Speaker 1: I am all in again.
Speaker 2: I Am all in again with Scott Patterson and iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am All in again. Podcast
Speaker 1: one eleven productions, iHeart Radio, iHeart Media, iHeart Podcast Season one,
Speaker 1: Episode three, which is entitled kill Me. Now we have
Speaker 1: a very very special guest, the man responsible for directing
Speaker 1: this wonderful episode, Adam kneem Oy. Yes, that kneem Oy.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: May the Force be with us all. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just like, how iconic is this moment?
Speaker 3: First of all, did you see what Adam just did?
Speaker 3: Because I've already been so excited for Adam and now
Speaker 3: I'm losing my mind. He literally just gave us the spock.
Speaker 1: So grad your dad famously Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek Fame,
Speaker 1: Legend icon.
Speaker 3: He's gonna save all my Star Trek fan girling for
Speaker 3: the end. But maybe I have.
Speaker 1: To be just let it out, Just let it out,
Speaker 1: let it out. O. Adam, Thanks for joining us, Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me.
Speaker 4: I'm such as such an honor and privileged to be here.
Speaker 2: I love the show, so I'm so I'm so glad
Speaker 2: to be participating in this with you guys.
Speaker 1: I have to tell you, everybody on the team was
Speaker 1: like really really really buzzing that you were coming on.
Speaker 1: Uh And when they told me, I said, oh, man,
Speaker 1: were you Were you on an episode before? Did we
Speaker 1: have you on as a guest at any point? This
Speaker 1: is the first time we've we've met.
Speaker 3: Yes, So we're explaining to Adam so so Adam. Basically,
Speaker 3: we watched every episode of Gilmore Girls with the fans
Speaker 3: on this podcast. We finished and like Gilmore Girls fans,
Speaker 3: we just started again at the beginning and now each
Speaker 3: week where we have on a cast member, a crew member,
Speaker 3: a director, a producer, somebody that was involved with the show,
Speaker 3: and the fans are enjoying it again as they do.
Speaker 2: Wait a minute, there was like a couple hundred episodes, right,
Speaker 2: you've gone through.
Speaker 1: The one hundred, one hundred and fifty three plus the
Speaker 1: four Netflix episodes.
Speaker 4: Yeah, wow, Okay.
Speaker 1: We went We went through it in about three years,
Speaker 1: three and a half years, and we're rebooting and we're
Speaker 1: changing it up a little bit.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 1: We're doing we're dropping an episode every day now, adding
Speaker 1: to the feed and to the fan excitement and you know,
Speaker 1: giving them content what they want. And we're all just
Speaker 1: waiting we're all just waiting for new episodes Gilmore Girls,
Speaker 1: and we got to do something in the interim, So okay.
Speaker 3: Curiously, but before I do, my star trek fangirling, which
Speaker 3: I will. You directed an amazing episode of Gilmore Girls here.
Speaker 3: It's sort of the first one that launched the bigger
Speaker 3: reduction of Gilmore Girls. How you directed it is I
Speaker 3: can't wait to ask you all these questions. The wedding
Speaker 3: scene is massive, and there's things happening in the you know,
Speaker 3: one part of the scene while there's background things happening
Speaker 3: that you're obviously directing, or a scene in the in
Speaker 3: the town where we're watching one bit of action. But
Speaker 3: Suki and Jackson are chasing each other down the street,
Speaker 3: and there's so much bigness to this episode.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, it was a pretty big production, and I
Speaker 4: think it was.
Speaker 2: It's episode three, and I think I'm the first guy
Speaker 2: director who came on. I wish I had done more.
Speaker 2: I must tell you. Look, I love the show. My
Speaker 2: daughter Mattie is a fanatic fan for the show. She's
Speaker 2: obsessed with Scott and with Milo and and I've worked
Speaker 2: with Milo before I got to Gilmore Girls, or at
Speaker 2: least before he did. And and my my daughter Maddy
Speaker 2: just had her own daughter and named.
Speaker 4: Her romy not quite Rory but close. Just one letter.
Speaker 2: And when I just told her I'm in New York
Speaker 2: now and I just told her I was going to
Speaker 2: be talking to you, she kind of flipped out.
Speaker 4: And didn't know about the podcast.
Speaker 2: So h you know, we have we have a lot
Speaker 2: of Gilmore fandom going on on the knee Moy side
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 1: Great, give her our best, give her our best, and
Speaker 1: we'd love to talk to her one day. Actually, And
Speaker 1: you first.
Speaker 3: Got the script, were you because obviously the show was new,
Speaker 3: so you probably were directing this episode before the show
Speaker 3: had ever even aired. So were you shocked by like
Speaker 3: the denseness of the script and know how many words
Speaker 3: essentially were just in this material.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean yeah, that is the signature of the show. Now.
Speaker 2: I had directed Alan McBeal, which also had a lot
Speaker 2: of snappy, fast dialogue, so I was used to that
Speaker 2: kind of a thing. But yeah, I mean yeah, that
Speaker 2: is what distinguishes Gilmore Girls and makes it so charming,
Speaker 2: you know, is the whole Rory Lorelei. You know, the
Speaker 2: back and forth, the banter, the witticisms, the one upmanship.
Speaker 2: It's just their dynamic is amazing. But what's really, you know, interesting,
Speaker 2: is that they had it when I came on. I mean,
Speaker 2: they just had it already, even after just two episodes.
Speaker 4: They were in the pattern, they were in the groove.
Speaker 2: They knew each other very well, they knew, you know,
Speaker 2: how the rhythm should go. And I was just in
Speaker 2: a situation where just turn on the camera and let
Speaker 2: them go, you know, because they really carried the show.
Speaker 4: Ye wow.
Speaker 1: You know, that's one of the observations that struck me
Speaker 1: when I got to the set for the first time
Speaker 1: up in Toronto, up in Unionville, I came a little
Speaker 1: early to watch those two working because they had a
Speaker 1: couple of Luke's diner scenes that we did, and that
Speaker 1: was my first down the set, and I watched those
Speaker 1: two Lauren and Alexis in rehearsal, and I thought to myself,
Speaker 1: oh my, you know, we've got something here, because the
Speaker 1: chemistry between those two and the banter between those two,
Speaker 1: it worked so beautifully, and just in the rehearsal part
Speaker 1: of it, and they were still kind of fumbling around
Speaker 1: trying to find it, you know, and they said oh
Speaker 1: this is this is going to be good.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yah. They were well, I mean, they were
Speaker 4: very well cast.
Speaker 2: Amy had a really good sense of what you wanted,
Speaker 2: what she was looking for, and they delivered.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, they did huge thanks to you, because I'm sorry, Scott, you.
Speaker 1: Go no, no, go ahead, you go ahead questions.
Speaker 3: So obviously, and Scott, I want to know from you
Speaker 3: when Adam came onto the set. You know, he obviously
Speaker 3: was a great director already, but were you all like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, like yeah, under me? Why Son? And
Speaker 3: also Adam, I have to say Star Trek four is
Speaker 3: by far the best Star Trek movie directed by your
Speaker 3: amazing father. And it is the best because it has
Speaker 3: all the action we love, but it has that comedy,
Speaker 3: which is the same thing we love about this show.
Speaker 3: It has heart and drama, but it's funny and that's
Speaker 3: what I thought. Your dad was so brilliant in the
Speaker 3: way he did Star Trek four.
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, and thank you. I mean, it was a
Speaker 4: balance of things.
Speaker 2: He also had a rewrite from Nick Meyer, who has,
Speaker 2: you know, quite a sense of humor and witticism of
Speaker 2: his own. Nick had directed and written Star Trek two,
Speaker 2: Wrath of Khan and then and did a rewrite on
Speaker 2: Star Trek four, and then came back from Star Trek
Speaker 2: six the final installment with the original cast. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, that's that's what the show was really.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, the show was it.
Speaker 2: Star Trek was sometimes had this campy, funny stuff of
Speaker 2: this dynamic between kirks Bock and McCoy, you know, and
Speaker 2: I mean like Gilmore Girls, and it was some serious stuff,
Speaker 2: relationships stuff, social issue stuff. I mean it was a
Speaker 2: real combination and finding that balance is really difficult to do,
Speaker 2: which is why Star Trek, even though it only went
Speaker 2: three seasons and seventy eight episodes, you know, it has
Speaker 2: been replayed in syndication ever since for the past fifty
Speaker 2: eight years. And why I think Gilmore Girls are so
Speaker 2: successful because because they you know, you guys just hit
Speaker 2: the mark every time. I mean, it starts with the writing.
