Speaker 1: I Am all In.
Speaker 2: Let's you.
Speaker 3: I Am all In with Scott Patterson and iHeartRadio Podcast.
Speaker 1: Hey Everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am all In Podcast one
Speaker 1: eleven productions, iHeartRadio, Heart Media, iHeart Podcast joined by my
Speaker 1: Intrepid crew, Tara sud Susanne French. One on one interview
Speaker 1: with the One the Only, Julie Berman, who portrayed Serena
Speaker 1: Ainsworth in one episode of A Year in the Life
Speaker 1: she was in Fall. Let me tell you a little
Speaker 1: bit about Julie. She's an actress known for casual Chicago
Speaker 1: Med portrayed Lulu Spencer for over one thousand, wow, one
Speaker 1: thousand episodes of General Hospital, for which she received three
Speaker 1: countum three Daytime Emmy Awards. Jewel. Are they in your
Speaker 1: house right now? Can we see one? We just want
Speaker 1: to see one, emy, I just want to see one.
Speaker 4: Bathroom.
Speaker 1: Where do you keep it?
Speaker 5: Where do you keep it?
Speaker 2: I keep them on a shelf. They've definitely had some
Speaker 2: movement in the house. At times, I put them away
Speaker 2: because I thought it was like too much having them
Speaker 2: looking at them, and then that felt like, oh no,
Speaker 2: I need to have them out. I'm proud. So they're
Speaker 2: on a shelf some we're not not accessible at the moment, unfortunately.
Speaker 1: But unfortunately, but what a thrill. All right, so let's
Speaker 1: get started. Thanks for joining us, really appreciate it. How
Speaker 1: did you get the role of Serena?
Speaker 2: I did the old fashioned way of auditioning. It was
Speaker 2: actually very quick. They they sent me the audition on
Speaker 2: like a Thursday night for the next Friday. It would
Speaker 2: be for Friday night, so I had to like read
Speaker 2: it see if I could do it. I think I
Speaker 2: was filming another show at the time too, so it
Speaker 2: was a little bit of a question mark whether or
Speaker 2: not I could make the audition, and auditioned on a
Speaker 2: Friday night. Found out I got the part that night,
Speaker 2: which I love. I mean, I'm sure you know, as
Speaker 2: an actor, to just get the immediate response of a
Speaker 2: yes or a no waiting is very satisfying.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I got that and then we filmed on
Speaker 2: it the following Tuesday. That was it.
Speaker 1: You know, isn't it amazing? It's a common It's a
Speaker 1: common story amongst Gilmour actors that they knew right away.
Speaker 1: I knew the same day.
Speaker 2: Oh you knew like in your heart or they told
Speaker 2: you no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: I I by the time my manager called me and said,
Speaker 1: I left your message on your machine. You got the offer.
Speaker 1: I said, wait a minute, I just like left, I
Speaker 1: just left the wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So and that that's with other people too, so like
Speaker 1: it's like when they know they know love that.
Speaker 2: I wish every audition was like that. Just no, you're
Speaker 2: not wondering, yeah, you know, it's very.
Speaker 1: Usually usually I do know and it's a no and
Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, well you know, or you can tell
Speaker 1: they don't even need to say anything that just sort
Speaker 1: of look at you and you're like.
Speaker 2: Well that I can close the book on that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, right, right, all right. So you sit there
Speaker 1: in this scene just taking it all in with Emily
Speaker 1: going off about you and just ripping your life apart,
Speaker 1: and what was that?
Speaker 2: Like? Oh? So fun? I love it. I knew, you
Speaker 2: know that this was a big moment because she got
Speaker 2: to say bullshit a bunch of times, which was out
Speaker 2: of a character. So I sort of, uh was able
Speaker 2: to enjoy the importance of this scene for her character
Speaker 2: and what it meant as a turning point for her
Speaker 2: in many ways. And it's fun. I mean, the show
Speaker 2: is so much about pacing and timing and comedy and
Speaker 2: heart altogether. That there's a vitality that makes it really
Speaker 2: really enjoyable. So yeah, to have someone just rip me
Speaker 2: a new one, and she had quite a mouthful of
Speaker 2: like it was. That speech took a long time, and
Speaker 2: it was incredible that she was able to just continuously
Speaker 2: do it for many, many, many takes. That scene we
Speaker 2: had to film. Almost the whole day was just for
Speaker 2: that one scene. So she really was incredible and it
Speaker 2: was fun.
