Speaker 1: I Am all in again.
Speaker 2: Let's do.
Speaker 1: Hi.
Speaker 2: I Am all in Again with Scott Patterson and iHeartRadio Podcast.
Speaker 1: Hey Everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am All One Podcast one
Speaker 1: eleven Productions, iHeartRadio, iHeart Media, iHeart Podcast Recap Episode fourteen,
Speaker 1: Season one. That Damn Donna reed with my very very
Speaker 1: special guest and Christopher's Baby. Is it Christopher's Baby? Mama?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Macheen amk the One and Only. She's an American actress
Speaker 1: television director, best known for her role as Shelley Johnson
Speaker 1: and Twin Peaks, while also starring in Sleepwalker's Dream Lover,
Speaker 1: which is of East End, and played Alice Cooper in Riverdale.
Speaker 1: Machen made a recurring guest appearance on Gilmore Girls as
Speaker 1: Sherry Tinsdale. Off screen, she has been married to David
Speaker 1: Alexis since nineteen ninety two. They have two children together.
Speaker 1: Along with their family, she founded a nonprofit, a Direct
Speaker 1: Impact Foundation, Don't Mind Me, with initiatives focused on making
Speaker 1: mental health care accessible for all. Machen Amy, welcome, good
Speaker 1: to see you again. Yea, what did you think of
Speaker 1: this episode?
Speaker 2: I just rewatched it last night because I wanted to
Speaker 2: refresh my brain and first of all, Okay, what year
Speaker 2: was it? Season one, episode two, two thousand? Okay, so
Speaker 2: the the.
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty This is February twenty twenty one it aired,
Speaker 1: but I guess yeah, okay.
Speaker 2: Well so no, that was farther back, wasn't it. But anyway,
Speaker 2: the opening credits look so deep. It just like this,
Speaker 2: like it's like an homage to an old show from
Speaker 2: the like eighties that I used to watch or something.
Speaker 2: It was really really cute, but it's I thought they
Speaker 2: tackled some really good topics without hitting you over the head.
Speaker 2: But you know, Rory finding her way in romance and
Speaker 2: then you know this like very old fashioned way of
Speaker 2: women tending to men, and how does that sit with
Speaker 2: her boyfriend? And you know, how is that sitting with
Speaker 2: very modern women? And and so you know, it was
Speaker 2: I thought it was a very cute way to sort
Speaker 2: of tackle that subject matter without without getting too heavy
Speaker 2: right with it. And then of course Lurlai is starting
Speaker 2: to have a little light bulb that she might have
Speaker 2: something for that guy and a diner that guy tends
Speaker 2: to call on him when she's in knee.
Speaker 1: No, they do. They love mocking. They're watching it down
Speaker 1: to reach show with Dean and here comes the split
Speaker 1: between these two. The first sign of trouble, I think
Speaker 1: is like he's a traditional guy, he grew up this way,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know they sense that. He says, well,
Speaker 1: I think that's really nice. I really like that, and
Speaker 1: they both look, you know, the expressions that they give
Speaker 1: him are priceless.
Speaker 2: Yes, anything honest, right, He's just like that seems really nice.
Speaker 2: Which you're right, it does seem really nice. But really,
Speaker 2: what does that mean for the woman that's in the
Speaker 2: kitchen cooking all day to please you for that dinner.
Speaker 1: So at different times, you know, he's different times. It's
Speaker 1: a different you know, it's a post World War two mentality.
Speaker 1: These guys came back from the war completely devastated, Yeah,
Speaker 1: at what they had been through and what they'd served.
Speaker 1: Vibed with all of this survivor's guilt. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: they watched all their friends die and they just wanted
Speaker 1: to get married, have kids, have a quiet, nice life.
Speaker 2: Yeah everything.
Speaker 1: That's a nice family. Yeah, you know, just a completely
Speaker 1: different generation mentality. You know, here's the thing, as this
Speaker 1: is what I'll say, and this Michael Cadelman, who I'm
Speaker 1: very fond of, uh, directed this episode beautifully. There was
Speaker 1: a lot of steady cam, a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: continual shots.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and very I noticed that it was like two
Speaker 2: shots that just went there was I know that. I
Speaker 2: commented to my daughter Mina. I was like realizing they're
Speaker 2: not doing a lot of and close up cutting.
Speaker 1: It up in that kitchen scene was spectacular. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it was probably like an eight pager that was a
Speaker 1: long scene and they didn't cut it was just like
Speaker 1: it was one shot. It was brilliant and they did
Speaker 1: it again later on the episode. But Michael Cadaman, I
Speaker 1: think just directed a beautiful episode. This is what you know.
Speaker 1: I've seen it once now I'm going through it again.
Speaker 1: So far this is my favorite episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I just thought the writing and the acting and the
Speaker 1: thing is as good as Lauren is in her role,
Speaker 1: everybody else is as good in their roles as she
Speaker 1: is in hers. Absolutely right, There isn't a weak link
Speaker 1: in this entire cast.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I cominted how great alexis was.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, isn't she just incredible in their roles They're perfect.
Speaker 1: It's perfect casting every character.
Speaker 2: And every character's got a lot of meaty scenes and
Speaker 2: needy dialogue. There aren't throwaway characters. You know, there might
Speaker 2: be their on screen more than others, but everybody is
Speaker 2: super important and has a lot to do, which is
Speaker 2: great for an ensemble, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know they write Sally Struther's one scene,
Speaker 1: but what a scene it is. Yeah, I mean, you
Speaker 1: don't forget it. Yeah, just remarkable writing and acting. I
Speaker 1: thought this is absolutely my favorite episode so far of
Speaker 1: the whole thing. All Right, so they're watching this show. Now,
Speaker 1: she gets off the bus, Rory gets off the bus.
Speaker 1: She's got a chick, which was it was it was
Speaker 1: the best use of a bird in Yeah, in a
Speaker 1: TV or film since on the Waterfront.
Speaker 2: I think Lot's a good dog. Yeah, it's great. I'm
Speaker 2: looking for a chick.
