I Am all in again.
Let's do.
Hi.
I Am all in Again with Scott Patterson and iHeartRadio Podcast.
Hey Everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am All One Podcast one eleven Productions, iHeartRadio, iHeart Media, iHeart Podcast Recap Episode fourteen, Season one. That Damn Donna reed with my very very special guest and Christopher's Baby. Is it Christopher's Baby? Mama?
Yeah?
Macheen amk the One and Only. She's an American actress television director, best known for her role as Shelley Johnson and Twin Peaks, while also starring in Sleepwalker's Dream Lover, which is of East End, and played Alice Cooper in Riverdale. Machen made a recurring guest appearance on Gilmore Girls as Sherry Tinsdale. Off screen, she has been married to David Alexis since nineteen ninety two. They have two children together.
Along with their family, she founded a nonprofit, a Direct Impact Foundation, Don't Mind Me, with initiatives focused on making mental health care accessible for all. Machen Amy, welcome, good to see you again. Yea, what did you think of this episode?
I just rewatched it last night because I wanted to refresh my brain and first of all, Okay, what year was it? Season one, episode two, two thousand? Okay, so the the.
Twenty twenty This is February twenty twenty one it aired, but I guess yeah, okay.
Well so no, that was farther back, wasn't it. But anyway, the opening credits look so deep. It just like this, like it's like an homage to an old show from the like eighties that I used to watch or something. It was really really cute, but it's I thought they tackled some really good topics without hitting you over the head. But you know, Rory finding her way in romance and then you know this like very old fashioned way of women tending to men, and how does that sit with
her boyfriend? And you know, how is that sitting with very modern women? And and so you know, it was I thought it was a very cute way to sort of tackle that subject matter without without getting too heavy right with it. And then of course Lurlai is starting to have a little light bulb that she might have something for that guy and a diner that guy tends to call on him when she's in knee.
No, they do. They love mocking. They're watching it down to reach show with Dean and here comes the split between these two. The first sign of trouble, I think is like he's a traditional guy, he grew up this way, and uh, you know they sense that. He says, well, I think that's really nice. I really like that, and they both look, you know, the expressions that they give him are priceless.
Yes, anything honest, right, He's just like that seems really nice. Which you're right, it does seem really nice. But really, what does that mean for the woman that's in the kitchen cooking all day to please you for that dinner.
So at different times, you know, he's different times. It's a different you know, it's a post World War two mentality. These guys came back from the war completely devastated, Yeah, at what they had been through and what they'd served. Vibed with all of this survivor's guilt. Yeah, you know, they watched all their friends die and they just wanted to get married, have kids, have a quiet, nice life.
Yeah everything.
That's a nice family. Yeah, you know, just a completely different generation mentality. You know, here's the thing, as this is what I'll say, and this Michael Cadelman, who I'm very fond of, uh, directed this episode beautifully. There was a lot of steady cam, a lot of you know, continual shots.
Yeah, and very I noticed that it was like two shots that just went there was I know that. I commented to my daughter Mina. I was like realizing they're not doing a lot of and close up cutting.
It up in that kitchen scene was spectacular. Yeah, and it was probably like an eight pager that was a long scene and they didn't cut it was just like it was one shot. It was brilliant and they did it again later on the episode. But Michael Cadaman, I think just directed a beautiful episode. This is what you know. I've seen it once now I'm going through it again. So far this is my favorite episode.
Yeah.
I just thought the writing and the acting and the thing is as good as Lauren is in her role, everybody else is as good in their roles as she is in hers. Absolutely right, There isn't a weak link in this entire cast.
Yeah, I cominted how great alexis was.
Oh yeah, isn't she just incredible in their roles They're perfect. It's perfect casting every character.
And every character's got a lot of meaty scenes and needy dialogue. There aren't throwaway characters. You know, there might be their on screen more than others, but everybody is super important and has a lot to do, which is great for an ensemble, right.
I mean, you know they write Sally Struther's one scene, but what a scene it is. Yeah, I mean, you don't forget it. Yeah, just remarkable writing and acting. I thought this is absolutely my favorite episode so far of the whole thing. All Right, so they're watching this show. Now, she gets off the bus, Rory gets off the bus. She's got a chick, which was it was it was the best use of a bird in Yeah, in a TV or film since on the Waterfront.
