00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to work in progress. Welcome back to work in progress friends. Today we have one of my favorite coworkers ever and one of the most incredible women who I've ever been lucky enough to call my mom on screen. Today I am interviewing actor, writer, philanthropist, and all around Hollywood icon Lauren Holly. She has built a career defined not just by those iconic roles, but by an ability to step away, recalibrate, and redefine and redetermine success on her own terms in so many versions of our artistry. And Lauren is so much fun to be around, and so incisive and so brilliant, probably because she grew up in a family steeped in academia and storytelling, and that foundation shaped her creative instincts and her sense of personal purpose. She went on to use her artistic voice across every single popular genre, from outrageous comedies like Dumb and Dumber to character driven dramas like Picket Fences and Chicago Hope. Lauren is such an incredible scenestealer and chameleon because she manages to ground a story, any kind of story she's in, bringing her intelligence and warmth and emotional credibility. I can say from experience, she elevates whatever she takes on. I had the incredible privilege of getting to see it up close on the set of our movie broad Trip, which premieres onro Cool this Friday. Let's dive in with my mama, Lauren Holly. I'm so excited people get to see our movie this week. I just don't even know how to contain it. Did you watch it not yet? Have you seen it?
00:02:17
Speaker 2: No?
00:02:18
Speaker 3: I haven't seen it yet.
00:02:19
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
00:02:19
Speaker 2: It's so funny because I wanted to see it so much. Yeah, but earlier, and now that it's closer, I kind of.
00:02:28
Speaker 3: Want to wait. I know, it's kind of a strange thing.
00:02:32
Speaker 1: It's weird. It's like part of me wants to watch it and part of me doesn't want to watch it without you. So I'm like, either we have to be together, or we have to do this and get on a zoom and watch it like on our TVs at the same time.
00:02:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, something like that.
00:02:45
Speaker 1: Okay, we'll figure it out. I want to go back before we get into the movie and all things now. I actually want to go back, and I don't even mean, like how do you start acting. I mean, like way before I know a little bit of the story for the fans at home, long before you figured out what you wanted your career to be, long before anybody knew you. What was childhood like for you, Like when you were nine or ten years old? Where were you, what was your family structure? Were you already performing you know, as you were starting to approach double digits, did you kind of have a sense yet or was it still coming?
00:03:27
Speaker 2: No, still coming. I had very young parents. They got pregnant very early and were sort of struggling, I guess, like you know, financially and all of that, and like putting each other through school and that sort of stuff. When I was nine or ten, I had my first little brother. I was seven when he was born. Oh and the thing about my family was it seemed like everyone in my family had children very young untill me. So consequently I had multiple generations around me. And I actually have a picture of five generations of women, which is so crazy because it's me, my mom, my grandmother, my great grandmother, and my great great grandma, which is a really cool picture to have. And I think maybe the actor thing was forming only because having all of those generations around. I have so many core memories of being in the center of a room, like at holidays or whatever, and anything I did drew applause from many people. So I think that I became comfortable.
00:04:43
Speaker 3: Like with that performative sort of attitude.
00:04:46
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and we've talked a little bit about this. I know you grew up in a college town, and I'm curious now because you are. You're such a fascinating, fascinated person. You're curious, you love to learn, you love to get to know people, and I wonder, as you think about it, how much do you think the kind of academic, intellectual world that was all around you shaped the way you saw the world? Do you think it inspired your curiosity?
00:05:21
Speaker 2: Oh, one hundred percent. Because my parents were always discussing things that were like different and sort of mind opening from you know, what my friends.
00:05:29
Speaker 3: Were talking about at school.
00:05:30
Speaker 2: And not only that, but just because they were both academics, my world was broadened from such a small town. Because I grew up in Geneva, New York, that was about eighteen thousand people. But when I was twelve, for example, we moved to London, England for a year for my parents to do research and write, and all of a sudden, I was like this cosmopolitan kid going to the international school, taking the you Tube and buses all over London by myself, Like it was kind of crazy. And so to then return to my town of eighteen thousand people wearing my skinny corduroys and my high heel clogs, which was a very European influence, you know, my world definitely broadened a bit.
00:06:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, so when you moved for research, given that it was a year for them, I think you said, did it feel less shocking and more just like, oh, we're going on a family adventure and then we'll wind up coming home.
00:06:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was. It was a family adventure because it wasn't.
00:06:39
Speaker 2: A permanent move, so you know, you weren't afraid of that, and it was It was just very exciting because, for instance, I played the flute, and you know, in fourth grade in my town, you picked an instrument, and that's what I picked, and I was like playing along. But when I went to London, I got into the Royal Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts because of it, and that was that probably started my whole trajectory to study music there and go through the examinations. I had to take the acting. I became a junior member of the company, which basically meant, you know, I kept the bathrooms clean and whatnot, but I got to take all of the classes. So it's like gave me this I don't know, kind of foundation in a way about performing and what it's like to be in a theater company and whatnot at such a young age, from such a big city that I sort of took back with me. And I think that really by the time I got to college, even though I wasn't studying theater, it just gave me the confidence, I think to audition for my first play in college, which set the whole arc of my career.
00:07:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, what a gift that kind of exposure at that age, to have something where you sort of find yourself and you build your confidence and you learn the ropes of something that's so special.
00:08:10
Speaker 2: It was definitely baptism by five, you know, at that time, even just to think that my parents kind of gave me free reign of the city of this giant city that I suddenly lived in and I could like take public transportation everywhere. This was like completely new to me because in my small town, I kind of lived on the edge of my small town that was like a kind of far bike ride or I was so dependent on my parents for a ride anywhere. And now having the autonomy to just like jump on a tube and go wherever I wanted was so thrilling.
00:08:48
Speaker 1: So that's so cool. And then what is the tie because I know, I know in the family, you're really connected to Hobart and to William Smith Colleges. How do they fit into the kind of larger Holly family equation.
00:09:05
Speaker 2: Well, so Hobart William Smith is one college. Oh it is, Yes, it's called Hobart William Smith Colleges. I'm not exactly sure that history of why that is. I think at some point it might have been the male side and the female side of course, but it's all just one. And my mother ended up getting her undergraduate degree from there when I was like a freshman in high school. My dad was a tenured professor, beloved professor. He ended up teaching there for fifty two years. And it's just a really it's a really strong liberal arts school that had a grade of lacross team that I used to do the stats for and it's just, you know, the town is sort of that's one of the main industries that the whole town is built around.
00:09:57
Speaker 3: So yeah, very intense.
00:10:00
Speaker 1: That's really cool and something I just I want to give you your flowers for. We got to talk about this a bit when we were working in Canada. But I just think it's so special that, you know, years later, after your brother sadly passed away, you started a Holly I'm going to cry, am I okay, I'm like gom Boud to get my period. You started the Holly Family Fund at the college in his honor, And I don't know, I just think it's such a beautiful thing to offer love in the spirit of someone's legacy and to really give opportunities.
