Speaker 1: I Am all In.
Speaker 2: Oh, Let's kiss you. I Am all in with Scott Patterson,
Speaker 2: an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Everybody, Scott Patterson I Am all In podcast, one on
Speaker 1: one interview with Devin Servari. She first appeared as Honor
Speaker 1: Huntsburger for four episodes two thousand and five two thousand
Speaker 1: and six. First appearance season five, episode nineteen, But I'm
Speaker 1: a Gilmour. Last appearance season six, episode twenty, Super Cool
Speaker 1: Party People. Her character is Logan Huntsburger's sister. She's first
Speaker 1: seen waiting in Logan's Sweet at Yale to be announced
Speaker 1: that she's gonna marry Josh and that Logan needs to
Speaker 1: come home for dinner so that the parents will be
Speaker 1: in a good mood. She meets Rory for the first
Speaker 1: time here too, and proceeds to spill and Garrison childhood
Speaker 1: secrets about her brother Logan. Her bio very impressive by
Speaker 1: the way. She was born in Ontario, Canada, to American parents.
Speaker 1: Her family soon moved to New Mexico to be near
Speaker 1: a very large Array Astronomical Radio Observatory, and then to Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: She earned her equity card at age of eleven and
Speaker 1: acted in productions in Boston, include many at Wheelock Family Theater.
Speaker 1: She also danced leading roles at the Acting School of Ballet.
Speaker 1: She graduated from Acton Boxboro Regional High School, moved to
Speaker 1: New York City on her eighteenth birthday. She graduated from
Speaker 1: the prestigious NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where she
Speaker 1: studied at Circle and Square Theater School and the Classical Studio.
Speaker 1: She worked for many years in regional theater before touring
Speaker 1: the country as Elaine Robinson in the first national tour
Speaker 1: of the Graduate Wow. Missus Robinson was played on the
Speaker 1: tour by Jerry Hall, Linda Gray, Lorraine Broco, Kelly Megillis
Speaker 1: at separate times. They didn't play at all together at once, obviously.
Speaker 1: Her subsequent move to Los Angeles introduced her to both
Speaker 1: the Antist Theater Company, which became her theatrical home base,
Speaker 1: and to her husband, actor Stephen Brand. In addition to
Speaker 1: her work in theater, film and TV. Devon is an
Speaker 1: audiobook narrator specializing in young adult fiction Ladies and Gentlemen.
Speaker 1: The One and the Only Honor Huntsberger Devon Sarvari Hi, Devin, Hi,
Speaker 1: how you doing.
Speaker 2: I'm good?
Speaker 3: How are you?
Speaker 1: I'm fine? In dandy, and thanks for coming on, very
Speaker 1: very excited to talk to you. Your resume is very impressive,
Speaker 1: and I want to get into all of that, but
Speaker 1: let's get into this. How'd you start your career?
Speaker 2: I guess technically, when I was eleven, I was taking
Speaker 2: singing and acting classes at the Center for Performing Arts
Speaker 2: in Maynard, Massachusetts. And the guy that was teaching the
Speaker 2: drama class new people, and they were doing Brighton Beach
Speaker 2: Memoirs in Stoughton, Massachusetts. And I was obviously right for
Speaker 2: a Jewish character, of course, but I got the job.
Speaker 2: I dyed my hair brown. I got my equity card
Speaker 2: when I was eleven.
Speaker 3: But I.
Speaker 2: I was born like this, like I always wanted to
Speaker 2: do that, So I did school plays beforehand. I always
Speaker 2: loved it. So I was just really, really lucky that
Speaker 2: that opportunity came along.
Speaker 1: What was it about acting that grabbed you that's on
Speaker 1: such a deep level at such a young age.
Speaker 2: You know, I think about that a lot, because I
Speaker 2: would say, now, it's that my fundamental shyness makes it
Speaker 2: easier to be someone else than myself. But when I
Speaker 2: was little, that wasn't true. I was not shy when
Speaker 2: I was little so I don't know. Maybe maybe I
Speaker 2: just liked the attention when I was little, and now
Speaker 2: it's the only way I can, I don't know, feel
Speaker 2: as free to play or something. Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I just I put on really Rosie in the backyard
Speaker 2: with the other neighborhood kids, but I made them let
Speaker 2: me sing all the parts, like yeah, how is that kid?