I think Lot's a good dog. Yeah, it's great. I'm looking for a chick.
Just great, great stuff. And then they have their first little disagreement. Yeah, Dean and Rory. You know that's that's tough for sixteen year olds, isn't it to have a to have a little falling out because they're so emotional and it hurts so much, and they're so confused, and they I thought they played it beautifully.
Yeah, and they're they're both standing firm what they believe in. But then they're wanting to be respectful of the other one, and it hurts, and and then you're left with wanting to walk away, but you still have my chick.
But he did you know, he did open his mouth, didn't he He started it?
He did.
He shouldn't have gone.
There, be ready for what comes when you.
Dan, what are you doing? You're picking a fight with a Gilmour. There's great stuff though, great light conflict. But I mean this show is so light and so airy and so funny and fun that even a little tussle like that feels deeper, you know. All right, So now we got Luke and Larelei together. I like them so much together in season one. I love them in this episode, yeah, because it's all of this newness, this discovery, this how
do we feel about each other? We know how he feels about her, but you know she's she's kind of waken up to it little by little, and it's just so great to watch. And you know, in the hands of a lesser actress, I don't know if this would have been as poignant.
You made it so well where you weren't like all Doe I googly eyed, could have gone way too far, and you just really kept that line of friendship and support, and yet there's this bubbling underneath that You guys did a really great job with your scenes in this episode.
Here's the thing. Here's the thing. The dialogue kind of dictates what we're doing. That's how good the writing is. Yeah, it's like I'm looking at these scenes and I'm thinking, Man, this is good stuff. This is so well directed. These scenes are so well crafted. And I always remember being in there with her knocking these scenes out and the movement, you know, where we move and how we move and how we interact, and it was just such a wonderful dance.
Isn't Amy a great writer?
Oh god, Oh my god.
I loved the nu once and you choosing paint color and like this whole undermeaning of the decision to choose the paint combinations. Is it going to be orange and green? They in blue? And but yeah, there's so much more like text behind that decision, right.
Right, and uh, Taylor teasing them and you know, interrupting and they're about to kiss. I mean it really, it really got very close a couple of times there when they were on the floor. Uh, he was going to kiss her, and then they're interrupted by Kirk hilariously by Kirk, Yes, Taylor, and then again when she's gonna leave or they stand up and face each other. So, man, I just missed
that stuff. You know, that's the stuff I miss. Yeah, having done so many jobs I have post this, it's like that stuff is what I miss because that's like, you know what it was like. It's like doing live theater. Yeah, like doing really good live theater and you're just like, you're just so in these moments and it's being directed that way. And you didn't see very many cuts in
that scene too, right, cattleman just let you go. He just said, you know, you guys are gonna tell the stories with your movement and your interaction.
I'm like, yes, that's great. What compliments the cadence of the writing too, because as it does, I remember coming on and I remember having to like, who, I'm gonna have to keep up with this like pace because not playing around here like you got it memorized and on and ready to just deliver with good rhythm and so that like you said, like a like theater, like live theater, you got you gotta be on and then and then to have that under your belt and just be able
to be let go like that by a director. Is that's a green.
Most of stude comment I've heard yet is what you just said. Yeah, No, really, it's so true. It's so true. How do you cut into any of this stuff? I mean you have to yeah at times, Yeah, let it play, let it run. Yeah, because that's what the writing is saying. It's just so great. I'm gonna probably go back and watch it again. I love watching perfect things. It's perfect. She leaves, and then she calls him again. Yea because the chick. The chick got out. So it comes over.
Another great scene, an hysterically funny scene, watching these two interact and searching for this check, and it was just wonderful stuff. It's not really like TV anymore. It feels more like a film now to me, like a real quality film now. So we see these two really having fun together, doing sort of normal everyday stuff that everybody does and likes, little inconveniencies, and the chick.
Got it in the house just gets destroyed, as you guys are.
He falls down and breaks a lamp, this kind of thing. And now at the same time, in a parallel universe, Dean Roy are having their their Donna read moments, she dresses up like Donna Reed, serves them dinner, makes the dinner. Why do you suppose she did that?