00:10:42
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:10:43
Speaker 2: The thing is is that the Holly Family Fund started with my brother Alexander, and it was originally called the A Fund because we would call him A and because he was just he was enamored with art and architecture and he would build fantastic cities with his blocked and everything else and was like a curious kid, and so we wanted to give a scholarship and then unfortunately, with the passing of my other brother and my father and it became it's a big deal. Now it's a scholarship. It's one of the ones they compete for at the school. It's a four year scholarship. And I'm just really proud that, you know, and it's not just we pick the people who get the scholarship really because of their sort of attitude and curiosity and interests. It's not necessarily you know, academic, which can be hard to compete for in these times. And it's definitely some financial aid needed and all of that, and so I'm proud for that, and I love reading about.
00:11:49
Speaker 3: The recipients that are chosen each year.
00:11:51
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's just so cool. I also love, you know, to sort of personalize it for us latedies who make films. I just love any sort of reminder as well that actually, to be an actor, you're probably pretty academic. Like we're nerdy little researchers, but people don't realize that about us. Yeah, I think your legacy with your whole family, of your strong academic tradition is something I just love.
00:12:19
Speaker 2: It's funny because I don't hear about it as much anymore. And I love that you brought that up because now that there's all these like influencers and whatnot that are becoming actors.
00:12:29
Speaker 3: But I know that for me when.
00:12:31
Speaker 2: I first started, it was Francis Ford Coppola and his producer Fred Bruce who sort of gave me my first chance. And one of the things that they were most interested in was my academic background. Yes, they thought that that really supported me in being an actress. They thought, you know, like reading and critical thinking and you know, all of that stuff was so important and I love that and it became something that I definitely you know, I'm a Sarah Lawrence graduate and I had you know, Joseph Campbell and Louise Rose as my professors, and I would like talk about this all the time, and it helped me propel my career, which I think is a little bit different than now.
00:13:14
Speaker 3: I'm not sure, but it seems like it is.
00:13:16
Speaker 1: It's just so cool to me. I yeah, what what was that?
00:13:20
Speaker 2: Like?
00:13:20
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, the it's a pretty big sentence to drop like, oh, early in my career, Francis fort Gofla, Like, ma'am, what can you paint that picture for us? Now? I know nine and ten really clearly, But what happens we fast forward? You are pursuing acting, You're entering the industry. How did that happen? Like, what did it look like? Did you pack up your car and drive to La you know what was the vibe?
00:13:47
Speaker 2: No? What happened was I was in I was at Sarah Lawrence and I auditioned for a play on campus that a guest director was coming to do, called The Diviners. And I got the play and it was the lead role. And everyone was kind of upset on campus because I wasn't in the theater department. It was like, ooh, what the heck? And to make matters worse, the play was successful. The director was taking it back to New York off Broadway and asked me to do it for six while I was a student. And that's where Francis word Coppola and Fred Ruth saw me in the play, and so they offered me a movie that they were producing called Seven Minutes in Heaven. That was Jennifer Connelly's first movie. She was like twelve or thirteen and Maddy Korman a bunch of people and they would come pick me up on campus in a station wagon. Senior year while I made this movie, and it was so strange. I couldn't believe it. And then Fred the producer, was really instrumental in saying to me, I'm going.
00:14:56
Speaker 3: To help you.
00:14:56
Speaker 2: I'm going to support you. I think this is what you should do. And I was going to law school, so I decided to defer my admission. And I was so scared to tell my parents, these academics, that I was going to try to be an actor, and I didn't tell them, and I stressed out. And then finally graduation day, at my lunch, I drank pretty much and told them kind of drunk that I was.
00:15:23
Speaker 3: Not going to go to law school. And I was surprised.
00:15:26
Speaker 2: Because they were like stoked, and they were like that's great, like we can see this and you got your college degree and it doesn't matter. And so my first job, I moved into Manhattan from Sarah Lawrence. It's went to a big deal to like Halfnaur and Ellie Coppola. Francis's wife paid me one hundred dollars a day to walk around their apartment living room at the Sherry Netherland modeling her dresses she designed for buyers. And in between I would go in Francis's study and look at his oscar on his show, and that's how I started and I ended love getting my.
00:16:08
Speaker 3: First movie that summer.
00:16:10
Speaker 1: That's so cool.
00:16:11
Speaker 3: Everyone goes in a different way, I mean.
00:16:13
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. And now a word from our sponsors that I really enjoy and I think you will too. What do you think you learned about yourself? Where you learned about pressure in that early stage of your career, because yes, you're being courted by Hollywood Royalty, and you're also paying the bills by like modeling the dresses. I did that and like a buyer in la in high school to pay for things like you know, how do you think you kind of started not just to get into it, but to really cut your teeth.
00:16:53
Speaker 2: I think it's just, you know, I feel badly for people starting out now because fact that I could even do that then in Manhattan. You know, granted, I would have roommates and stuff. I'd find places. I was waitressing and bartending and doing you know, infomercials like you know, strange stuff.
00:17:14
Speaker 3: But I could do it.
00:17:16
Speaker 2: I could thread it together make enough money to keep trying, going on those auditions, running all.
00:17:22
Speaker 3: Over the city.
00:17:24
Speaker 2: And I don't know how people do it now. It's like way too expensive. It's crazy, and I just I don't know. I just always had this belief that it was going to work. Yeah, and there were a lot of magical things that just kind of happened, and like one thing that led to another, and it did and.
00:17:42
Speaker 3: I just kept going.
00:17:43
Speaker 1: I mean when you just think about also to your point, the era, you know, like the nineties rom com the big you know, over the top comedies that defined a whole generation. I mean, you you were at the helm of all of that stuff in the moment. Did it feel sort of fresh and magical or was it just where the tide was going and you were on the boat.
00:18:13
Speaker 2: I think it was where the tide was going and I was on the boat, and I look back at it now and I'm just like, holy crap, Like I almost wish I had like slowed down a little bit and enjoyed it, because the industry.
00:18:28
Speaker 3: Has changed so much now.
00:18:30
Speaker 2: And you know, I was one of the first people that was really bridging television and movies.
00:18:37
Speaker 3: And I would be on a series and make like four movies a year. That was kind of my thing.
00:18:43
Speaker 2: And so it was constant, like there was a season of Okay, there's press junkets and award shows and this is what we're doing, and you know, just.
00:18:52
Speaker 3: One right after the other.
00:18:54
Speaker 2: And I guess I kind of thought like, this is the way it is, but it's not like I want the lottery.
00:19:01
Speaker 3: And it was so thrilling at the time.
00:19:05
Speaker 2: And I don't think you really realize it until you get off the train, because our business is a little bit like a high school and there's like certain popular groups for the.
00:19:15
Speaker 3: Moment, you know, and that's kind of what happens.
00:19:18
Speaker 2: And so it's interesting to look back on it now and see it and also see how just how much.
00:19:27
Speaker 3: It's all you know, a streaming and everything.
00:19:29
Speaker 2: And yeah, I talk frequently about what it was like to be on a television series then when there was only four real stations.
00:19:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you actually got a chance to find an audience and not develop a character, and yeah.
00:19:42
Speaker 3: Exactly, Like it's just so different now.
00:19:45
Speaker 1: It's also crazy to me to think, like it was before the industry really started squeezing, everything seemed like it was really still expanding. You know, you'd go to shoot a movie for three months, not twenty two days if you're lucky, and you what time.
00:20:01
Speaker 2: A movie I did called Dragon for Universal, we shot in Hong Kong, Macau, Los Angeles are I think we had one hundred and twelve days was our shooting start.
