Speaker 1: I Am all in.
Speaker 2: You. I Am all in with Scott Patterson, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Hey Everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am All in Podcast. One
Speaker 1: on one interview with Melaura Harden. This is brought to
Speaker 1: you by One eleven Productions, iHeartRadio, iHeart Media, iHeart Podcasts,
Speaker 1: and Melaura Harden portrayed Carolyn Bates. Carolyn was set up
Speaker 1: with Christopher by Emily and Richard at Friday Night Dinner.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you something about Malaura Harden. Who she is.
Speaker 1: She's an actress best known for roles as Jan Levinson
Speaker 1: on NBC's The Office, Trudy Monk on The USA Networks Monk,
Speaker 1: and Tammy Cashman on Amazon Prime Videos Transparent, which she
Speaker 1: received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. I want to talk
Speaker 1: about that too, How that felt, How you found out.
Speaker 1: Malaura has been in many many feature films, including Hannah Montana,
Speaker 1: the movie seventeen Again, Thank You for Smoking, Absolute Power,
Speaker 1: opposite Cleanewood and Gene Hackman, and What a Scene That
Speaker 1: Was with Gene Hackman and twenty seven Dresses. She stars
Speaker 1: in the first one woman movie ever made a Golden Vanity,
Speaker 1: as Mabel Montgomery, an iconic child star Alla Judy Garland.
Speaker 1: The film is currently being submitted to festivals. Malaura Hardened welcome.
Speaker 1: So excited to talk to you and to meet you. You.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: First of all, how'd you get this role on Gilmore Girls?
Speaker 1: They just make an offer. I can't imagine they made
Speaker 1: you audition, but they just offered it to you, right,
Speaker 1: Please say they offered it.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to remember, I think so, yeah, I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 2: I mean Amy Sherman Palladino and I are You've known
Speaker 2: each other for a really long time because we used
Speaker 2: to take ballet together at the same ballet studio as
Speaker 2: little girls. So I've known her like since we were
Speaker 2: really young, like maybe twelve or thirteen, I mean that
Speaker 2: long ago. Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, they just
Speaker 2: they offered it.
Speaker 1: Oh man, Yeah, Okay, here come the questions. What was
Speaker 1: she like as a twelve or thirteen year old? Go on,
Speaker 1: cough character?
Speaker 2: Isn't she? I remember really liking her. I mean she's
Speaker 2: I still really like her. We get along great. You know,
Speaker 2: she's she's really fun too. She's so smart, and she's quirky,
Speaker 2: and she's so her own person, and you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: she's she was always I think. I mean, I remember
Speaker 2: just as a little girl just liking her. Just I
Speaker 2: don't remember like we weren't like super close friends. I
Speaker 2: just remember liking her and we would always say hello
Speaker 2: at dance class, and she was always friendly to me,
Speaker 2: and we were friendly to each other. And it was
Speaker 2: really only later that we, you know, we like kind
Speaker 2: of hung out as girlfriends a little bit. I think
Speaker 2: it was after the Gilmore Girls thing. I think it
Speaker 2: was like we went to lunch a few times. She
Speaker 2: came and saw me in Chicago on Broadway. I played
Speaker 2: roxy Heart and she came saw me, and we went
Speaker 2: out to dinner and like had a whole like girls
Speaker 2: hang and like we've done a few kind of days
Speaker 2: like that where we've just hung out as girlfriends.
Speaker 1: You know that's nice. That's very nice. Yeah, So you
Speaker 1: saw no indication at that time that she was going
Speaker 1: to go on to become one of the most prolific
Speaker 1: writers and most awarded writers in television history.
Speaker 2: And she's such an incredible I don't think people really
Speaker 2: talk enough about her directing. I think she's absolutely exceptional director. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I saw it in this episode watching this episode again
Speaker 2: that she directed the one that I was in partings,
Speaker 2: but you know, I have particularly noticed it and was
Speaker 2: able to tell her at the Critics' Choice Awards this
Speaker 2: this year that I just think she's just her directing
Speaker 2: on marvelous, Miss Maisl is unbelievable, I mean, really really inspired.
Speaker 1: You know, Oh, you were there, you were I was
Speaker 1: there that night. Yeah, I saw Amy and Dan that night.
Speaker 2: You know, I know, wasn't that great?
Speaker 1: It was great? It was a funny evening. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: you played kron therapist being set up at Christopher emmeilin
Speaker 1: Richard's Friday night dinner. Do you think your character had
Speaker 1: any chance with him?