Speaker 2: It started with Amy. It starts with the showrunners to
Speaker 2: find that medium where you can interject these things great
Speaker 2: great trauma, great issues, great dynamics, and funny witticism to
Speaker 2: keep us watching.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all starts with the writing.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 1: When I got that pilot script, I just felt, WHOA,
Speaker 1: what is this and how am I going to get
Speaker 1: in this? Because that's when, you know, that was twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety niney two thousand, when movie stars were starting
Speaker 1: to do TV pretty regularly, and I thought, man, we're
Speaker 1: gonna have to fight off a lot of movie stars
Speaker 1: to get this role. So and that helped me with
Speaker 1: the audition because I just I didn't care because I
Speaker 1: knew I wasn't getting it, so I just kind of
Speaker 1: let it off lie anyway, right, you know, the dumb
Speaker 1: courage of the truly burnout. And it kind of worked out.
Speaker 2: But well, I gotta I just want to interject that
Speaker 2: the way you play Luke is so critical to the
Speaker 2: show because there's so much going on.
Speaker 4: There's so much action, and.
Speaker 2: Then we can go to the diner and just take
Speaker 2: a break and have your you know, your kind of setting,
Speaker 2: you know, your cool vibe. Slow down, everybody, everything's good,
Speaker 2: We're okay here, take a break, have a couple of coffee,
Speaker 2: which will speed you up later on.
Speaker 4: But in the meantime, you really need that counterbalance to
Speaker 4: to so people can take a breather. Yeah.
Speaker 3: In point, Scott, I don't think we've talked about that
Speaker 3: that Adam's making that when you do go into the diner,
Speaker 3: it is a little bit of a I can catch
Speaker 3: up for a second, I can breathe, I can. It's dry,
Speaker 3: You're so your performance is so sarcastic and dry, even
Speaker 3: in this one interesting hat interesting hat like it's just
Speaker 3: even in this episode, even though you're in just a
Speaker 3: couple of scenes, they're so crucial.
Speaker 1: I got very lucky, That's all I'll say. I got
Speaker 1: very lucky.
Speaker 3: I always want to become a director. Adam like, did
Speaker 3: you ever want to be an actor?
Speaker 4: I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you ever acted like your dad
Speaker 3: or if you always just you know, became a director.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: I started off as a as an attorney. I went
Speaker 2: to law school and practiced entertainment law for seven years.
Speaker 3: Did you go to Berkeley?
Speaker 4: Well? I went to Berkeley undergrad. I went, all right,
Speaker 4: where'd you go to law school?
Speaker 2: I went to law school in la at Loyola Gosz
Speaker 2: practice music law for for several years and decided I'm
Speaker 2: really wanted to do something more creative. Actually, it's interesting
Speaker 2: because I started attending a class with a guy named
Speaker 2: Jeff Corey, who was my dad's acting instructor, and just
Speaker 2: to hang out because I was in between jobs and
Speaker 2: that's when everything changed. And you know, I want I
Speaker 2: always wanted to be a storyteller. I want to do
Speaker 2: something more creative. And Scott, I read something in your
Speaker 2: bio that you studied acting in New York under Arthur Penn.
Speaker 4: Is that correct? Oh?
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah. At the Actors Studio, Arthur Penn ran the
Speaker 1: producer director unit. There was an acting unit on Tuesdays,
Speaker 1: and then I think Thursday or Friday was the was
Speaker 1: the producer director unit. And Paul Newman used to comment
Speaker 1: and run it, and Arthur Penn used to come in
Speaker 1: and run it, and I mean, yeah, we had all
Speaker 1: kinds of just one.
Speaker 2: Of my favorite directors of all time with that big man,
Speaker 2: you know, miracle worker Bonnie Clyde amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know I got to sit there and absorb
Speaker 1: all that, you know, as an observer. I wasn't a
Speaker 1: member yet. I mean it's very difficult to get in,
Speaker 1: but to be around that was you know, critical, your likely. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so we established now this is the first Friday night
Speaker 1: dinner if I am not.
Speaker 3: And I thought Adam made interesting choices with the lighting too.
Speaker 3: It was like really lit, I don't know if you
Speaker 3: worked with the team on that, but it was like,
Speaker 3: we really see Friday night dinner and it has this
Speaker 3: sort of real vibe to it as we start the
Speaker 3: episode with that, Yeah, those.
Speaker 4: Are those are decisions I don't I don't really make.
Speaker 4: I mean it was it's it's a dp's cinematography issue.
Speaker 2: It's something that Amy would have had more say on.
Speaker 2: You know, these kind of things are you know, the
Speaker 2: look of the show is something that, uh that Amy
Speaker 2: had a very specific idea of how she wanted it
Speaker 2: to play out. And I and my job is just
Speaker 2: to defer to her. It's her show, it's her vision.
Speaker 2: You know, I've only coming in on episode three, so
Speaker 2: I don't even know what's coming next. And you know,
Speaker 2: and you know, it's it can be challenging in terms
Speaker 2: of figuring out what, you know, trying to figure out
Speaker 2: what she wants. And you know, that is the director's
Speaker 2: job as a journeyman director, when you know, we're just
Speaker 2: hired for three weeks to prep and shoot the show,
Speaker 2: to find out what is the writer, you know, showrunner's
Speaker 2: vision for the show. And and and that's where you know,
Speaker 2: I try to have as much communication as I could
Speaker 2: with Amy. I would just refer to her, what the
Speaker 2: what the look is that she's going for?
Speaker 3: Well, do you know her at all?
Speaker 1: Sorry, go Scott, No, go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 3: Did you know her at all? Because what a unique
Speaker 3: show to come on to sort of out of nowhere
Speaker 3: and have to get in her head?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I don't.
Speaker 2: I did not know her, and and I wished I
Speaker 2: had come back to do more, you know, I did not.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, it was it was kind of intense
Speaker 2: because this is the first season. The creating a look
Speaker 2: of the show, there's a lot of logistics, there's a
Speaker 2: lot of pressure to crank out all those episodes for
Speaker 2: the season.
Speaker 4: It's a new crew. I think there were some crew issues.
Speaker 2: Some things changed shortly after I was there, So there's
Speaker 2: a lot of politics involved.
Speaker 4: It's very it can be very touch and go.
Speaker 2: So you know, it can be very challenging for me
Speaker 2: to know as a just a visiting director, you know,
Speaker 2: what is the landscape here? And so it's it can
Speaker 2: be very tricky. I mean, I've directed episodes from a
Speaker 2: lot of first season shows and it's all over the map.
Speaker 2: But this is a show that Amy was very had
Speaker 2: a very tight grip on. She was very determined that
Speaker 2: this show should succeed. They were very nervous about the
Speaker 2: first season, you know, and getting the show off the ground,
Speaker 2: and you know, and I just you know, they she
Speaker 2: had a great staff, she had great productions that mel
Speaker 2: FROs and gavn blown.
Speaker 4: I mean, these were guys who were very supportive and
Speaker 4: knew what they were doing.
Speaker 2: And for me, I just try to stay out of
Speaker 2: everybody's way and defer to them.
Speaker 1: The lack of close ups. Did you discuss that with Amy,
Speaker 1: because they didn't really do close close close ups. It
Speaker 1: was always like, you know, chest up at the most.
Speaker 2: Yeah, or a lot of two shots to let the
Speaker 2: two of them go. It's because you've start to find
Speaker 2: that with that dialogue.
Speaker 4: And we did it.
Speaker 2: We did, you know, we did over the shoulders or
Speaker 2: or we did medium close ups. We didn't do extreme
Speaker 2: close ups. But it doesn't play It gets too claustrophobic,
Speaker 2: especially if you're cutting back and forth like that.
Speaker 4: You have to be loose.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: A lot of times things just played out in the
Speaker 2: two shot or the master a wider shot because it's
Speaker 2: just going like that, you know, and it just plays
Speaker 2: better with the two of them in the frame, I.
Speaker 1: Thought, especially in some of the diner scenes they did
Speaker 1: when we had steady camp Steve doing the whole thing,
Speaker 1: and it was like an eight or a ten page
Speaker 1: because we actually did have eight to ten page scenes,
Speaker 1: if you can believe it, with all that dialogue that's crazy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and they let it play in just that steadycam shot.
Speaker 1: So it was it really felt quite often like you
Speaker 1: were doing theater because of course everything had to come
Speaker 1: together in one take, in one shot, because that was
Speaker 1: going to be the setup.
Speaker 2: Well, it's very economical to do things that way, and
Speaker 2: sometimes it works if you have enough action or the
Speaker 2: dialogue is happening, and and yeah, you've got to rely
Speaker 2: on people to play it like it's live.
Speaker 4: TV or theater and that and that you know is
Speaker 4: you know that that attests.
Speaker 2: To the quality of your talent, that you guys have
Speaker 2: the rhythm, that you know your lines, you know where
Speaker 2: you need to be, and you're on it for the
Speaker 2: whole thing.
Speaker 4: It's it's very challenging.