00:20:13
Speaker 3: So this was like what was normal?
00:20:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, And now like with movies, you know how many movies would actually go to Hong Kong would go to Macau?
00:20:22
Speaker 3: Like it's changed.
00:20:24
Speaker 1: Maybe a Tom Cruise movie.
00:20:26
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe.
00:20:27
Speaker 1: And that's just because he wants to hang off the side of the building. I can't, you know, He's like he's that cool that he's like, no, we're going and then the studio says, Okay, it's it's got to be crazy too, because and look, I know this happens to women differently than it does to men. But you know, you you were the top of the pyramid in television and film and all these big movies, and you know, you had a very public moment and a very public relationship with another person at the top of his pyramid, and like, do you think it was helpful for the two of you to share that experience and the craziness of it together or looking back, does it feel like the personal professional like maybe people care too much about the personal side, because I know how it feels for me.
00:21:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, but it was different then because first of all, there wasn't all the social media or anything, right, so the only way they knew about us in our relationship was there were like television.
00:21:37
Speaker 3: Shows that would focus on it, like these things like the entertainment shows, Entertainment Tonight, you know.
00:21:42
Speaker 2: And those sort of things, or like newspapers or magazines, right. And I think that there's a certain amount of energy. I think people are energy, and you sort of breed positive energy and when you.
00:21:56
Speaker 3: Get into a situation.
00:21:57
Speaker 2: I think we definitely sort of highlighted each other in a lot of ways. And I don't think if you know, if you look back at what we were both doing in our relationship, it's really cool because we were both you know, growing exponentially, and I think we helped each other and probably he helped me more, even though at the beginning I.
00:22:23
Speaker 3: Was the one who was more well known.
00:22:24
Speaker 2: Like it was kind of strange, but our group of friends at the time, everybody exploded, so it was kind of like I think it was energetic that we were all had the same goal and like doing stuff. And I think it's different now because people are so spread out like back then, it you know, Los Angeles was really kind of the focus of the entertainment industry, so you pretty much had to be there and doing stuff and meeting people. And I think that's accelerated that you know, energetic thing.
00:23:00
Speaker 3: It's very different now, it's changed.
00:23:02
Speaker 1: So I mean, look at you, Yeah, I mean for the friends at home. I'm referring to the frenzy of excitement around the Lauren Hally and the Jim Carrey, who were a couple, you know, for a time, And something I really value when we've worked together and I've asked you questions, is like the lovely fondness you still offer. I think it's so great when people have a time in their journey together and even if the context of that time changes, the love continues. Yeah, And I think to your point, I'm realizing as you're saying, like for you, for Jim, for everyone around you, guys, for Jeff, like the whole gang. It's almost like those moments you see in sports where they say, oh, no one's ever run a sub three minute mile, and then somebody does it, and then five more people do it within the next three months. You're right, it is energetic. You see something you're you're a witness to something, you feel the energy of it, and then that energy is in your box.
00:24:00
Speaker 3: And then you move forward towards it too.
00:24:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like there's something very positive about that and very and I think it's still important for people, at least I think so to align yourself with people who have the sort of same energetic thing too.
00:24:16
Speaker 1: It's very Yeah, yeah, it's interesting, I really and we'll get to the movie closer to the end, but I had that same experience working with you, Like the joy of making a movie with you was feeling like we were in a good way, like in a tug of war. You'd do something, and then I do something, and then you do something, and it was like we were building together all the time.
00:24:41
Speaker 2: You definitely had a very great chemistry. Yeah, so like and there was a certain.
00:24:47
Speaker 3: Confidence that came to working with you that I really enjoyed with me too.
00:24:51
Speaker 2: It was like, weird, It's like I knew you were going to be there, like you were going to give me stuff. You're gond like like all that. When I the window after the first day, like that's yeah, and that makes it easier too, right, Like there's something about like a confidence that you just sort.
00:25:08
Speaker 3: Of fit in I believed our relationship.
00:25:11
Speaker 2: I kind of felt our relationship. Yeah, me too, and so everything else just kind of went by the wayside. And it was weird because the moment that I met you, you walked into a conference room when we were about to do a read through, and the moment I met you, I knew it was weird.
00:25:31
Speaker 1: I felt the same, and you were very generous. The friends at home listening won't be surprised by this, but I walked into the conference room and I was like, we can do our read in just one moment, but I just have to express that I'm freaking out that I'm doing this movie with you, and you were so sweet about it, and I was like, Okay, she's not like perturbed, and now that it's out of my system, I can be a normal coworker.
00:25:58
Speaker 2: No, it was just so sweet, but it was just such a good I just I don't know, I just felt like we connected somehow, and that just kept going. Yeah, and it was just every day I knew that there'd be something that would be good that would happen that day in.
00:26:14
Speaker 1: A scene totally totally we found so many things off the page and it really makes me think about something you know. I love that you talk about the industry in a way that is very authentic and weighty but also fun, and you managed to talk about the importance of happy sets and environments, you know, without ego and like I don't know, you do it in this way that I think reminds everyone not to take it all so seriously, but also to be kind. I think sometimes when I get amped about like and it should be like this, I can lean a little into the serious. And I'm curious for you, like that sense of joy that you want, which does lead to a better professional outcome. How do you let that be an ingredient essentially in your recipe of choice when you're looking at a job opportunity.
00:27:16
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's really about the people that you're going to work with.
00:27:20
Speaker 3: And the thing is is that you.
00:27:22
Speaker 2: Don't always know our particular project. You were the unknown thing to me. I didn't know what you were.
00:27:30
Speaker 3: Going to be like.
00:27:31
Speaker 2: And to be honest, I wasn't worried about you as an actor. I was worried about how you thought about the world right now. Like this mattered to me because I'm so stressed out about everything in the world that I didn't want someone who had a different worldview than me, especially in a movie that I knew it was going to be mainly the two of us.
00:27:58
Speaker 3: Often in a car, knuck in a car. So I was.
00:28:04
Speaker 2: It was the first time I ever really considered that, to be honest, and I did, and I'm really happy I did. And I quickly realized, you know, with two minutes of scoping you out, that we were going to be on the same worldview, and it sort of was able to put that in my pocket because a happy set is everything, and right now, I just don't think I could have handled it if we had been on opposite sides.
00:28:32
Speaker 1: Of that fence totally.
00:28:34
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, that would have been difficult.
00:28:36
Speaker 2: And as much as sometimes you have to put those things aside, I don't think I'm capable of it at this point in our world.
00:28:44
Speaker 1: Well yeah, it's it's not two thousand and four anymore. Like things are just very different. And I and I similarly, you know, I was so excited about the work with you, and then when I sort of come through the things you talk about online, I was like, Oh, that's my girl, like right to go to like talk some political with her. This is gonna be Yeah, So.
00:29:09
Speaker 2: We kind of got that out of the way, like that was good, and I knew that we were sort of the same moral fiber, I guess, yeah. And then it was just about if there was like a chemistry that was it, and we were just lucky because not having met, not auditioning together, not anything, we just had no idea if there was that chemistry, if people would buy it. And I just felt that immediately from that first meeting. I was like, Okay, I'm not worried about this anymore either.