Speaker 1: Just great, great stuff. And then they have their first
Speaker 1: little disagreement. Yeah, Dean and Rory. You know that's that's
Speaker 1: tough for sixteen year olds, isn't it to have a
Speaker 1: to have a little falling out because they're so emotional
Speaker 1: and it hurts so much, and they're so confused, and
Speaker 1: they I thought they played it beautifully.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they're they're both standing firm what they believe in.
Speaker 2: But then they're wanting to be respectful of the other one,
Speaker 2: and it hurts, and and then you're left with wanting
Speaker 2: to walk away, but you still have my chick.
Speaker 1: But he did you know, he did open his mouth,
Speaker 1: didn't he He started it?
Speaker 2: He did.
Speaker 1: He shouldn't have gone.
Speaker 2: There, be ready for what comes when you.
Speaker 1: Dan, what are you doing? You're picking a fight with
Speaker 1: a Gilmour. There's great stuff though, great light conflict. But
Speaker 1: I mean this show is so light and so airy
Speaker 1: and so funny and fun that even a little tussle
Speaker 1: like that feels deeper, you know. All right, So now
Speaker 1: we got Luke and Larelei together. I like them so
Speaker 1: much together in season one. I love them in this episode, yeah,
Speaker 1: because it's all of this newness, this discovery, this how
Speaker 1: do we feel about each other? We know how he
Speaker 1: feels about her, but you know she's she's kind of
Speaker 1: waken up to it little by little, and it's just
Speaker 1: so great to watch. And you know, in the hands
Speaker 1: of a lesser actress, I don't know if this would
Speaker 1: have been as poignant.
Speaker 2: You made it so well where you weren't like all
Speaker 2: Doe I googly eyed, could have gone way too far,
Speaker 2: and you just really kept that line of friendship and support,
Speaker 2: and yet there's this bubbling underneath that You guys did
Speaker 2: a really great job with your scenes in this episode.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing. Here's the thing. The dialogue kind of
Speaker 1: dictates what we're doing. That's how good the writing is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like I'm looking at these scenes and I'm thinking, Man,
Speaker 1: this is good stuff. This is so well directed. These
Speaker 1: scenes are so well crafted. And I always remember being
Speaker 1: in there with her knocking these scenes out and the movement,
Speaker 1: you know, where we move and how we move and
Speaker 1: how we interact, and it was just such a wonderful dance.
Speaker 2: Isn't Amy a great writer?
Speaker 1: Oh god, Oh my god.
Speaker 2: I loved the nu once and you choosing paint color
Speaker 2: and like this whole undermeaning of the decision to choose
Speaker 2: the paint combinations. Is it going to be orange and green?
Speaker 2: They in blue? And but yeah, there's so much more
Speaker 2: like text behind that decision, right.
Speaker 1: Right, and uh, Taylor teasing them and you know, interrupting
Speaker 1: and they're about to kiss. I mean it really, it
Speaker 1: really got very close a couple of times there when
Speaker 1: they were on the floor. Uh, he was going to
Speaker 1: kiss her, and then they're interrupted by Kirk hilariously by Kirk, Yes, Taylor,
Speaker 1: and then again when she's gonna leave or they stand
Speaker 1: up and face each other. So, man, I just missed
Speaker 1: that stuff. You know, that's the stuff I miss. Yeah,
Speaker 1: having done so many jobs I have post this, it's
Speaker 1: like that stuff is what I miss because that's like,
Speaker 1: you know what it was like. It's like doing live theater. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like doing really good live theater and you're just like,
Speaker 1: you're just so in these moments and it's being directed
Speaker 1: that way. And you didn't see very many cuts in
Speaker 1: that scene too, right, cattleman just let you go. He
Speaker 1: just said, you know, you guys are gonna tell the
Speaker 1: stories with your movement and your interaction.
Speaker 2: I'm like, yes, that's great. What compliments the cadence of
Speaker 2: the writing too, because as it does, I remember coming
Speaker 2: on and I remember having to like, who, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: have to keep up with this like pace because not
Speaker 2: playing around here like you got it memorized and on
Speaker 2: and ready to just deliver with good rhythm and so
Speaker 2: that like you said, like a like theater, like live theater,
Speaker 2: you got you gotta be on and then and then
Speaker 2: to have that under your belt and just be able
Speaker 2: to be let go like that by a director. Is
Speaker 2: that's a green.
Speaker 1: Most of stude comment I've heard yet is what you
Speaker 1: just said. Yeah, No, really, it's so true. It's so true.
Speaker 1: How do you cut into any of this stuff? I
Speaker 1: mean you have to yeah at times, Yeah, let it play,
Speaker 1: let it run. Yeah, because that's what the writing is saying.
Speaker 1: It's just so great. I'm gonna probably go back and
Speaker 1: watch it again. I love watching perfect things. It's perfect.
Speaker 1: She leaves, and then she calls him again. Yea because
Speaker 1: the chick. The chick got out. So it comes over.
Speaker 1: Another great scene, an hysterically funny scene, watching these two
Speaker 1: interact and searching for this check, and it was just
Speaker 1: wonderful stuff. It's not really like TV anymore. It feels
Speaker 1: more like a film now to me, like a real
Speaker 1: quality film now. So we see these two really having
Speaker 1: fun together, doing sort of normal everyday stuff that everybody
Speaker 1: does and likes, little inconveniencies, and the chick.
Speaker 2: Got it in the house just gets destroyed, as you
Speaker 2: guys are.
Speaker 1: He falls down and breaks a lamp, this kind of thing.
Speaker 1: And now at the same time, in a parallel universe,
Speaker 1: Dean Roy are having their their Donna read moments, she
Speaker 1: dresses up like Donna Reed, serves them dinner, makes the dinner.
Speaker 1: Why do you suppose she did that?
Speaker 2: I think she was testing the Oh well maybe I
Speaker 2: think it could have been one of two things, and
Speaker 2: she might have had both intentions. One was, well, let
Speaker 2: me test this out, let me actually play into this
Speaker 2: stereotype that he seems to like. Maybe I'll please him.