Speaker 2: Sure? Yeah, she totally did. I mean, I think what
Speaker 2: was so great about the character and watching this again
Speaker 2: was the character was so not in any way desperate
Speaker 2: or needy. She just was just who she was and
Speaker 2: she was just sort of like being herself and this
Speaker 2: guy could either. You know, I think she thought, whatever,
Speaker 2: he's okay, this is I mean, she even says it's
Speaker 2: the most blatant, you know, setup I've ever had besides
Speaker 2: my mother. And she thought it was touching that that,
Speaker 2: like this friend of her mother's really wanted her to,
Speaker 2: you know, meet a guy in the new town that
Speaker 2: she's moved into. And I think that's sweet and uh,
Speaker 2: you know, and with such a great device to get
Speaker 2: you know, to get Lauraai and Chris what Chris is
Speaker 2: this character Christopher to get them together again, you know,
Speaker 2: to get them like like talking, and he's saving her
Speaker 2: and and it's kind of great. It's it's particularly great
Speaker 2: that they call my character Libby that Libby is so
Speaker 2: you know, that she's so centered and so like such
Speaker 2: a potential like cash, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 2: that makes it even more interesting, I think for the
Speaker 2: regulars in the show and the and the fans of
Speaker 2: the show that Christopher ends up in bed with, you know, Lauraai,
Speaker 2: I think it's great.
Speaker 1: So that's one of the things we just discussed. Do
Speaker 1: you think that as a therapist you overstepped your bounds
Speaker 1: a little bit in that you know, backseat therapy session
Speaker 1: with Laurel I kind of advocating for her to do something.
Speaker 1: Is that Is that something that you read in the
Speaker 1: script and said, Oh, I don't know if a therapist
Speaker 1: would do that, would go that far?
Speaker 2: Do you think that, Well, I don't know, I don't
Speaker 2: know how many therapists would have a therapy session in
Speaker 2: their far with a notepad.
Speaker 1: You gotta suspend, you got to you gotta suspend your disbeliever.
Speaker 2: You're a set up date in this like tiny little
Speaker 2: idyllic town that you know, you guys are all in, like.
Speaker 1: The reality is a bit skewed there, So I guess
Speaker 1: that you can accept anything exactly excellent point. You know,
Speaker 1: it never dawned on us that it was just a
Speaker 1: TV show and we're trying to terpet his real life.
Speaker 1: It's like, what's we throw a flag on the play?
Speaker 1: Uh So those are iconic dinner scenes. Those those Friday
Speaker 1: night dinner scenes are some of the best stuff in
Speaker 1: the whole thing. What was it like working with everybody?
Speaker 2: Really great? Really great? I remember. I mean for me,
Speaker 2: what was the most exciting thing was that Ed Herman
Speaker 2: played my father when I was nine years old in
Speaker 2: a Disney movie I did called North Avenue Irregulars. Oh my,
Speaker 2: and I literally hadn't seen him since then.
Speaker 1: That imbered and I of court.
Speaker 2: And I had such fond memories of him. He was
Speaker 2: so sweet to me when I was nine doing that
Speaker 2: show sort of a caper like a caper movie, really
Speaker 2: fun movie. If anyone can ever find that they should.
Speaker 2: It's really fun. It had like Chlorus Leachman and Karen
Speaker 2: Valentine and oh gosh in series, and I mean it
Speaker 2: had some iconic, iconic comedians in any case that was
Speaker 2: super fun. So that was I was mostly focused on
Speaker 2: Ed just you know, just reconnecting with him and yeah.
Speaker 2: But but everybody was perfectly nice to me. I don't
Speaker 2: remember like thinking anything other than that.
Speaker 1: So at nine years old, here you are.
Speaker 2: Yeah, started acting when I'm six.
Speaker 1: Professionally, You're from Houston.
Speaker 2: I was born in Houston. I was raised here.
Speaker 3: Ah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they didn't your your parents didn't move here
Speaker 1: to pursue the business. You moved here anyway?
Speaker 2: Well, my parents are both actors, so they here for
Speaker 2: the business for themselves.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: The reason I was born in Houston, Texas is because
Speaker 2: my dad was doing a production at the Alley Theater
Speaker 2: in Houston. So that's why. Yeah, that's why I was there,
Speaker 2: and then traveling around doing regional theater for the first
Speaker 2: five years of my life and then yeah, and then
Speaker 2: then coming to LA and then really the only reason
Speaker 2: I got into it was because my comm my parents'
Speaker 2: commercial agents. When you went when during the time when
Speaker 2: you had to drop off your headshots because they were
Speaker 2: physical headshots. Uh, just said, you're so cute, don't you
Speaker 2: want to do what mom and dad does? And I
Speaker 2: was like, I could do what mom and dad does.
Speaker 2: And I'd seen them age, and I'd seen them acting,
Speaker 2: and I'd seen them working onlines, and I think I
Speaker 2: just loved what it looked like to me, and I
Speaker 2: was like, can I please? Can I please? I tugged
Speaker 2: on their sleeves and tugged on their sleeves, and finally
Speaker 2: they were like, oh, oh my god, this crazy business,
Speaker 2: with all this rejection. We'll let her go on ten auditions.