Speaker 1: I know Suzanne had a question about this particular scene.
Speaker 1: She texted me earlier. Go ahead, Susanne.
Speaker 5: I'm trying to remember. I've sent so many texts this morning.
Speaker 5: So I'm Suzanne. Good morning, I'm the super fan designated
Speaker 5: on the So I well, I two questions, actually, one
Speaker 5: was you just answered. I was going to ask how
Speaker 5: many takes that whole scene took. My other question was,
Speaker 5: you know this was a year in the life, so
Speaker 5: this was twenty sixteen. Were you a fan of the
Speaker 5: original show when it originally aired.
Speaker 2: I didn't watch the I did watch some of the show,
Speaker 2: but I didn't I would not be able to quote
Speaker 2: like every season of the show. It started right when
Speaker 2: I was starting into college, So I didn't sit around
Speaker 2: watching a whole bunch of TV when I was in college.
Speaker 2: Maybe there were other college students that that thought I was.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say. I was also studying. I was very social,
Speaker 2: and I think that was my priority. So I was
Speaker 2: a fan enough to know, like I knew the characters,
Speaker 2: I knew the love interests, but I did not follow
Speaker 2: the trajectory of the show. When I got the audition,
Speaker 2: I was very excited because the fact that it was
Speaker 2: a revival, I knew it was a huge deal, and
Speaker 2: to have a tiny toe in the bigger story of
Speaker 2: this huge show was like it was a big deal,
Speaker 2: you know, to get the part, like, no matter how small,
Speaker 2: it was awesome.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, did anyone tell you like about Emily as the
Speaker 3: character before jumping into this? I know you said you
Speaker 3: knew it was so important, but like, did you kind
Speaker 3: of get like the gist of the build up of why.
Speaker 4: This was such a big moment in this episode.
Speaker 2: No, I mean everything was very secretive at the time,
Speaker 2: you know, with I mean to even get a script,
Speaker 2: I think I got it the day before and it
Speaker 2: was like it's watermarked with your name. Nobody, you know,
Speaker 2: you can't pass this around. So I didn't have any
Speaker 2: context for the scene. Okay, I knew, you know, the scene,
Speaker 2: but what what was happening. Obviously, the language was a
Speaker 2: little bit of a clue that like, okay, this is
Speaker 2: this is a deviation, so something has changed. And then
Speaker 2: obviously she gets kicked out Slash decides she's over the dar.
Speaker 2: I knew, okay, this is a is an important piece
Speaker 2: of her story, and where my character comes in is
Speaker 2: such a direct opposition to her personality. And you know,
Speaker 2: her son is setting on the dar and mine is
Speaker 2: hopefully rising, and I'm going to come in and be
Speaker 2: a part of this little you know, uptight fancy network.
Speaker 2: And it just was a nice I knew that that
Speaker 2: was the importance, was to be a foil for uh,
Speaker 2: for her character and and and uh and then you know,
Speaker 2: obviously seeing it when it was all put together, it
Speaker 2: was it was fun. It was fun to be a
Speaker 2: big piece.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was one of our favorite scenes.
Speaker 1: It was it really It might be my favorite Emily
Speaker 1: scene of so many great Emily scenes, but that one.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 1: So I've talked about this a couple of times before
Speaker 1: from an acting perspective, just how important it is, and
Speaker 1: how difficult it is to be on the other side
Speaker 1: with far less dialogue but still so much acting required
Speaker 1: and not to trip up you know, Kelly Bishop when
Speaker 1: she's doing her monologues and timing, timing, timing, tell us,
Speaker 1: how did you prepare for that scene? Because that's a
Speaker 1: monster scene to prepare for, And for me personally, I
Speaker 1: always found it more challenging to have a line here
Speaker 1: and there in between a rapid fire monologue, Lauren coming
Speaker 1: in on fire and she's got a two page monologue
Speaker 1: and you've gone, well but wait, but no it doesn't
Speaker 1: and then yeah, and it's very easy to to kind
Speaker 1: of screw up your partner if your timing is just
Speaker 1: a little off. Tell us about how you're prepared for
Speaker 1: that scene.