I think she was testing the Oh well maybe I think it could have been one of two things, and she might have had both intentions. One was, well, let me test this out, let me actually play into this stereotype that he seems to like. Maybe I'll please him. Maybe let me see what this feels like. But was it also maybe a bit of a trap? How much do you like this? Let me test you?
So?
Yeah, you had these like two opposite things happening just side by side, well opposite, and yet the same two couples navigating where they stand with each other, right under two different circumstances.
Right, So he opened up his mouth and by the gazebo mistake, she maybe overreacted. Mistake, Right, they both feel responsible now, so she goes overboard trying to make up for it. Right. I didn't think she was mocking him. I don't think there was any No, this is just like, hey, you know, I'm still going to stand my ground on this issue, but you know, I don't want to lose the relationship, right, It's not worth it, so she goes over the top of this and it was very sweet.
It was a nice gesture, isn't it.
And I think they kept it grounded as it was being performed, made it very genuine, like you said.
And then we have the moment where Luke is taking out the trash of the broken lamp looking for the chick and Dean is taking out the trash.
My favorite part of the episode. I love that interaction where there what are you doing? What are you doing? And then you both I'm you know, just taking taking some treasure off. Well, me do because that's what guys do.
Right, And then they leave and now we've got Mother and Laurla making fun of Rory's outfit like what the heck are you wearing? Hell and the shoes? And that was just great, great stuff.
And the women came out and see each other. What are you doing? What are you doing? Yeah, and it just ends with Laura like going, wow, you look ridiculous.
Just so let me let's talk about Sherry a little bit. What's your first impression of Sherry when you when you read the script and did you did you connect with her right away? It took you some time to figure it out.
I think I just saw that it was a good tool to get in the way where, you know, create some jealousy on Laura Lie's side, and probably perk up her idea of like, oh he's moving on, m oh do I do I still have feelings for him or not? You know, I think it was just a good tool to bring up where they were. But then just the
part itself was just fun to do. She was I think her first episode was pretty straightforward, pretty innocent, and I think I did three episodes altogether, and each the next one and the next one just got more and more outlandish. She just the characters seemed to unravel, like just yeah, became a heightened version of frenzy.
You know, is it true what I hear that you were Amy's first choice for Larela.
I don't know if I was her first choice, but I know I went through a lot of rounds. I tested a bunch of times.
Ash, really, what was that? Like?
Oh?
How many tell us? Okay? This is the thing I think fans are really fascinated with because we always talk about how difficult it is to get a job, and you know, sometimes it's really easy, but most of the time it's really hard take the fans through your audition process to get because you were considered for Lorelei. Right, yeah, but take us back to two thousand. You get a call from your manager.
He says, what, yeah, I think it's just you know, another audition comes in. You're going to need to show up here. I think at that point I was able to go straight into producers because you have to do the rounds where you like, audition for an assistant casting director, and then you can make it to the actual casting director, and then the casting director decides that you can move on to producers. So I got to slip into just producers.
Because that's it takes time and a good, really strong resume just to go to producers right away. That's that's a lot of trust.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then and then you know, I don't really even remember reading, but I remember reading, and I remember hitting it off with Amy a lot. And then you leave and you don't know. But then you get that call from your agent at some point. And if you don't get a call from your agent within a few days, you could pretty much write that one off.
You're that's not going to move forward. But the quicker you get the call from your agent, which means the quicker they called your agent means how much they're interested in you. So it was a pretty quick she was great, we loved her, We want to move her forward. So then you have to go through auditioning and and it's called testing, so you have to.
That's when you get the contract offer, that's when you get the car gets real. Yeah.
Yeah, And so then you got to negotiate your contract before you even walk in the door to text and a studio because they don't want to see you unless they know they have a deal.
Right, that's testing for the network executives. Yeah.
Well, so then I went through studio.
First, studio first, right.
And then you know, and you're there and you're in the hallway with other actors and I don't remember who else was in there, but it's just sort of like, uh, you're looking at the competition.
And you never saw Lauren in the room.
No, as far as I know, she came in. She was brought in after the fact because she had an overall deal with the studio or the network and they were looking for a new vehicle for her, so she already was kind of under contract with them.