Speaker 2: If she doesn't get anything, we'll ease her out of it.
Speaker 2: She'll never know the difference. Of course, I got the
Speaker 2: first thing I went on.
Speaker 1: So did.
Speaker 2: That was that?
Speaker 1: Were you were you a child star? Did you go
Speaker 1: on the talk shows when you were a kid?
Speaker 2: I didn't go on the talk shows. I still haven't
Speaker 2: gone on the talk shows too much, really.
Speaker 1: Really, So you were never on like Lenno or Carson
Speaker 1: or anything.
Speaker 2: No, No, yeah, I'm not really much of a talk
Speaker 2: show type. I guess I don't really, I don't guess
Speaker 2: I don't Garner. I mean I've done like.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they don't like beautifulest directally funny people that
Speaker 1: are really good at what they do. They hate that
Speaker 1: right now, I know.
Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know, but no, but it's been,
Speaker 2: it's been. It's been just great. Like like growing up
Speaker 2: in this business was super fun. And yeah, to reconnect
Speaker 2: with ed Herman was really really fun because he really
Speaker 2: is a highlight in my memory. That was a super
Speaker 2: fun show to work. That movie was incredible. On the
Speaker 2: back lot of Disney and they were making Pete's Dragon
Speaker 2: Around the Corner, which was a huge movie that came
Speaker 2: out that summer, and I remember meeting the animator who
Speaker 2: gave me a picture and I have a picture of
Speaker 2: me with Pete the Dragon, who's completely animated of course.
Speaker 1: Right anyway, let me ask you played a really integral
Speaker 1: role here with that scene, okay, and that you realized,
Speaker 1: you know, your character realized that Laurel I need to
Speaker 1: stand up for herself and asked to a lobe. Did
Speaker 1: you think that that was the right advice.
Speaker 2: Me personally?
Speaker 1: You personally, Laura Harden, this is your life.
Speaker 3: I think it's always good to push people to if
Speaker 3: they have noise, if they have if they're suffering about something.
Speaker 3: I think it's great to push through that so that
Speaker 3: you can get to the other side faster. And sometimes
Speaker 3: that requires pushing the boundaries. Sometimes it requires being.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it requires you know, just shutting up and wearing beige,
Speaker 2: and other times it requires pushing through so that you
Speaker 2: can get to the freedom faster. The freedom mind where
Speaker 2: you don't have like a static television in the background in.
Speaker 1: Your actually actually can be very toxic, right, So you've
Speaker 1: got to clear it out. I think.
Speaker 2: So, yeah, well, I don't think you can really get
Speaker 2: anything done from that place, right, from a place of
Speaker 2: like noise, noise, noise, noise, right, right, you know, you
Speaker 2: have to have clarity, and you and sometimes to get
Speaker 2: clarity you have to like you have to stir it
Speaker 2: up and make it explode, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you got to get out of that paralysis.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: Interesting, interesting, interesting, So you're the right person to play
Speaker 1: that role. You're very psychologically, aren't you.
Speaker 2: And I was this necklace in in the episode. I noticed,
Speaker 2: this is my personal character. Where's that necklace?
Speaker 1: I put that remains? Look at that. I just got
Speaker 1: an email for somebody I don't know. I get all
Speaker 1: these mass emails about you know, they're collecting celebrity memorabilia
Speaker 1: downtown Los Angeles this weekend. You could probably fetch a
Speaker 1: nice sum for that. Anyway, I'll give you.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's funny. You're right. I could go sell my beautiful.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, because that's that's what we do.
Speaker 2: That my mother gave me.
Speaker 1: So I got so okay, So Laurel I follows through
Speaker 1: on this ultimatum. Right, yeah, you watch the episode, right?
Speaker 2: I did?
Speaker 1: All right? What was your reaction.
Speaker 2: I loved it. I thought it was I thought it
Speaker 2: was great. It was such a good cliffhanger, you know,
Speaker 2: everybody was everything's changing. It's the end of the season, right,
Speaker 2: it's the last episode of the season. When we used
Speaker 2: to make twenty two episodes.
Speaker 1: Right, remember that nine months it was like.
Speaker 2: You make a living on a series. Because they were
Speaker 2: making twenty two episodes.
Speaker 1: You could make a good living, you know, really.
Speaker 2: Good living, and or a thing called residuals.
Speaker 1: Residuals, remember those Remember those mailbox money.
Speaker 2: Amazing when you run the mailbox.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you'd skip to the mailbox.
Speaker 2: You just skipped there.