Speaker 1: Those were the most exciting days. Those are my favorite
Speaker 1: days inside of Luke Steiner is doing those long scenes
Speaker 1: with steadycam. Steve Clancy, the man and just you know,
Speaker 1: trying to nail it again and again and again because
Speaker 1: you had to shoot those a lot because they weren't
Speaker 1: doing any coverage. It's like the pressure's on to do
Speaker 1: this thing. And they were so fun, they were so
Speaker 1: fun to do.
Speaker 3: Oh man, this episode has just got so much in it.
Speaker 3: You're shooting an entire wedding and dance dance number and
Speaker 3: dance number. Well then also shooting an entire thing at
Speaker 3: a golf course, like you know, Rory and her grandfather
Speaker 3: are really walking the course and you have all that
Speaker 3: and then they go and you know, you've got the
Speaker 3: steam room and there's the country club stuff. It just
Speaker 3: must have been a massive undertaking. And this is that
Speaker 3: first episode where we realize like this show's big, because
Speaker 3: we get many more episodes like this through the seven seasons.
Speaker 4: Well, it is big.
Speaker 2: Production for episode three of me. It was big production
Speaker 2: for the pilot. I can't believe all the stuff they
Speaker 2: crammed into the pilot. I mean there's a lot, like
Speaker 2: a lot of the street stuff is you know, it
Speaker 2: takes time. There's a lot of extras. You've got, you know,
Speaker 2: a lot of elements going on there. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: we Look, I was lucky. We had a great crew,
Speaker 2: great you know, assistant director, uh, great producing support to
Speaker 2: make it all happen, you know, great.
Speaker 4: Casting, Uh you know, uh, director, you know, we just do.
Speaker 2: Were a lot of things that were really working for
Speaker 2: us to make the show possible.
Speaker 3: Director, do you bring anyone with you? Like or do
Speaker 3: you just you're the guy that shows up and the
Speaker 3: crew is all there?
Speaker 4: Like, yeah, who's all there? I'm just I'm just a guest,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 2: And part of my job is like just to you know,
Speaker 2: dodge the bullets sometimes, uh, and just show up and
Speaker 2: do the best job I can. And there were things
Speaker 2: I learned on this show that were very valuable for me,
Speaker 2: you know, there were there were some performance things that
Speaker 2: I learned about the about the show and about directing,
Speaker 2: and and we can talk about that.
Speaker 4: So are we going to be looking at the episode
Speaker 4: or we are We're just gonna we're just talking about
Speaker 4: kind of talking.
Speaker 3: Yeah, just talking.
Speaker 2: There's a couple of things. Yeah, there's a couple of
Speaker 2: things that I want to mention, uh, in the episode
Speaker 2: that I directed. So what's happening at the end is
Speaker 2: that they're they're having a wedding.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and the wedding.
Speaker 2: Is two uh uh, you know brides who are twins,
Speaker 2: mirroring twin groans, you know, and the mother of the
Speaker 2: twin brides has issues with with her daughters.
Speaker 4: That's that's part of the setup. She's she's not there there.
Speaker 2: There's difficulty, there's conflict there, and it mirrors what's going on.
Speaker 4: With with Laurel I and her mother Emily mh.
Speaker 2: And the thing I missed and that I talked about
Speaker 2: this with Lauren and it was like it was unfortunate
Speaker 2: that I did not give her this note was that
Speaker 2: that that Laurelized relationship with the mother of those brides
Speaker 2: should have been more of closer, more of a mother
Speaker 2: their daughter thing, more of what Laurel I was looking for,
Speaker 2: and with her own mother, that she did not know
Speaker 2: that these are performance issues. This is the kind of
Speaker 2: thing that are then you know that this is the
Speaker 2: things that that Jeff Corey taught in acting. This is
Speaker 2: why I went to acting class to really discover what's deeper,
Speaker 2: what's going on there, what's happening in the relationships. And
Speaker 2: I talked about this with Lauren, but we had shot
Speaker 2: most of it, and she said I wished I had.
Speaker 4: Known that before, you know, the foregoing into because then
Speaker 4: they could have made a connection that Laurel I is
Speaker 4: looking for in her own life that she's missing. And
Speaker 4: this is the type of performance things.
Speaker 2: These are the kinds of notes that are that directors
Speaker 2: search for so they can give good notes to actors.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't want to it's not just you
Speaker 2: know a lot of times in TV, it's moved here,
Speaker 2: move there, say your line, say it quick, or say
Speaker 2: it's slower, say it louder, softer, cut print.
Speaker 4: We got to move on that.
Speaker 2: That because there's because a lot of times directors don't
Speaker 2: know what to say to an actor. And a lot
Speaker 2: of actors have told me that their big complaint as
Speaker 2: directors don't talk to them about their motivation, their objective,
Speaker 2: what's at state, what's in their way? Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: and this is something that This is why I went
Speaker 2: to acting class with Jeff Corey, who you know is
Speaker 2: a follower of the actors studio and method acting and
Speaker 2: all the rest of them.
Speaker 4: Mean, Jeff was in theater in New York. He started
Speaker 4: out there.
Speaker 2: He was much you know, senior to me, and so
Speaker 2: he really had that kind of a background and these
Speaker 2: are the kind and this is what I learned from
Speaker 2: that episode. It's like, I can't you can pay so
Speaker 2: much time to you know, how to how to block it,
Speaker 2: how to shoot it.
Speaker 4: These things are all important.
Speaker 2: It's technique, but what's more important is what's going on
Speaker 2: in front of the camera, is what is the story?
Speaker 2: And Amy always delivered for me that story was very
Speaker 2: tight to begin with.
Speaker 4: And what's going on with performance, the.
Speaker 2: Technique, how we shoot it, the steady cam stuff, that's
Speaker 2: all important, but it's third.
Speaker 4: In line, right, And this is something that I learned
Speaker 4: with with Lauren.
Speaker 2: It's like when when she said that she was she
Speaker 2: was kind of disappointed I didn't give her that note
Speaker 2: at the top of the show, and that's when I realized,
Speaker 2: I need to really focus more on what is going
Speaker 2: on with the characters, what actors need, what I can
Speaker 2: help them with, you know, getting deeper in terms of
Speaker 2: what their objectives are in the episode.
Speaker 3: Fascinating because the episode really is what you're saying, you know,
Speaker 3: the mother of the twins, in her relationship with the
Speaker 3: daughters and how much she just despises them. Then we
Speaker 3: have Emily's relationship with Lorilai, but there's a lot of
Speaker 3: friction between Loralai and Rory in this episode as a
Speaker 3: result of her sort of being drawn to her grandparents
Speaker 3: and having this great day with her grandpa golfing and
Speaker 3: how it irritates Loralai and we I mean, we have
Speaker 3: its comedy, my boobs are bigger than yours, you know
Speaker 3: all that in it. But you're so right that that
Speaker 3: is really the core part of the episode.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you want to find that. This is the point.
Speaker 2: You want to find the heart, You want to find
Speaker 2: out what the episode is really about. And this is
Speaker 2: something I learned from my dad. It's like, what is
Speaker 2: it about?
Speaker 4: What's it really about?
Speaker 2: And it really is laurel I struggle with her mother
Speaker 2: and it's and the other thing that I wish we
Speaker 2: could have found is some connection between Emily, Laureli's mother
Speaker 2: and Laureli because there's just there's so much friction, there's
Speaker 2: so much.
Speaker 4: Conflict, and it's like, what happened? Is there nothing? Is
Speaker 4: there no bond between the two of them, you know?
Speaker 2: And the thing and the thing with this is what's
Speaker 2: so great about the writing in terms of Laurelai and
Speaker 2: Rory is yeah, there's conflict, but there's a love connection.
Speaker 2: It's there, it's clear, and they and that's why they
Speaker 2: can turn on.
Speaker 4: A dime and you believe it.
Speaker 2: Because you know that they care about each other. They
Speaker 2: rely on each other, you know, and that's really important.
Speaker 2: But what remained to be explored in my episode, which
Speaker 2: we just didn't do, was how Laura I could relate
Speaker 2: to the mother of these brides on a on a
Speaker 2: mother daughter level, to have a surrogate mother, so to speak,
Speaker 2: and also if we could have found something between her
Speaker 2: and her own mother, just just a moment of tenderness
Speaker 2: to break up some of the conflict that was.
Speaker 4: Going on throughout the whole episode.
Speaker 1: That is, you know, there was a nice moment when
Speaker 1: she ran up and hugged Laura I for putting on
Speaker 1: such a beautiful wedding, and she was a little drunk,
Speaker 1: and that actress was fabulous. She was just she was
Speaker 1: so good, She was so great.
Speaker 3: She la she loves Laura. She just hated her own daughters, right.
Speaker 2: No, but but Lauren should have you know, it would
Speaker 2: have been a great moment for Lauren to realize, Wow,
Speaker 2: I wish I had a mom like her. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, I wish I could relate to my own mother.