Oh, she had a holding deal. Okay, so I.
Went through the studio and then nerve wrackingly made it to the next round.
Tell us about the difference between the producer room and then here you're studio level testing, right, tell us about the difference between in those rooms and who who's populating those rooms?
Right, So when you go in for producers, you're going into somebody's office, usually casting director's office, or maybe those producers have an office on a lot or something. And you go in and there's probably a handful of people in that room. So you if you have a director attached, the director might be there. You definitely have your showrunners, your producers, and so you know, and then.
You're might be like five to ten people, max, the max five to seven, right, five to seven. Right.
Then you go in on the studio level, and now you're in a full theater stage, usually on a studio lot. So you're on stage with the theater filled up like at least a quarter to halfway. Executives right that have the most stone cold look on their face, absolutely no motion one way or another, and you're just you know, you're in the hot seat, the lights on you, you're the hell you're sweating, You're just trying to not have your
voice crack. You just want to get lines out, and you feel like you have to like do it perfect one time. You know, Sometimes you're like, I totally fucked up? Can I start over? And then you do it and you have to go out in the back in the hallway and wait, and they a lot of they are usually testing a lot of roles, so there's a lot of people, so you can be there for hours, right and you're kind of waiting to see when are you next?
And then once you've done it, you're having flop sweats in the in the hallway as you're waiting for the rest of everybody to audition. And you have to wait because they may want to bring you back in to read again, or they may want to match you up with another partner in your scene because they want to see if somebody works better with somebody else. So then you are only released. Oh you know what's the worst though?
Sometimes you wait, you wait, you wait, You hear the laughter that's happening in the in the room, and everybody seems getting along, and then they come out and they literally turned in and go. You can leave. You release so then you leave that, and then you're just waiting every minute that goes by on the clock, waiting to get the call from your agent you're released or they're they're going to move you ahead to network. So then it was you're going to move, we're ahead to network.
So then you got to do the thing all over again.
Do you know who else was in contention at the network level? Do you know who you were up against? Did you want to know? Did you ask?
I'm sure I knew, and I probably saw them, and it was probably a lot of the same people I see a lot that I would go against. I blacked it out because it's all trauma to me. It's I focus on the things I get, you know. And but so same thing again for the network. And then at this point you also have studio in there as well, so now you've got a lot of extra suits in there. And then they're debating with each other throughout the casting process in between, so somebody's like, nah, I don't like
that person. Somebody well, well no, wait, I think they're good. So same thing all over again. And as I went through all of the rounds, I know Amy was really rooting for me and the big feedback that kept coming back was we don't believe that she's old enough to have a daughter that age. She doesn't look old enough. And Amy was saying, but that's a whole point of
the show that they like sisters. And I had already had kids at that point, so if they it was like two thousand, my kids were, you know, eight to nine something like that. So I was like, but I have kids, because they were like, she's not believable as a mother at all, and I was like, but I am a mother. So that's what Amy was fighting against was that they just thought I was too young looking for that role, and she kept fighting, but that's the point,
that's what I like. And then just like, you know, last minute, it was like, you know what, they already have a relationship. They already have a deal with Lauren Graham. She's getting it. And so I hadn't seen anybody since
until I came back. I think I think I saw Amy in a hotel hell, because we were both working in the same town and it wasn't even on the same show, and we ran into each other and she was like, oh, I was so like bummed, you know that it didn't it didn't go through, but I really want to bring you back, and so I think that's why she brought me back as the guest start.
So what period of time are we talking about here between you're getting the first call from your manager, you have this audition for Kill More Girls, and then finding out it's not going to work, it's not going to happen.
I mean that usually happens within a couple of weeks to no more than a month, right, because usually you have this very small window to shoot pilots, or at least we used to. Now Now now the structure is just blown out of the streaming.
But there's no structure.
There's no structure, But they used to be, you know, January was all of your dramas, you know, trickling into February because they needed more time to produce those dramas, so they would always go first, and then by February March you're doing your comedies. And then everybody's got to be in production by April because you need to turn around your show to be able to have it considered
to then be available for upfront in May. So there's short windows and very intense and a lot of times you're driving from one audition to another, and you're changing in the car and you're getting it's last second. And then remember the Thomas Guide days.