Speaker 1: It was so good then you'd skip back because you
Speaker 1: had your residual checks. I can eat, I can eat exactly.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, now, I know, right, everything's ten episodes
Speaker 1: now at low ball money. Yeah, you know, it's still
Speaker 1: a job, and it's still you got your insurance, and
Speaker 1: it's still you know, a good decent chunk of money.
Speaker 1: You can't necessarily live on it, you know, but what
Speaker 1: the heck it's it's it's better than a stick in
Speaker 1: the eye, right.
Speaker 2: Can't necessarily live on it, and you don't care.
Speaker 1: You can't even go to McDonald's on it. It's twenty
Speaker 1: so that you could get your health insurance. You're not
Speaker 1: making it sound because let me tell you something. You're
Speaker 1: not gonna eat very much and you're gonna need that
Speaker 1: health insurance, now, are you ever? And if there ever
Speaker 1: were residuals where there wouldn't be, you wouldn't be able
Speaker 1: to skip to the mailbox anymore because you'd be in
Speaker 1: ill health, have no energy. You're starting. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: It kind of sucks to be an actor these days,
Speaker 1: but at least you.
Speaker 2: Get then take our job any minutes.
Speaker 1: Right, It's like we don't even discovers by the way,
Speaker 1: we're not going to need you to report today or
Speaker 1: like forever, because don't worry about the copyright stuff.
Speaker 2: Just to buy your voice for three d and forty
Speaker 2: five dollars seventeen cents. Oh god, I laugh, and soon
Speaker 2: I will be crying.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's over, man, We're done. Oh my god, yeah,
Speaker 1: the last.
Speaker 2: I'm all right. For those young actors that are out
Speaker 2: there follow yours.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, it's like it's like, if this
Speaker 1: is the Titanic, how much of it is still sticking
Speaker 1: out of the water. Is it just the tip? I
Speaker 1: don't know.
Speaker 2: We are resillions and we are creative being, yes, and
Speaker 2: so we will find a way, you know what.
Speaker 1: I think, you know what I think AI is going
Speaker 1: to do though, as long as we're on that's up.
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be so creepily accurate and
Speaker 1: saves the studios so much money. But I think it
Speaker 1: will it will cause a real revival in live theater.
Speaker 2: I do too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think live theater will be able to,
Speaker 1: you know, expand the seating, yes, because there'll be such
Speaker 1: a demand for Because I think as good as AI
Speaker 1: is and will be, I still think there's that creepy
Speaker 1: element to it, where that's not real, it doesn't look real,
Speaker 1: it's not the same. I mean. But I think that'll
Speaker 1: last what a generation, and then after that generation everybody
Speaker 1: be ai crazy and they'll go, what the hell you
Speaker 1: old people talking about? It looks really real, it's great.
Speaker 1: We don't care about live theater. But I think I
Speaker 1: think for the next I don't know, twenty years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe, I do think though, that human human beings
Speaker 2: really do crave connection, and we are I don't know,
Speaker 2: we're pack animals, right, we want to be with other humans.
Speaker 2: And here's the other thing, Like, I'm a person who
Speaker 2: very much and most actors are. You know, feels like
Speaker 2: when you're at a party and you walk in a
Speaker 2: room and you can there's one hundred people there, but
Speaker 2: there's someone way in the corner and you just feel
Speaker 2: them so much that you turn your head and you connect.
Speaker 2: You look at each other, you see each other, or
Speaker 2: you see them or they don't see you. Those moments
Speaker 2: that we all replicated movies and television shows all the
Speaker 2: time really do happen. And that's because we're energetic beings.
Speaker 2: We're not just our physical selves. We're not just body
Speaker 2: you know, mind, flesh and bone. We have souls, we
Speaker 2: have spirits, we have actual energy that we're exchanging all
Speaker 2: the time. And I don't think I mean while I know,
Speaker 2: AI isn't going to be able to exchange energy like that.
Speaker 1: Right, No, not even close.
Speaker 2: It'll be really interesting to see if it can make
Speaker 2: people laugh and cry as deeply and resonant lee as
Speaker 2: we can as actors.
Speaker 1: Wow, it's an interesting dilemma. Yeah, it has potential tragic
Speaker 1: proportions for futures, but very true. Listen, you've you've been
Speaker 1: steadily working.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't need to tell you this. You need to
Speaker 1: tell me this because I didn't know this. Thirty years
Speaker 1: various television roles.
Speaker 2: Films, thirty years more than years.
Speaker 1: No, that's what it says here. It's only thirty years. Sorry, Laura,
Speaker 1: we're right, You're wrong. Sorry, Okay, Yeah, No, I got
Speaker 1: this from the research department. The AI department says it's
Speaker 1: thirty years. So that's what it is. Thirty five years, years,
Speaker 1: fifty years.
Speaker 2: Fifty years. I've been a professional actor. What I'm fifty six?