Speaker 2: You only got it the night before, so yeah, I well,
Speaker 2: interesting enough. I I do frequently go back to classes
Speaker 2: and I've I've worked with different teachers and uh, in
Speaker 2: the class that I was in at the time, we
Speaker 2: were doing a lot of scene work that was fast
Speaker 2: paced stuff, including some Gilmore Girls scenes. So I had
Speaker 2: a sense of like that muscle of just thinking faster.
Speaker 2: That for me, the key is like to just be
Speaker 2: present to worry about it thinking about it being fast,
Speaker 2: but just have your brain work faster and that that
Speaker 2: seems to for me help keep me alive and engage
Speaker 2: in not slowing the boat down. I think in the
Speaker 2: in the scene, I don't think I actually interjected. I
Speaker 2: think it was the other women that had to interject
Speaker 2: a couple of times. So luckily I didn't have that
Speaker 2: responsibility because I've I've had that before, when you're waiting
Speaker 2: for that one key word to pick up and so
Speaker 2: that you can time your line. I don't think I
Speaker 2: had to do a whole lot except just be present
Speaker 2: and listen to her and take in what she was
Speaker 2: giving me. And each time she did it it was
Speaker 2: a little different, so you know, it was it was
Speaker 2: kind of fun. I kind of just got to be
Speaker 2: just alive listening to her RiPP me apart.
Speaker 1: I mean, this scene it became a pivotal part of
Speaker 1: Emily's transformation in the revivals, as she's walking away from
Speaker 1: her her former life. Did you understand that you obviously
Speaker 1: understood the gravity of the scene when you were filming it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: What's your best memory of being on set?
Speaker 2: The women? I mean, everyone was really, really nice and
Speaker 2: and you know, some some sets have different energies. This
Speaker 2: group of women, they were just friendly and welcoming, and
Speaker 2: you know, we all rehearsed a bunch because it was
Speaker 2: such a big scene. We had to just get the
Speaker 2: timing down, get it in our bodies. Carolyn Hennessy, who
Speaker 2: was another woman who played Tony. She and I have
Speaker 2: worked together. She worked on General Hospital with me, and
Speaker 2: she's a delight. So it was nice to have somebody
Speaker 2: I knew, and I mean she can she she really
Speaker 2: helped anchor the scene as well and just made it
Speaker 2: so much fun. And so I think we all fed
Speaker 2: off of each other. I think for me, the best
Speaker 2: part of that was, uh was just the energy of
Speaker 2: the scene. To be able to do one scene all
Speaker 2: day and enjoy your day, I think says a lot.
Speaker 1: Did you have a favorite it? But did you see
Speaker 1: all of the episodes of their revival all four?
Speaker 2: I didn't see all I didn't see all four. I mean,
Speaker 2: of course, my favorite is Gonna Fall because privotal scene
Speaker 2: it really was. But I do not you know, I
Speaker 2: do like with Rory, you know, just jumping to her story,
Speaker 2: I really liked that at the end she was her
Speaker 2: own woman, and I think that was like, who's she
Speaker 2: going to end up with? Is she going to pick
Speaker 2: a person? Like to have her be like I choose myself?
Speaker 2: I think was is is just so cool me growing
Speaker 2: up and watching you know, women or girls coming of
Speaker 2: age that I loved. It was like they always had
Speaker 2: to find their their love and so I was very
Speaker 2: satisfied with that ending.
Speaker 1: All right, So let's switch up a little bit. You
Speaker 1: you did an eight episode arc on Chicago med and
Speaker 1: then film Cash the same time, and this episode of
Speaker 1: Gilmore Girls all happened simultaneously. What was it like going
Speaker 1: from roll to roll to roll at that time in
Speaker 1: your life?
Speaker 2: I mean, that's like, that's the best. That's an actor's dream.
Speaker 2: I had the at the timing of my life, I
Speaker 2: was able to do that. I had the freedom to
Speaker 2: pick up and get on a plane and go wherever
Speaker 2: I needed to go. And you know, there's times when
Speaker 2: the work isn't quite as abundant, so that time in
Speaker 2: my life was awesome. Like that just was a high
Speaker 2: and playing different characters, exploring different sides of yourself to
Speaker 2: be able to utilize and jump into is just it's
Speaker 2: that's why I got into the business was to just
Speaker 2: play and not get stuck doing one thing. So for
Speaker 2: me that was like, that's like the you know, the playoffs.