00:29:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's like special sauce. I don't know what it is.
00:29:43
Speaker 2: It's just like you can't really quantify it or anything, right, Like it's just special sauce.
00:29:48
Speaker 1: And everybody knows when it's happening, you know, it's it's funny. I just was on a zoom with the Roku folks last week and they were like, it's our favorite movie we ever made. We can't get and I was like, great, because Laurena and I want to make a sequel, and then we want to make the third, and the fourth and the fifth, like we want to go on a broad trip every summer exactly. I've pitched a number of I did I.
00:30:10
Speaker 3: Did the same thing. I did the same thing.
00:30:13
Speaker 1: Good hearing it in stereo, yeah, everywhere. But it's sweet to see people, you know, like the people I was on this call with were not people I'd met before, and just to hear the excitement and to know how amped everyone is across the board. You're right, that sort of chemistry is it permeates the air. Like what you were saying earlier about the energy in the friendly it's the same thing, and it's really nice to be a part of it.
00:30:41
Speaker 3: It's the same thing.
00:30:42
Speaker 2: And if I were going to give advice to anybody young starting out in anything, is just really manage who your friends are and think about what everybody's goals are and who they are really because it multiplies.
00:30:58
Speaker 1: I love that, you know, when you think about that kind of energy, that that thing that spreads in a positive way. I wonder if it relates to the audience at large too, because when I think about it, You've starred on so many fan favorites, Like when I think about the TV side for you, Picket Fences, Chicago, Hope, and Cis, like these are shows people ride hard for and I wonder, you know, with that much positive energy around your projects. Do you still feel that kind of emotional attachment to any of those worlds or any of those characters, Like, do they still feel like they're sort of in you?
00:31:45
Speaker 2: Definitely. I think we all have some, you know, characters that we play that sort of travel with us.
00:31:51
Speaker 3: In a way.
00:31:52
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:31:53
Speaker 3: I don't know what it was about Picket Fences.
00:31:55
Speaker 2: I think that it was the first time I ever had somebody write specifically for me, and that made such a big difference. I wasn't trying to fit into a part.
00:32:10
Speaker 3: David E.
00:32:10
Speaker 2: Kelly definitely sort of he created this world and then once he knew all of us really started writing to our strengths, and I just I loved it, and it just that has such a golden place in my heart. I just recently, I was in Los Angeles and I saw David and I just adore him so much.
00:32:33
Speaker 3: Like that was just, you know, thirty years ago, and it stuck with me.
00:32:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think that that's I think when you have I think there are certain experiences like that as an actor, and I'm sure you've had them too, that just certain projects will resonate with you for years and years and years, and you know, as opposed to I frequently do this, like when you're dressing as a character. All of a sudden, the part finishes and I move on into life, but I take a piece of that character with me, you know, like all of a sudden, I'm wearing giant ear rings or you know, like something that I just.
00:33:14
Speaker 3: Never heard before.
00:33:15
Speaker 2: But I got so comfortable doing that that those residual effects seem to last.
00:33:21
Speaker 1: With me for a while totally. Well, there was a pair of sunglasses you had on our movie that they had multiples of and at the end they were like, do you want anything, which was crazy because they never do that, and it's like, I just want a pair. I want a pair of those, And it's funny. It's like your character influenced me Cherry Tomatoes and my olives. Yeah, and now for our sponsors before we get into the movie, including the incredible accessories you were wearing. I just like, I wonder when you think about your career as a whole, because the things that you've done and the spectrum of performances you've delivered, and now the incredible writing that you're doing, the development that you're doing, Like I'm over here like chomping at the bit for a script. I'm dying.
00:34:18
Speaker 2: I don't know.
00:34:19
Speaker 1: It's like you you seem to me as a newer, you know, friend and coworker in your life, like somebody who just continues to expand her purview. And I wonder do you feel like, do you look at the sort of directions you move in as a series of pivots or do you kind of think about it as you get to a point where you feel like you're ready to include sort of the next circle and pull in the next set of you know, experiences or tests or something.
00:34:54
Speaker 3: I think it's that.
00:34:55
Speaker 2: I mean, I think, honestly, it's just how life unfolds for people. Know.
00:35:00
Speaker 3: I don't know that I had the time years ago to try to expand.
00:35:05
Speaker 2: What I did and write and do all that, mainly because I was a mom and I was and it was just, you know, there was just a lot like I felt like I was always under the gunner's schedule. And now that my kids are all like grown ups and their own people, I think I'm going back to something that I always wanted to do. Yeah, so that's kind of why it's expanding, And it's just this is the way it is in our industry, you know, you have there. You you do slow down as you get older, or maybe it's even that you get a little more picky.
00:35:48
Speaker 3: I don't know. You know, it's.
00:35:51
Speaker 2: I say no more than I say yes now. And also I get like the writing thing has definitely sort of overtaken. It's something that I spend a lot of.
00:36:05
Speaker 3: My time doing now.
00:36:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's exciting that it's moving forward. So but you just have to keep pushing that forward. It's not easy. And in this the way the business is now, like it's I'm almost hoping that all these giant mergers and these threats of things are like a real kick in the ass for independent film. Like I'm hoping something happens that you know that, because otherwise it's just getting really distressing.
00:36:40
Speaker 1: There's less, I know, it feels weird. It's interesting. You know, you talk about following your own curiosity and following the changing tides of the industry, but you touched on something too that there was a period where you know, you just didn't have time to be writing and acting and doing the things and raising three boys. You know, we talked a little bit about this when we were filming. But you know, your your choice to shift. Granted, yes, La is not the center of the universe of the industry anymore, but your choice to shift, even as a family and raise the boys in Canada. When you look back, you know, what do you think about making that move for that Like, what were you most hoping to give them by making that choice?
00:37:36
Speaker 2: Well, I think that the shift to Canada was better for my boys than it was for me as an actor. Sure, and you know, I was here, I was working, and I ended up doing two fairly long term series back to back and living here, and by the you know, like in the middle of that, the boys were now like in middle school and were like, hey, hey, hey, like we're not going to go back because they didn't even remember Los Angeles at that point, right, and they had friends and they had things here. And I look at it now and I think that they're all different people because they were raised in Canada and not sort of in like, you know, Beverly Hills in Los Angeles with an actor mom, Like, I think they would have been like really different. And so I'm very happy that I did that. And two of them have gone back to the States. One of them has stayed in Canada. But they're all they all feel very Canadian. Yeah, so I think it was better for them, and as far as for me, it ended up being great because you know, I'm meaningful to productions here, so I kind of constantly am asked to join projects or whatever. But I don't think it's as I don't think Canada has sort of a star system like the United States does, So there's advantages and disadvantages to that. Like I lead a very easy life here. Nobody's like any you know, they don't care that I do this, Like, you know, nobody's like there's no paparazzi or anything like that, you know. But at the same time, there's not that which sort of gives you that push, you know.
00:39:28
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's like it's a both and kind of thing.
00:39:33
Speaker 3: It's at both end.
00:39:34
Speaker 2: But from the point of view of my family, I think it was a great decision.