Speaker 2: Maybe let me see what this feels like. But was
Speaker 2: it also maybe a bit of a trap? How much
Speaker 2: do you like this? Let me test you?
Speaker 1: So?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you had these like two opposite things happening just
Speaker 2: side by side, well opposite, and yet the same two
Speaker 2: couples navigating where they stand with each other, right under
Speaker 2: two different circumstances.
Speaker 1: Right, So he opened up his mouth and by the
Speaker 1: gazebo mistake, she maybe overreacted. Mistake, Right, they both feel
Speaker 1: responsible now, so she goes overboard trying to make up
Speaker 1: for it. Right. I didn't think she was mocking him.
Speaker 1: I don't think there was any No, this is just like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm still going to stand my ground on
Speaker 1: this issue, but you know, I don't want to lose
Speaker 1: the relationship, right, It's not worth it, so she goes
Speaker 1: over the top of this and it was very sweet.
Speaker 1: It was a nice gesture, isn't it.
Speaker 2: And I think they kept it grounded as it was
Speaker 2: being performed, made it very genuine, like you said.
Speaker 1: And then we have the moment where Luke is taking
Speaker 1: out the trash of the broken lamp looking for the
Speaker 1: chick and Dean is taking out the trash.
Speaker 2: My favorite part of the episode. I love that interaction
Speaker 2: where there what are you doing? What are you doing?
Speaker 2: And then you both I'm you know, just taking taking
Speaker 2: some treasure off. Well, me do because that's what guys do.
Speaker 1: Right, And then they leave and now we've got Mother
Speaker 1: and Laurla making fun of Rory's outfit like what the
Speaker 1: heck are you wearing? Hell and the shoes? And that
Speaker 1: was just great, great stuff.
Speaker 2: And the women came out and see each other. What
Speaker 2: are you doing? What are you doing? Yeah, and it
Speaker 2: just ends with Laura like going, wow, you look ridiculous.
Speaker 1: Just so let me let's talk about Sherry a little bit.
Speaker 1: What's your first impression of Sherry when you when you
Speaker 1: read the script and did you did you connect with
Speaker 1: her right away? It took you some time to figure
Speaker 1: it out.
Speaker 2: I think I just saw that it was a good
Speaker 2: tool to get in the way where, you know, create
Speaker 2: some jealousy on Laura Lie's side, and probably perk up
Speaker 2: her idea of like, oh he's moving on, m oh
Speaker 2: do I do I still have feelings for him or not?
Speaker 2: You know, I think it was just a good tool
Speaker 2: to bring up where they were. But then just the
Speaker 2: part itself was just fun to do. She was I
Speaker 2: think her first episode was pretty straightforward, pretty innocent, and
Speaker 2: I think I did three episodes altogether, and each the
Speaker 2: next one and the next one just got more and
Speaker 2: more outlandish. She just the characters seemed to unravel, like
Speaker 2: just yeah, became a heightened version of frenzy.
Speaker 1: You know, is it true what I hear that you
Speaker 1: were Amy's first choice for Larela.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I was her first choice, but
Speaker 2: I know I went through a lot of rounds. I
Speaker 2: tested a bunch of times.
Speaker 1: Ash, really, what was that? Like?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: How many tell us? Okay? This is the thing I
Speaker 1: think fans are really fascinated with because we always talk
Speaker 1: about how difficult it is to get a job, and
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes it's really easy, but most of the
Speaker 1: time it's really hard take the fans through your audition
Speaker 1: process to get because you were considered for Lorelei. Right, yeah,
Speaker 1: but take us back to two thousand. You get a
Speaker 1: call from your manager.
Speaker 2: He says, what, yeah, I think it's just you know,
Speaker 2: another audition comes in. You're going to need to show
Speaker 2: up here. I think at that point I was able
Speaker 2: to go straight into producers because you have to do
Speaker 2: the rounds where you like, audition for an assistant casting director,
Speaker 2: and then you can make it to the actual casting director,
Speaker 2: and then the casting director decides that you can move
Speaker 2: on to producers. So I got to slip into just producers.
Speaker 1: Because that's it takes time and a good, really strong
Speaker 1: resume just to go to producers right away. That's that's
Speaker 1: a lot of trust.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then and then you know, I
Speaker 2: don't really even remember reading, but I remember reading, and
Speaker 2: I remember hitting it off with Amy a lot. And
Speaker 2: then you leave and you don't know. But then you
Speaker 2: get that call from your agent at some point. And
Speaker 2: if you don't get a call from your agent within
Speaker 2: a few days, you could pretty much write that one off.
Speaker 2: You're that's not going to move forward. But the quicker
Speaker 2: you get the call from your agent, which means the
Speaker 2: quicker they called your agent means how much they're interested
Speaker 2: in you. So it was a pretty quick she was great,
Speaker 2: we loved her, We want to move her forward. So
Speaker 2: then you have to go through auditioning and and it's
Speaker 2: called testing, so you have to.
Speaker 1: That's when you get the contract offer, that's when you
Speaker 1: get the car gets real. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so then you got to negotiate your contract
Speaker 2: before you even walk in the door to text and
Speaker 2: a studio because they don't want to see you unless
Speaker 2: they know they have a deal.
Speaker 1: Right, that's testing for the network executives. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, so then I went through studio.
Speaker 1: First, studio first, right.
Speaker 2: And then you know, and you're there and you're in
Speaker 2: the hallway with other actors and I don't remember who
Speaker 2: else was in there, but it's just sort of like, uh,
Speaker 2: you're looking at the competition.
Speaker 1: And you never saw Lauren in the room.
Speaker 2: No, as far as I know, she came in. She
Speaker 2: was brought in after the fact because she had an
Speaker 2: overall deal with the studio or the network and they
Speaker 2: were looking for a new vehicle for her, so she
Speaker 2: already was kind of under contract with them.
Speaker 1: Oh, she had a holding deal. Okay, so I.
Speaker 2: Went through the studio and then nerve wrackingly made it
Speaker 2: to the next round.
Speaker 1: Tell us about the difference between the producer room and
Speaker 1: then here you're studio level testing, right, tell us about
Speaker 1: the difference between in those rooms and who who's populating
Speaker 1: those rooms?