Speaker 2: I started.
Speaker 1: I was no, stop it, stop it, No, you're thirty five.
Speaker 1: Get at you?
Speaker 2: No, I'm not. And that's another thing I really noticed
Speaker 2: it at the.
Speaker 1: Math said, you know, your first gig gets thirty I
Speaker 1: mean at five, and then been doing thirty five thirty years,
Speaker 1: and now you're thirty five years old.
Speaker 2: Stop it, No, I'm not so fifty years. That's kind
Speaker 2: of amazing five decades. But that's something I really noticed
Speaker 2: about the Gilmour Girls episode. Man, I was so young
Speaker 2: and I was so beautiful. I was watching the episode.
Speaker 2: I was like, fuck, you're gorgeous and you're so young.
Speaker 2: How old were you when you did this?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 2: What year was that? Do you remember what year this
Speaker 2: one was?
Speaker 1: This is two thousand and six, this is eighteen years ago.
Speaker 2: I was very young. Eighteen years ago.
Speaker 1: You were eight. You were eighteen years younger than fifty six,
Speaker 1: so you was thirty thirty eight.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I really looked wow, and I was.
Speaker 1: Just like, wow, you're still easy on the eyes, and
Speaker 1: you were easy on the eyes back then. What can
Speaker 1: I say? What can you say? It's a Melaura Harden thing,
Speaker 1: you know, it's just what happens. What's your favorite role
Speaker 1: that you ever did?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that's really hard, I will say. I
Speaker 2: mean golden Bandages on my mind because we've I've been
Speaker 2: taking it to festivals and watching it multiple times. We
Speaker 2: went to all these festivals last year with it, and
Speaker 2: I would say it is one of my favorites because
Speaker 2: she's such a rich character. She's so multi layered, she's
Speaker 2: it's just me. So it was like super challenging and
Speaker 2: fun and you know, just like more and more and more.
Speaker 2: I'm one of those more and more more people. I
Speaker 2: like more and more and more, and I like all fire,
Speaker 2: all cylinders firing at all the all times. And that
Speaker 2: required that because it was a small you know, like
Speaker 2: micro budget. I made a dollar on that movie, you
Speaker 2: know movie. But it was like just super fun to
Speaker 2: to carry that journey of emotional you know, it's a
Speaker 2: it's a hugely, it's hilarious, it's it's dramatic, it's tragic,
Speaker 2: it's you know, so just the the universe of emotions
Speaker 2: that I had to traverse was really exciting. Of course,
Speaker 2: Chicago on Broadway was incredible to do because I'm a
Speaker 2: singer and I'm a dancer, and to be able to
Speaker 2: do the three things that I love eight times a week,
Speaker 2: you know, acting, singing, and dancing all at once was
Speaker 2: just like I was basically in heaven again because all
Speaker 2: cylinders are firing, right, Should.
Speaker 1: I do that?
Speaker 2: The producers do it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: The answer is you don't hesitate, just say oh, it's
Speaker 2: just it'll be one of the highlights of your life.
Speaker 2: When I did the Hand of Montana movie, I got
Speaker 2: Billy ray Cyrus excited about it. He went and did it.
Speaker 2: He played Billy Flynn.
Speaker 1: But I mean it's like actual singing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's a great song, you know, the song
Speaker 2: Billy Oh my God. You would have a ball. You
Speaker 2: should be like running to your agents and get on
Speaker 2: the phone and.
Speaker 1: Well they you know, they they reached out for my availability.
Speaker 2: Okay, good, well you're pretty available right now, right like
Speaker 2: we all are. Nothing's happening because of the strike.
Speaker 1: No, no, I'm doing I'm doing a series in Canada. Okay,
Speaker 1: good Yeah?
Speaker 2: Where are you? Where? What part of Canada?
Speaker 1: Halifax?
Speaker 2: Where's that?
Speaker 1: It's very east. It's it's almost a europe I.
Speaker 2: Did the type in Montreal. Is it east more than
Speaker 2: that Easter it's.
Speaker 1: The It's the most eastern place in the northern North America. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's sticking way out in the Atlantic, like if you're
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts, you got to make a hard right and
Speaker 1: then go up the coast. You know, what is it?
Speaker 2: What is it? What series are you doing there?
Speaker 1: Sullivan's crossing. It's a Canadian Yeah, yeah, Americans, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's on CW here. And you know, we haven't been
Speaker 1: picked up yet for a third season, but probably will be.
Speaker 2: But all right, between this season and third season, you
Speaker 2: should do Chicago. Think so, yes, God, you'll have a
Speaker 2: good time and then you can call me and thank
Speaker 2: me for.