Speaker 2: But that's the whole thing is sometimes, you know, Laurla
Speaker 2: is not that woman's daughter. And I had the same
Speaker 2: experience with my dad. I mean sometimes Leonard was a
Speaker 2: very complicated guy to love. Let me tell you. I
Speaker 2: mean I love Leonard, but loving him was complicated. Loving
Speaker 2: Spock I had no trouble with. I loved fac I
Speaker 2: loved Star Trek from the get go. Loving Leonard super
Speaker 2: complicated me.
Speaker 3: That's interesting to you. Do you talk about that in
Speaker 3: your books? You have to two books kind of that
Speaker 3: address it, right, your human Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's the most human reconciling with my father, Leonard Nimoy,
Speaker 2: And it was this whole dilemma that the same thing
Speaker 2: that Laurela is going through is how do you relate
Speaker 2: with a parent when there's just there's conflict, there's you know,
Speaker 2: communication issues, there's dysfunction. How do you do it? How
Speaker 2: do you keep going back to it? What's the formula?
Speaker 2: I mean for me, it was just you know playing.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm very honest about this. It's twelve step recovery.
Speaker 2: I've been in recovery for twenty years and I needed
Speaker 2: that to figure out a way to get back to
Speaker 2: my dad, because it was just impossible between the two
Speaker 2: of us. So and that's the other thing about the
Speaker 2: episode that really spoke to me. And this is something
Speaker 2: that my dad taught me when I was learning how
Speaker 2: to direct after having practiced law for seven years, is
Speaker 2: that you have to find some personal connection to the material.
Speaker 4: You must find something.
Speaker 2: He had a personal connection to Spot because Bock was
Speaker 2: his whole life being an outsider, being the alien my
Speaker 2: dad came from, you know, the immigrant parents in Boston,
Speaker 2: Massachusetts that came to la with nothing.
Speaker 4: He was a total outsider. That Spock all the way.
Speaker 4: He's an outsider. He's a loner, he's an introvert.
Speaker 3: He's nervy, cold, little bit cold.
Speaker 2: Yeah, distant, which you know, which is what I had
Speaker 2: to deal with growing up with this guy.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, my dad was that way to
Speaker 4: begin with.
Speaker 2: And now I got Spock living with me, and it
Speaker 2: made it even more complicated. But but my point is
Speaker 2: that you and this is something I learned from my
Speaker 2: dad and so valuable.
Speaker 4: You've got to find a personal connection with material.
Speaker 2: You've got to because then you can be very specific
Speaker 2: about what it is you're trying to say, what is
Speaker 2: the episode about, what's the theme about, what is the
Speaker 2: moral of the story, And it just gets and the
Speaker 2: more specific you are, the more.
Speaker 4: People can relate to it.
Speaker 2: Now I can relate to that, you know, Laurel I
Speaker 2: because she's got trouble with her mother and a lot
Speaker 2: of people have that kind of dysfunction, and you know,
Speaker 2: and that's what made the episode so special for me.
Speaker 3: Wow, gosh, my head is exploding right now. I never
Speaker 3: thought about I've read a bit about you and your
Speaker 3: dad and downs and then ups, like things got much better.
Speaker 3: I think, was your dad also in recovery or just you?
Speaker 4: Yeah, my dad was.
Speaker 2: He was an Now my dad was, say, my dad
Speaker 2: was sober. He went sober. He talked with Bill Shatner
Speaker 2: in an interview with Bill when they were talking that
Speaker 2: he admitted that he had an alcohol problem. My dad
Speaker 2: was an alcoholic. I was just your run of the
Speaker 2: mill podhead. I was awakened, Baker, but that but the
Speaker 2: fact that I was an anatin, he was an alcoholic
Speaker 2: made our conflict even worse.
Speaker 4: It just made the problem even worse.
Speaker 2: And so it wasn't until I went into recovery in
Speaker 2: two thousand and four. I'm twenty years ago that I
Speaker 2: finally found some tools that I could use to figure
Speaker 2: out a way to reconnect with my own dad. And
Speaker 2: then's what you know. And I think Marline is searching
Speaker 2: for that she I mean, the fact that she does
Speaker 2: go to the dinner, she does went up with that,
Speaker 2: and she does it for the benefit of Rory that
Speaker 2: she needs, you know, the help, so that Laurie has
Speaker 2: the opportunity that she just passed up on her own
Speaker 2: because of her circumstance.
Speaker 3: And she was so right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I was that way too with my dad.
Speaker 2: I would go back again and again and again trying
Speaker 2: to figure out a way to connect with him, and
Speaker 2: it never worked until I found the tools of recovery.
Speaker 2: And I think Laurreal I is looking for some way
Speaker 2: to get back to her folks as.
Speaker 3: Well, sure, because she wouldn't have gone and asked them
Speaker 3: for the money, which is sort of the impetus that
Speaker 3: the whole show, right, and that her mother is so
Speaker 3: clever to say, yeah, we'll give you the money. But
Speaker 3: here's the deal, because her mother too is just craving
Speaker 3: that connection like you're talking about, and even if she
Speaker 3: has to manipulate it she's gonna find a way to
Speaker 3: have it. And so and I think Laurlai is the same,
Speaker 3: because look, if Laura Lai really didn't want any relationship
Speaker 3: with him, she would have just kept Rory. It stars
Speaker 3: hollow High, and that would have been that, and she
Speaker 3: still would have gone to Harvard. Right, She's willing to
Speaker 3: sort of use this as the excuse, like I need
Speaker 3: this so she can go to Chilton. But it's like
Speaker 3: it's not all bad between them. There's that core love,
Speaker 3: which is sort of what you're saying, is that you
Speaker 3: craved that relationship with your dad so much that you're like,
Speaker 3: I'm going to go back again. Let me try again,
Speaker 3: let me try again, let me forgure out what I
Speaker 3: need to do with me too.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, yeah, I mean I wish.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the thing that there's there, you know,
Speaker 2: And maybe it happens the later episodes where Loralai and Emily,
Speaker 2: her mother, have some sort of reconciliation. But it's also
Speaker 2: I mean, look, it's it's selfless on her part to
Speaker 2: say I'm going to go to them to get the
Speaker 2: money because it's for Rory, and that's really important and
Speaker 2: and and this is what Laura, you know, comes to
Speaker 2: understand at the end of the episode, it's important that
Speaker 2: Rory have a relationship with her parents, with her grandparents.
Speaker 4: And that's another self. That's why she said, great mom.
Speaker 2: She's just waring because a lot of it is you know,
Speaker 2: being you know, being the father of you know, four children.
Speaker 4: Myself, I mean, you have to make a lot of sacrifices.
Speaker 4: That's just the deal.
Speaker 2: And you know, and Laura Wie made the ultimate sacrifice
Speaker 2: and she she had Rory and and she you know,
Speaker 2: and her life took a different turn and she and
Speaker 2: she's doing the best she can to.
Speaker 4: That's the great thing about the episode.
Speaker 2: It's like she's going to persevere, she's going to succeed,
Speaker 2: she's going to take care of her kid. She's got
Speaker 2: a good job. You know, she has a good life.
Speaker 2: She says that in the episode, I have a good life.
Speaker 2: And that's you know, if you can get to that
Speaker 2: point without playing the victim or you know, or complaining
Speaker 2: or you.
Speaker 4: Know, that's it.
Speaker 2: It's just that's why that's why Laureli is so sympathetic
Speaker 2: to me. You know, it's like, yeah, right on.
Speaker 4: And that's the other.
Speaker 2: Thing about the episode that I kind of realized, is
Speaker 2: like there's there's like the power of women in the episode,
Speaker 2: because they really drive you know.
Speaker 4: They tribe a lot of the show.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it's like, you know, it's Suki
Speaker 2: and it's Laura Lai, and it's Rory and it's Emily.
Speaker 4: You know, you know, they're all driving the show.
Speaker 2: And when I was in prep, in pre production during
Speaker 2: the show, outside of my office was.
Speaker 4: A picture of the Pretenders, the band the Pretenders. Okay,
Speaker 4: the Prench.
Speaker 2: Tenderest is Chrissy Hind and I'm a huge fanatic. I
Speaker 2: was a huge fanatic fan for her. And Chrissy Hind
Speaker 2: was a woman in rock and roll who said, Okay, it's.
Speaker 4: A man's world. I don't care. I'm here, I write songs.
Speaker 4: I played kick ass rock and roll and you know,
Speaker 4: and it's too freaking bad and go after yourselves. That's
Speaker 4: all attitude. It's women power, and it's very strong.
Speaker 2: It's really there, and and Amy brings it out perfectly
Speaker 2: in this show. And I'm just like, I'm you know,
Speaker 2: I'm so lucky just to be a part of that
Speaker 2: kind of thing.
Speaker 3: Scene with Emily and Richard, because Emily says, you will
Speaker 3: take this little girl golfing, you will get her lunch,
Speaker 3: you will do this, or so help me don't jump home, like.
