Actress continues to soar
The Flight Attendant Crave
Kaley Cuoco knows her latest role as a hard-partying stewardess who finds herself caught up in a murder investigation in HBO Max's The Flight Attendant is the furthest thing fans of her long-running sitcom The Big Bang Theory would expect.
But, as she says smiling in a video call from the Los Angeles home she shares with her husband Karl Cook, “That's the name of the game. There was going to be judgment and some people were going to like it and others wouldn't.”
Cuoco, 35, caught an early break as a teen opposite John Ritter in 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. But it was her career-defining role as Penny on The Big Bang Theory that made her a household name.
Q You've stayed busy post-big Bang. You had the animated Harley Quinn series and now this. Why was it important to keep things rolling?
A A lot of people talk about taking breaks, but that's not who I am. For 1, I love to work. But
No. 2, you can easily be forgotten. Just because I was on the biggest show in the world doesn't mean much now … I feel like this has been a bit of a rebirth after Big
Bang for me. I kind of feel like I'm just starting and I wanted to strike while the iron was hot. This wasn't a time for me to take a break. Everyone said to me after Big Bang ended, “Oh, you're going to take some time off,” and I remember thinking, “Not a chance is that going to happen.”
Q I'm sure you had a lot of ideas being thrown at you. What was it about The Flight Attendant and the character of Cassie that made you say, “This is what comes next?”
A I optioned this book myself, three years ago. I found the book and I thought it would make a great show. It was as simple as that. I liked the character, I thought she was endearing and nuts and I wanted her to be OK. Like I didn't hate her, and it's hard when you have these characters and they keep making these bad decisions. You don't want the audience to say, “OK, this girl is a lost cause.” You want them to fight with her. So I thought she'd make a really fascinating TV character. But I think after Big Bang I knew that there were going to be a lot of eyes on what my next project would be and pretty much judgment no matter what, so it didn't matter what I chose.
Q Were you looking to do something more adult and darker post-big Bang?
A It wasn't conscious. I get asked a lot if I'm trying to get away from the comedy world. I love comedy, I love making people laugh, I love sitcoms. This just felt like the right thing at the right time. The icing on the cake was all the emotional bits that came with it. I was able to show that I was able to do so much more … Throughout my career, I've got very strong gut feelings and this felt right.
Q The Flight Attendant was one of the first shows to resume production after the coronavirus pandemic struck. What was that adjustment like?
A There were many conversations about how we were going to come back and do it the right way … All the protocols we took worked. After Day 3 it all started
feeling weirdly normal. But one of my favourite parts about being on set is the in-between takes when you're sitting with your castmates and messing around. That was taken away and that was hard, but we had to do that so we could prove that it can work.
Q Watching this, I felt like it was really easy for me to forget about Penny. What other kinds of things do you want to do going forward?
A A lot of my friends who have seen the show told me that they forgot who they were watching and it really made me cry to hear that. It's a big compliment. Because it's hard to separate (characters). I love drama, so
I'm hoping to do more of that.