Spend a Sunday with Debra Messing, the star of ‘Will & Grace’

Actress also lauds director of her new movie, ‘Searching,’ as a groundbreaker

FOUR days ago, Debra Messing turned the big 5-0. She’s not making that big a deal out of it. “I’ll be working on ‘Will & Grace,’ ” which returns in October, the NBC star said when asked how she planned to spend the big day. Does that mean she’ll mark five decades on the planet with a party this weekend? “I’m not the big birthday bash person. Just give me some close friends sitting around enjoying each other,” Messing said. There’s no time to sit in her new award-winning film “Searching,” in which a teenage girl goes missing and Messing plays the detective assigned to find her.

Review-Journal: How do you spend the perfect Sunday?

Messing: I like to sleep in, wake up, have tea, maybe do a little meditation and then spend time with my son. If I’m in New York, it’s all about just enjoying the vibrant cultural life of the city. It’s exciting just to take a walk. You never know where the day will take you. A perfect ending is a hot bath and a great book.

“Searching” won the coveted audience award at the Sundance Film Festival this year. It’s set entirely on a computer screen. Was that difficult?

This was the most challenging film I’ve ever done. Frankly, I didn’t know if this movie was going to work, and I didn’t really care. I just knew that this director (Aneesh Chaganty) was going to do something really different, which was thrilling.

How did you get involved?

This highly imaginative script was sent to me and as soon as I started reading it, I started having an out-of-body experience. I kept asking myself, “What am I reading?” I knew that it was uncharted territory. It didn’t read like a regular screenplay. There were directions in it such as, “the

cursor reads from left to right.” I got really excited about someone even trying to do something that hadn’t been done before and could expand the language of filmmaking.

What is it like filming a movie where you mostly look at a screen?

As an actor, one of the things you’re hungry for is that intangible magic that happens in a scene when you’re looking into someone’s eyes. That was taken away from me and I was an island onto myself. There was not one frame of film where I was able to look into John Cho’s eyes. I was looking at a computer screen with the director in my ear saying, “Gaze at the top of your screen. Halfway through this minute look down at the bottom.” It was about giving up control, looking at a blank screen and having to imagine moments that were so urgent without getting any feedback except for sounds because we had something in our ears.

Did you do any research about missing kids?

I did and learned about how many kids go missing and how many cases are never solved. It was so frightening to me. I just kept going back to being a mother in real life. I felt that father’s panic in the film because this is every parent’s worst nightmare.

Was it easy to slip back into the persona of Grace?

I think it took a little bit. I think the language was there and I recognized that right away. My body recognized her. But it had been 11 years and I think I was a little tentative. By the third episode last season, I just sort of relaxed and thought, “OK, she’s back.”

How has Grace grown during the years when the show was on hiatus?

The only thing that I asked for was that Grace be a feminist. It was important to me that she have a voice and really be true to herself. I’m so glad that she’s secure now and feels comfortable in her own skin.

What is it like on the set?

It feels like coming home. We laugh so hard on this set. It feels so good. To come back together and to laugh out loud and to be surprised by one another and to have new stories to tell and to have another opportunity to do it, is such a gift.

How long can the series go on?

I would have bet every penny I have after the first run that the show would never come back. Now we’re slotted to do a third season of new shows. As long as the writing quality maintains itself and we have something to say and it doesn’t become repetitive, we’ll go on. We’re just so profoundly grateful that the fans embraced the show again, and there is a whole new generation of people discovering “Will & Grace” for the first time, which is really exciting.

What’s your after-50 goal?

I just want to surround myself with people who make me smile.

Evan Agostini