0:02 Lauren Graham, Gilmore Girls, comes back
0:04 after all these years. And what's that
0:06 first moment like, not even just seeing
0:08 the scripts and so forth, but stepping
0:10 onto those streets again? There were so
0:13 many um I mean it was quite a different
0:16 time when I started that show. Um it
0:20 kind of went by in a blur and I had a
0:22 greater sense after I was finished of
0:25 how um what it had meant to me, how
0:28 important that and rare that part was.
0:31 um what an incredible experience I'd had
0:34 with Amy and Dan and Kelly and Alexis
0:37 and um and and and a real sense of pride
0:41 in the way the show continued to find an
0:45 audience and and um and live on and I
0:47 had never predicted that. So, and then
0:50 we talked for so long about the prospect
0:53 of doing it again. I couldn't believe
0:57 it. It was a It was a true um It It was
0:59 a moment I'd played so many times in my
1:02 head that
1:05 I It was even better than than I could
1:06 have imagined. The whole thing just had
1:12 a a crazy happy um sort of feeling to
1:14 it. If that approached you a few years
1:15 ago, would you have been more resistant
1:17 to it or did why did this feel like the
1:20 right time? I guess it's almost the way
1:22 the world has changed. I mean I the
1:25 conversation had been about a feature
1:29 film and as the sort of world evolved
1:33 and features really have become bigger
1:37 um budget bigger franchises um you know
1:40 was there a space to make this as a
1:42 feature film? I think we all sort of
1:45 wondered and and then streaming began
1:50 and then um it allowed Amy and Dan to
1:52 construct the show in the way they'd
1:54 probably always wanted to because our
1:59 scripts back then were 85 pages um for
2:02 you know a 40inut show that's usually 50
2:04 pages maybe and um they always had more
2:09 to say and so I feel like uh Amy in
2:11 particular wanted to be bigger than a TV
2:14 episode but smaller than a feature and
2:16 she got to do that with the seasons. I'm
2:18 glad you mentioned Netflix and streaming
2:20 and even the cable networks that ran it
2:22 over the years. Did it feel like, hey,
2:24 more and more people seem to be watching
2:26 this than even when we were on? Um, for
2:28 sure when it came to Netflix, there was
2:32 a surge. I mean I think again year to
2:34 year you can look at the progress of of
2:37 technology and and the way I felt it in
2:40 my life you know back in when in the
2:42 first iteration of the show it was DVDs
2:44 and and so when I went to do a play in
2:47 New York girls were coming to see it and
2:51 I and because of the show and I I would
2:52 ask them where they'd seen it and it was
2:54 in DVDs that maybe an older sister had
2:58 or a family member and then it began to
3:00 play in syndication. And then when
3:03 Netflix um and the Netflix model is
3:04 perfect for this show because it's a
3:07 very binge show potentially and you can
3:09 you can really lose yourself in it. Um
3:11 and it's very happy place to visit which
3:15 I I think has you know stood out over
3:17 the years as different
3:21 shows explore darker worlds. um we were
3:23 always a little unusual in this kind of
3:26 nostalgic kind of um fantasy town that
3:29 that we presented and I don't think it's
3:30 changed that much. There aren't there
3:33 still aren't a ton of uh worlds you can
3:36 visit like that. So I think the the
3:39 ability to binge those episodes created
3:42 a whole new world of of fans as one of
3:44 the producers as well and of course the
3:46 caretaker of this character. What what
3:48 was important to you to make sure
3:50 happened or didn't happen as they
3:52 developed the scripts? I mean,
3:53 everything was important to me.
3:57 Everything um was
4:00 uh personal, you know, it's it's someone
4:04 I treasure and um have lived with for a
4:06 long time. And
4:09 um and there was a reason artistically
4:11 speaking because we didn't have Amy and
4:14 Dan in our final season. So it felt like
4:17 a justifiable pursuit to examine, you
4:20 know, what had their vision for it um
4:22 been. And in between that, I' I'd
4:25 started and finished Parenthood and had
4:26 found out for the first time what it was
4:29 like to uh know that the end is coming
4:31 and be be able to plan for it and give
4:33 that to the characters and give that to
4:36 the people watching. And um it had
4:38 always been important to me that she
4:41 didn't get married in a traditional way.