Speaker 2: That's great. I'll take that all day long.
Speaker 1: What are you working on now?
Speaker 2: I'm working on raising two children, right, the role of
Speaker 2: your life real humans? Oh yeah, that's been my life.
Speaker 2: But I'm excited to I feel like I'm finally getting
Speaker 2: to a place. My oldest is in kindergarten, so I'm
Speaker 2: starting to see the light again where I might be
Speaker 2: able to start jumping back into stuff and getting my
Speaker 2: toes wet again.
Speaker 1: Those these years are so great. They're so great, and
Speaker 1: they go by so fast.
Speaker 2: You have kids.
Speaker 1: I have a ten year old. Yeah, and he's just
Speaker 1: you know, all of a sudden, you know, he's it
Speaker 1: seems like he was born yesterday and now he's ten.
Speaker 1: It's like, what happened? You know?
Speaker 2: I think that's I'm not quite at that. I mean,
Speaker 2: it hasn't started going fast yet. For me, it is
Speaker 2: a lot. I think I have two boys, and so
Speaker 2: I am just I feel very sleep deprived all the time.
Speaker 2: So all my d just blend into one crazy long.
Speaker 1: Right man, all that energy.
Speaker 4: Guys, they're just bouncing around.
Speaker 1: All right, So now we're going to do well. I
Speaker 1: hope you get back in the business. You did a
Speaker 1: great job on this. The business needs you, let me
Speaker 1: tell you. So you bring those three ms into the
Speaker 1: business and show us how it's done, would you. Okay,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna be rapid fire now, Susann, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: let you start off, all right.
Speaker 2: How do you like your coffee with a little milk
Speaker 2: and in normal drip coffee? Like I'm not a fancy
Speaker 2: I have like a very basic coffee machine and with
Speaker 2: a little milk.
Speaker 1: That's it, Tara, all right?
Speaker 4: Are you team Logan, Team Jets, Team Dean?
Speaker 2: Can I just be team Rory? I? This is hard.
Speaker 1: I have to choose, right, Yeah, I'm sorry, but you must,
Speaker 1: you must.
Speaker 2: Must, I must, all right. I don't know Team Dean,
Speaker 2: I guess.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's hard. They all were like important parts of her
Speaker 2: evolution and I can see where they all fit.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, who's your favorite Gilmour girls couple? Luke and
Speaker 1: Laura or Emily and.
Speaker 2: Richard, Luke and Laurel.
Speaker 1: I shah, come on, why is this question even here?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 5: Would you rather work with Michelle or Kirk.
Speaker 2: Well, at first you have to tell me who's Michelle
Speaker 2: and who's Kirk.
Speaker 5: So Michelle was the concierge at the first the Independence
Speaker 5: in and then the dragon Fly in.
Speaker 1: So he word Lorele I okay, snooty, the snooty French frenchman.
Speaker 5: Yes, yes, okay, and then Kirk was kind of the
Speaker 5: man about town that had a different job in every episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm gonna go with the snooty. I would rather that.
Speaker 2: I I think that that is something I would enjoy
Speaker 2: going toe to toe with. And I think I could
Speaker 2: out snoot if I really.
Speaker 1: Had right right, right, it's Tara.
Speaker 4: What would you order at Luke's Diner?
Speaker 2: I mean coffee, I would, but I know that that's
Speaker 2: like I'm just like cough, like a good, good cup
Speaker 2: of diner coffee is like, that's all all I need.
Speaker 1: You know, I have a coffee company and I'm co
Speaker 1: branding with Warner Brothers. We have a Luke's Diner Blend.
Speaker 5: Now it's wonderful, no way kidding, Oh my gosh, that's
Speaker 5: awesome kidding.
Speaker 1: You can own it. There's like a oh cool, there's
Speaker 1: an eight hundred number to Warner Brothers. And I'll send
Speaker 1: it to ye. Yes, there's a there's a dragonfly in blend.