Speaker 1: We have to Okay, So that's Golden Vanity, which is
Speaker 1: this is the one woman movie. You are playing a
Speaker 1: Judy Garland type character. You're singing, you're dancing, You're.
Speaker 2: Dancing, but I'm saying not dancing. I do sing it.
Speaker 1: And and what what what's the top three festivals you
Speaker 1: took it to?
Speaker 2: Well, it's it's a lot. Well, we premiered at the
Speaker 2: Burbank International Film Festival where we're an Audience Award and
Speaker 2: we won the I won Best Act. And then we
Speaker 2: took it to the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival where
Speaker 2: I won Best Actor and we won the Audience Award.
Speaker 2: And we also were in the Saint Augustine Film Festival,
Speaker 2: and we were in the Women's Independent Film and Television
Speaker 2: Festival were we won Best Narrative Feature. At Saint Augustine.
Speaker 2: We got was that one's not a competition one, that
Speaker 2: one's not a competition festival. Anywhere everywhere we went we won,
Speaker 2: We won awards. I didn't even we didn't even apply
Speaker 2: for the big Vibes because I just didn't. I just
Speaker 2: was I was really needed to not wait around anymore
Speaker 2: because this was a movie that was first time filmmakers,
Speaker 2: first time writers. It took forever to get the post
Speaker 2: done on this movie, to land on a cut that
Speaker 2: was satisfactory, get the color correction, pay for the score,
Speaker 2: the sound rights and the music rights and so forth.
Speaker 2: And I literally woke up January last year and said, guys,
Speaker 2: do we have all the rights in place? Can I
Speaker 2: take this the reins on this and just submit to festivals.
Speaker 2: I just want eyes on it. Really, that was my was.
Speaker 2: I just wanted people to see it because it's a
Speaker 2: real tour to force performance by me. It's a really wonderful, amazing,
Speaker 2: little quirky, fabulous, fresh movie that I just wanted people
Speaker 2: to see. So now we're trying to sell it in
Speaker 2: twenty two.
Speaker 1: All Right, it's called Golden Vanity starring Melaura Harden. Check
Speaker 1: it out when it's available for downloads, or if it
Speaker 1: hits your little theater or it gets on a streamer,
Speaker 1: check it out. But I want to talk about Gene
Speaker 1: Hackman Clint Eastwood Absolute Power, riveting scene. Tell us about
Speaker 1: this if you don't know the scene and Absolute Power.
Speaker 1: The Melaura plays the mistress of the President, the President
Speaker 1: of the United States, which is portrayed by the Great,
Speaker 1: the Great Gene Hackman, and Clint Eastwood is a cat burglar,
Speaker 1: a high end cat burglar who was in that house
Speaker 1: because it's not the president's house. It's the billionaire super
Speaker 1: pac guy who's funding his campaign. Let it allowing Gene
Speaker 1: Hackman to have his dalliance with Melaura Harden. And Clint
Speaker 1: Eastwood is robbing this man's master bedroom safe which is
Speaker 1: behind mirrors, and he's getting off with cash and jewels
Speaker 1: and all kinds of things. And then Melaura Harden and
Speaker 1: the President of the United States waltz into the room
Speaker 1: and start kind of getting down down, and so Clint
Speaker 1: can't leave, and he stays and he watches he sits
Speaker 1: in that chair and he watches, and he watches you
Speaker 1: get murdered right by the president of the United States
Speaker 1: because he wanted it rough and he likes it rough.
Speaker 1: And he smacked you and you smacked him back, and
Speaker 1: then it got and then it got bad, and then
Speaker 1: the bad thing happened. And what a heart wrenching scene.
Speaker 1: Tell us about that. I mean, God, how did you
Speaker 1: get it? How'd you get it? Did you audition what
Speaker 1: I did?
Speaker 2: I did audition for it, and actually it was It's interesting.
Speaker 2: Phillis Huffman was the casting director who was a family
Speaker 2: friend because David Huffman, her her late husband, actually was
Speaker 2: a really close friend with my father. They had done
Speaker 2: a movie together and become very close friends. And Phillis
Speaker 2: called me in for it. And actually, when I first
Speaker 2: read it, it was written completely naked. The whole time.
Speaker 2: She was just nude from like start to finish, and
Speaker 2: I just I just felt like, well, I'll go in,
Speaker 2: but you know whatever, I'm not gonna I'm just not gonna.
Speaker 2: I wasn't going to do like such a sexual scene
Speaker 2: that becomes such a violent scene completely naked. I just
Speaker 2: wasn't going to do that. So basically, I went in,
Speaker 2: I did my reading and I told Phyllis that I said,
Speaker 2: you know, just so you know, like I think this
Speaker 2: is great. I love it. I love it. I would
Speaker 2: love to work with Clinticeod of course and Gene Hackman
Speaker 2: and you know, but I'm not I'm not going to
Speaker 2: do this completely naked. So like I'm just letting you know.