4:44 Um, uh, I I I didn't mind the idea of
4:46 Luke and Laura ending up together. In
4:47 fact, I always thought that's what it
4:50 should be. I just thought, you know, for
4:51 them to
4:54 have a traditional wedding would not be
4:57 right for what I would picture Lauraai
5:00 having. So, what Amy made with this
5:03 beautiful kind of middle of the night
5:05 magical dance,
5:08 impromptu, you know, community kind of
5:10 coming together. Um, I just thought was
5:13 beautiful. So many characters, so many
5:14 actors and actresses that you get to
5:16 work with all those years and then and
5:18 then recently. Was there one in
5:20 particular you just couldn't wait to see
5:22 again? Oh gosh, there are so many
5:24 characters. Our cast list looks like a
5:26 Busby Berkeley musical. Um, and you
5:28 know, our scripts were this thick. And
5:31 honestly, I was I was happy to see
5:34 everybody and was so thrilled that um,
5:37 you know, we got to get our town back
5:41 together. Um, it was of of, you know,
5:42 many people I I knew were able to come
5:45 back and and it was a personal crusade
5:49 of mine to make sure that Melissa and I
5:52 had something together because she was
5:54 such an important friend and is an
5:55 important friend and such an important
5:59 part of the show. And um and I just I
6:01 just felt, you know, for a while it
6:02 didn't look like there was a way and
6:06 just her schedule was crazy and and um
6:08 that that piece coming together because
6:09 I think everything else had come
6:10 together by then. That piece coming
6:13 together was was just meant the world to
6:16 me. And and just where I am in my life
6:19 and as an actor, I was able to really
6:22 enjoy everybody in a in a much deeper
6:24 way. I think back in the day I was kind
6:27 of frenzied and and it was hard to be in
6:28 the moment and we shot on film and you
6:31 know it was a different day and this
6:34 time I was aggressively grabbing
6:35 everybody and I'm
6:39 like you know Sally Strs I'm so glad
6:42 you're here. I just was able to really
6:45 be appreciative of of our wonderful cast
6:47 in the moment and enjoy it. and among
6:50 newcomers to the you I heard way back
6:53 that you had recruited people that you
6:55 love especially like Jason and Peter and
6:58 May to make little cameos here and
6:59 there. One thing that was that's
7:02 different now too is um you know we're
7:03 there. We're all there because we want
7:06 to be and and we're there because people
7:07 were excited to see it. That's a
7:10 completely different energy to go into.
7:12 Most times you start a new project, you
7:14 have no idea. And and it felt like a
7:17 real family. And I wanted my family, my
7:20 extended family to be a part of it just
7:23 for, you know, posterity. And and
7:25 because now my relationship, you know,
7:27 when I was younger and just sort of
7:29 working for my boss, it's it's different
7:32 now. I I get to have these fun creative
7:34 conversations with Amy and Dan and and
7:36 we could sit and talk and think like who
7:38 could, you know, we could invite our
7:41 friends. and they did the same to um to
7:43 be part of this incredible experience.
7:45 Kelly Bishop, I mean, she was always
7:47 great on the show, but boy, she knocked
7:49 it out of the park for this the whole
7:51 thing, but especially the the final
7:53 episode where you really see her in
7:56 action. You see, you know, Kelly has
7:58 incredible range and the and the beauty
8:01 of her Emily is how restrained she
8:04 always is and was so that when Emily has
8:06 an emotional or a happy moment, she's
8:08 really earned it. And I also think just
8:11 the benefit of our friendship and these
8:13 years going by, you know, it just adds a
8:16 texture to um you know, I love that
8:17 we're meeting these characters. We're
8:18 not supposed we're not trying to pretend
8:20 it's 2009. you know, we're meeting them
8:22 where they are and more life has
8:25 happened and so uh understandably their
8:29 relationship has even grown more complex
8:32 and and deeper and with the loss of
8:36 Richard um everybody sort of is in an
8:38 upheaval and
8:41 um and and Kelly was just incredible and
8:44 and just a dear friend. The loss of
8:47 Edward Herman, I just had to touch all
8:48 of you so much. What did you learn from
8:51 him back in the day? Uh I you know I
8:54 learned um he always had such respect
8:57 for whoever he deemed to be a true actor
8:59 and that was someone who had a great
9:01 sense of history and the craft and
9:04 respect and knowledge and um
9:07 appreciation of others and uh you know
9:10 and and then there was just um a joy he
9:13 had in in how he conducted himself every
9:15 day. I know, you know, for some people
9:18 it was hard to have the show go in this
9:21 more emotional direction um and and not
9:23 be, you know, just non-stop fun,
9:25 although I think we have a lot of fun in
9:28 there, but there was just no way to not
9:31 address that loss. you know, there was
9:34 no way to not include him as a character
9:37 even in his absence because he was is
9:41 and is and was just too big a figure to
9:45 um you know he he was he is just too
9:48 important. So we had to um you know
9:51 honor him I hope in a way and
9:54 uh and and be affected by his loss as we
