's certainly not the first actor to be in this situation. On the one hand, there is the security of a long-running TV series; on the other hand, there's the attraction of being a freelance performer -- the downside being the lack of job security.
Her own devotion to Gilmore Girls, in which Alexis Bledel co-stars as her daughter, has caused her to turn down some movie offers because she thought they were too similar to the series in dealing with parent-child relationships.
"I'm already on a show that is so well-written. It's about this great mother-daughter relationship and I'm not trying to get away from that ... but in a movie I don't necessarily need to do the same thing. The show I do is already the smartest version of that."
And she certainly doesn't want to start playing the kind of "generic mom" whose main function is ask the kids what they did with the peanut butter.
"It could be me playing the mother of 50 other people. It doesn't feel specific."
Meanwhile, she has no idea how she really feels about turning 40.
"I wouldn't even think about it, except that I'm in this job where people ask me about it," she smiles. So, having been forced to think about it, she's concluded that maybe, just maybe, this would be a good time to cut the cord with Gilmore. When she was a kid, she didn't ever think it possible that one day she would be 40. "Now, it's different. I think it's kind of a cool time, possibly, to be in a place where I'm not working on the show ... There's a lot I want to do in the next 10 years, so the fact that maybe the show is ending and there happens to be this birthday -- it just sort of feels like a mark of time. Those are the years that you did that, and now these are the years where you're going to move on and do something else."
Of one thing she is certain. The show could not continue if either she or Alexis Bledel dropped out.
"It's a package deal," Graham says firmly. "I would never go forward if Alexis wasn't going to be in every episode. It should only be as it is.
"We have always been a good team. We relate in shorthand. I'm not a mom in real life -- I just play one on TV -- so all I knew how to be was like her friend. I would never presume to really mother her in real life -- it's more of a sort of peer relationship."
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen
posted by MissCoffee @ 8:04 p.m.
