DIVING INTO TV CROWD IN NETFLIX SHOW
Actress, who wanted to experience life on small screen, likes the light, funny and sweet tone of new series
Jennifer Jason Leigh, as she tells it, isn’t much of a planner when it comes to her career: taking each role as it comes. But she had been looking for a project with some sense of lightness to it.
Since her 1982 breakthrough in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Leigh has mostly gravitated toward dark, tortured characters (e.g. the stalker in Single White Female). Even now, viewers have been catching her performance as a mysterious accomplice to Evil Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) in Showtime’s Twin Peaks revival.
Atypical is a bit of an antidote to it all. At least on paper.
The Netflix family comedy series is a coming-of-age story about a teenager (played by Keir Gilchrist) on the autism spectrum. Leigh plays Elsa, a mother trying to cope with stepping back as her son seeks independence and romance.
It joins a growing list of projects occupying her time. Her film Good
Time, in which she plays a flaky girlfriend to Robert Pattinson’s character, just opened in limited release. And she’ll soon start production on Showtime’s Benedict Cumberbatch-led limited series Melrose.
Had you been looking to do a TV series?
Yeah. TV has gotten so, so interesting and it just kind of fascinated me, the idea of taking a character and really going for a long period of time . . . I’ve done a little bit here and there, but nothing to this extent.
I wanted to experience that and also, ( Aytpical) is light. It’s touching, but it’s also funny and sweet.
Your character, Elsa, is confronted with this journey of self-discovery — and self-destruction — as her son is seeking some independence.
That’s what I loved. It seemed like a really interesting character to play: someone that’s been holding on so tight, then finds herself kind of unravelling as her son starts to come into his own independence and the terror of that, for her. Also, realizing that a lot of her life she hasn’t really experienced, because she’s really given herself over to taking care of him.
Is that something you worry about in your own life — the letting go as your child grows into an adult?
Luckily, my son is still really excited to hang out with me and play and do things together. He’s 7. So I think I’ve got at least a few more years. So I haven’t thought about that much yet.
What was it like having Michael Rapaport play your husband? How often did he talk about his obsession: the Real Housewives franchise?
He’s hilarious. He’s really bright and really funny and outspoken. And he really, really loves those shows! I have not watched them yet. He talks about
Real Housewives a lot. He says it’s some of the most inspiring acting you’ll see.
I think it’s safe to say working on
Atypical was a different experience than working on Twin Peaks. How would you describe what it’s like playing in the David Lynch world? We’d shoot in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere. And
David’s incredibly lovely and kind and sweet, and his imagination is just surreal but very specific. I can’t generalize because I only worked with him this little bit, but he’s specific and there’s freedom within the specificity, and he doesn’t do a lot of takes. I think my first scene we did like one or two takes, and that was it. He’s David Lynch, so when David Lynch calls and asks you to do something, you just say yes.
How is the Hollywood of today different than the one you knew growing up?
Oh, it’s completely different . . . Every day, after work, you’d go to see the rushes of the prior day’s work, and it was really nice because all the crew would be there and all the actors and it was a sort of a familial thing . . . Now people are watching dailies on their phones.
Speaking of yesteryear, Fast Times at
Ridgemont High is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. God, how is that even possible?! When was the last time you watched it?
I haven’t watched it in a really long time and I really like the movie; it’s not because I don’t like it. It’s crazy, because I feel like we just did a reunion shoot for Vanity Fair. I don’t know how it could be 35 years already.
Had you heard that David Lynch was originally offered the chance to direct it? Is that true?
I didn’t know that! Wow, that would have definitely been a very different movie.