Speaker 2: She's like she's like okay, yeah, I mean, good to know,
Speaker 2: you know. And so apparently, you know whatever, Clint liked
Speaker 2: it and chose me, and she told him and and
Speaker 2: and he was He's like, okay, well just ask her
Speaker 2: if she'd be okay if it was like a very
Speaker 2: short skirt, and if she could be wearing like a
Speaker 2: like a bra underwear that we could expose. And I
Speaker 2: was like, yeah, absolutely, that's fine. And when I.
Speaker 1: Went Clint's directing this movie as well, directed yeah, right
Speaker 1: there you go.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So when I went in for my fitting, you know,
Speaker 2: you know, I went in and got fitted for this
Speaker 2: beautiful dress that they made for me, and you know,
Speaker 2: beautiful bra and underwear a thing. And he was just great.
Speaker 2: He was just like, you know, I went and met
Speaker 2: them on that day and he was so sweet, and
Speaker 2: I met Jean, and Jeane was like, I'm a little
Speaker 2: nervous about our scene. And I I said, don't worry, Jeans,
Speaker 2: I'll take care of you.
Speaker 4: And I was like thirty and he was like seventy two,
Speaker 4: I'm not kidding, as old as my dad, and you know,
Speaker 4: and it was just so cute, like it made.
Speaker 2: It was so cute that he was vulnerable enough to
Speaker 2: tell me that he was nervous and that I was
Speaker 2: playful with him. He loved and he set a place
Speaker 2: for me every single day next to him at lunch,
Speaker 2: and it would always be me and Clint, Me and
Speaker 2: Jean and his bodyguard who was also his stand in
Speaker 2: and friend and like trainer and everything, and we would
Speaker 2: just the three of us would always eat together. He
Speaker 2: was such a gentleman to me. Every time my skirt
Speaker 2: flew up and they'd cut, you always put my skirt
Speaker 2: down when they'd cut. He always gave me his hand
Speaker 2: to help me up. He was just he couldn't have
Speaker 2: been more of a gentleman. And Clint too, and I
Speaker 2: really felt like the two of them were just you know,
Speaker 2: it was funny because when I finished, I was like, well,
Speaker 2: if I ever was going to do a completely nude
Speaker 2: scene from like for it's like a ten minute long scene.
Speaker 2: To do a ten minute long scene completely nude, I
Speaker 2: think Clint eastwooding Jene happened to prove themselves to be
Speaker 2: the ones to do that with, you know, like because
Speaker 2: they just were so there was just never anything lascivious
Speaker 2: or distasteful or it was just like playful and warm
Speaker 2: and respectful. And it just couldn't have been a better
Speaker 2: working environment.
Speaker 1: Man, that's fantastic. What a scene.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great scene.
Speaker 1: What a great director he is.
Speaker 2: He's such a great director, and he's so funny. I
Speaker 2: mean when he you know, in the scene where he
Speaker 2: put in during the scene he punches me and I
Speaker 2: and there's a you know a shot where Clint was
Speaker 2: like they were down on the ground and I fall
Speaker 2: into the shot like you know, just a very close up.
Speaker 2: And the first time I did it, I fall into
Speaker 2: the shot and I and we cut and I was like,
Speaker 2: oh god, like I really I went down too hard.
Speaker 2: I hit my head and Clint was like, Laura, you
Speaker 2: just you can just you can just act it. You
Speaker 2: don't have to do it, really do it.
Speaker 1: It was it was.
Speaker 2: I'm buying it. You don't have to. Don't hurt your head.
Speaker 1: Wow, man, what a feather in your cap though. To
Speaker 1: work with those two guys, I'm really just great for you.
Speaker 1: What a scene. That's one of the most memorable movie
Speaker 1: scenes because when they said Melaura Harden, I went, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, I know her, Wait a minute. She was
Speaker 1: in that scene, right, That was one of the great scenes.
Speaker 2: I love that vivid.
Speaker 1: Oh fantastic. All right, so we're gonna play a little
Speaker 1: game now called rapid fire.
Speaker 2: Okay, you ready?
Speaker 1: Not really good luck? I hate rapid fire, but I'll
Speaker 1: try good luck. Okay, I'm trying to wish you luck.
Speaker 1: How do you like your coffee?
Speaker 2: I don't drink coffee?
Speaker 1: Thank you? Are you Team Logan, Team Jass, Team Dean?
Speaker 1: You don't drink coffee? I get it. Who is your
Speaker 1: favorite Gilmore Girls couple? Luke and LAURELEI, Emily and Richard?
Speaker 2: Uh, Luke and larele I?
Speaker 1: Correct answer?
Speaker 2: Can I not say that when you're sitting here?