Speaker 1: It's always always a fascinating answer that I get when
Speaker 1: I ask people that, because because I can't answer what
Speaker 1: possessed me to do this crazy job, or except for
Speaker 1: the love of exploring characters, the love of doing research
Speaker 1: and knowing full well, I'm not going to get the
Speaker 1: psychology of any character one hundred percent, or even fifty percent,
Speaker 1: or maybe even twenty five percent. You're lucky if you
Speaker 1: get ten percent, or you know, you get you get
Speaker 1: some portals, You open some portals into a personality, and
Speaker 1: something clicks, and then that's there's your performance. And it
Speaker 1: could be such a little thing. It could be the shoes,
Speaker 1: a piece of wardrobe, it could be a mannerism, it
Speaker 1: could be something. Then then the whole flood, the floodgates
Speaker 1: open up. That's what fascinated me about it.
Speaker 2: And then and then once you once you know how
Speaker 2: to get into another character, you just have you now
Speaker 2: know what that kind of person is like you you
Speaker 2: just broaden your empathy across the board. The more the
Speaker 2: more kinds of people you figure out how to get into,
Speaker 2: the more you're like, oh right, okay, I recognize you.
Speaker 2: I recognize you, you know, m m yeah.
Speaker 1: And also you learn when you have your process, you
Speaker 1: learn what you know. It could still fascinates you, but
Speaker 1: there's no you know, there's no way you could play
Speaker 1: that role or do it justice. And you have to
Speaker 1: be honest with yourself. There's you can't play everything. And
Speaker 1: if you're one of those people that can, you know,
Speaker 1: there are those people. But you know, it always gave
Speaker 1: me this this reality smacking me in the face. Ay, Scott,
Speaker 1: you're not going to do this role. But there's you
Speaker 1: can still be fascinated with the character, you.
Speaker 2: Know, Yeah, yeah, I mean at n YU, we played
Speaker 2: all the roles. We played old men and like, and
Speaker 2: that was great and all, but then you get out
Speaker 2: of school and it's like, well, no, here's who you're
Speaker 2: going to play. And if you're if you're lucky, if
Speaker 2: you're lucky, you get to play the your type of parts.
Speaker 1: So did you do a lot of Shakespeare at the
Speaker 1: n YU?
Speaker 2: I did. My third year I did Shakespeare Intensive. But
Speaker 2: the first two years I was at Circle in the
Speaker 2: Square Theater school, which is great because they do it's
Speaker 2: like a Schmortes board of all sorts of techniques, which
Speaker 2: I really liked. And then for the third year it
Speaker 2: was a Shakespeare intensive.
Speaker 1: Did you know I did a I did a. I
Speaker 1: actually saw Diane Veanora at the Public Theater doing the
Speaker 1: lead role in Hamlet, and then I did a film
Speaker 1: with her. So I just I mean, I was just like,
Speaker 1: I was so annoying. I just hammered her with questions
Speaker 1: every day at lunch. She's like Scott really again? But
Speaker 1: she fascinated me. And did you ever get to play
Speaker 1: a male Shakespeare role in college?
Speaker 2: I did. I played Prince hal in Henry the Fourth
Speaker 2: Part one in college and it was really fun. I mean,
Speaker 2: who knows what it was like, but as an experience,
Speaker 2: a growth experience, it was great.
Speaker 1: And what do you think it gave you over people
Speaker 1: that hasn't have not studied classical theater? You think it
Speaker 1: gave you a leg up?
Speaker 2: Well, certainly it's difficult for me not to segue into
Speaker 2: audio books, which is my that's my main gig these
Speaker 2: days and has been for a while, so I'm going
Speaker 2: to do it. When I first started, I was doing
Speaker 2: this twenty four hour science fiction book and I it
Speaker 2: was really hard, and it was long nights, and I
Speaker 2: at one point I was like, oh my god, I wouldn't.
