INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTINE BARANSKI ('Charlotte')"
This wasn’t the first time you’ve ever worked with Gene Hackman, right?
No. In fact, one of my favorite moments that I’ve ever done in film was shooting “The Birdcage.” We’re in South Beach, I’m in a Cadillac convertible with a scarf, a ‘Grace Kelly’ kind of scarf around my neck and the shot is Gene Hackman in drag in a blonde wig getting into the car and me driving off. That was the shot. “How cool is this? Gene Hackman is in a blonde wig and I’m in the seat with him.”
What was it like working with Hackman on “Welcome to Mooseport?”
Well you know whenever you work with a great film actor, you’re a little like, “Whoa. Am I going to be able to just relax and presume to be the character with him?” Charlotte’s not on screen a lot so when you are on screen, you just have to play someone who’s been married to him for decades and who has a history and who has a vendetta. You have to bring all that onto the screen and you don’t have a lot of screen time to do it. So that was the challenge. But he’s such a solid actor.
The thing about working with great actors is they actually are less intimidating to work with because they are so confident, they are so completely the character that you are just able to do the work because they are just the character. It’s actually working with bad actors who make you nervous because they’re not confident. It’s like holding onto someone who is a bad ice skater. And the people who really know what they are doing are just a great anchor. He was a total pleasure and very easy to work with.
How does Ray Romano fit into that? He has a surprising lack of confidence in his presence as an actor and as a comic.
He didn’t project any lack of confidence when I was working with him. He seemed laser sharp. He’s really a terrifically bright guy and seemed really clear about what he wanted to do. At times he was improving the material and improving the take. If anything, I was a little intimidated by him because he was very solid. I think this whole disingenuous, innocent, kind of goofy thing, it really works for him. Let’s face it – how many millions? He’s very charming and he’s very rich because of it.
Did you have many scenes cut from the movie?
No, I didn’t have that many scenes, period. But it was a pleasure. So often you do a film, the bigger your role in the movie, the more likely you are to see lots of it cut. I remember with “The Grinch” and “Bowfinger,” oh my God. You’d do scenes that you’d shoot at 4 in the morning and they were funny and they were wonderful and it’s like, “Where were they?” This, I didn’t see anything cut. In fact, Donald [Petrie] added a reaction shot from me when the ladder topples over.
Is there ever any satisfaction in seeing those deleted scenes make it onto the DVD?
I think it’s nice now that they do those DVDs, that you can see a movie in its entirety or you can see the stuff that was cut out because honestly there’s so much good work that for one reason or another – and it’s usually that they have to move the story along - it gets cut. But there’s so much good work.
Was there any scene in "Welcome to Mooseport" that cracked you up and made it tough to get through?
I rarely crack up. I don’t crack up although I have to say the screaming on the golf course was the funniest because I had to do take after take. Doing that 'blowing out your voice' kind of thing, it was funny to do but also as the afternoon went on, to hear less and less of your voice come out was also pretty funny. And then the next day I was actually hoarse. They didn’t need sound from me, they just needed stuff from me in the distance. I could not talk that day. You wouldn’t want to do that in the theater where 8 shows a week you’d blow out your voice like that. I figured for just one day of filming I really wanted to get that incredible sound. I was having to project over this enormous amount of space on that golf course.
PAGE 2: Christine Baranski on Playing Characters with an Edge
ADDITIONAL "WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT" RESOURCES:
Interview with Maura Tierney
Interview with Ray Romano
"Welcome to Mooseport" Movie News, Trailer, Credits and Websites