Thomas Guide, Oh yes, oh yeah, before.
Map Quest and anything on your phone, you had.
To Thomas Guide in my sixty six pontiac leamons that may or may not start.
Yeah, mine was Thomas Guide and chevele my mom shovelet's chevlay citation that I blew the transmission out of.
I had a meeting at Radford CBS, Bradford and the car died on me as I was pulling through the gates and I just got it into a space. You know, it was somebody's space, but the car was dying and there was nowhere else to leave it. So I just like I was doing in is running in and picking up sides. That's all I was doing from the casting office, right and it and the car died and I said, okay, well, this is somebody's space. I forget who it was. It was an actress's space. And I ran into the office.
I said, Hi, I'm Scott Sides for this thing. Oh yeah, here you go, thank you. Ran out. The actress had showed up. She was reuming she said, I get the hell out of my space now, and I'm like, I'm the car died. It wouldn't start, it would She wanted to kill me.
Okay, I have a car story on a lot. So I was need the show Freddy and it was Freddy Prince Junior's sitcom Brian Austin Green Freddy Prince. It was such a fun show to do. It only went a season. But I had my car ship across country and it was in seventy two Mercedes and so it was a full vintage car like it, you know, and it finally so it showed up and they dropped it off and it was parked right outside the stage, even though it wasn't supposed to be parked right outside the stage, but
they need somewhere to drop it. I was going to deal with it, and we're filming something that all of a sudden production is shut down because there's a full fleet of fire trucks that have showed up because my gas tank had cracked in the shipment and then gas all over, you know, was a huge fire hazard and they're ye pellets And I never lived that one down.
But which studio with Warner Brothers, Oh yeah, tough lot.
It's very hard to get on. There are people that have been on shows for ten years and if you don't have your ID coming in the.
Gate, you're not getting no, no, you're not getting that yeah getting It's it's very very tough to get on that lot. And then you did. You worked with Lauren Graham. What was that like?
She's great, she was very gracious, really great. I feel like she it's very hard to come on as a as a guest star onto a show and people are already rolling, they already have their rhythm, they already know each other. You know, it's like the new kid in school.
You're just like hi. And she was very, very gracious, very welcoming, wanted to make sure that I felt comfortable, and and I remember Alexis was so sweet, you know, so new to the business and kind of wide eyed, like, whoa, this is this is how it goes, this is the fervor of which we film.
Okay, Well, you know Shary got some strong reactions from fans, and were you aware at that time of how people felt about Sherry.
No, I don't, I think, and I think that's why the character kind of morphed in the next couple of episodes they needed to lean in and go ahead and embrace her. Not that she was a battie, but you know that people were not not happy with her, so they I think they leaned in a little bit more and made her a bit more easier to hate, Like just really lean.
Into it, right right. Well, you know you eventually leave for for Paris and we don't really see you again. And did you know your storyline from the start was going to be you know, short lived.
I didn't expect any more than the one guest star. I was surprised when they asked me to come back, so it was you know, it was enjoyable when they when they did, and I was always like, absolutely.
Did you want to rewrite it? Did you have a different vision for the character? If you had the power, what would you have done with her storyline?
I think the only thing that I was trying to do in my performance was just keep her grounded and keep her as genuine as she could be, like to herself, you know, like she's genuine. She may be obnoxious, but but she believes it, and she believes she's doing the right thing. And just to try to keep her human, you know, because I really didn't. I really didn't know where they wanted to go with her and how they wanted to use her as a tool, you know, of
the relationships. So I kind of was just I am here, use me as you need me, and I'll do the best I can.
You know, Wow, I let's say you did get cast as Laura I, what would your interpretation, Ben, How would it have been different?
I think I think it was really suited for Lauren Graham. I think she handled the cadence so naturally, you didn't question that wasn't just something the way that she just exists naturally. I think she was really good at that.
And I don't know if I would have been as good as that, as much as I always like to say I can tackle anything and I can do anything, but I think that would have been quite a challenge and a really big feat, and I might have even pushed back on it a little bit, like, but why do we have to talk this fast all the time?
