BWW EXCLUSIVE: Jennifer Westfeldt Talks Chekhov's THREE SISTERS, FRIENDS WITH KIDS, New Series & More

Today we are talking to the multi-talented actress/writer/producer of the hit indie romantic comedies KISSING JESSICA STEIN and IRA & ABBY, who is now adding director to her list of abilities with her new feature film FRIENDS WITH KIDS, co-starring her real-life husband Jon Hamm - the delightfully sweet and talented Jennifer Westfeldt. Both Jennifer and Jon can be seen - and heard - later this week in an exciting radio adaptation of the Anton Chekhov classic THE THREE SISTERS, in a new translation by Christopher Hampton, also co-starring Tessa Thompson, Sarah Zimmerman and Reid Scott, which will also be recorded and broadcast online. Tickets to the performances live on stage are also available at the link below. In this candid conversation Jennifer and I cover everything from 24 to GREY'S ANATOMY; to Bernstein on Broadway in her Tony-nominated turn in WONDERFUL TOWN co-starring Donna Murphy; to her onscreen and off-screen partnership with Hamm and the formation of their new production company; as well as their new feature film together - FRIENDS WITH KIDS - and much more. Plus, what is her and Jon's favorite LA pizza joint? Further information on the live performances and the online and radio broadcasts of THE THREE SISTERS can be found here (http://www.latw.org/live/boxoffice/boxofficehomeindex.html).

Kibitzing Jennifer Westfeldt

PC: I interviewed Idina Menzel a few months ago for this column and she said how much she loved being a part of KISSING JESSICA STEIN and what a great film debut it was.

JW: Oh, that's so funny! It's so funny because she's obviously such a star - and she was then, too - and that she even remembers our little movie now.

PC: WICKED, GLEE, the tour...

JW: I love Idina. She's so talented.

PC: How did she get involved with the film in the first place?

JW: I think the casting director is the one who told me about her. From the first time we met with her, it was just great. She was just great.

PC: You have a big theatre fan base. Did you grow up as a Broadway baby?

JW: Absolutely! Everything I did growing up was with that as the real goal - doing Broadway; doing theatre. That was always the big thrill for me - I did theatre from the fourth grade and in high school and on from there. That's what I always wanted to do. I always wanted to do the classics and I've done some, but this is a real thrill doing Chekhov and THE THREE SISTERS.

PC: What role appeals to you most as an actor? Olga?

JW: Well, I'm playing Masha in this production - I think I've sadly outgrown Irina at this point. I would love to play Olga as well. Masha was always my favorite role, and sadly Irina has passed me by. The whole play is so wonderful and any part is great. We just did this whole table read with the whole cast and all the creatives and now we're on a break. It's also so exciting to be doing this because I think this is the first time they've done this translation in the US. It's by Christopher Hampton and it's so beautiful.

PC: No way! He's so talented - a genius, really.

JW: Oh, you'll never believe this, but he's with us today because he happens to be in Los Angeles. So, he came by for the table read and he's going to be with us in rehearsal for the rest of the day.

PC: This is the guy who wrote DANGEROUS LIASONS!

JW: I know! I know - I just suddenly got extremely nervous. (Laughs.) As you know, I'm a screenwriter - so, needless to say, I'm a really, really big fan.

PC: Are there going to be intensive rehearsals since it's such a short time until the first performance?

JW: Well, it's a reading for the radio where we stand at mics on a stage. It's all about the voices and the sound. LA Theaterworks have been doing this for years: they take
plays of all kinds - some new plays, some old plays - and actors stand at the mics and they create the whole play world and then they air it on NPR and hundreds of radio stations across the country. It's one of those thrilling things where it will exist forever - whatever we do.

PC: The online archives are such an amazing resource. They've done FALSETTOS and WORKING and some wonderful musical productions, too.

JW: Yeah, it's really great. I've only been to one performance here, myself, and I'm really excited to be a part of this and to work with them.

PC: Their TWELVE ANGRY MEN is also extremely impressive. Since he just passed away this morning, I have to ask: were you a Sidney Lumet fan?

JW: You know, I just found that out. It's so amazing - it seems so many legends have been dying this year and last year. I mean, I know people are always dying, but it feels like - especially as I get older - that all the greats are leaving us. So, it gives me pause and it makes me think about what I want to do and what I want to accomplish before I'm done. (Pause.) But, wow, what an amazing talent we just lost.

PC: Speaking of youth: what's your beauty secret? You look much younger than your years - especially in IRA & ABBY.

JW: (Big Laugh.) That is too sweet!

PC: What is it? Pilates?

