I am all in again.
Oh, let's.
I am all in again with Scott Patterson and iHeartRadio podcast.
Hey everybody, Scott Patterson, I am all in Podcast one eleven productions. iHeart Radio, iHeart Media, iHeart Podcast. One on one interview live at Warner Brothers. UH pre interviews with Michael Winters, who played the illustrious Taylor Dozie. Michael, it is so good to see a so much for flying in for this a big event at Warner Brothers.
Out of town.
And that's good.
Terrible up there.
How you doing.
I'm doing good.
You're looking well.
Thanks, I feel good.
Tell us about getting the role I was.
I had been in town for a few years and I had sporadic auditions and then I got the audition for this, and I had a script and hadn't been on yet. I had no idea what it was like. And I read it and I thought, I don't know whether this is a comedy or if it's a serious thing.
I did not know how to deal with it. And the guy who was running the interview was a Rodman Flanders, who directed the episode then eventually, and he talked about it in terms of screwball comedies from the thirties that I knew very well, so that gave me the great clue did the audition. I think I came back one
more time and then boom, I was doing it. And it was originally only supposed to be four episodes, and I said, that's great, because I'm going back to Seattle and do a play, and they said, well, you know, if there's any more, we'll call you back. In the end, it ended up being seven years, plus the four extra movies for Netflix and everything. So it was tiny little seed that grew into a big thing for me. Anyway.
That's do you remember your first visit to Stars Hollow?
Oh? Yeah, I mean, you know, the first time I'd been on this lot or you know it is where great movies where you go around and the sound stages have plaques on them with movies and TVs that were filmed in those places, you know, great old movies that I that I'm a great fan of. And then I
think we talked about this once before that. I the first scene I did was a sort of Halloween one, an autumn one, and I was trying to decorate the town with everything, and you didn't want any decorations on your place, and I got caught by you sneaking pumpkins onto the front steps. I remember that so vividly. And then when I watched the episode again before we talked
on your on your show, that wasn't there. That never made it into the Yeah, but that was the whole first thing, was the beginning of our relationship.
Yeah, when did you start getting recognized as Taylor Dosie out there in the in Pulbium.
It was a while because like the first year, I think I was only in three episodes the first year. Then it sort of grew and it was a couple of years before people recognized me on the street. I'm still sort of amazed, because you know, it was a fairly small part, but a very very memorable part of good Time. But now it happens every once in a while. I was just talking to Ted about it on the way over today, that it happens just enough to be nice and not to be noxious, not to take life.
But it was a while before before people would recognize me because I didn't do much early on, and then you know, it got to be more and then you know, it was just constant there for a while.
Do you remember being directed by Amy, Oh, yeah, tell us about that experience.
Well, I mean it was she knew it. I mean, you know, she'd written that, so she knew. But but and she was the one who she talked about the rom coms to the old, the old screwball comedies with a lot of risk. So I learned a whole new style of sort of working. And I got it right from her because you know, she knew it and she she lived it right, So yeah, she was great.
How about Dan? Do you remember working with Dan? He directed a few.
Episodes and I did, and he was much quieter. You know, he was a very you know, quiet internal sort of guy. But he knew what he was doing too. It was just a whole different sort of energy, right.
Yeah, they're writing is different to episode per episode. Ye, hers is more like this. His is more like this, you know.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah. He tends to keep it very light, the really stressing the comedy all the way through, and then there's always this big moment at the end.
I don't remember we're exactly the episodes I worked with him, but it wasn't It wasn't many three or four, right, maybe over the whole time.
What do you remember about working with Lauren Graham.
It was great. We found out within the first hour that I was here that we had the same birthday.
Oh is that right?
Yeah, so we sort of launched into that. And she would always say to me, you know, she had this great job, and she said, oh, I wish I could do what you do. I'd love to go do a play. And we used to talk about the theater, you know when we talked, but she was usually so busy. We didn't have a lot of time.
She had a killer schedule.
Yeah she did, she did. And then after that Gilmore Girls was over. Before she went over to the other thing, the Family thing, she did a show in New York, right, she got to do a play. You know.
I always found Gilmore to be very theatrical. You know, a lot of the means we shot in the diner. We're really like these little plays. Yeah, you know, they really were. And a lot of it was staged that way, a block that way, so I kind of felt like I was doing theater anything.