Speaker 1: Right right, it seems like Emily knows what's best. It's
Speaker 1: just her style is a bit abrasive when she's forcing
Speaker 1: the issue. But she ain't wrong, you know, right, No,
Speaker 1: that's it.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 2: Also, the boundary issue is like, you know, it's like, well,
Speaker 2: you know, Laurla is gonna come so far, and then otherwise,
Speaker 2: don't infringe on my you know, and stay out of
Speaker 2: my stuff.
Speaker 3: Loralize own insecurity that Rory will get too close to them,
Speaker 3: and she really grapples. This episode is a lot of fun,
Speaker 3: but it really is meaty too, because she has to
Speaker 3: sort of navigate her own insecurity about it all and
Speaker 3: realize like she's doing a disservice to her daughter if
Speaker 3: she lets her own sort of angstiness or fear impact
Speaker 3: that relationship she should have with her grandparents. And you
Speaker 3: see that resolution there at the end when she's like,
Speaker 3: you know, and it's so cute how they have that
Speaker 3: resolution because she's like, are you trying to apologize? Do
Speaker 3: you know what I mean? Like it's this great scene
Speaker 3: with the two of them, and yeah, she puts herself
Speaker 3: side for the good of her daughter.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, Laurela I has her eccentricities, she has her foilables,
Speaker 2: she has her character defects, you know, and she and
Speaker 2: she's like accepted that about herself. But she's also got
Speaker 2: self reflection when she knows that because she changes.
Speaker 4: That's the whole thing.
Speaker 2: We love these episodes when people change their attitude.
Speaker 4: That's the great thing about drama. We want to you know,
Speaker 4: the audience wants to see some change. And the fact
Speaker 4: of the matter is Laurel I is.
Speaker 2: Not She's not completely pig She's strong will, but she's
Speaker 2: not pigheaded and she's not narrow minded. She has some
Speaker 2: self reflection to say, Okay, I know this is good,
Speaker 2: this is the right thing to do. I'm just feeling
Speaker 2: a little left out. And that's the interesting thing about
Speaker 2: the end of the episode, because I thought we shot
Speaker 2: something and I wish I had time in New York
Speaker 2: and I don't have access to it.
Speaker 4: I think I still have the script. I thought that
Speaker 4: was an outdoor.
Speaker 2: Piece where we ended on Lorelei outside because she's That's
Speaker 2: the whole thing. At the very end, It's like everybody
Speaker 2: goes off to the library to look at this these
Speaker 2: HL mention papers that that you know, Laura that Rory's
Speaker 2: grandfather has for her, and her grandmother goes with her,
Speaker 2: leaving Laurelai there alone. And that's a very important moment,
Speaker 2: is that she's an outsider. Yes, but something I cut short.
Speaker 2: I feel I think they may have cut off. I
Speaker 2: thought there was a bigger ending to that. I would
Speaker 2: have done something more about the fact, you know, a
Speaker 2: push in on her, you know, as much of as
Speaker 2: a close up as you can get, because there's no
Speaker 2: it's just on her, it's just on Laura, to emphasize
Speaker 2: that she's she's not she's an outsider in this dynamic
Speaker 2: that's going on, and it's very difficult, it's very confusing,
Speaker 2: it's very painful.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think you accomplished it. We felt that,
Speaker 3: we do feel that, And yes, it would be amazing
Speaker 3: to see what you had shot her more of it,
Speaker 3: But like I felt that, like, ooh.
Speaker 1: To compliment the show some more, isn't it interesting, Adam,
Speaker 1: How with just a tweet here and there and some
Speaker 1: couple of scenes redone or reshuffled or whatever, that this
Speaker 1: show could have easily been you know, called Emily's second
Speaker 1: bite at the Apple. And it could be her show,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Or it could be Rory's
Speaker 1: show with a few adjustments and that and that. You know,
Speaker 1: definitely it's Lauren's show, right, It's it's she's occupying inhabiting
Speaker 1: all these different worlds, as I've stated previously on the podcast,
Speaker 1: and she does it with such a plumb But that
Speaker 1: could also and and and being you know, lead characters
Speaker 1: and co leads Emily and Rory are just right there
Speaker 1: as well, because they are also occupying these worlds, not
Speaker 1: as many, but still they're doing a lot of These
Speaker 1: three characters are doing the work of so many and
Speaker 1: it's so much heavy lifting for the three of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's a really good point, Scott, that
Speaker 2: you make, because the fact is, we do break point
Speaker 2: of View.
Speaker 4: It is not not every scene has Lauraa in it,
Speaker 4: and the question, but but she's still driving the show.
Speaker 4: That's why the writing is so.
Speaker 1: Good, that's why.
Speaker 4: It's so great.
Speaker 2: And the other thing is that when we do break
Speaker 2: point of View, the characters are so good that that
Speaker 2: I don't mind it.
Speaker 4: You don't mind it. You want you want to get
Speaker 4: to know them a little more.
Speaker 2: Even if it's Suky's you know, situation in the kitchen
Speaker 2: or her love life or or you know Rory at school.
Speaker 4: You know, these kind of things.
Speaker 2: You get the characters are so good, they're so well written,
Speaker 2: they're so fleshed out, and the talent is so good
Speaker 2: that you you're okay to break point of view and
Speaker 2: not be with Laura Li for a while because there's
Speaker 2: so much interesting stuff going on.
Speaker 3: Get some good Kirk moments in this. Michelle is amazing.
Speaker 3: When Laura Li says, Michelle, you screeched, like there's these
Speaker 3: little tiny one liners that are so great, and you're
Speaker 3: really starting to care about those people too, right.
Speaker 4: I mean it's the writing, it's I mean, I don't know,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 2: Amy's a bit of a savant, you know, and I've
Speaker 2: worked with David Kelly.
Speaker 4: He's that way too. She has a knack for it.
Speaker 4: It's a part of who she is.
Speaker 2: She can throw this stuff out there, you know, she
Speaker 2: she's on it.
Speaker 4: And I wish I had, you.
Speaker 2: Know, done some more work with her, because I love
Speaker 2: that rhythm, I love that sensibility, I love that just intuitiveness.
Speaker 2: I mean she knew what she was doing. There wasn't
Speaker 2: a whole bunch of rewrites on my script, you know.
Speaker 2: And I've been on a lot of shows where I'm
Speaker 2: getting pages like that morning things are changing our dialogue, pomotions.
Speaker 3: I love that you brought up Ally McBeal. We have
Speaker 3: not ever really talked about Ali McBeal maybe once during
Speaker 3: this podcast. There are some similarities between that show and
Speaker 3: this show, and this is the I'm having sort of
Speaker 3: like that aha moment, Like that was dramatic with a
Speaker 3: lot of comedy, some weird quirks in that show too.
Speaker 3: Just really interesting that you're bringing that up, because that
Speaker 3: is a and it was fast and it was fashion
Speaker 3: and it was a lot of gilmoury Neis in a
Speaker 3: different way in Ali McBeal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I love these shows. I mean we
Speaker 4: long for these shows.
Speaker 2: Now there's for me, there's so much dystopia on the
Speaker 2: air in the series, and this show has so much.
Speaker 4: Heart and I just I missed that.
Speaker 2: I craved that kind of thing, you know, Ali had
Speaker 2: it and this show has it, and it's you know again,
Speaker 2: it's just this combination of like comedy that is funny,
Speaker 2: it's witty, with a with a heart to it and
Speaker 2: a message and a moral and really serious uh, you know,
Speaker 2: relationship dynamics that we can relate to. You know, there's
Speaker 2: a love interest, you know for LAURALI for Rory. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's just so much going on on so many different levels,
Speaker 2: and I just missed that kind of TV.
Speaker 3: Are you directing anything now that you love like this?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 4: Right now, I'm like running all over the country promoting
Speaker 4: my book.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: No, I've been everywhere. So that's my focus at the moment.
Speaker 4: And I have another book coming out and it's it's
Speaker 4: just about sticking with the writing.
Speaker 3: What's the next book?
Speaker 4: The next book? I died?
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, my agent and my publicist have havend me and
Speaker 2: asked me not to go because we have not fleshed
Speaker 2: it out. But I mean, look, writing is something that's
Speaker 2: I've always wanted to do.
Speaker 4: I've been journaling all my life.
Speaker 2: I published a first memoir back in eight Uh didn't
Speaker 2: really So this one just came out in June. Seems
Speaker 2: to be getting much more traction, you know, in terms
Speaker 2: of my relationship.
Speaker 3: And I ask you, did, has this book been healing
Speaker 3: for you?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 3: You know, I know you lost your dad, and that
Speaker 3: makes I still think about your dad. You know, he
Speaker 3: meant a lot to you know. I took a classic
Speaker 3: cal about Star Trek, like a lot of things that
Speaker 3: were really brilliant and about him. Has this book been
Speaker 3: healing for you and talking about it and sharing?