Speaker 2: Right, So when you go in for producers, you're going
Speaker 2: into somebody's office, usually casting director's office, or maybe those
Speaker 2: producers have an office on a lot or something. And
Speaker 2: you go in and there's probably a handful of people
Speaker 2: in that room. So you if you have a director attached,
Speaker 2: the director might be there. You definitely have your showrunners,
Speaker 2: your producers, and so you know, and then.
Speaker 1: You're might be like five to ten people, max, the
Speaker 1: max five to seven, right, five to seven. Right.
Speaker 2: Then you go in on the studio level, and now
Speaker 2: you're in a full theater stage, usually on a studio lot.
Speaker 2: So you're on stage with the theater filled up like
Speaker 2: at least a quarter to halfway. Executives right that have
Speaker 2: the most stone cold look on their face, absolutely no
Speaker 2: motion one way or another, and you're just you know,
Speaker 2: you're in the hot seat, the lights on you, you're the
Speaker 2: hell you're sweating, You're just trying to not have your
Speaker 2: voice crack. You just want to get lines out, and
Speaker 2: you feel like you have to like do it perfect
Speaker 2: one time. You know, Sometimes you're like, I totally fucked up?
Speaker 2: Can I start over? And then you do it and
Speaker 2: you have to go out in the back in the
Speaker 2: hallway and wait, and they a lot of they are
Speaker 2: usually testing a lot of roles, so there's a lot
Speaker 2: of people, so you can be there for hours, right
Speaker 2: and you're kind of waiting to see when are you next?
Speaker 2: And then once you've done it, you're having flop sweats
Speaker 2: in the in the hallway as you're waiting for the
Speaker 2: rest of everybody to audition. And you have to wait
Speaker 2: because they may want to bring you back in to
Speaker 2: read again, or they may want to match you up
Speaker 2: with another partner in your scene because they want to
Speaker 2: see if somebody works better with somebody else. So then
Speaker 2: you are only released. Oh you know what's the worst though?
Speaker 2: Sometimes you wait, you wait, you wait, You hear the
Speaker 2: laughter that's happening in the in the room, and everybody
Speaker 2: seems getting along, and then they come out and they
Speaker 2: literally turned in and go. You can leave. You release
Speaker 2: so then you leave that, and then you're just waiting
Speaker 2: every minute that goes by on the clock, waiting to
Speaker 2: get the call from your agent you're released or they're
Speaker 2: they're going to move you ahead to network. So then
Speaker 2: it was you're going to move, we're ahead to network.
Speaker 2: So then you got to do the thing all over again.
Speaker 1: Do you know who else was in contention at the
Speaker 1: network level? Do you know who you were up against?
Speaker 1: Did you want to know? Did you ask?
Speaker 2: I'm sure I knew, and I probably saw them, and
Speaker 2: it was probably a lot of the same people I
Speaker 2: see a lot that I would go against. I blacked
Speaker 2: it out because it's all trauma to me. It's I
Speaker 2: focus on the things I get, you know. And but
Speaker 2: so same thing again for the network. And then at
Speaker 2: this point you also have studio in there as well,
Speaker 2: so now you've got a lot of extra suits in there.
Speaker 2: And then they're debating with each other throughout the casting
Speaker 2: process in between, so somebody's like, nah, I don't like
Speaker 2: that person. Somebody well, well no, wait, I think they're good.
Speaker 2: So same thing all over again. And as I went
Speaker 2: through all of the rounds, I know Amy was really
Speaker 2: rooting for me and the big feedback that kept coming
Speaker 2: back was we don't believe that she's old enough to
Speaker 2: have a daughter that age. She doesn't look old enough.
Speaker 2: And Amy was saying, but that's a whole point of
Speaker 2: the show that they like sisters. And I had already
Speaker 2: had kids at that point, so if they it was
Speaker 2: like two thousand, my kids were, you know, eight to
Speaker 2: nine something like that. So I was like, but I
Speaker 2: have kids, because they were like, she's not believable as
Speaker 2: a mother at all, and I was like, but I
Speaker 2: am a mother. So that's what Amy was fighting against
Speaker 2: was that they just thought I was too young looking
Speaker 2: for that role, and she kept fighting, but that's the point,
Speaker 2: that's what I like. And then just like, you know,
Speaker 2: last minute, it was like, you know what, they already
Speaker 2: have a relationship. They already have a deal with Lauren Graham.
Speaker 2: She's getting it. And so I hadn't seen anybody since
Speaker 2: until I came back. I think I think I saw
Speaker 2: Amy in a hotel hell, because we were both working
Speaker 2: in the same town and it wasn't even on the
Speaker 2: same show, and we ran into each other and she
Speaker 2: was like, oh, I was so like bummed, you know
Speaker 2: that it didn't it didn't go through, but I really
Speaker 2: want to bring you back, and so I think that's
Speaker 2: why she brought me back as the guest start.
Speaker 1: So what period of time are we talking about here
Speaker 1: between you're getting the first call from your manager, you
Speaker 1: have this audition for Kill More Girls, and then finding
Speaker 1: out it's not going to work, it's not going to happen.
Speaker 2: I mean that usually happens within a couple of weeks
Speaker 2: to no more than a month, right, because usually you
Speaker 2: have this very small window to shoot pilots, or at
Speaker 2: least we used to. Now Now now the structure is
Speaker 2: just blown out of the streaming.
Speaker 1: But there's no structure.
Speaker 2: There's no structure, But they used to be, you know,
Speaker 2: January was all of your dramas, you know, trickling into
Speaker 2: February because they needed more time to produce those dramas,
Speaker 2: so they would always go first, and then by February
Speaker 2: March you're doing your comedies. And then everybody's got to
Speaker 2: be in production by April because you need to turn
Speaker 2: around your show to be able to have it considered
Speaker 2: to then be available for upfront in May. So there's
Speaker 2: short windows and very intense and a lot of times
Speaker 2: you're driving from one audition to another, and you're changing
Speaker 2: in the car and you're getting it's last second. And
Speaker 2: then remember the Thomas Guide days.