00:39:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really cool. I do not want to stop talking to my favorite lady, but I have definitely run us out of time for today. We will be back with a special bonus episode to talk all about our movie Broad Trap with Lauren Holly. See you back here soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to work in progress. Welcome back to work in progress friends. Today we have one of my favorite coworkers ever and one of the most incredible women who I've ever been lucky enough to call my mom on screen. Today I am interviewing actor, writer, philanthropist, and all around Hollywood icon Lauren Holly. She has built a career defined not just by those iconic roles, but by an ability to step away, recalibrate, and redefine and redetermine success on her own terms in so many versions of our artistry. And Lauren is so much fun to be around, and so incisive and so brilliant, probably because she grew up in a family steeped in academia and storytelling, and that foundation shaped her creative instincts and her sense of personal purpose. She went on to use her artistic voice across every single popular genre, from outrageous comedies like Dumb and Dumber to character driven dramas like Picket Fences and Chicago Hope. Lauren is such an incredible scenestealer and chameleon because she manages to ground a story, any kind of story she's in, bringing her intelligence and warmth and emotional credibility. I can say from experience, she elevates whatever she takes on. I had the incredible privilege of getting to see it up close on the set of our movie broad Trip, which premieres onro Cool this Friday. Let's dive in with my mama, Lauren Holly. I'm so excited people get to see our movie this week. I just don't even know how to contain it. Did you watch it not yet? Have you seen it?
00:02:17
Speaker 2: No?
00:02:18
Speaker 3: I haven't seen it yet.
00:02:19
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
00:02:19
Speaker 2: It's so funny because I wanted to see it so much. Yeah, but earlier, and now that it's closer, I kind of.
00:02:28
Speaker 3: Want to wait. I know, it's kind of a strange thing.
00:02:32
Speaker 1: It's weird. It's like part of me wants to watch it and part of me doesn't want to watch it without you. So I'm like, either we have to be together, or we have to do this and get on a zoom and watch it like on our TVs at the same time.
00:02:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, something like that.
00:02:45
Speaker 1: Okay, we'll figure it out. I want to go back before we get into the movie and all things now. I actually want to go back, and I don't even mean, like how do you start acting. I mean, like way before I know a little bit of the story for the fans at home, long before you figured out what you wanted your career to be, long before anybody knew you. What was childhood like for you, Like when you were nine or ten years old? Where were you, what was your family structure? Were you already performing you know, as you were starting to approach double digits, did you kind of have a sense yet or was it still coming?
00:03:27
Speaker 2: No, still coming. I had very young parents. They got pregnant very early and were sort of struggling, I guess, like you know, financially and all of that, and like putting each other through school and that sort of stuff. When I was nine or ten, I had my first little brother. I was seven when he was born. Oh and the thing about my family was it seemed like everyone in my family had children very young untill me. So consequently I had multiple generations around me. And I actually have a picture of five generations of women, which is so crazy because it's me, my mom, my grandmother, my great grandmother, and my great great grandma, which is a really cool picture to have. And I think maybe the actor thing was forming only because having all of those generations around. I have so many core memories of being in the center of a room, like at holidays or whatever, and anything I did drew applause from many people. So I think that I became comfortable.
00:04:43
Speaker 3: Like with that performative sort of attitude.
00:04:46
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and we've talked a little bit about this. I know you grew up in a college town, and I'm curious now because you are. You're such a fascinating, fascinated person. You're curious, you love to learn, you love to get to know people, and I wonder, as you think about it, how much do you think the kind of academic, intellectual world that was all around you shaped the way you saw the world? Do you think it inspired your curiosity?
00:05:21
Speaker 2: Oh, one hundred percent. Because my parents were always discussing things that were like different and sort of mind opening from you know, what my friends.
00:05:29
Speaker 3: Were talking about at school.
00:05:30
Speaker 2: And not only that, but just because they were both academics, my world was broadened from such a small town. Because I grew up in Geneva, New York, that was about eighteen thousand people. But when I was twelve, for example, we moved to London, England for a year for my parents to do research and write, and all of a sudden, I was like this cosmopolitan kid going to the international school, taking the you Tube and buses all over London by myself, Like it was kind of crazy. And so to then return to my town of eighteen thousand people wearing my skinny corduroys and my high heel clogs, which was a very European influence, you know, my world definitely broadened a bit.
00:06:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, so when you moved for research, given that it was a year for them, I think you said, did it feel less shocking and more just like, oh, we're going on a family adventure and then we'll wind up coming home.
00:06:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was. It was a family adventure because it wasn't.
00:06:39
Speaker 2: A permanent move, so you know, you weren't afraid of that, and it was It was just very exciting because, for instance, I played the flute, and you know, in fourth grade in my town, you picked an instrument, and that's what I picked, and I was like playing along. But when I went to London, I got into the Royal Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts because of it, and that was that probably started my whole trajectory to study music there and go through the examinations. I had to take the acting. I became a junior member of the company, which basically meant, you know, I kept the bathrooms clean and whatnot, but I got to take all of the classes. So it's like gave me this I don't know, kind of foundation in a way about performing and what it's like to be in a theater company and whatnot at such a young age, from such a big city that I sort of took back with me. And I think that really by the time I got to college, even though I wasn't studying theater, it just gave me the confidence, I think to audition for my first play in college, which set the whole arc of my career.
00:07:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, what a gift that kind of exposure at that age, to have something where you sort of find yourself and you build your confidence and you learn the ropes of something that's so special.
00:08:10
Speaker 2: It was definitely baptism by five, you know, at that time, even just to think that my parents kind of gave me free reign of the city of this giant city that I suddenly lived in and I could like take public transportation everywhere. This was like completely new to me because in my small town, I kind of lived on the edge of my small town that was like a kind of far bike ride or I was so dependent on my parents for a ride anywhere. And now having the autonomy to just like jump on a tube and go wherever I wanted was so thrilling.
00:08:48
Speaker 1: So that's so cool. And then what is the tie because I know, I know in the family, you're really connected to Hobart and to William Smith Colleges. How do they fit into the kind of larger Holly family equation.
00:09:05
Speaker 2: Well, so Hobart William Smith is one college. Oh it is, Yes, it's called Hobart William Smith Colleges. I'm not exactly sure that history of why that is. I think at some point it might have been the male side and the female side of course, but it's all just one. And my mother ended up getting her undergraduate degree from there when I was like a freshman in high school. My dad was a tenured professor, beloved professor. He ended up teaching there for fifty two years. And it's just a really it's a really strong liberal arts school that had a grade of lacross team that I used to do the stats for and it's just, you know, the town is sort of that's one of the main industries that the whole town is built around.
00:09:57
Speaker 3: So yeah, very intense.
00:10:00
Speaker 1: That's really cool and something I just I want to give you your flowers for. We got to talk about this a bit when we were working in Canada. But I just think it's so special that, you know, years later, after your brother sadly passed away, you started a Holly I'm going to cry, am I okay, I'm like gom Boud to get my period. You started the Holly Family Fund at the college in his honor, And I don't know, I just think it's such a beautiful thing to offer love in the spirit of someone's legacy and to really give opportunities.