Speaker 2: I could not do this. If I hadn't been to
Speaker 2: NYU and specifically the classical studio, I couldn't do it.
Speaker 2: I just wouldn't. My mouth wouldn't be able to do it.
Speaker 2: My endurance, my focus, No way would I've been able
Speaker 2: to do that. And I felt really grateful for that.
Speaker 2: And I also felt like having done Shakespeare gave me
Speaker 2: a lot of confidence just in general, like, well, if
Speaker 2: I can do that, I can probably play nervous shy
Speaker 2: Girl number two. You know. So it works. It suited me.
Speaker 2: I loved it, and it also was like the right
Speaker 2: path for me, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Every young actor that approaches me, whether I'm interviewing
Speaker 1: somebody or they asked me, how do I embark on
Speaker 1: her career? I said just I said, just study your
Speaker 1: Shakespeare said, just nail it and own it and know
Speaker 1: that if you go to London they're gonna mock you.
Speaker 1: And just fight the good fight and.
Speaker 2: Us anyway, I have a go study with the best
Speaker 2: and don't settle for less.
Speaker 1: And really own that stuff and then let the business
Speaker 1: chase you. You know, we just saw your character on Her
Speaker 1: and you came on like a tornado onto the screen.
Speaker 1: And as soon as I saw this episode, I I
Speaker 1: I called my executive producer. I said, get her on
Speaker 1: the show. She's she's something, She's she's one of these
Speaker 1: great actresses that got a small role on a great
Speaker 1: show and I want to talk to her. And I
Speaker 1: didn't know your resume, but I wasn't surprised when I
Speaker 1: when I read off the list. But anyway, let's talk
Speaker 1: about the dinner scene, the class dinner scene. It's probably
Speaker 1: my favorite scene in all of Gilmour Girls. And there's
Speaker 1: only well there's Logan and Rory in the scene, but
Speaker 1: the woman who played your mother or the grandfather, I
Speaker 1: mean the dialogue. It was hysterical. Yes, it was just
Speaker 1: the funniest. What do you remember about filming that?
Speaker 2: Oh, well, it was the first. I'm sure you've done
Speaker 2: many a dinner scene. It was my first time doing
Speaker 2: a dinner scene on camera, and man's that slow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, since endless, those days are endless.
Speaker 2: There's just so much coverage. It's just unbelievable. It just
Speaker 2: takes forever, just a scene that just zips by so delightfully.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh boy, wow, this.
Speaker 1: This took all day.
Speaker 2: But it was yeah. I mean, other than that, it
Speaker 2: was it was I forget I should remember where we were.
Speaker 2: It was in a gorgeous place. It was just kind
Speaker 2: of nice to be and because I think there were
Speaker 2: so many people at the table, it was a nice
Speaker 2: opportunity for me to get to watch people working. There
Speaker 2: was so much that was that I was not in,
Speaker 2: but I was still there, so it was like a
Speaker 2: little mini workshop. How does she make that look so easy?
Speaker 2: How she make that look so funny?
Speaker 1: You know exactly? Yeah, it really was a case. It
Speaker 1: was like a masterclass of acting. That whole thing. That
Speaker 1: scene was just amazing. I rewatched it many times. First
Speaker 1: down set. You remember your first down set?
Speaker 2: Tell us what it's like, Well, it's a blur, it was.
Speaker 2: It was well. First of all, I was a huge
Speaker 2: fan of the show before getting the job, and I
Speaker 2: had almost no on camera experience. So I was both
Speaker 2: a fangirl and a nervous wreck, so I was amped up.
Speaker 2: But what I remember people being extremely kind, maybe because
Speaker 2: they were like, oh my god, this girl needs help,
Speaker 2: but I remember everyone being really gentle and kind and supportive.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's a blur. It is a blur. Though.
Speaker 1: What about meeting Matt Zuger for the first time? Tell
Speaker 1: us about that.
Speaker 2: He was great? He wasn't We didn't like hang out
Speaker 2: much beforehand, but but again, he seemed he I could
Speaker 2: tell that he could tell that I was nervous, so
Speaker 2: he was like making sure. I was like, okay, you
Speaker 2: got it, you got it. He was taking care of
Speaker 2: me a little bit.