Speaker 1: Thomas Guide, Oh yes, oh yeah, before.
Speaker 2: Map Quest and anything on your phone, you had.
Speaker 1: To Thomas Guide in my sixty six pontiac leamons that
Speaker 1: may or may not start.
Speaker 2: Yeah, mine was Thomas Guide and chevele my mom shovelet's
Speaker 2: chevlay citation that I blew the transmission out of.
Speaker 1: I had a meeting at Radford CBS, Bradford and the
Speaker 1: car died on me as I was pulling through the
Speaker 1: gates and I just got it into a space. You know,
Speaker 1: it was somebody's space, but the car was dying and
Speaker 1: there was nowhere else to leave it. So I just
Speaker 1: like I was doing in is running in and picking
Speaker 1: up sides. That's all I was doing from the casting office,
Speaker 1: right and it and the car died and I said, okay, well,
Speaker 1: this is somebody's space. I forget who it was. It
Speaker 1: was an actress's space. And I ran into the office.
Speaker 1: I said, Hi, I'm Scott Sides for this thing. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: here you go, thank you. Ran out. The actress had
Speaker 1: showed up. She was reuming she said, I get the
Speaker 1: hell out of my space now, and I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: the car died. It wouldn't start, it would She wanted
Speaker 1: to kill me.
Speaker 2: Okay, I have a car story on a lot. So
Speaker 2: I was need the show Freddy and it was Freddy
Speaker 2: Prince Junior's sitcom Brian Austin Green Freddy Prince. It was
Speaker 2: such a fun show to do. It only went a season.
Speaker 2: But I had my car ship across country and it
Speaker 2: was in seventy two Mercedes and so it was a
Speaker 2: full vintage car like it, you know, and it finally
Speaker 2: so it showed up and they dropped it off and
Speaker 2: it was parked right outside the stage, even though it
Speaker 2: wasn't supposed to be parked right outside the stage, but
Speaker 2: they need somewhere to drop it. I was going to
Speaker 2: deal with it, and we're filming something that all of
Speaker 2: a sudden production is shut down because there's a full
Speaker 2: fleet of fire trucks that have showed up because my
Speaker 2: gas tank had cracked in the shipment and then gas
Speaker 2: all over, you know, was a huge fire hazard and
Speaker 2: they're ye pellets And I never lived that one down.
Speaker 1: But which studio with Warner Brothers, Oh yeah, tough lot.
Speaker 2: It's very hard to get on. There are people that
Speaker 2: have been on shows for ten years and if you
Speaker 2: don't have your ID coming in the.
Speaker 1: Gate, you're not getting no, no, you're not getting that
Speaker 1: yeah getting It's it's very very tough to get on
Speaker 1: that lot. And then you did. You worked with Lauren Graham.
Speaker 1: What was that like?
Speaker 2: She's great, she was very gracious, really great. I feel
Speaker 2: like she it's very hard to come on as a
Speaker 2: as a guest star onto a show and people are
Speaker 2: already rolling, they already have their rhythm, they already know
Speaker 2: each other. You know, it's like the new kid in school.
Speaker 2: You're just like hi. And she was very, very gracious,
Speaker 2: very welcoming, wanted to make sure that I felt comfortable,
Speaker 2: and and I remember Alexis was so sweet, you know,
Speaker 2: so new to the business and kind of wide eyed, like, whoa,
Speaker 2: this is this is how it goes, this is the
Speaker 2: fervor of which we film.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, you know Shary got some strong reactions from fans,
Speaker 1: and were you aware at that time of how people
Speaker 1: felt about Sherry.
Speaker 2: No, I don't, I think, and I think that's why
Speaker 2: the character kind of morphed in the next couple of
Speaker 2: episodes they needed to lean in and go ahead and
Speaker 2: embrace her. Not that she was a battie, but you
Speaker 2: know that people were not not happy with her, so
Speaker 2: they I think they leaned in a little bit more
Speaker 2: and made her a bit more easier to hate, Like
Speaker 2: just really lean.
Speaker 1: Into it, right right. Well, you know you eventually leave
Speaker 1: for for Paris and we don't really see you again.
Speaker 1: And did you know your storyline from the start was
Speaker 1: going to be you know, short lived.
Speaker 2: I didn't expect any more than the one guest star.
Speaker 2: I was surprised when they asked me to come back,
Speaker 2: so it was you know, it was enjoyable when they
Speaker 2: when they did, and I was always like, absolutely.
Speaker 1: Did you want to rewrite it? Did you have a
Speaker 1: different vision for the character? If you had the power,
Speaker 1: what would you have done with her storyline?
Speaker 2: I think the only thing that I was trying to
Speaker 2: do in my performance was just keep her grounded and
Speaker 2: keep her as genuine as she could be, like to herself,
Speaker 2: you know, like she's genuine. She may be obnoxious, but
Speaker 2: but she believes it, and she believes she's doing the
Speaker 2: right thing. And just to try to keep her human,
Speaker 2: you know, because I really didn't. I really didn't know
Speaker 2: where they wanted to go with her and how they
Speaker 2: wanted to use her as a tool, you know, of
Speaker 2: the relationships. So I kind of was just I am here,
Speaker 2: use me as you need me, and I'll do the
Speaker 2: best I can.
Speaker 1: You know, Wow, I let's say you did get cast
Speaker 1: as Laura I, what would your interpretation, Ben, How would
Speaker 1: it have been different?
Speaker 2: I think I think it was really suited for Lauren Graham.
Speaker 2: I think she handled the cadence so naturally, you didn't
Speaker 2: question that wasn't just something the way that she just
Speaker 2: exists naturally. I think she was really good at that.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if I would have been as
Speaker 2: good as that, as much as I always like to
Speaker 2: say I can tackle anything and I can do anything,
Speaker 2: but I think that would have been quite a challenge
Speaker 2: and a really big feat, and I might have even
Speaker 2: pushed back on it a little bit, like, but why
Speaker 2: do we have to talk this fast all the time?