9:56 all were. That's why that large painting
9:58 was so such a nice touch because he was
10:00 a large presence on the show. Well, and
10:03 I think that's a real beautiful emblem,
10:04 that large painting, you know, it's a
10:08 great example of the kind of work Amy
10:11 does that that's her episode that it's
10:14 just no one else's imagination. you
10:16 know, it's it's real, but it's extreme,
10:18 but it's sort of theatrical, but it's
10:22 funny, but it's um smart, and it's gives
10:23 all these characters this thing to react
10:26 to. And that's just one moment in a in a
10:28 sea of them, you know? That was one of
10:30 the many reasons it was such a just
10:32 dream to go back and and do that
10:34 material. It's just the way I felt the
10:37 first time I I looked at it. I I thought
10:38 this is an
10:42 unusual voice and mind and this is a
10:44 world I want to be part of. From the
10:46 first day you worked with Alexis to the
10:47 most recent day you work with Alexis,
10:49 how has your relationship as actresses
10:53 changed? We always had in in some ways
10:54 not not at all. We always had a
10:57 shortorthhand and I think just a kind of
10:59 way of being together that was very easy
11:04 and um sort of unspoken. I I was going
11:06 to take sort of I it's hard to explain
11:07 if I was going to do one thing she was
11:09 going to do the other like we knew how
11:12 kind of we fit you know and the ways to
11:15 be complimementaryary I guess and and um
11:18 and I think in the best case you don't
11:21 you don't try to analyze that or kind of
11:23 dismantle it too much you know you just
11:25 as actors you kind of have a sense oh
11:27 okay this works and and you just sort of
11:28 appreciate it and and then the only
11:33 difference in in the um here in year in
11:36 the life is by necessity she doesn't
11:38 need me as much anymore. You know, we
11:41 found ways for her to come home and for
11:43 us to be together and and and um you
11:48 know, but as as you would at these ages,
11:50 we're on slightly more parallel paths
11:53 than we are braided together and and
11:56 um so I missed that at times, but it
11:59 also made complete complete sense. And
12:01 you know, like any child this age, she
12:04 doesn't need me as much anymore. And um
12:07 and so but the relationship was never
12:08 traditional. It was always about these
12:10 two women who are really more like
12:12 friends. It they had more issues with
12:14 it, you know, as as younger people. Now
12:18 they can really enjoy their relationship
12:20 and that four-word thing that we heard
12:22 about for years and years and years. Is
12:25 it make you anxious to actually finally
12:27 perform it or how, you know, I know you
12:29 know as you knew as the producer what it
12:31 was going to be, but I'm just wondering
12:34 about actually shooting it. It was very
12:35 stressful. Um, first of all, I had
12:37 family there who all had to sign
12:39 non-disclosure agreements and I was
12:41 like, they won't tell anybody. They're
12:43 trustworthy. So, it was just a hush kind
12:45 of on the set and
12:50 um and and also there's the
12:52 um you know, we shot it near the end,
12:54 but it wasn't the end. And and that had
12:56 a piece that had a very emotional piece
12:58 as well. We're shooting
13:01 finally potentially the the end. You
13:03 know, we didn't know it was the end in
13:07 that seventh season on uh the CW. Um,
13:10 and the we never say never and I don't
13:14 know, but this was something Amy had
13:17 planned as originally as what the end of
13:19 the show was. And so there's just kind
13:23 of a a a real bittersweet um not even
13:25 bittersweet, I would say just a sadness
13:29 about that. Just a wow, you know.
13:32 Um, and especially because the four
13:35 words suggest where the characters go
13:38 from there. They don't they don't put a
13:42 neat bow on on the experience. And and I
13:44 think that might be actually the
13:48 perfect place to, you know, let you, the
13:50 person who has loved these characters
13:52 over all these years, feel where they
13:55 might go next. Um, I think that's kind
13:57 of genius. Will it be just a feeling or
14:00 or will they will you come back?
14:04 Um I really don't know. Um the reaction
14:08 and and viewership was amazing. Yeah. I
14:11 really don't know. I I I am in love with
14:13 that with this person, you know, as a
14:16 person, as a character, as a as a day of of
14:17 of
14:22 of work, as what I get to do. I I'm
14:25 thrilled by that material. That's the
14:29 feeling. And and um you know, I was
14:30 always I came up in the theater and was
14:33 interested in in in theater. And to me,
14:34 this is the perfect marriage. It's it's
14:37 language that has a theatrical kind of
14:40 energy and quality and demands, you
14:43 know, demands speaking an ability to
14:45 sustain a sentence. And it just really
14:49 has a kind of unusual for television
14:53 um aspect to it that I crave when I'm
14:55 away from it. But you have to be respectful
14:57 respectful
15:00 of, you know, what's right for the story
15:02 and I'm thankfully not in charge of
15:04 that. Well, just welcome back to the
15:06 whole team and we were so glad to see it
15:08 again. Thanks for so much for today.
