Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls) plays one of three sisters who have to deal with a very controlling, meddlesome mother in the comedy movie Because I Said So. As a psychiatrist with a healthy practice and seemingly happy marriage, Graham’s character is probably the most well-adjusted of the group. It's Mandy Moore (playing the youngest sister, Milly) who is forced to put up with their overbearing mother’s need to see all of her daughters matched up with Mr Right.
Working with Oscar-Winner Diane Keaton: “Diane is one of the girls and she doesn’t like any kind of like, ‘Oh but Miss Keaton you must have…’ She wants to be one of us and doesn’t like the, I think, I don’t know…the feeling that there is some kind of preciousness regarding her or something. She’d be like, ‘Oh moron.’ No - that’s her way of endearment and so once you get that and can get over, you know if you’re me, how much her work has meant to you and you have to get over that then we just had a really, really good time. [There were] a lot of opportunities to just kind of sit around and talk.”
It’s only natural that prior to working with someone of Keaton’s stature her co-stars would have a preconceived notion as to what she’d be like on a set. Graham says she can’t remember what she thought going in, but now that she’s gotten to know her, she’s discovered Keaton's a very warm individual. “She took a very kind interest in me that was like better than I could have hoped for and just was open,” explained Graham. “If I had any expectation it’s that someone who has lived their life so much in the public eye would be very secretive. I always feel very respectful of someone who has been so successful for such a long time. You know I never ever ask anybody questions about like…even like what was it like… I just get shy about that. But she talked about her life like you would want any person you’re working with to. And we got to go to her birthday party. It was just really fun to get to know her a little bit.”
Bonding as a Family: Graham says the women didn’t do anything special to bond before filming started. “No, we just were lucky. You know, you can have a really wonderful scene with someone you don’t really in life have that much of a connection to, and so it’s just a bonus when some part of it is easy because you’re bringing a little bit of the down time, real life experience into it. Sometimes that’s helpful; sometimes it doesn’t even really make a difference. But definitely among my fake sisters we instantly took to each other and would go out and do things. And the same with Diane. I think it really was naturally a group of people who really enjoyed each other so that was just a bonus.”
Playing a Psychiatrist in Because I Said So: The only patient Graham’s character tends to outside of her own family is played by Tony Hale (Arrested Development). Graham said she had a blast working with Hale during their therapy scenes. “I love him. He’s so funny. He’s great. There’s a lot of psychologists in my family, strangely, but that’s one of those like tricky committed things. Like where you have a guy who’s like a nut job, but you know I love being straight man to his character. He’s very specific and I thought those scenes were a lot of fun.”
Working with Mandy Moore: “I just love Mandy. She’s an incredibly kind person. I can’t believe how young she is for all the things she’s done, both in music and as an actress. She’s very natural; she’s totally beautiful. She’s really a nice friend. She’s a very positive and fun person to be around.”
Projects Outside of Gilmore Girls: “I don’t pick any project on anything except do I think I can do a good job and do I like the people involved and will work let me out to do it, which in this case they did. I just try to honestly choose things that I like. Because if I was trying to do something that was like, ‘I’m never doing anything that resembles [Gilmore Girls], then I’d only be in horror movies and movies like Déjà Vu, right? You know what I mean? Those aren’t the things that kind of come to me anyway. I like romantic comedy. I like stories about relationships, so that’s what I like.”