Speaker 2: Like why can't we do? You know? I probably I
Speaker 2: probably would have struggled with it a little bit, to
Speaker 2: be honest, But I do think that there was a pure,
Speaker 2: really great thing between the mother daughter relationship and I
Speaker 2: would have really enjoyed that. You know, I think Alexis
Speaker 2: did an amazing job, and I think I would have
Speaker 2: I think that would have been something that I would
Speaker 2: have really enjoyed and probably would have worked really well.
Speaker 1: Right, So let me ask you this, if there's a
Speaker 1: second reunion, would you like to come back and revisit
Speaker 1: that character?
Speaker 2: I would love to. I wanted to do the first reunion.
Speaker 2: I was like, hello, here, was it fun? Was it
Speaker 2: fun to do that?
Speaker 1: It really was. It was fun. It was fun because
Speaker 1: it was Netflix put so much money into it, and
Speaker 1: it was different. It was it was like being on
Speaker 1: a big budget film set.
Speaker 2: Great.
Speaker 1: The equipment had changed, you know, the technology had changed.
Speaker 1: They had all of this top technology, so many cameras,
Speaker 1: so many cranes, so many of you know, the sets
Speaker 1: were brighter and better. It was just everything just popped yea,
Speaker 1: and we knew it was it's just going to be
Speaker 1: like three and a half months. So it was this
Speaker 1: limited amount of time because we never got any closure
Speaker 1: because it was canceled in two thousand and seven and
Speaker 1: I was, you know, I was in Canada on a
Speaker 1: set and people were you know, cast of the four
Speaker 1: Wins and you know, we didn't get a chance to
Speaker 1: say goodbye or anything. There was no rap party or
Speaker 1: anything like that. But now here we had a chance
Speaker 1: to sort of say goodbye every single day, right, you just.
Speaker 2: Got to catch up. And then how many years after,
Speaker 2: like what was the reunion for you guys? How many years?
Speaker 2: Was it?
Speaker 1: Nine years?
Speaker 2: Okay? Because because when I did the the it was
Speaker 2: called the Return of Twin Peaks, it was twenty five
Speaker 2: years later.
Speaker 1: At twenty five twenty five.
Speaker 2: It was just like mind blowing, and it was very
Speaker 2: emotional for me every day, you know, seeing someone I
Speaker 2: hadn't seen in a long time. David brought back all
Speaker 2: of all of original casting crew that he possibly could.
Speaker 2: So we're seeing theseeople that you know, we haven't seen
Speaker 2: it so long and putting the waitress uniform back on.
Speaker 2: I'm bawling. And he lived in and you know, I'm bawling,
Speaker 2: you know, David Lynch's bawling like it was. And it
Speaker 2: took and it took us a year to do that season.
Speaker 2: So given a year.
Speaker 1: Total, that's great, that's dice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And he filmed it as one feature film. I
Speaker 2: think it was a total of maybe it was I
Speaker 2: don't remember how many episodes we did, maybe say like
Speaker 2: eighteen episodes. He's eighteen hour film and he just chose
Speaker 2: places to cut it to be an episode.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry for your loss. I mean, what a
Speaker 1: what a giant, Yeah, what a unique individual. Yeah, what
Speaker 1: a real artist this guy was.
Speaker 2: And as much as like you said, a giant in
Speaker 2: what he did and his talent and what he accomplished,
Speaker 2: he was almost the opposite personally in that he was
Speaker 2: so sweet and humble and when you got to know him,
Speaker 2: you just become family. And he was there for me,
Speaker 2: you know, beyond being my mentor or when I was
Speaker 2: stepping behind the camera to direct. He was super supportive.
Speaker 2: But I could call him up with anything and just say,
Speaker 2: hey David, i'n't oh my god. And he would give
Speaker 2: me like great advice through pregnancy and hey David, this
Speaker 2: is happening in my life. And hey David, I think
Speaker 2: I want to leave the business. What do I do?
Speaker 2: You know? So he was a good friend.
Speaker 1: So he was just a gentle soul. Yeah, super supportive,
Speaker 1: lovely guy.
Speaker 2: Ye, reading about the people that was around him so
Speaker 2: and showed it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really nice to be on a set like that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The leader is really grounded and just open and soft
Speaker 1: and gentle and supportive and intelligent.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh man, wow, So what'd you learn from them? What
Speaker 1: the what are the big takeaways from being around that guy?
Speaker 2: To not compromise?
Speaker 1: Yes, yep, and never right, like, never compromise your choice. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: you can discuss it, right.
Speaker 2: And and and by discussing it, you might change your
Speaker 2: mind because exactly something came up that made a lot
Speaker 2: of sense and you're like, oh, yeah, I get it.
Speaker 1: Okay, tell us about how important that is and what
Speaker 1: it actually means. Because fans, we have some very knowledgeable fans.
Speaker 1: But but in the moment, when you're in rehearsal process,
Speaker 1: when you're going through the scene, when you're building that
Speaker 1: scene before you shoot, before before they start lighting it,
Speaker 1: tell us about arriving at a choice voice and then
Speaker 1: fighting for it. Tell us about that process, because that's
Speaker 1: the most important thing we do. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I feel so for for me and my process. I'll
Speaker 2: read something and I usually get a really immediate take
Speaker 2: on not only the character, but what I think they
Speaker 2: mean to do with the story, right, and even as
Speaker 2: specific as like the tone of it, the feel of it,
Speaker 2: the rhythm. Is it a really dark, slow thing or
Speaker 2: is it this you know, lofty, fun, bouncy thing. And
Speaker 2: you know, you hopefully have the luxury to talk with
Speaker 2: the director and the writers on what they intend and
Speaker 2: what they're hoping to get from your character and how
Speaker 2: it fits into the story. You a lot of times
Speaker 2: don't have that luxury, but if you do, that's great.
Speaker 1: That's great if you have that communication, you know, yeah, so.
Speaker 2: Hopefully there's maybe some conversations, even if it's over the phone.
Speaker 2: You're very it's very rare anymore that you actually get
Speaker 2: rehearsal time. So if it's a because most films now
Speaker 2: don't have a budget, so you don't have the luxury
Speaker 2: to have rehearsal time, you're filming it in the least
Speaker 2: amount of days possible, so you're just running and gunning.