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah that's Maddie. That sounds like Maddie. Yeah.
Speaker 2: It was great, It was It was a really it
Speaker 2: was the scene the first time you see me is
Speaker 2: when I'm going to the dorm and yeah, so that
Speaker 2: was my first scene, you know, the way we shot it,
Speaker 2: that was the first one.
Speaker 1: Right. We have some questions as to why Logan didn't
Speaker 1: have a key to the house. Oh god, right, why
Speaker 1: did he have to knock or ring the bell? It's
Speaker 1: his home, that's right.
Speaker 2: I never thought of that. That's such a good idea.
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously, so I could have an.
Speaker 1: Entrance, right exactly.
Speaker 2: That's the real reason.
Speaker 1: That's the real reason, and that is that's the conclusion
Speaker 1: we all came to. Finally we had to get her
Speaker 1: into the scene. How are we going to do it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's also just one little anecdote about the coming
Speaker 2: to the door scene. Yeah. I was really excited to
Speaker 2: have gotten this job because I speak very quickly naturally,
Speaker 2: and I was like, yeah, I was finally the show
Speaker 2: for me where I can speak as fast as I want.
Speaker 2: That scene where I opened the door, first note, I
Speaker 2: get slow down.
Speaker 1: No, that's the first person we have ever interviewed that
Speaker 1: got a note to slow down.
Speaker 2: I was talking too fast for the Gilmore girl. I
Speaker 2: couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: I mean I do believe it, because listen, but it
Speaker 2: was a bit of a shock.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you. We got to call the Guinness Book
Speaker 1: of World Records because that's got to be a land
Speaker 1: speed record on talking speed. You might be the fastest
Speaker 1: talker in the world.
Speaker 2: Where do I get my prize?
Speaker 1: We'll be in touch. Okay, good, We're going to we're
Speaker 1: going to get on this man. Maybe we'll just have
Speaker 1: you back on do the ceremony and present you with
Speaker 1: the plaque and the check and the whole.
Speaker 2: Deal, and I'll have a ten thousand word acceptance speech.
Speaker 2: It'll be over in two minutes.
Speaker 1: And if you don't, they'll take everything away from you.
Speaker 1: So did you know when you booked the job initially
Speaker 1: how long you were going to have the job for
Speaker 1: or did you feel pressure to do a good job
Speaker 1: so they'd bring your character back?
Speaker 2: I did not. I think it was like possible recurring,
Speaker 2: it said on the breakdown. So I didn't know, and
Speaker 2: it was it was a while. I think maybe there
Speaker 2: was a season break. Anyway, it was a while between
Speaker 2: the first one and getting the call for the second one.
Speaker 2: So I did. I didn't know what to expect. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'd never done anything like this before. I didn't like
Speaker 2: when I didn't immediately have all the episodes and all
Speaker 2: the dates. When I showed up on day one, I
Speaker 2: was like, well, I don't know, maybe it'll never happen.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's just the one who knows. So each each
Speaker 2: I did four, and so each time the next episode
Speaker 2: came along, it was an extremely welcome call for me,
Speaker 2: especially episode the second one I did the second episode.
Speaker 2: That call came at an excellent time, so I was
Speaker 2: very grateful.
Speaker 1: I'm glad they took good carry. Everybody took good carrier.
Speaker 1: That's great. Your husband's and actor. Did you two meet
Speaker 1: on the set of a show or movie you did together,
Speaker 1: or how'd you guys meet?
Speaker 2: We met doing a play. I'm a member of the
Speaker 2: NTS Theater Company classical theater company out here in LA
Speaker 2: and we were doing Noel Coward's Tonight at eight thirty,
Speaker 2: which is actually a collection of short plays. We did
Speaker 2: eight of them and rep over two different nights, so
Speaker 2: it was this big, whole complicated thing. And ants used
Speaker 2: to do double casting all the time, so we needed
Speaker 2: twice the actors, and we needed more people who could
Speaker 2: do English accents. And the autistic director at the time
Speaker 2: had coached him separately. She asked him to come in
Speaker 2: as a guest star, and I.