Speaker 4: Yeah, just by writing it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's it's really it's been really interesting
Speaker 2: processing everything about my relationship with my dad. Look, a
Speaker 2: couple of things which became clear to me. Number one,
Speaker 2: I was lucky we reconciled because the last seven or
Speaker 2: eight years of his life I was really close to him,
Speaker 2: so much so that I had some personal tragedy I
Speaker 2: was dealing with, and my dad finally became the father
Speaker 2: I needed him to be. This was the problem when
Speaker 2: I was growing up. He was so determined to succeed.
Speaker 2: He was so desperate. I mean, not unlike Laurel I.
Speaker 2: I mean my dad was just like you know, and
Speaker 2: his parents did not support him. They were Russian immigrants,
Speaker 2: and they wanted him to go become a doctor or a lawyer.
Speaker 2: And when he said he wanted to become an actor,
Speaker 2: it was like telling them he wanted to join the circus.
Speaker 4: They were appalled and they didn't give him any help.
Speaker 2: So he came to La at Aha team with nothing,
Speaker 2: and seven years later he had a family of four
Speaker 2: to support while he's going out on auditions trying to
Speaker 2: get this acting career going. So two things that really
Speaker 2: had become much more apparent to me. Number one, much
Speaker 2: more empathy for my dad and in terms of what
Speaker 2: he managed to accomplish with incredible odds against him, you know.
Speaker 4: And number two, gratitude that we figured it out. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and I don't have any regrets. We're so lucky we
Speaker 4: figured it out and we were so close.
Speaker 2: But by then you have to also understand that he
Speaker 2: was slowing down and family was finally a priority to him.
Speaker 2: He even changed completely by then. You know, when I
Speaker 2: was growing up, family was not on the radar. It
Speaker 2: was his desperation to succeed, you know, and and work.
Speaker 2: And even with the success in Star Trek, he did
Speaker 2: not stop. He was he was after that, it was
Speaker 2: right into Mission Impossible for two seasons. It was his
Speaker 2: recording career, in his photography career and his theater career.
Speaker 2: I mean that man was driven and determined and nothing
Speaker 2: could stop him.
Speaker 4: He was really a true renaissance.
Speaker 3: Man, you were Alie, you were born before he was spocked?
Speaker 3: Is that right? I don't want to I don't want
Speaker 3: to tell.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was.
Speaker 2: I was born in fifty I was born in fifty six.
Speaker 2: Star Trek went on the air in sixty six.
Speaker 3: Another thing, I'm here old enough to know, like, oh
Speaker 3: my gosh, my whole life just changed. My dad is shamous.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've changed our life dramatic.
Speaker 2: I was ten years old and and we instead of
Speaker 2: becoming a struggling family with nothing, we were all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, like in the Hollywood Christmas Parade.
Speaker 3: I've seen the picture of you and your dad with
Speaker 3: the ears, like you've got the spock here.
Speaker 4: I was to him exactly. I was there with Spock.
Speaker 4: It was. It was a pretty trippy and heady time. Look.
Speaker 2: I talked about the fact that in nineteen sixty five,
Speaker 2: my dad took my sister and I had to go
Speaker 2: see the Christmas Parade in Hollywood Boulevard.
Speaker 4: It was so prouded.
Speaker 2: We couldn't even see it because we got there late,
Speaker 2: and we made about of each other that we would
Speaker 2: get there early and get a good seat. The next year, well,
Speaker 2: the next year we were in it.
Speaker 4: Crazy Wow, it was crazy everything.
Speaker 3: You happy that he laid Spock and we could have
Speaker 3: a whole conversation about that movie when he plays Spock
Speaker 3: again with with Zachary and Chris Pine and the sort
Speaker 3: of real deep meaning in what that what he brought
Speaker 3: to that film and Spock in that movie.
Speaker 4: Well, it was very important for my dad.
Speaker 2: You have to understand that my dad was the only
Speaker 2: actor in the original pilot episode of Star Trek. It
Speaker 2: was just major Barrett was in the episode as a
Speaker 2: different character. He played Nurse Chapel in the.
Speaker 3: Series, so none of the rest were in it.
Speaker 4: No, but it was only my dad. And then he
Speaker 4: showed up in the jj Abrams iteration of Star Trek.
Speaker 4: That to him was very satisfying.
Speaker 2: He was very proud that he was you know, he
Speaker 2: kind of bookended the whole experience.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was deep.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I mean there was.
Speaker 2: I mean he told me that that when he when
Speaker 2: he showed up on the set as Spot for the
Speaker 2: first time, they all applauded him. I was not there,
Speaker 2: but just think about that heavy moment. That's a heavy moment.
Speaker 2: So you know, it was a very big deal.
Speaker 4: It was a very big We were all look I
Speaker 4: was always proud of my dad.
Speaker 2: That was never an issue. I really loved what he
Speaker 2: had accomplished. I really respected what he had accomplished. I mean,
Speaker 2: we had interpersonal problems that I had to deal with,
Speaker 2: but would I would not change a thing. I was
Speaker 2: just you know, and he was very I think, satisfied
Speaker 2: with what he had, you know, what he had accomplished
Speaker 2: during his life.
Speaker 4: So you know, for me, it was it was a
Speaker 4: very satisfying moment and satisfied.
Speaker 2: To be able to honor my dad. We went back
Speaker 2: to Boston, actually together. I hired a camera crew and
Speaker 2: we walked through the streets of Boston's We could talk
Speaker 2: about what his life was like growing up there as
Speaker 2: a kid.
Speaker 3: Do you have a documentary sort of about your dad? Right?
Speaker 3: And I don't know if it touches so much on
Speaker 3: your relationship with each other, but more about him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was focused mostly on him, with his relationship
Speaker 2: to his parents and his life growing up there during
Speaker 2: the Depression in the city of Boston, where he got
Speaker 2: the acting bug and the city really molded my dad
Speaker 2: really reinforced his desire because they had programs and he
Speaker 2: worked with guys like Borisagaal and I'm trying to think
Speaker 2: and Elliot Silverstein and guys who went on to direct TV,
Speaker 2: who were also in Boston at the time, directing small
Speaker 2: theater productions, some of which.
Speaker 4: My father was in. He had a summer at Boston.
Speaker 2: College doing an internship in the trauma department, you know,
Speaker 2: and he learned how to hustle on the streets of Boston.
Speaker 2: He was folding chairs at the Boston Pops and selling
Speaker 2: newspapers on the Boston Common, and he worked in the
Speaker 2: camera store, and he stole vacuum cleaners, and he worked
Speaker 2: in the car chop and.
Speaker 4: All of that. Those skills of how to be a hustler.
Speaker 2: He brought with him to LA And that's exactly what
Speaker 2: he did to support.
Speaker 4: Our family exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Did you ever have a conversation with Amy Amy Sherman Palladino,
Speaker 3: because obviously somebody Amy or Dan I don't know, has
Speaker 3: a real love for Star Trek because there are many
Speaker 3: throughout the series Star Trek references, and I don't know
Speaker 3: if that was, you know, maybe because you direct did
Speaker 3: this early episode and she never forgot it, or if
Speaker 3: she actually had a real passion because there are again
Speaker 3: and again and again our star digressions.
Speaker 4: I'm glad to hear that. Yeah, I mean that's lovely.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, we didn't. We never talked about it, certainly.
Speaker 2: No, but as I, you know, as I would have
Speaker 2: loved to have come back, because you know, I worked
Speaker 2: with Milo in a series before he got to Gilmore Girls,
Speaker 2: and he was just a kid. He was in a
Speaker 2: show actually with Chris Evans. It was one of the
Speaker 2: best things I'd ever directed. Also a first season show
Speaker 2: that I don't even know if it aired. I mean,
Speaker 2: it was so short lived, and it was such a
Speaker 2: great experience to work with him and to see his trajectory.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: This is the other thing that happened with my daughter.
Speaker 2: We were at a restaurant in Santa Monica and she
Speaker 2: recognized Milo and I said, I don't think that's him.
Speaker 2: And we actually left the restaurant and she said, Dad,
Speaker 2: that was Milo.
Speaker 4: Go back and say hello to him. And we did.
Speaker 2: We went back and this is after his whole stint,
Speaker 2: you know, on Gilmore Girls. And I said Milo, hi,
Speaker 2: and he said hi. He RECOGNI remembered me, He recognized me.
Speaker 2: I introduced my daughter. She totally, you know, thought I
Speaker 2: was the Bee's knees after that, and Milo said to
Speaker 2: me that when when he was working with me, he was.
Speaker 4: Just a kid. So it's so great to see, you know,
Speaker 4: people like.
Speaker 2: That who start out early in the business, how they grow,
Speaker 2: how they succeed their determination. I mean, we've seen how
Speaker 2: far Milo has come, how far Chris Sevens has come.
