You may know Lake Bell from her starring
role as Cat Black on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim series, CHILDRENS
HOSPITAL. You may also know her from the recently canceled HOW TO MAKE
IT IN AMERICA, as a columnist in The Hollywood Reporter writing about
cars, or her stint as a model, or from the short film she wrote and
directed, WORST ENEMY. In short, she’s a busy woman, with a lot of
talent, and varied interests.
Recently, I got to speak with Lake, who
directed the season premiere of CHILDRENS HOSPITAL, “The Boy with the
Pancakes Tattoo,” as well as tonight’s episode, “Staff Dance.” Here are
the highlights of that conversation.
I asked Lake what the biggest difference
was between acting and directing. She responded that the main
difference is that you’re directing. All kidding aside, she likes the
experience of running the ship and working in a new genre, her previous
directing experience being drama-centric. It helps, she says, because of
the “absurdist mania” that comes from working with her favorite people
in the world.
That’s right. Lake loves her co-stars.
While that may be no surprise, given the sheer amount of fun that
radiates from the program, she did say directing was a serious gig.
Often, the air on the set of CHILDRENS HOSPITAL is to joke around and
have a good time. But with only two days per episode to shoot, and
filming two episodes back to back, someone has to take charge and make
sure that they don’t goof around too much. Lake takes that
responsibility very seriously, and she said the others couldn’t have
been more supportive of her efforts, not giving her any trouble or
hazing.
In fact, Lake was recruited to direct
CHILDRENS HOSPITAL after the guys in charge, Rob Corddry, David Wain,
and Jonathan Stern, saw her short film. WORST ENEMY having earned praise
and positive attention at Sundance and elsewhere, they were far from
the only ones to take notice. But having Lake on staff as an actor,
anyway, they had the unique opportunity to convince her to direct not
one, but two episodes. And they didn’t just ask once, making sure that
she knew it was a serious offer.
Lake describes her time directing as
being “in heaven.” She totally dove into the position, sitting out a
number of episodes as an actor (her choice) so that she could prep,
execute, and polish the stories in post-production. Tasked with some
serious, action-heavy, huge tales to tell, she worked her butt off to
make sure she did a good job. If the season premiere is any indication,
her hard work has really paid off.
I asked Lake if she would rather
concentrate on acting or directing going forward, and she said ideally,
she’d like to split her time. She has been so busy lately that she has
been unable to accept any new acting jobs. In a perfect world, that
won’t be the case forever. For now, though, she is content to go with
the flow, and tackle what comes her way.
Her schedule cleared up a little bit for
these new challenges because of the cancellation of HOW TO MAKE IT IN
AMERICA, another series that she starred concurrently with CHILDRENS
HOSPITAL. Lake says she understands that cancellation is not personal,
and that television is a business. While she misses the people she
worked with, and the HBO show holds a special place in her heart because
she met her future husband, artist Scott Campbell, on set, she thinks
that things happen for a reason. She tremendously enjoyed the work, but
now she’s open to participate in jobs she couldn’t have done otherwise.
It’s a wise attitude to take, and one that should serve her well in the
business, long-term.
I wanted to know which role Lake would
most like to reprise. Given the range of characters Lake has played,
from these recent roles, to a guest spot on NEW GIRL last year, to being
a series regular on BOSTON LEGAL, to the films she has appeared in,
like IT’S COMPLICATED and A GOOD OLD FASHIONED ORGY, there is a wide
range of characters to choose from. Lake’s answer was quick and sure:
Lucy from NO STRINGS ATTACHED, who she describes as being “bizarrely
comfortable” to play. The reason she chooses Lucy is because of Liz
Meriweather’s fantastic writing.
The call flew by. Thanks to Lake Bell
for taking the time to talk with me. Her second directed episode of
CHILDRENS HOSPITAL, “Staff Dance,” airs tonight (August 16th) at
midnight.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.