Speaker 1: Kept him and you cast him as the lead.
Speaker 2: I cast him as Ma Lee.
Speaker 1: In the movie of Your Life. Yeah, and I you
Speaker 1: know you talked about your audio books, uh at the
Speaker 1: top of this, tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2: So that came about also through my theater company audiobook
Speaker 2: one one producer in particular was like, I bet if
Speaker 2: people can do Shakespeare, they can do audio books. And
Speaker 2: so he would call the theater asking for people to
Speaker 2: audition for various projects. And he called and I answered
Speaker 2: the phone one day and he was calling for another
Speaker 2: woman's number, and I was like, yes, I will give
Speaker 2: that to you if you let me audition too, which
Speaker 2: was uncharacteristically cheeky of me, but I did it anyway.
Speaker 2: He got that one, but I got the next one,
Speaker 2: and so yeah, So it was just it was because
Speaker 2: of theater company that I got introduced to the first
Speaker 2: the first company, and then another another actor at the
Speaker 2: company introduced me to a really big producer in town.
Speaker 2: And then it was like a slow build for a
Speaker 2: long time until a couple of years ago when I
Speaker 2: picked up a new client that allowed me to quit
Speaker 2: my day job.
Speaker 1: There you go, good, good, good good. You played Elaine
Speaker 1: Robinson in a stage version of The Graduate, one of
Speaker 1: my favorite old time movies, one of my favorite all
Speaker 1: time lead characters. Tell us what that was like. Did
Speaker 1: you see the movie first you? Did you avoid the
Speaker 1: movie or did you did you want to see.
Speaker 2: The movie, and oh I had seen it.
Speaker 1: You had already seen multiple.
Speaker 2: Times before, and I agree that it's a brilliant thing.
Speaker 2: I didn't rewatch it when I got the job. I
Speaker 2: didn't rewatch it because the play is based more closely
Speaker 2: upon the book. The film has a different tone than
Speaker 2: the book, particularly in the main character of Benjamin. In
Speaker 2: the book, he's a golden boy, you know, whatever your
Speaker 2: image of a California golden boy.
Speaker 1: Mike Nichols wanted Dustin Hoffman, right, yes.
Speaker 2: So, and I and I think that was a great choice.
Speaker 2: The movies, absolutely, but the so the play is a
Speaker 2: little but.
Speaker 1: It's a whole different film. I mean, it's just a
Speaker 1: completely different Dustin took it into areas that it couldn't
Speaker 1: possibly have been taken into totally.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So so no, I didn't rewatch it for that reason,
Speaker 2: and I didn't want to. I think I'm susceptible to
Speaker 2: copying performances that I like, so I didn't want to
Speaker 2: do that. So yeah, but it was amazing. We were
Speaker 2: on It was a year. We got toured all around
Speaker 2: the country. I had four different missus Robinson's, the first
Speaker 2: of whom was Jerry Hall.
Speaker 1: What was she likes she's not an actor, but did
Speaker 1: she pull it off?
Speaker 2: She yes, anything, anything she did would have been right
Speaker 2: because she's this crazy. She was like London and Texas,
Speaker 2: shake and bake. She's amazing. She It was a lot
Speaker 2: of fun, just sort of standing in awe watching her
Speaker 2: stride through the world.
Speaker 1: Linda Gray, Lorraine broco Kelly McGillis. Wow, what was Lorraine
Speaker 1: brocco Is? Died in the World New York Actors Studio. Badass.
Speaker 1: You know, tell us, tell us what she was like
Speaker 1: to work with.
Speaker 2: You know that she was such a because I think
Speaker 2: she came right after Jerry, just such a such a change,
Speaker 2: you know, she was basically I remember she was super cool.
Speaker 2: She wasn't with us too long. I think maybe two
Speaker 2: months or something. She was just so cool. I remember
Speaker 2: we were on we were heading to the theater one
Speaker 2: day and I was like, oh my god, those are
Speaker 2: such cool sunglasses. Her jacket is so cool. And I
Speaker 2: was like, oh my god, I'm picking this woman apart
Speaker 2: and just making notes like I'm going to be her.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Sure, she gave a she was she was ferocious as
Speaker 2: Miss Robinson.