Speaker 4: They're so fine for me.
Speaker 3: Did you know when, sorry, Scott, I'm sorry, I need
Speaker 3: to shut up because I'm talking too much. Unders No,
Speaker 3: please please, did you know when you worked with all
Speaker 3: these people, even just in this episode, like wow, like
Speaker 3: Lauren Alexis, Melissa McCarthy, Scott, of course, all these people.
Speaker 3: Could you see then that you're like wow?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean the talent pool was huge. I mean,
Speaker 4: this is the this is the part of the show.
Speaker 4: It was perfectly cast.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's critical. That's what Star Trek's all about. Really,
Speaker 2: it was perfectly cast. Finding this kind of chemistry that happens.
Speaker 4: We've seen a lot of great shows.
Speaker 2: You know, it does happen, but but you know, more
Speaker 2: often than not, it does not happen. I've worked on
Speaker 2: so many series that just didn't have it and didn't go.
Speaker 3: For that chemistry that all these people have even Sally
Speaker 3: Struthers and you know the beet.
Speaker 2: And and.
Speaker 1: It's Amy. It's Amy fighting for who she wanted because
Speaker 1: can you imagine the studio their reactions to some of
Speaker 1: these casting choices that she wanted to make, and they
Speaker 1: were talking to the big agencies with the big names,
Speaker 1: and they want to do it, and she rejected all
Speaker 1: of that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, not surprising. There's a woman with a vision and
Speaker 4: she's stuck to her gun.
Speaker 1: Right, and she fought, fought, fought for that show.
Speaker 4: This happened with Star Drek as well.
Speaker 2: You have to understand after the first pilot episode is
Speaker 2: art Trick, NBC wanted the entire cast replaced, including the
Speaker 2: guy with the ears, including the guy with the ears,
Speaker 2: and said, there's no way we're gonna We're gonna redo it.
Speaker 2: But I'm not We're not getting where of the fuck
Speaker 2: There's no way, right.
Speaker 3: I telling you, I have seen Okay, Star Trek four.
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's one of your favorites, but
Speaker 3: for me, I've seen them all right, but it is.
Speaker 3: I think I'm from San Francisco, so I particularly love
Speaker 3: that it was filmed here. We see so much of
Speaker 3: the city but it's what you're talking about. The chemistry
Speaker 3: between Whether they got along behind the scenes or not
Speaker 3: doesn't matter to me because the chemistry between them all
Speaker 3: is so evident in that movie. I have seen that
Speaker 3: movie twenty plus times. People should do their cells a
Speaker 3: favor their selves themselves. I don't speak English, but whoops,
Speaker 3: I went to calm. I want to go and watch
Speaker 3: that movie because it is it's so exactly what you're
Speaker 3: talking about. You just feel like these people love each other,
Speaker 3: they know each other. We're seeing the journey with Spock
Speaker 3: because he's you know, we've Spock's back, that his soul
Speaker 3: was in somebody else's body, I think Kirk's son. And
Speaker 3: there's the humor, but also the heart and the and
Speaker 3: then the action of course in the Whales. It's just
Speaker 3: it's just the best. It's the best movie.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, you touch on some of it's very interesting
Speaker 2: and that you know, we've been talking about this the
Speaker 2: entire time, and that is that the chemistry is critical.
Speaker 2: And you know, because the other thing that's going on
Speaker 2: that happened in Star Trek is once.
Speaker 4: The writers see, you know, when.
Speaker 2: They're looking at these shows, when they're looking at dailies
Speaker 2: and they see what's going on and they can see
Speaker 2: the spark that's happening, then they can write more to
Speaker 2: that kind of situation.
Speaker 4: And that is what happens because once they saw that,
Speaker 4: like that Spock and McCoy could really go at it,
Speaker 4: you know, in a very disarming way. Then they're going
Speaker 4: to write more to that. Because the fans love that
Speaker 4: kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Then they can write more than that humor because it wore,
Speaker 2: you can get away with it. It's still you know,
Speaker 2: there's still a balance there. It's not it doesn't fall flast,
Speaker 2: so I mean, and that's what's going on with Gilmore Grows.
Speaker 2: Everybody is so good and so on it that they
Speaker 2: you could just keep.
Speaker 4: Writing more and more to those kind of situations.
Speaker 2: I mean a lot of times you have to write
Speaker 2: characters out if it's just not working right.
Speaker 3: So funny you say that, because then Gilmore Girls, there's
Speaker 3: this like where does Scott end? And where does Luke begin?
Speaker 3: And even knowing Scott, he's such a close friend for
Speaker 3: so many years, and there are times when I even
Speaker 3: I'm like wait, And that's how I feel about the
Speaker 3: characters in Star Trek, Like where does your Dad end
Speaker 3: and Spock begin. It's so blurred and I think that's
Speaker 3: the that's what makes them these characters just so incredible
Speaker 3: this many years later, because they really became those people.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, this is the great thing about the
Speaker 2: about the early episodes of Gilmore Girls, because there's something going.
Speaker 5: On, you know, between Luke and Laura Lai, and it's
Speaker 5: there and you know it's there, but but but and
Speaker 5: they you know, and you will walk you right out
Speaker 5: to the to the boundary, and then and then you know,
Speaker 5: and then you know, Luke walks off or Laura.
Speaker 4: Life's got to get to work. You know, it's so
Speaker 4: freaking cool.
Speaker 1: It don't show up, don't don't show don't show it.
Speaker 4: Ainkling of it. We can feel it.
Speaker 2: There's just a look that goes on and then boom,
Speaker 2: She's got to go to work. You know, you got
Speaker 2: to get another you know you've got another order, gonna
Speaker 2: you know, enough coffee, goodbye.
Speaker 4: It's so freaking cool. I love true.
Speaker 3: You know it from the first episode. We see it
Speaker 3: in this one too.
Speaker 1: It was you know, it was easy to have chemistry
Speaker 1: with her, that she was given so much, there was
Speaker 1: so much coming at you. You didn't have to do much,
Speaker 1: you know, you just let her shine and and you
Speaker 1: you're just sort of the beneficiary of that, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. And if if you don't, if you
Speaker 1: do very little, you're good, you know exactly, and you.
Speaker 4: Play it perfectly. This is the point because because they're
Speaker 4: they're there. You know, in some of the first couple
Speaker 4: of episodes, there's interest in Laurel eyes.
Speaker 2: She gets you hit on by these guys and then
Speaker 2: and she's like, oh no, no, no, you know you're
Speaker 2: a dad at Rory's school.
Speaker 4: I don't do that.
Speaker 2: But when you're too young for me, you know, when
Speaker 2: she said Luke Steiner, you know, and then but then
Speaker 2: you see her coming on to you, to you know,
Speaker 2: to Luke, and it's like, okay, you know, she's not
Speaker 2: completely cold, and you know she's not dead.
Speaker 4: She's you know, this is a girl who also has desire.
Speaker 2: And that's another great element to the character.
Speaker 3: Oh man, is so true. Oh my gosh, it is
Speaker 3: just so awesome to have you on. Everybody needs to
Speaker 3: read your book. Also, I will say my Tahoe house
Speaker 3: is about three minutes from your Tahoe house that you
Speaker 3: guys had growing up, so yep, okay.
Speaker 1: Wow, really on the North Shore where we're so.
Speaker 3: I met Chinkapin. I still have a house, and you
Speaker 3: guys were like, literally, I mean literally five three minutes away.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah right, we're at Yes, we're at Lake for
Speaker 2: seven eleven right outside of the city.
Speaker 3: Yeah right, we can we I'm sure we've got Slurpe's
Speaker 3: at the seven eleven at the same time. Over there,
Speaker 3: no doubt in my mind. You are amazing in your memory.
Speaker 3: That's what's crazy, Poor Scott.
Speaker 4: Scott.
Speaker 3: I hate to tell you your memory is not as good
Speaker 3: as Adams, because you remember so much about this show.
Speaker 4: Maybe my dad would tell me the same thing.
Speaker 2: I would ask him about a particular about a particular episode,
Speaker 2: and you'd say, to me, don't ask me any details.
Speaker 2: It's all a blur. Everything happened so quickly, it all
Speaker 2: it just flows into one. And I said, well, wait
Speaker 2: a minute, you don't remember like frolicking through that flower
Speaker 2: field with Joe Ireland or being stuck in a cave
Speaker 2: with Marriett Hartley.
Speaker 4: And he said, it's a blur. I tell you, it's
Speaker 4: all a blur.
Speaker 1: It's so true because you because you train your short
Speaker 1: term memory to just sort of flush everything that came
Speaker 1: before to make room for the stuff that's got to
Speaker 1: come in the next day. You know, I don't remember
Speaker 1: how many times Amy that's authentic, I mean, how many
Speaker 1: times on the on the first go round, I had
Speaker 1: no idea.
Speaker 3: There were things that were like, you truly don't remember
Speaker 3: that things.