I felt very much at home. Yeah, I have to say, that's what I usually did. And I remember at one point, do you remember Dak and Matthews who showed the yeah. He's an old friend of mine and we've done a lot of work together. And we both heard from people who worked on Gilmo Girls said we like you guys because you can handle a whole lot of dialogue, you know, because we were used to that, right, And so when we do the town meetings, you know, and Liz and I would sit up there all day long while they
shot the other thing. Then we'd each have one and I have these long, complicated speeches, and I thought, oh, yeah, yeah, this is so it's it was hard, and you know, for that kind of situation, you have to have it. You have to have the lines before you go. You don't rehearse anything. Oh no, no, it's just you got to be ready to go. It took me a while to get used to that is. It was very different from what i'd done.
Ye. George Bell was yeah, oh yeah, very very good about fantastics. Oh my gosh.
It's the only thing I ever worked on in which when the shot was over, they would check with the director, They checked with the DP, they checked with the sound guy, and then they checked with George to see how we had done by the dialogue. So if it wasn't exactly word perfect, right, they'd go back and we'd have to do it again.
But I remember all those town hall meetings where you would just nail everything.
It did not feel that way.
You were ninety five percent nailing everything every take.
And they were very complicated.
Yeah they were.
It was sort of the fun of the writers, I guess. But I remember that those days were endless for us because we sat up there, well all the shooting out in the audience, and then there'd be a big one, then there'd be a close up and everything.
So it took all day, all day in that night.
Room that was boiling hotep and and then at the end everybody went home and she and I stayed and did the parts, you know where they were looking at us. We were always done at eleven or eleventh at night. So it's harder to remember. The one thing I remember too about the we did an episode that had the Livings paintings right right, and I did all the introductions to the paintings, which I did at the end exactly the same thing, full of Italian names and all that stuff.
And the night was over essentially, you know, and if everybody left and I got up there to do like four or five of these things in a row and the direction and I don't I don't want to push you, but the sun's going to come up in about five minutes. We got to get these done before it was done, so I had to rattle those off. Oh my, that was pretty freaky.
Reminds me of those days in New York City when I'd stumble out to save the Robot at seven am. And you know what I mean. Yeah, he'd stumble out of Warner Brothers at seven am, you know, yeah, on a Saturday morning and then have to be back Monday. Sure, yeah, those were sometimes. Yeah, those town hall meetings. Wow.
But it was also fun because, uh, Liz and I liked old music. Uh and uh, so we'd we'd spend the time. She'd sing the first line of a song and I would do it from there.
That went on along. We'd spent that she she wasn't she great on set?
Man?
Having Liz and and Sally on at the same time. Yeah, Oh, that's like the history of musical theater. It's exactly right.
And and Liz had known and worked with everybody.
Yes, you know, just amazing the stories, the exactly the funny the body story and.
You know that on the back wall of that of that of her studio were all old photographs of her, right from far back in her career. And she was a young guyes.
Yes, yeah, she really, you know, she knew everybody, James Dean, I mean, she had all the stories.
It's Tony Bennett, she talked about a lot. Yeah, she was great.
Yeah, yeah, she was probably the most cornered actress on set because we wanted the stories. Can you just talk?
Well? And I had all that time with her.
Yeah, it was great. What a treat, What a treat. So you keep in touch with Sally right, uh?
Not anymore? Did for a while, okay, and Liz too. Uh And then of course it was great when we did the reboot or Netflix and we uh we were all back together again. That's what a lot of that time was was.
You know, Sally was supposed to do this today, but she's she's she's always in Kansas City doing a play. She works all the time. Yeah, on stage though, Yeah, she's always doing something.
Well, we did. I remember one thing Liz and I did was she played she did a one woman No, it was two or three people actually about Patsy Klein in Hollywood and and I went one day and head lunch and then went to watch her.
Do Oh that's nice to think it was great, that's very nice. What are you working on now anything.
Well, I don't work much anymore. I mean, I'm sort of retired because after a while I started to lose my balance. You know, my balance wasn't good and so I had trouble with that, and and then there was the the pandemic. All the theaters just shut down, and so so by the time that was over, I was like essentially retired sort of. I've done I've done things up there, but you know, like one show a year.
Well, I know this global fan base would like you to make a big comeback as Taylor Dozie. Would you, uh, maybe venture to do another iteration of Gilmore.
Girls in New York? Oh that's good, it would be fun. Yeah. Well, what's the greatest job in the world. Yeah, And I lived about ten minutes from here. Oh yeah the whole time. Yeah, me too, So I had no problem getting here, had a great time and had fun stuff to do. Yeah.
I used to get on Maul Holland and just get here in six minutes.
Just so yeah, and just was around the corner sort of.
Well, it's been a great pleasure catching up with you, Michael. Great to see you, and we'll see you out there in about an hour's time, I guess, and we're going to put on a show for all these fans that are showing up at Warner Brothers.
Thank you, Michael, Thank you
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