Speaker 1: It's just amazing to me they give so much time
Speaker 1: to DP to light it, and yet so they just
Speaker 1: try to rush you through a rehearsal process and I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, like whoa stop. This is where this is
Speaker 1: where we make the show right here, Okay, so let's
Speaker 1: get this right let's take the time to get this right.
Speaker 2: I've had to fight for that so many times. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I've had to just dig my heels in and say stop, no,
Speaker 2: we need to know what we're do. Others we're going
Speaker 2: to be spending so much more time burning film because
Speaker 2: we're trying to find it, Like, let's find it now.
Speaker 1: Did you ever find yourself in a situation where you
Speaker 1: got a network note and that was communicated to the
Speaker 1: director after a long fight for defending a choice, and
Speaker 1: then you're like, oh god, really, yeah, oh yeah, are
Speaker 1: you kidding me? They want me to do that?
Speaker 2: I know, And a lot of times they make it
Speaker 2: seem like it's their their decision because they know if
Speaker 2: they know if they come to you and say, okay,
Speaker 2: we got a network note, that we're going to be like,
Speaker 2: are you kidding me? So they pretended it's their idea,
Speaker 2: and so you're like, huh, okay, that's interesting because that's
Speaker 2: not really the you know, the path we were going
Speaker 2: down for the last eight episodes. But let me try
Speaker 2: to figure this out. And at point I've gotten so
Speaker 2: savvy that I'm like, this is a network note, isn't
Speaker 2: it right? Yeah?
Speaker 1: No, I can tell I guess I'm a mile I.
Speaker 2: Know, I know, but but I will say, you know,
Speaker 2: because of these years of acting, when I started directing,
Speaker 2: and I really bristle a lot of first AD's feathers,
Speaker 2: but I insist I send everybody away. Go coffee break,
Speaker 2: smoke break, pee break, whatever you guys got to do.
Speaker 2: Set is mine and it's me and the actors. Yes,
Speaker 2: not even an AD or a DP exactly.
Speaker 1: They really try to crowd you out and don't give
Speaker 1: you your space, and you do have to dismiss them.
Speaker 1: That is essential. This is just our space. No good.
Speaker 1: I like him.
Speaker 2: I want to give the actors a safe place to
Speaker 2: just bitch about what they were about to have to do. Right,
Speaker 2: want them to let me know where are we at?
Speaker 2: Are you doing this? Do you not believe it? What
Speaker 2: do you need to fight for? What do I need
Speaker 2: to help you fight for? I want to get it
Speaker 2: out now, you know? Or maybe let's talk it through.
Speaker 2: Maybe there's something you weren't thinking of, and maybe you
Speaker 2: know and it's literally like one reading through. Maybe there's
Speaker 2: a little something to discuss. It doesn't take much time,
Speaker 2: but I'm telling you it saves so much time for
Speaker 2: the rest of the day, and then I invite the
Speaker 2: next wave in and then we run it through again.
Speaker 2: And then usually there's a writer on set that chimes
Speaker 2: in and goes, well, I don't know, you know, well,
Speaker 2: I'm sure if they would walk over the window there
Speaker 2: and be like, okay, hear what you're saying, but this
Speaker 2: is why they chose to do that. And then you
Speaker 2: invite everybody else in to watch the full rehearsal. But
Speaker 2: I'm adamant about that, and everybody can be as mad
Speaker 2: as they want me. I don't care. We need we
Speaker 2: need to send our take a breath and then move
Speaker 2: through this an.
Speaker 1: And the inexperienced actors get so freaked out by that
Speaker 1: because they think, oh god, what's happening here, you know.
Speaker 1: They they think that it's some kind of unusual uh,
Speaker 1: you know, things are getting heated, and oh, this is
Speaker 1: just really scary and I don't know if I can do,
Speaker 1: you know, And and it's like, no, this is how
Speaker 1: you knock it out. This is how you this is
Speaker 1: how you sculpt something into uh into some kind of
Speaker 1: beautiful shape. You got it. It takes it's it's an
Speaker 1: it's kind of violent almost. I mean, I'm not saying physically,
Speaker 1: but I mean you if my best rehearsal is at Kilma.
Speaker 1: This is what I love so much about Gilmore. You
Speaker 1: had all of these you know, high level theater actors,
Speaker 1: Broadway actors who know this stuff, who are gladiators, who
Speaker 1: get in there and they say small things and rehearsal,
Speaker 1: they do smart things and they and they bat away
Speaker 1: any kind of idiotic choices. It doesn't matter where it
Speaker 1: comes from. And you'd better have a thick skin because
Speaker 1: nobody cares how you feel. That's you know, that's the
Speaker 1: training that I had. So when I go on a
Speaker 1: set and I and I do it like you do it,
Speaker 1: I read it. I get an impression right away.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Then I like to have the conversations right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and a lot of and sometimes I'm off like.
Speaker 1: Sometimes right, sometimes you miss it.
Speaker 2: Yes, I imagine something so much better and my opinion.
Speaker 2: And I was like that version, like.
Speaker 1: What the hell is this guy talking about? Yeah, we
Speaker 1: just wanted to go pick up the cup? What is he?
Speaker 1: What is he talking?
Speaker 2: Yeah? But you know, circling all the way back to
Speaker 2: David Lynch, it's you know, he it was a blessing
Speaker 2: and a curse altogether because I got to see someone
Speaker 2: and put his instinct out there, hold strong to his
Speaker 2: instinct even when everybody, everybody didn't understand it or didn't
Speaker 2: like it. You know, when we when we aired, the
Speaker 2: network did not or studio network did not like us.
Speaker 2: I don't know what individuals in the studio or network.
Speaker 2: I know there was some batting for us, and there
Speaker 2: was some that just wanted to like get rid of us.
Speaker 2: So we were a mid season.
Speaker 1: Replacement, I mean the original series, the.