Speaker 1: I I do remember the very few things, but most
Speaker 1: of it I just I don't recall it. Also, it's
Speaker 1: like watching another person doing it.
Speaker 3: I don't remember something he would have done differently. Has
Speaker 3: just got me shook, Like, is there anything else about
Speaker 3: this episode like that that you could just because you know,
Speaker 3: we just eat it up. Is there anything else like
Speaker 3: you know about it that you remember, or just anything
Speaker 3: else that you would share with us about directing it
Speaker 3: or or the characters of the cast.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's one last thing that you mentioned that I
Speaker 2: learned from a really good director, and that was that
Speaker 2: I did try in the scene to plant something going
Speaker 2: on in the background that related.
Speaker 4: To the next scene. That's where TV directors really have
Speaker 4: the most creative ability is transitions from one scene to another.
Speaker 2: And I learned this on when I was, you know,
Speaker 2: working on and when I was kind of like observing
Speaker 2: on NYPD Blue with Greg Hobblett, who directed the pilot
Speaker 2: of that show, in a lot of episodes, is that
Speaker 2: he always planted somebody in the next scene, in the
Speaker 2: scene that he was shooting. And you see this happen
Speaker 2: a couple of times, like when we're doing the wedding scene,
Speaker 2: you see you know, they're preparing for the wedding. You
Speaker 2: see Loralai in the background and then heading into the
Speaker 2: end where another scene starts to happen, and that's just
Speaker 2: you know, that's just tech. That is some of the
Speaker 2: technique that I really try to use in this show,
Speaker 2: and I always try to use so there is some
Speaker 2: real flow to it and it's not just so jarring
Speaker 2: that you jump to something else.
Speaker 3: Right, so well done in this episode, and I just
Speaker 3: think about Sukie chasing Jackson and just the way she's
Speaker 3: like going through the strawberries and their whole interaction. And
Speaker 3: at the wedding, there's so in the prep for the wedding,
Speaker 3: there's so much happening, but as a viewer, you're able
Speaker 3: to still pay attention to what is like the the
Speaker 3: most important without being distracted or missing them hanging the
Speaker 3: tool or the Swan or the dancing or Miss Patty
Speaker 3: you know her totally like inappropriate flirting with like and
Speaker 3: then and the other brother is the everybody who was
Speaker 3: really brilliant in this, the background actors and the like
Speaker 3: second tier cast, because without the twins and the twins
Speaker 3: being so good, you wouldn't get that. And even when
Speaker 3: they're the twins are acting with each other, but Michelle
Speaker 3: and Lorelei are talking and he's figuring out, well that's
Speaker 3: you know that one and that one and the sticky
Speaker 3: on it. So much is about what they're doing in
Speaker 3: the background, and we're not we're not taken out by it,
Speaker 3: but we're like we're able as viewers to like see
Speaker 3: it all.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like you just want to notice that's going on,
Speaker 2: and you know, you know, even when you have Suki,
Speaker 2: you know, running in the background, I try to keep
Speaker 2: the shot with Laurel eye watching them because she's us
Speaker 2: and you want to get the context of how ridiculous
Speaker 2: it is and how far they're going with it, you know,
Speaker 2: So that's the gag.
Speaker 4: So it's great to keep it wide in those kinds
Speaker 4: of situations. So these are stylistic choices, you know, but
Speaker 4: you know, and they're important, there's no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: But in the end, it's really it's it's good writing
Speaker 2: and it's great performance. They trump technique every time.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, that's what it was done.
Speaker 3: And the bike accident, like you had like crazy things
Speaker 3: happening in this episode, Scott, Scott, did you love watching
Speaker 3: this episode again?
Speaker 1: I did? I just you know, the pace of these episodes.
Speaker 1: I mean it's not so speedy, speedy, fast, fast, fast
Speaker 1: as has stuff all the time. These first three episodes
Speaker 1: have have have a nice pace, you know, and nice
Speaker 1: cadence to everything, and nothing feels really rushed. Yet there's
Speaker 1: there's always this forward momentum because it's developing. You know,
Speaker 1: we're not really at full speed yet, so it's kind
Speaker 1: of starting off on the track warming up, and it's
Speaker 1: just kind of a joy before we get to the
Speaker 1: high speed stuff because we're just you know, we're just
Speaker 1: sort of learning about this stuff. We're sort of poking
Speaker 1: around this this dynamic with Emily and Richard and and
Speaker 1: and now it's all sort of forming things kind of forming.
Speaker 1: It's like it's fascinating to watch. It really is, because
Speaker 1: it's different from it's different from other seasons, different different cadence,
Speaker 1: different speed, and I like it, I really like it.
Speaker 1: So yet they still managed to have their foot on
Speaker 1: the accelerator somewhat, so you know, it's it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is moving, moving, moving, moving, but look at you
Speaker 1: know when you you know, and Adam, you know this,
Speaker 1: when when you have a cast that can fill those moments,
Speaker 1: nothing ever drags, you know, it's always full and it
Speaker 1: always seems to be moving forward. Yeah, and we.
Speaker 2: Don't even need to cut if we don't want it,
Speaker 2: we don't have right, that's right, you know.
Speaker 4: The timing is so critical and everybody knows on it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And just discovering Kirk for the third time. I
Speaker 1: think it's this third appearance or second appearance with the Swan,
Speaker 1: and and just seeing how everybody's sort of matured over
Speaker 1: the years.
Speaker 3: Michelle, You're starting to really get to know Michelle in
Speaker 3: this episode.
Speaker 1: It's just fascinating to see these early episodes. It's because
Speaker 1: it's like it's like going into a museum and watching
Speaker 1: like the og the original stuff, you know, and it's
Speaker 1: it's kind of cool. It's a long time ago. It's
Speaker 1: twenty four years ago, so that's really cooting.
Speaker 3: I'm truly such an honor to have you, and thank
Speaker 3: you for sharing those amazing stories about Star Trek and
Speaker 3: your dad. I know, people, I'm sure first of all,
Speaker 3: you look just like your dad, but I'm sure people
Speaker 3: tell you all the time, But like he, that show
Speaker 3: really had an impact on me, and studying it at
Speaker 3: Berkeley was so like incredible to get to do that,
Speaker 3: and just like all the all the things about Spock
Speaker 3: and and those characters and the deeper societal meanings with
Speaker 3: that show. So it's just such an honor to get
Speaker 3: to talk to you about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, really, it's real.
Speaker 4: Real pleasure to be with you guys today. Thank you
Speaker 4: so much for having me on listen your books.
Speaker 3: I can't wait to read your book. Oh I can't,
Speaker 3: I can't.
Speaker 4: I can't be long and prosper living.
Speaker 1: I got it on the left hand.
Speaker 4: There you go. I'm on the left hand too, all right.
Speaker 1: What a joy, daughter much thanks for joining us and
Speaker 1: we really enjoyed it.
Speaker 4: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Take care at him, take care of you guys. So
Speaker 1: I want to just give our thanks to Adam Nimoy.
Speaker 1: What a what a brilliant guest, What a brilliant guy,
Speaker 1: full of heart, full of brains.
Speaker 3: Makes you so happy that they like reconciled to like
Speaker 3: you know, yeah, it's such in a good place with
Speaker 3: like I think it's why he's so willing to talk
Speaker 3: about Star Trek and his dad, because they got to
Speaker 3: such a good place.
Speaker 1: Very moving when somebody is so open and so sort
Speaker 1: of just positive and optimistic. Just what a great, what
Speaker 1: a great.
Speaker 3: His memory is unbelievable.
Speaker 1: By the way, I do have a good I have
Speaker 1: a great memory. I just don't have a great memory
Speaker 1: for the show. Sometimes you have.
Speaker 3: A great memory because it's like you talked about, you
Speaker 3: have a certain type of memory because you can read
Speaker 3: a page and know it. But like later you have
Speaker 3: to purge it because you got to get more stuff in.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, you know that is going to wrap us up,
Speaker 1: kill me now, Season one, episode three. We'll see you
Speaker 1: next us And I thank you Amy for sitting in.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me. Sorry, I got so excited.
Speaker 1: Oh no, no, no, no, this is this was this is
Speaker 1: why I wanted you on this episode because I knew
Speaker 1: you had such an almost you know, encyclopedic knowledge of
Speaker 1: Star Trek, and that went in the direction it should
Speaker 1: have gone in you know, we talked a little Gilmore,
Speaker 1: We talk a little Star Trek. I mean, you can't
Speaker 1: go wrong anyway. Thanks everybody, let us know your thoughts
Speaker 1: about the episode and the new iteration of I Am
Speaker 1: all in again, and remember where you lead, we will
Speaker 1: follow everybody and don't forget Follow us on Instagram at
Speaker 1: I Am all In podcast and email us at Gilmore
Speaker 1: at iHeartRadio dot com.