Speaker 1: There's a there's a stars Hollow blind. We just launched
Speaker 1: a fall Blend. No way, we're going to launch a
Speaker 1: winter Blend. We're doing a live podcast at Warner Brothers.
Speaker 2: What's the flavor palette of the fall Blend? God? I
Speaker 2: think jeez, Sorry I put you on the spot.
Speaker 4: There no.
Speaker 1: Pumpkin spice. Yeah, very popular with Gilmore fans.
Speaker 2: I love this. I'm going to get one.
Speaker 1: Get one. Okay, is it my turn? Who would you
Speaker 1: rather hang out with? Paris or Lane?
Speaker 2: I'm going to choose Paris.
Speaker 1: Why the truth?
Speaker 2: Because I don't know who pairs are laye are? So
Speaker 2: tell me, give me, tell me which one is Paris,
Speaker 2: which one is Lane? And then and then I if
Speaker 2: I remember that, I'll tell you with more context.
Speaker 1: Paris is Rory's not best friend. I said Lane's the
Speaker 1: best friend, but Paris becomes her good friend at Yale
Speaker 1: and Paris is a highly competitive, a highly intelligent, and
Speaker 1: a bit touched. She's a little disturbed. She's she's very aggressive,
Speaker 1: she's you know, the parents are divorced, divorcing, and she's
Speaker 1: she's going through it, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: her social skills are not what they should probably bleep
Speaker 1: be Okay, she's just kind of bulldozing over everybody all
Speaker 1: the time.
Speaker 2: Well that that sounds like somebody I don't. I don't
Speaker 2: think I would want to. I think I think that's
Speaker 2: my answer right there, right, Oh gosh, you guys, all right.
Speaker 5: Harvard or Yale or drop out and live in the poolhouse.
Speaker 2: Oh man, I'm gonna go with I'm gonna go with Harvard.
Speaker 2: I you know, I have I have mixed feelings about like,
Speaker 2: if you wanna you want to pursue your own thing,
Speaker 2: you don't want to finish college. But I went to
Speaker 2: college and I finished, and the lessons that I gained
Speaker 2: from it outside of just academically were like life changing
Speaker 2: for me. So and then Harvard is somewhere close to
Speaker 2: my heart. I spent some time in Boston and I
Speaker 2: have some friends that went there, And yeah, I choose
Speaker 2: hard Tara, all.
Speaker 3: Right, would you rather attend a DAR event with Emily
Speaker 3: or a town meeting with Taylor?
Speaker 4: I feel like we know the answer to this.
Speaker 2: I had a DAR event one thousand percent. I would
Speaker 2: do that. I mean, I think Serena probably would never
Speaker 2: want to go back. I think she would have PTSD
Speaker 2: after that experience. But no, that is fun. I would
Speaker 2: I would one hundred percent do that with those women
Speaker 2: all time.
Speaker 1: Gil More girl's character that you would want as a roommate.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Laura, l is that fair? I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't I don't think she would necessarily want me
Speaker 2: as a roommate. But she is just like so fun
Speaker 2: and smart and wonderful and uh loving and complicated and
Speaker 2: just everything I would want in a in a person
Speaker 2: who's figuring their lives out, Like I just feel like
Speaker 2: a kin't that.
Speaker 1: Something in your life? You are all in on. I
Speaker 1: think we know what.
Speaker 2: That is all and on. I mean the obvious is
Speaker 2: my children.
Speaker 1: There you go, Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I mean there's there's there are other things,
Speaker 2: but at the moment, yes, yes, they're the kids are
Speaker 2: like they're sucking the life out of me in the best.
Speaker 1: Possible Julie, it's been a pleasure. Thanks for taking the time.
Speaker 1: I know you have to get back to your kids,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, all the best to you, and
Speaker 1: thank you. Thank you for providing us with such an
Speaker 1: enjoyable scene. I mean, really terrific work continued, good luck,
Speaker 1: thank you, and hopefully we'll see you down the road
Speaker 1: at some point.
Speaker 2: Okay, nice to meet you guys. Thank you so much,
Speaker 2: thank you, take care, Thank you all right, everybody, and
Speaker 2: don't forget Follow us on Instagram at I Am all
Speaker 2: In Podcast and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.