Like why can't we do? You know? I probably I probably would have struggled with it a little bit, to be honest, But I do think that there was a pure, really great thing between the mother daughter relationship and I would have really enjoyed that. You know, I think Alexis did an amazing job, and I think I would have I think that would have been something that I would have really enjoyed and probably would have worked really well.
Right, So let me ask you this, if there's a second reunion, would you like to come back and revisit that character?
I would love to. I wanted to do the first reunion. I was like, hello, here, was it fun? Was it fun to do that?
It really was. It was fun. It was fun because it was Netflix put so much money into it, and it was different. It was it was like being on a big budget film set.
Great.
The equipment had changed, you know, the technology had changed. They had all of this top technology, so many cameras, so many cranes, so many of you know, the sets were brighter and better. It was just everything just popped yea, and we knew it was it's just going to be
like three and a half months. So it was this limited amount of time because we never got any closure because it was canceled in two thousand and seven and I was, you know, I was in Canada on a set and people were you know, cast of the four Wins and you know, we didn't get a chance to say goodbye or anything. There was no rap party or anything like that. But now here we had a chance to sort of say goodbye every single day, right, you just.
Got to catch up. And then how many years after, like what was the reunion for you guys? How many years? Was it?
Nine years?
Okay? Because because when I did the the it was called the Return of Twin Peaks, it was twenty five years later.
At twenty five twenty five.
It was just like mind blowing, and it was very emotional for me every day, you know, seeing someone I hadn't seen in a long time. David brought back all of all of original casting crew that he possibly could. So we're seeing theseeople that you know, we haven't seen it so long and putting the waitress uniform back on. I'm bawling. And he lived in and you know, I'm bawling, you know, David Lynch's bawling like it was. And it took and it took us a year to do that season. So given a year.
Total, that's great, that's dice.
Yeah, And he filmed it as one feature film. I think it was a total of maybe it was I don't remember how many episodes we did, maybe say like eighteen episodes. He's eighteen hour film and he just chose places to cut it to be an episode.
Wow.
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I mean, what a what a giant, Yeah, what a unique individual. Yeah, what a real artist this guy was.
And as much as like you said, a giant in what he did and his talent and what he accomplished, he was almost the opposite personally in that he was so sweet and humble and when you got to know him, you just become family. And he was there for me, you know, beyond being my mentor or when I was stepping behind the camera to direct. He was super supportive. But I could call him up with anything and just say,
hey David, i'n't oh my god. And he would give me like great advice through pregnancy and hey David, this is happening in my life. And hey David, I think I want to leave the business. What do I do? You know? So he was a good friend.
So he was just a gentle soul. Yeah, super supportive, lovely guy.
Ye, reading about the people that was around him so and showed it. Yeah.
Yeah, it's really nice to be on a set like that. Yeah. The leader is really grounded and just open and soft and gentle and supportive and intelligent.
Yeah.
Oh man, wow, So what'd you learn from them? What the what are the big takeaways from being around that guy?
To not compromise?
Yes, yep, and never right, like, never compromise your choice. Yeah, okay, you can discuss it, right.
And and and by discussing it, you might change your mind because exactly something came up that made a lot of sense and you're like, oh, yeah, I get it.
Okay, tell us about how important that is and what it actually means. Because fans, we have some very knowledgeable fans. But but in the moment, when you're in rehearsal process, when you're going through the scene, when you're building that scene before you shoot, before before they start lighting it, tell us about arriving at a choice voice and then fighting for it. Tell us about that process, because that's the most important thing we do. Yeah.
I feel so for for me and my process. I'll read something and I usually get a really immediate take on not only the character, but what I think they mean to do with the story, right, and even as specific as like the tone of it, the feel of it, the rhythm. Is it a really dark, slow thing or
is it this you know, lofty, fun, bouncy thing. And you know, you hopefully have the luxury to talk with the director and the writers on what they intend and what they're hoping to get from your character and how it fits into the story. You a lot of times don't have that luxury, but if you do, that's great.
That's great if you have that communication, you know, yeah, so.
Hopefully there's maybe some conversations, even if it's over the phone. You're very it's very rare anymore that you actually get rehearsal time. So if it's a because most films now don't have a budget, so you don't have the luxury to have rehearsal time, you're filming it in the least amount of days possible, so you're just running and gunning.