Speaker 2: Original series, and they and they put us against the
Speaker 2: season premiere Cheers, which was gigantic. They just wanted to
Speaker 2: burn us off, get us out of there because I
Speaker 2: couldn't control David, and so I then went into you know,
Speaker 2: Hollywood beyond that after the show is over, and I
Speaker 2: would say for the next six years, I really I
Speaker 2: had a hard time finding my way because I just
Speaker 2: cut kept coming up to these like very formulaic ways
Speaker 2: to go about things and expressions like well, no, you
Speaker 2: can't do that, and I would be like, yeah, you can.
Speaker 2: I've seen it. I've actually seen it, and I've and
Speaker 2: I've been on it and it was one of my
Speaker 2: first things I've ever done. So he set me up
Speaker 2: in this, you know, thinking of understand what you're portraying,
Speaker 2: Stick to your guns, don't compromise, and deliver right and
Speaker 2: people either get it or not. Don't worry about it,
Speaker 2: keep moving.
Speaker 1: Right because it's that courage that translates and every screen.
Speaker 2: So that, in my opinion, the creators are taking all
Speaker 2: of the notes from the studios and the networks and
Speaker 2: all that, and it's more and more vanilla and more
Speaker 2: and more watered down. The ones that do well are
Speaker 2: the ones that have a true vision and they stick to
Speaker 2: it and they don't get picked up or they you know,
Speaker 2: but they stuck to it and in it it had
Speaker 2: a strong voice and it had a strong opinion. And
Speaker 2: you'd much rather go down with that than piecing out
Speaker 2: your baby and making it vanilla.
Speaker 1: That's what That's what Amy did. She stuck to her vision,
Speaker 1: she stuck to her guns. She fought the good fight
Speaker 1: until she had to walk away. Yeah, and that's why
Speaker 1: this show, and that's why Twin Peaks continues to resonate
Speaker 1: with people. These are unforgettable creators, you know, unique voices,
Speaker 1: unique talents that never buckled hard to do takes a
Speaker 1: tremendous amount of courage and just belief in what you're doing. Yeah, gosh,
Speaker 1: I admire them. I admire these people so much. Oh,
Speaker 1: you know, I could talk to you for the next week.
Speaker 1: What are you doing for the next week? You want
Speaker 1: to come on every day so much? Sure we have,
Speaker 1: But I do want to acknowledge in this episode, the
Speaker 1: absolutely brilliant Friday night dinner scenes. I thought they were
Speaker 1: the best I've ever seen. I thought that the living
Speaker 1: room scenes with Emily and Richard Tho, that was the
Speaker 1: best one I've seen. And there have been some great
Speaker 1: living room sceness. The humor, the brevity of it, the dialogue,
Speaker 1: just fantastic. Sick this Michael Catleman, if you're listening, hats
Speaker 1: off to you, buddy, Messiah. Let's do something together and
Speaker 1: they're not too distant future, because this guy's a hell
Speaker 1: of a director. Yeah, just a hell of a director
Speaker 1: to get these performers, just to translate this stuff the
Speaker 1: way he did in this episode. Just a pleasure to
Speaker 1: see you again and talk to you, and please, please
Speaker 1: please come back. Absolutely we will be in touch for more.
Speaker 1: You want to talk about don't mind me? Your project,
Speaker 1: your mental health project.
Speaker 2: Yes, so we founded our nonprofit mental health foundation, Don't
Speaker 2: Mind Me, because my son lives with my polar disorder
Speaker 2: and he had a mental health break in freshman year
Speaker 2: of college. And it's been really hard thirteen years and
Speaker 2: navigating a very broken mental health care system. So we
Speaker 2: rolled up our sleeves in twenty twenty one founded Don't
Speaker 2: Mind Me. We have a scholarship fund to help people
Speaker 2: get into primary mental health treatment that wouldn't otherwise be
Speaker 2: able to afford it, which, by the way, it is
Speaker 2: completely unaffordable and unaccessible. So we have a scholarship program
Speaker 2: to help people get into treatment. And then now we're
Speaker 2: in the beg gaining stages of opening our own treatment
Speaker 2: center in Pump Springs, and the whole goal behind it
Speaker 2: is a full recovery campus taking you through all levels
Speaker 2: of care, treating the whole body, all preventative, all supportive
Speaker 2: around it, you know, along with all of the regular
Speaker 2: treatments and therapies. And we're holding a big gala March eighth.
Speaker 2: If you'll come out to Palm Springs, please come. People
Speaker 2: can buy tickets on Don'tmindme dot org and we're honoring
Speaker 2: Mollie Ringwald. kJ Appa's going to present to her lance.
Speaker 2: Bask's going to present to Angel Carter conrad twin sister,
Speaker 2: the late Aaron Carter, actually Kalia with a mental health
Speaker 2: storytelling Coalition, which is so important for the way we
Speaker 2: tell stories in film and television when we're talking about
Speaker 2: mental health, doing it the right way. And I'm pulling
Speaker 2: my twin Peaks cast up on stage to do some music.
Speaker 1: If I'm in town, I will be there because I'm
Speaker 1: doing a ton of conventions. But if I'm not somewhere,
Speaker 1: I will definitely show up and support you. I would
Speaker 1: love to be there. Do me a favor give. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give your email. I'm sure they already have it,
Speaker 1: but I'll get it from Emma or Jackie and I'll
Speaker 1: because I want to support you in your your foundation,
Speaker 1: because because because it's it's a really important endeavor, really
Speaker 1: really important that people have access. Uh. I love talking
Speaker 1: to you a great seeing you again. Hope to see
Speaker 1: you soon, maybe in Palm Springs, maybe back on a zoom.
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna I'm gonna email you and we'll get
Speaker 1: into other things. Okay, Yes, makee you Amic, the one
Speaker 1: and only, the brilliant macheen Amic member of support. Don't
Speaker 1: mind me, that's your foundation. Uh late of Twin Peaks,
Speaker 1: Gilmore Girls, the one and only major naming. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much and everybody out there appreciate your downloads. Remember
Speaker 1: where you lead, we will follow. Stay safe everyone, Hey everybody,
Speaker 1: and don't forget. Follow us on Instagram at I Am
Speaker 1: All In podcast and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: dot com