00:10:42
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:10:43
Speaker 2: The thing is is that the Holly Family Fund started with my brother Alexander, and it was originally called the A Fund because we would call him A and because he was just he was enamored with art and architecture and he would build fantastic cities with his blocked and everything else and was like a curious kid, and so we wanted to give a scholarship and then unfortunately, with the passing of my other brother and my father and it became it's a big deal. Now it's a scholarship. It's one of the ones they compete for at the school. It's a four year scholarship. And I'm just really proud that, you know, and it's not just we pick the people who get the scholarship really because of their sort of attitude and curiosity and interests. It's not necessarily you know, academic, which can be hard to compete for in these times. And it's definitely some financial aid needed and all of that, and so I'm proud for that, and I love reading about.
00:11:49
Speaker 3: The recipients that are chosen each year.
00:11:51
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's just so cool. I also love, you know, to sort of personalize it for us latedies who make films. I just love any sort of reminder as well that actually, to be an actor, you're probably pretty academic. Like we're nerdy little researchers, but people don't realize that about us. Yeah, I think your legacy with your whole family, of your strong academic tradition is something I just love.
00:12:19
Speaker 2: It's funny because I don't hear about it as much anymore. And I love that you brought that up because now that there's all these like influencers and whatnot that are becoming actors.
00:12:29
Speaker 3: But I know that for me when.
00:12:31
Speaker 2: I first started, it was Francis Ford Coppola and his producer Fred Bruce who sort of gave me my first chance. And one of the things that they were most interested in was my academic background. Yes, they thought that that really supported me in being an actress. They thought, you know, like reading and critical thinking and you know, all of that stuff was so important and I love that and it became something that I definitely you know, I'm a Sarah Lawrence graduate and I had you know, Joseph Campbell and Louise Rose as my professors, and I would like talk about this all the time, and it helped me propel my career, which I think is a little bit different than now.
00:13:14
Speaker 3: I'm not sure, but it seems like it is.
00:13:16
Speaker 1: It's just so cool to me. I yeah, what what was that?
00:13:20
Speaker 2: Like?
00:13:20
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, the it's a pretty big sentence to drop like, oh, early in my career, Francis fort Gofla, Like, ma'am, what can you paint that picture for us? Now? I know nine and ten really clearly, But what happens we fast forward? You are pursuing acting, You're entering the industry. How did that happen? Like, what did it look like? Did you pack up your car and drive to La you know what was the vibe?
00:13:47
Speaker 2: No? What happened was I was in I was at Sarah Lawrence and I auditioned for a play on campus that a guest director was coming to do, called The Diviners. And I got the play and it was the lead role. And everyone was kind of upset on campus because I wasn't in the theater department. It was like, ooh, what the heck? And to make matters worse, the play was successful. The director was taking it back to New York off Broadway and asked me to do it for six while I was a student. And that's where Francis word Coppola and Fred Ruth saw me in the play, and so they offered me a movie that they were producing called Seven Minutes in Heaven. That was Jennifer Connelly's first movie. She was like twelve or thirteen and Maddy Korman a bunch of people and they would come pick me up on campus in a station wagon. Senior year while I made this movie, and it was so strange. I couldn't believe it. And then Fred the producer, was really instrumental in saying to me, I'm going.
00:14:56
Speaker 3: To help you.
00:14:56
Speaker 2: I'm going to support you. I think this is what you should do. And I was going to law school, so I decided to defer my admission. And I was so scared to tell my parents, these academics, that I was going to try to be an actor, and I didn't tell them, and I stressed out. And then finally graduation day, at my lunch, I drank pretty much and told them kind of drunk that I was.
00:15:23
Speaker 3: Not going to go to law school. And I was surprised.
00:15:26
Speaker 2: Because they were like stoked, and they were like that's great, like we can see this and you got your college degree and it doesn't matter. And so my first job, I moved into Manhattan from Sarah Lawrence. It's went to a big deal to like Halfnaur and Ellie Coppola. Francis's wife paid me one hundred dollars a day to walk around their apartment living room at the Sherry Netherland modeling her dresses she designed for buyers. And in between I would go in Francis's study and look at his oscar on his show, and that's how I started and I ended love getting my.
00:16:08
Speaker 3: First movie that summer.
00:16:10
Speaker 1: That's so cool.
00:16:11
Speaker 3: Everyone goes in a different way, I mean.
00:16:13
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. And now a word from our sponsors that I really enjoy and I think you will too. What do you think you learned about yourself? Where you learned about pressure in that early stage of your career, because yes, you're being courted by Hollywood Royalty, and you're also paying the bills by like modeling the dresses. I did that and like a buyer in la in high school to pay for things like you know, how do you think you kind of started not just to get into it, but to really cut your teeth.
00:16:53
Speaker 2: I think it's just, you know, I feel badly for people starting out now because fact that I could even do that then in Manhattan. You know, granted, I would have roommates and stuff. I'd find places. I was waitressing and bartending and doing you know, infomercials like you know, strange stuff.
00:17:14
Speaker 3: But I could do it.
00:17:16
Speaker 2: I could thread it together make enough money to keep trying, going on those auditions, running all.
00:17:22
Speaker 3: Over the city.
00:17:24
Speaker 2: And I don't know how people do it now. It's like way too expensive. It's crazy, and I just I don't know. I just always had this belief that it was going to work. Yeah, and there were a lot of magical things that just kind of happened, and like one thing that led to another, and it did and.
00:17:42
Speaker 3: I just kept going.
00:17:43
Speaker 1: I mean when you just think about also to your point, the era, you know, like the nineties rom com the big you know, over the top comedies that defined a whole generation. I mean, you you were at the helm of all of that stuff in the moment. Did it feel sort of fresh and magical or was it just where the tide was going and you were on the boat.
00:18:13
Speaker 2: I think it was where the tide was going and I was on the boat, and I look back at it now and I'm just like, holy crap, Like I almost wish I had like slowed down a little bit and enjoyed it, because the industry.
00:18:28
Speaker 3: Has changed so much now.
00:18:30
Speaker 2: And you know, I was one of the first people that was really bridging television and movies.
00:18:37
Speaker 3: And I would be on a series and make like four movies a year. That was kind of my thing.
00:18:43
Speaker 2: And so it was constant, like there was a season of Okay, there's press junkets and award shows and this is what we're doing, and you know, just.
00:18:52
Speaker 3: One right after the other.
00:18:54
Speaker 2: And I guess I kind of thought like, this is the way it is, but it's not like I want the lottery.
00:19:01
Speaker 3: And it was so thrilling at the time.
00:19:05
Speaker 2: And I don't think you really realize it until you get off the train, because our business is a little bit like a high school and there's like certain popular groups for the.
00:19:15
Speaker 3: Moment, you know, and that's kind of what happens.
00:19:18
Speaker 2: And so it's interesting to look back on it now and see it and also see how just how much.
00:19:27
Speaker 3: It's all you know, a streaming and everything.
00:19:29
Speaker 2: And yeah, I talk frequently about what it was like to be on a television series then when there was only four real stations.
00:19:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you actually got a chance to find an audience and not develop a character, and yeah.
00:19:42
Speaker 3: Exactly, Like it's just so different now.
00:19:45
Speaker 1: It's also crazy to me to think, like it was before the industry really started squeezing, everything seemed like it was really still expanding. You know, you'd go to shoot a movie for three months, not twenty two days if you're lucky, and you what time.
00:20:01
Speaker 2: A movie I did called Dragon for Universal, we shot in Hong Kong, Macau, Los Angeles are I think we had one hundred and twelve days was our shooting start.