It's just amazing to me they give so much time to DP to light it, and yet so they just try to rush you through a rehearsal process and I'm like, you know, like whoa stop. This is where this is where we make the show right here, Okay, so let's get this right let's take the time to get this right.
I've had to fight for that so many times. Yeah, I've had to just dig my heels in and say stop, no, we need to know what we're do. Others we're going to be spending so much more time burning film because we're trying to find it, Like, let's find it now.
Did you ever find yourself in a situation where you got a network note and that was communicated to the director after a long fight for defending a choice, and then you're like, oh god, really, yeah, oh yeah, are you kidding me? They want me to do that?
I know, And a lot of times they make it seem like it's their their decision because they know if they know if they come to you and say, okay, we got a network note, that we're going to be like, are you kidding me? So they pretended it's their idea, and so you're like, huh, okay, that's interesting because that's not really the you know, the path we were going down for the last eight episodes. But let me try
to figure this out. And at point I've gotten so savvy that I'm like, this is a network note, isn't it right? Yeah?
No, I can tell I guess I'm a mile I.
Know, I know, but but I will say, you know, because of these years of acting, when I started directing, and I really bristle a lot of first AD's feathers, but I insist I send everybody away. Go coffee break, smoke break, pee break, whatever you guys got to do. Set is mine and it's me and the actors. Yes, not even an AD or a DP exactly.
They really try to crowd you out and don't give you your space, and you do have to dismiss them. That is essential. This is just our space. No good. I like him.
I want to give the actors a safe place to just bitch about what they were about to have to do. Right, want them to let me know where are we at? Are you doing this? Do you not believe it? What do you need to fight for? What do I need to help you fight for? I want to get it out now, you know? Or maybe let's talk it through. Maybe there's something you weren't thinking of, and maybe you know and it's literally like one reading through. Maybe there's
a little something to discuss. It doesn't take much time, but I'm telling you it saves so much time for the rest of the day, and then I invite the next wave in and then we run it through again. And then usually there's a writer on set that chimes in and goes, well, I don't know, you know, well, I'm sure if they would walk over the window there and be like, okay, hear what you're saying, but this is why they chose to do that. And then you
invite everybody else in to watch the full rehearsal. But I'm adamant about that, and everybody can be as mad as they want me. I don't care. We need we need to send our take a breath and then move through this an.
And the inexperienced actors get so freaked out by that because they think, oh god, what's happening here, you know. They they think that it's some kind of unusual uh, you know, things are getting heated, and oh, this is just really scary and I don't know if I can do, you know, And and it's like, no, this is how you knock it out. This is how you this is how you sculpt something into uh into some kind of beautiful shape. You got it. It takes it's it's an
it's kind of violent almost. I mean, I'm not saying physically, but I mean you if my best rehearsal is at Kilma. This is what I love so much about Gilmore. You had all of these you know, high level theater actors, Broadway actors who know this stuff, who are gladiators, who get in there and they say small things and rehearsal, they do smart things and they and they bat away any kind of idiotic choices. It doesn't matter where it comes from. And you'd better have a thick skin because
nobody cares how you feel. That's you know, that's the training that I had. So when I go on a set and I and I do it like you do it, I read it. I get an impression right away.
Yeah.
Then I like to have the conversations right.
Yeah, and a lot of and sometimes I'm off like.
Sometimes right, sometimes you miss it.
Yes, I imagine something so much better and my opinion. And I was like that version, like.
What the hell is this guy talking about? Yeah, we just wanted to go pick up the cup? What is he? What is he talking?
Yeah? But you know, circling all the way back to David Lynch, it's you know, he it was a blessing and a curse altogether because I got to see someone and put his instinct out there, hold strong to his instinct even when everybody, everybody didn't understand it or didn't like it. You know, when we when we aired, the network did not or studio network did not like us. I don't know what individuals in the studio or network.
I know there was some batting for us, and there was some that just wanted to like get rid of us. So we were a mid season.
Replacement, I mean the original series, the.