Speaker 1: Correct answer? You don't drink coffee? Would you rather work
Speaker 1: with Michelle or Kirk?
Speaker 2: I don't know who? Should you tell me who?
Speaker 1: You don't drink coffee, Michelle, that's always a that's a
Speaker 1: safe no. No, no, Michelle, it's a safer choice.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, I don't if I like making the safe choice,
Speaker 2: so I'll say I'll say.
Speaker 1: You did that scene, so that's not a safe choice.
Speaker 1: What would you order at Luke Steiner?
Speaker 2: Not coffee?
Speaker 1: Everything else? But you know, I have a coffee company
Speaker 1: and we'd like you, as our spokesperson would Who would
Speaker 1: you rather hang out with? Paris or Lane?
Speaker 2: Oh my god, this is hard for me. I'm not
Speaker 2: a Gilmore Girls uber fan. Really, you're gonna have to
Speaker 2: feed me some of these answers.
Speaker 1: Because you'd rather hang out with Lan? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 1: Because you don't drink coffee. You need a lot of
Speaker 1: coffee to deal with Paris, like copious amounts. You need
Speaker 1: an IV.
Speaker 2: I wish my daughters were here so they could, like,
Speaker 2: you know, shout in my ear because they both have
Speaker 2: watched the Gilmour Girls from like, you know, they've seen
Speaker 2: it all. They've seen the whole thing, and I really haven't,
Speaker 2: so they'd.
Speaker 1: Be like, mom, that one, that one, Harvard or Yale?
Speaker 2: Gosh, let's see, Well probably I would say Yale. Yeah
Speaker 2: for me?
Speaker 1: Okay, why well.
Speaker 2: Because the you know, the Yale Drama School.
Speaker 1: Is that's completely logical, Meryl Streep is why, I mean, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: would you rather attend a DAR event with Emily or
Speaker 1: a town meeting with Taylor?
Speaker 2: A town meeting? Yeah no, you'd rather, okay, d the.
Speaker 1: D very very hot and sweaty in those tents.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Andy.
Speaker 1: Degree all night. What you call it DAR? Daughters of
Speaker 1: the American Revolution, I'd rather, oh, definitely that. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: get the Yeah, you don't have to sweat my daughter.
Speaker 1: It's over in like.
Speaker 2: An hour, The Daughter's American Revolution when they were like
Speaker 2: nine and seven.
Speaker 1: Oh really, yeah, okay, that's like a real thing.
Speaker 2: It's cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, it's a real Gilmore girl's character you would
Speaker 1: want as a roommate. You natch uh something in your life.
Speaker 2: You are all in on something in my life.
Speaker 1: That I'm in your life that you are all in
Speaker 1: on being a mom, being a mom. Fantastic, Melaura Harden.
Speaker 1: You are fun and you're funny, and what a great career,
Speaker 1: and keep on keeping on And I guess I'll maybe
Speaker 1: hopefully one day work with you as an AI bot somewhere.
Speaker 2: Well, no, let's not do it as ais let's do
Speaker 2: it as real people. You want to do it as
Speaker 2: real people, I think so it'd be more fun. I'm
Speaker 2: much more energy that way.
Speaker 1: I'm going to talk to the producers of this show.
Speaker 1: We're gonna I'm gonna get you on my show.
Speaker 2: Okay, good, I love that idea. Let's do it.
Speaker 1: I like I like it too, Yeah, let's.
Speaker 2: Do it me. I'm not working right now.
Speaker 1: You know what. I'm actually going to talk to them
Speaker 1: after I get off. I'm gonna go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that idea.
Speaker 1: I don't mess around.
Speaker 2: No, let's not mess around. I don't know. There's no
Speaker 2: time to mess around.
Speaker 1: An I have no time, no, no time, I have
Speaker 1: no time. So all the best. It was a pleasure.
Speaker 2: You're a pleasure to thank you.
Speaker 1: And uh, just good luck with the film, really good
Speaker 1: luck with Golden with a Golden Vanity. Good luck with
Speaker 1: Golden Vanity. And I hope it. I hope it blows
Speaker 1: up for you.
Speaker 2: And yeah, well, I don't you know what I at
Speaker 2: this point, I just want people to see it. I
Speaker 2: just want it to sell so people can see it.
Speaker 2: Because it's a it's a quirky thing. It's not it's
Speaker 2: not for everybody. It's it's you know, but I'm telling
Speaker 2: you it's really good for people that want to sit
Speaker 2: through it. If you want, I'll send you a link,
Speaker 2: a private link. You can watch it.
Speaker 1: And you tell me I think, yeah, I know, I
Speaker 1: I want to see it. I definitely want to see it.
Speaker 5: Okay, all right, all the best, Okay, bye, bye
Speaker 1: Hey 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