00:20:13
Speaker 3: So this was like what was normal?
00:20:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, And now like with movies, you know how many movies would actually go to Hong Kong would go to Macau?
00:20:22
Speaker 3: Like it's changed.
00:20:24
Speaker 1: Maybe a Tom Cruise movie.
00:20:26
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe.
00:20:27
Speaker 1: And that's just because he wants to hang off the side of the building. I can't, you know, He's like he's that cool that he's like, no, we're going and then the studio says, Okay, it's it's got to be crazy too, because and look, I know this happens to women differently than it does to men. But you know, you you were the top of the pyramid in television and film and all these big movies, and you know, you had a very public moment and a very public relationship with another person at the top of his pyramid, and like, do you think it was helpful for the two of you to share that experience and the craziness of it together or looking back, does it feel like the personal professional like maybe people care too much about the personal side, because I know how it feels for me.
00:21:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, but it was different then because first of all, there wasn't all the social media or anything, right, so the only way they knew about us in our relationship was there were like television.
00:21:37
Speaker 3: Shows that would focus on it, like these things like the entertainment shows, Entertainment Tonight, you know.
00:21:42
Speaker 2: And those sort of things, or like newspapers or magazines, right. And I think that there's a certain amount of energy. I think people are energy, and you sort of breed positive energy and when you.
00:21:56
Speaker 3: Get into a situation.
00:21:57
Speaker 2: I think we definitely sort of highlighted each other in a lot of ways. And I don't think if you know, if you look back at what we were both doing in our relationship, it's really cool because we were both you know, growing exponentially, and I think we helped each other and probably he helped me more, even though at the beginning I.
00:22:23
Speaker 3: Was the one who was more well known.
00:22:24
Speaker 2: Like it was kind of strange, but our group of friends at the time, everybody exploded, so it was kind of like I think it was energetic that we were all had the same goal and like doing stuff. And I think it's different now because people are so spread out like back then, it you know, Los Angeles was really kind of the focus of the entertainment industry, so you pretty much had to be there and doing stuff and meeting people. And I think that's accelerated that you know, energetic thing.
00:23:00
Speaker 3: It's very different now, it's changed.
00:23:02
Speaker 1: So I mean, look at you, Yeah, I mean for the friends at home. I'm referring to the frenzy of excitement around the Lauren Hally and the Jim Carrey, who were a couple, you know, for a time, And something I really value when we've worked together and I've asked you questions, is like the lovely fondness you still offer. I think it's so great when people have a time in their journey together and even if the context of that time changes, the love continues. Yeah, And I think to your point, I'm realizing as you're saying, like for you, for Jim, for everyone around you, guys, for Jeff, like the whole gang. It's almost like those moments you see in sports where they say, oh, no one's ever run a sub three minute mile, and then somebody does it, and then five more people do it within the next three months. You're right, it is energetic. You see something you're you're a witness to something, you feel the energy of it, and then that energy is in your box.
00:24:00
Speaker 3: And then you move forward towards it too.
00:24:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like there's something very positive about that and very and I think it's still important for people, at least I think so to align yourself with people who have the sort of same energetic thing too.
00:24:16
Speaker 1: It's very Yeah, yeah, it's interesting, I really and we'll get to the movie closer to the end, but I had that same experience working with you, Like the joy of making a movie with you was feeling like we were in a good way, like in a tug of war. You'd do something, and then I do something, and then you do something, and it was like we were building together all the time.
00:24:41
Speaker 2: You definitely had a very great chemistry. Yeah, so like and there was a certain.
00:24:47
Speaker 3: Confidence that came to working with you that I really enjoyed with me too.
00:24:51
Speaker 2: It was like, weird, It's like I knew you were going to be there, like you were going to give me stuff. You're gond like like all that. When I the window after the first day, like that's yeah, and that makes it easier too, right, Like there's something about like a confidence that you just sort.
00:25:08
Speaker 3: Of fit in I believed our relationship.
00:25:11
Speaker 2: I kind of felt our relationship. Yeah, me too, and so everything else just kind of went by the wayside. And it was weird because the moment that I met you, you walked into a conference room when we were about to do a read through, and the moment I met you, I knew it was weird.
00:25:31
Speaker 1: I felt the same, and you were very generous. The friends at home listening won't be surprised by this, but I walked into the conference room and I was like, we can do our read in just one moment, but I just have to express that I'm freaking out that I'm doing this movie with you, and you were so sweet about it, and I was like, Okay, she's not like perturbed, and now that it's out of my system, I can be a normal coworker.
00:25:58
Speaker 2: No, it was just so sweet, but it was just such a good I just I don't know, I just felt like we connected somehow, and that just kept going. Yeah, and it was just every day I knew that there'd be something that would be good that would happen that day in.
00:26:14
Speaker 1: A scene totally totally we found so many things off the page and it really makes me think about something you know. I love that you talk about the industry in a way that is very authentic and weighty but also fun, and you managed to talk about the importance of happy sets and environments, you know, without ego and like I don't know, you do it in this way that I think reminds everyone not to take it all so seriously, but also to be kind. I think sometimes when I get amped about like and it should be like this, I can lean a little into the serious. And I'm curious for you, like that sense of joy that you want, which does lead to a better professional outcome. How do you let that be an ingredient essentially in your recipe of choice when you're looking at a job opportunity.
00:27:16
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's really about the people that you're going to work with.
00:27:20
Speaker 3: And the thing is is that you.
00:27:22
Speaker 2: Don't always know our particular project. You were the unknown thing to me. I didn't know what you were.
00:27:30
Speaker 3: Going to be like.
00:27:31
Speaker 2: And to be honest, I wasn't worried about you as an actor. I was worried about how you thought about the world right now. Like this mattered to me because I'm so stressed out about everything in the world that I didn't want someone who had a different worldview than me, especially in a movie that I knew it was going to be mainly the two of us.
00:27:58
Speaker 3: Often in a car, knuck in a car. So I was.
00:28:04
Speaker 2: It was the first time I ever really considered that, to be honest, and I did, and I'm really happy I did. And I quickly realized, you know, with two minutes of scoping you out, that we were going to be on the same worldview, and it sort of was able to put that in my pocket because a happy set is everything, and right now, I just don't think I could have handled it if we had been on opposite sides.
00:28:32
Speaker 1: Of that fence totally.
00:28:34
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, that would have been difficult.
00:28:36
Speaker 2: And as much as sometimes you have to put those things aside, I don't think I'm capable of it at this point in our world.
00:28:44
Speaker 1: Well yeah, it's it's not two thousand and four anymore. Like things are just very different. And I and I similarly, you know, I was so excited about the work with you, and then when I sort of come through the things you talk about online, I was like, Oh, that's my girl, like right to go to like talk some political with her. This is gonna be Yeah, So.
00:29:09
Speaker 2: We kind of got that out of the way, like that was good, and I knew that we were sort of the same moral fiber, I guess, yeah. And then it was just about if there was like a chemistry that was it, and we were just lucky because not having met, not auditioning together, not anything, we just had no idea if there was that chemistry, if people would buy it. And I just felt that immediately from that first meeting. I was like, Okay, I'm not worried about this anymore either.
00:29:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's like special sauce. I don't know what it is.