Original series, and they and they put us against the
season premiere Cheers, which was gigantic. They just wanted to burn us off, get us out of there because I couldn't control David, and so I then went into you know, Hollywood beyond that after the show is over, and I would say for the next six years, I really I had a hard time finding my way because I just cut kept coming up to these like very formulaic ways to go about things and expressions like well, no, you can't do that, and I would be like, yeah, you can.
I've seen it. I've actually seen it, and I've and I've been on it and it was one of my first things I've ever done. So he set me up in this, you know, thinking of understand what you're portraying, Stick to your guns, don't compromise, and deliver right and people either get it or not. Don't worry about it, keep moving.
Right because it's that courage that translates and every screen.
So that, in my opinion, the creators are taking all of the notes from the studios and the networks and all that, and it's more and more vanilla and more and more watered down. The ones that do well are the ones that have a true vision and they stick to it and they don't get picked up or they you know, but they stuck to it and in it it had a strong voice and it had a strong opinion. And you'd much rather go down with that than piecing out your baby and making it vanilla.
That's what That's what Amy did. She stuck to her vision, she stuck to her guns. She fought the good fight until she had to walk away. Yeah, and that's why this show, and that's why Twin Peaks continues to resonate with people. These are unforgettable creators, you know, unique voices, unique talents that never buckled hard to do takes a tremendous amount of courage and just belief in what you're doing. Yeah, gosh,
I admire them. I admire these people so much. Oh, you know, I could talk to you for the next week. What are you doing for the next week? You want to come on every day so much? Sure we have, But I do want to acknowledge in this episode, the absolutely brilliant Friday night dinner scenes. I thought they were the best I've ever seen. I thought that the living room scenes with Emily and Richard Tho, that was the best one I've seen. And there have been some great
living room sceness. The humor, the brevity of it, the dialogue, just fantastic. Sick this Michael Catleman, if you're listening, hats off to you, buddy, Messiah. Let's do something together and they're not too distant future, because this guy's a hell of a director. Yeah, just a hell of a director to get these performers, just to translate this stuff the way he did in this episode. Just a pleasure to see you again and talk to you, and please, please
please come back. Absolutely we will be in touch for more. You want to talk about don't mind me? Your project, your mental health project.
Yes, so we founded our nonprofit mental health foundation, Don't Mind Me, because my son lives with my polar disorder and he had a mental health break in freshman year of college. And it's been really hard thirteen years and navigating a very broken mental health care system. So we rolled up our sleeves in twenty twenty one founded Don't
Mind Me. We have a scholarship fund to help people get into primary mental health treatment that wouldn't otherwise be able to afford it, which, by the way, it is completely unaffordable and unaccessible. So we have a scholarship program
to help people get into treatment. And then now we're in the beg gaining stages of opening our own treatment center in Pump Springs, and the whole goal behind it is a full recovery campus taking you through all levels of care, treating the whole body, all preventative, all supportive around it, you know, along with all of the regular treatments and therapies. And we're holding a big gala March eighth.
If you'll come out to Palm Springs, please come. People can buy tickets on Don'tmindme dot org and we're honoring Mollie Ringwald. kJ Appa's going to present to her lance. Bask's going to present to Angel Carter conrad twin sister, the late Aaron Carter, actually Kalia with a mental health storytelling Coalition, which is so important for the way we tell stories in film and television when we're talking about
mental health, doing it the right way. And I'm pulling my twin Peaks cast up on stage to do some music.
If I'm in town, I will be there because I'm doing a ton of conventions. But if I'm not somewhere, I will definitely show up and support you. I would love to be there. Do me a favor give. I'm gonna give your email. I'm sure they already have it, but I'll get it from Emma or Jackie and I'll because I want to support you in your your foundation, because because because it's it's a really important endeavor, really really important that people have access. Uh. I love talking
to you a great seeing you again. Hope to see you soon, maybe in Palm Springs, maybe back on a zoom. But I'm gonna I'm gonna email you and we'll get into other things. Okay, Yes, makee you Amic, the one and only, the brilliant macheen Amic member of support. Don't mind me, that's your foundation. Uh late of Twin Peaks, Gilmore Girls, the one and only major naming. Thank you so much and everybody out there appreciate your downloads. Remember
where you lead, we will follow. Stay safe everyone, Hey everybody, and don't forget. Follow us on Instagram at I Am All In podcast and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com