Speaker 1: Wow, what a role. Yeah, who played Benjamin in your version.
Speaker 2: It started with Rider Strong, right Strong was our first
Speaker 2: Benjamin for the first three months for all of rehearsal
Speaker 2: tech Uh, San Francisco, La San Diego. I think he
Speaker 2: so he was. He was our first one, and then John,
Speaker 2: but he was only scheduled to do a certain amount
Speaker 2: of time, and then Jonathan, an actor named Jonathan Kaplan
Speaker 2: came in and took over for the the other eight
Speaker 2: months or something.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna play a little game called rapid Fire,
Speaker 1: which is not necessarily rapid it all. I'm just going
Speaker 1: to ask you some questions related to that thing we're
Speaker 1: not supposed to be talking about Gilmore Sure, okay, all right?
Speaker 1: You ready? Here we go.
Speaker 2: I hope I know any of the answers. We'll see.
Speaker 1: If you don't know, I'll give you the answers no worse.
Speaker 1: How do you like your coffee.
Speaker 2: Black?
Speaker 1: There you go? Have you binged the entire Gilmore Girls series?
Speaker 2: I have not?
Speaker 1: Are your team Logan Team Jess or Team Dean Team Logan?
Speaker 1: There you go? We love Logan on the podcast, We
Speaker 1: love Logan. Uh. What would you order at Luke Steiner?
Speaker 2: Uh? Coffee coffee, coffee, coffee.
Speaker 1: Coffee Harvard or Yale.
Speaker 2: Oh what what did you think? You thought I was
Speaker 2: gonna say Yale? Didn't I did? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Because a Yale rap.
Speaker 2: No, I should have said Yale. That would have been
Speaker 2: more in line. It would have been more on.
Speaker 1: Said Harvard?
Speaker 2: Why? Because I grew up in Massachusetts and like that
Speaker 2: was the fanciest one. There you go, and I have
Speaker 2: like a little bit of a snob, even though I
Speaker 2: couldn't have gone to Harvard.
Speaker 1: A lot of people, a lot of people that have
Speaker 1: gone to Harvard shouldn't have gone to Harvard. Who from
Speaker 1: Gilmour would you not want to be stuck on a
Speaker 1: desert island.
Speaker 3: With oh gosh, oh that's copyrighted.
Speaker 2: Oh no, I would not be on a desert island
Speaker 2: Laura because she would drink all the coffee.
Speaker 1: There you go. Who would you want to be stuck
Speaker 1: on a desert island? Let's be fair.
Speaker 2: Suki?
Speaker 1: Why Suki? Because she could she could cook up a
Speaker 1: storm and keep you in stitches.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'd find Yeah, she can cook up a storm
Speaker 2: and keep me in stitches. Yeah, we'd find like edible
Speaker 2: things growing and she would like, wow, watch this and
Speaker 2: then she'd make it right.
Speaker 1: Best memory of Gilmore Girls.
Speaker 2: Rapid fire if I start moving, that count as an answer.
Speaker 2: Best memory of Gilmore Girls Bride'smaids revisited episode The Wedding
Speaker 2: Dress Day.
Speaker 1: Gotcha? Okay, show your binge watching right now.
Speaker 2: Oh, Couple's Therapy.
Speaker 1: Gotcha? Cast member you texted most recently?
Speaker 2: Oh, Nick Holmes.
Speaker 1: Nick, We just talked to him. Nice something in your life.
Speaker 1: You are all in on storytelling. Beautiful Devin Sorvari, brilliant
Speaker 1: talking to you. We would love to have you back.
Speaker 1: Good luck with everything, Thank you for your time.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much. This has been a pleasure.
Speaker 1: Oh, absolute pleasure on our part. And and good luck
Speaker 1: with everything. Well, hopefully talk to you very soon. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, bye, Hey everybody, and don't forget Follow us
Speaker 1: on Instagram at I Am All In podcast and email
Speaker 1: us at Gilmour at iHeartRadio dot com.