00:29:43
Speaker 2: It's just like you can't really quantify it or anything, right, Like it's just special sauce.
00:29:48
Speaker 1: And everybody knows when it's happening, you know, it's it's funny. I just was on a zoom with the Roku folks last week and they were like, it's our favorite movie we ever made. We can't get and I was like, great, because Laurena and I want to make a sequel, and then we want to make the third, and the fourth and the fifth, like we want to go on a broad trip every summer exactly. I've pitched a number of I did I.
00:30:10
Speaker 3: Did the same thing. I did the same thing.
00:30:13
Speaker 1: Good hearing it in stereo, yeah, everywhere. But it's sweet to see people, you know, like the people I was on this call with were not people I'd met before, and just to hear the excitement and to know how amped everyone is across the board. You're right, that sort of chemistry is it permeates the air. Like what you were saying earlier about the energy in the friendly it's the same thing, and it's really nice to be a part of it.
00:30:41
Speaker 3: It's the same thing.
00:30:42
Speaker 2: And if I were going to give advice to anybody young starting out in anything, is just really manage who your friends are and think about what everybody's goals are and who they are really because it multiplies.
00:30:58
Speaker 1: I love that, you know, when you think about that kind of energy, that that thing that spreads in a positive way. I wonder if it relates to the audience at large too, because when I think about it, You've starred on so many fan favorites, Like when I think about the TV side for you, Picket Fences, Chicago, Hope, and Cis, like these are shows people ride hard for and I wonder, you know, with that much positive energy around your projects. Do you still feel that kind of emotional attachment to any of those worlds or any of those characters, Like, do they still feel like they're sort of in you?
00:31:45
Speaker 2: Definitely. I think we all have some, you know, characters that we play that sort of travel with us.
00:31:51
Speaker 3: In a way.
00:31:52
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:31:53
Speaker 3: I don't know what it was about Picket Fences.
00:31:55
Speaker 2: I think that it was the first time I ever had somebody write specifically for me, and that made such a big difference. I wasn't trying to fit into a part.
00:32:10
Speaker 3: David E.
00:32:10
Speaker 2: Kelly definitely sort of he created this world and then once he knew all of us really started writing to our strengths, and I just I loved it, and it just that has such a golden place in my heart. I just recently, I was in Los Angeles and I saw David and I just adore him so much.
00:32:33
Speaker 3: Like that was just, you know, thirty years ago, and it stuck with me.
00:32:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think that that's I think when you have I think there are certain experiences like that as an actor, and I'm sure you've had them too, that just certain projects will resonate with you for years and years and years, and you know, as opposed to I frequently do this, like when you're dressing as a character. All of a sudden, the part finishes and I move on into life, but I take a piece of that character with me, you know, like all of a sudden, I'm wearing giant ear rings or you know, like something that I just.
00:33:14
Speaker 3: Never heard before.
00:33:15
Speaker 2: But I got so comfortable doing that that those residual effects seem to last.
00:33:21
Speaker 1: With me for a while totally. Well, there was a pair of sunglasses you had on our movie that they had multiples of and at the end they were like, do you want anything, which was crazy because they never do that, and it's like, I just want a pair. I want a pair of those, And it's funny. It's like your character influenced me Cherry Tomatoes and my olives. Yeah, and now for our sponsors before we get into the movie, including the incredible accessories you were wearing. I just like, I wonder when you think about your career as a whole, because the things that you've done and the spectrum of performances you've delivered, and now the incredible writing that you're doing, the development that you're doing, Like I'm over here like chomping at the bit for a script. I'm dying.
00:34:18
Speaker 2: I don't know.
00:34:19
Speaker 1: It's like you you seem to me as a newer, you know, friend and coworker in your life, like somebody who just continues to expand her purview. And I wonder do you feel like, do you look at the sort of directions you move in as a series of pivots or do you kind of think about it as you get to a point where you feel like you're ready to include sort of the next circle and pull in the next set of you know, experiences or tests or something.
00:34:54
Speaker 3: I think it's that.
00:34:55
Speaker 2: I mean, I think, honestly, it's just how life unfolds for people. Know.
00:35:00
Speaker 3: I don't know that I had the time years ago to try to expand.
00:35:05
Speaker 2: What I did and write and do all that, mainly because I was a mom and I was and it was just, you know, there was just a lot like I felt like I was always under the gunner's schedule. And now that my kids are all like grown ups and their own people, I think I'm going back to something that I always wanted to do. Yeah, so that's kind of why it's expanding, And it's just this is the way it is in our industry, you know, you have there. You you do slow down as you get older, or maybe it's even that you get a little more picky.
00:35:48
Speaker 3: I don't know. You know, it's.
00:35:51
Speaker 2: I say no more than I say yes now. And also I get like the writing thing has definitely sort of overtaken. It's something that I spend a lot of.
00:36:05
Speaker 3: My time doing now.
00:36:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's exciting that it's moving forward. So but you just have to keep pushing that forward. It's not easy. And in this the way the business is now, like it's I'm almost hoping that all these giant mergers and these threats of things are like a real kick in the ass for independent film. Like I'm hoping something happens that you know that, because otherwise it's just getting really distressing.
00:36:40
Speaker 1: There's less, I know, it feels weird. It's interesting. You know, you talk about following your own curiosity and following the changing tides of the industry, but you touched on something too that there was a period where you know, you just didn't have time to be writing and acting and doing the things and raising three boys. You know, we talked a little bit about this when we were filming. But you know, your your choice to shift. Granted, yes, La is not the center of the universe of the industry anymore, but your choice to shift, even as a family and raise the boys in Canada. When you look back, you know, what do you think about making that move for that Like, what were you most hoping to give them by making that choice?
00:37:36
Speaker 2: Well, I think that the shift to Canada was better for my boys than it was for me as an actor. Sure, and you know, I was here, I was working, and I ended up doing two fairly long term series back to back and living here, and by the you know, like in the middle of that, the boys were now like in middle school and were like, hey, hey, hey, like we're not going to go back because they didn't even remember Los Angeles at that point, right, and they had friends and they had things here. And I look at it now and I think that they're all different people because they were raised in Canada and not sort of in like, you know, Beverly Hills in Los Angeles with an actor mom, Like, I think they would have been like really different. And so I'm very happy that I did that. And two of them have gone back to the States. One of them has stayed in Canada. But they're all they all feel very Canadian. Yeah, so I think it was better for them, and as far as for me, it ended up being great because you know, I'm meaningful to productions here, so I kind of constantly am asked to join projects or whatever. But I don't think it's as I don't think Canada has sort of a star system like the United States does, So there's advantages and disadvantages to that. Like I lead a very easy life here. Nobody's like any you know, they don't care that I do this, Like, you know, nobody's like there's no paparazzi or anything like that, you know. But at the same time, there's not that which sort of gives you that push, you know.
00:39:28
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's like it's a both and kind of thing.
00:39:33
Speaker 3: It's at both end.
00:39:34
Speaker 2: But from the point of view of my family, I think it was a great decision.
00:39:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really cool. I do not want to stop talking to my favorite lady, but I have definitely run us out of time for today. We will be back with a special bonus episode to talk all about our movie Broad Trap with Lauren Holly. See you back here soon.