JW: I do do some Pilates, but, mostly, I hike with my dog out here - which is really nice. We live right by a park and that's my favorite thing to do. It sort of combines a little time to yourself and exercising - I'm not one for a gym, you know?

PC: Like your character in IRA & ABBY!

JW: (Laughs.) Yeah, I like to be outside and in nature - I don't like to do anything inside, exercise-wise.

PC: Unless it involves French fries, right?

JW: I know, I know, I have a French fry weakness in real life, too! It's a problem - that and pizza. I also have developed a weird pizza phase while I've been editing this movie. I am literally eating pizza right now. (Laughs.)

PC: What's your favorite kind of pizza?

JW: Well, we just go to this place that's so great right near us. It smells so amazing - it smells like NY pizza.

PC: But, eww, LA pizza?

JW: (Laughs.) I know, I know. It's pretty solid - we really don't have good pizza in LA, so I take high advantage of our place!

PC: It didn't show at the Golden Globes - you looked great!

JW: Aww, that's very nice, but I had worked like twenty hours that day, so, whatever it was, it was on adrenaline alone. (Laughs.)

PC: Tell me about the new movie you're editing - FRIENDS WITH KIDS, which is also your directorial debut.

JW: Well, we just wrapped at the end of January and I've been in the editing room since then. It is my directorial debut. It is also the feature film debut of our new production company Points West Pictures. So, it was exciting for us, because we have a few stokes in the fire and this was the first thing to get made.

PC: What was the filming like?

JW: It was an incredible cast and an incredible crew. Of course, it was also incredibly challenging to work in New York during the worst winter in thirty-five years. (Laughs.)

PC: It was an especially terrible one!

JW: Mother Nature was not as kind and supportive to us as she could have been in our efforts, that's for sure!

PC: When did you finish the script?

JW: I finished the script about a year ago - the end of February, a year ago - and we workshopped it in New York and that's when Mike Nichols got involved.

PC: What's he like? What an icon.

JW: Aww, he's amazing. He's just amazing. After he read the script he lent his name to the project as an executive producer and he was the shepherd of it all. It was really incredible to meet him and then get his support for the project.

PC: What was the filming schedule like?

JW: Well, after he became involved things sort of went from there. So, we had to film a couple of days during pre-production to capture autumn, as the film is seasonal. Then, we shot the bulk of it in January and February - of all times. (Laughs.)

PC: How fortuitous - or not.

JW: Exactly. Everything really did just come together. You know, with any independent film, it's all about getting everyone's schedules in line and everything together at the same time and just doing the best you can do when that happens - if it happens. That being said, we had a really amazing shoot.

PC: And now?

JW: And now, I'm toiling away in the editing room and we should be finished soon and, then, hopefully, we'll premiere it at Toronto [Film Festival] - if we get in - and other festivals soon, starting later this year.

PC: Maya Rudolph is so talented. Tell me about working with her - did her husband Paul Thomas Anderson stop by the set?

JW: She was flying solo in New York and he had the kids in LA, but they shuttled back and forth. She's just a really lovely lady - and so talented!

PC: What a voice, too.

JW: Incredible. Amazing. Yes, and she can sing like a dream! (Pause.) An all-around, really, really great lady.

PC: And Broadway's own Brian D'Arcy James is in the film, too, correct?

JW: He just came in and did one scene. He's so lovely. I've known Brian for a long time. I think he's slowly branching out to doing more camera work - which I think is fun for him. You know, it's so great to work in New York and, you know, for some eight line part you get one of the greatest actors in the world. (Laughs.) It's an embarrassment of riches.

PC: Speaking of another of exactly that class of performer: tell me about working with Donna Murphy on WONDERFUL TOWN - and, more recently, in your film IRA & ABBY.

JW: I love her so much - I mean, she's my girl. I love her both personally and professionally. A lot of that experience was a dream come true for me - to get to work opposite Donna and all of those amazing people onstage; to get to work with Kathleen [Marshall]; and, to work on Bernstein, Comden and Green. It was a pretty amazing way to be welcomed into that community. I am incredibly, incredibly lucky. (Laughs.) She's an amazing friend, now, too.

PC: And I assume you are a fan of hers, as well? She's back on Broadway right now, you know.

JW: She has an amazing talent - that kind of talent that just leaves you with your mouth open, you know?

PC: PASSION.

JW: Oh, my God. She's just off-the-charts. Off-the-charts.

PC: What do you think of Bernstein in general - and Sondheim, too?

JW: Oh, you know - I just feel humbled. Just to get to work on Leonard Bernstein on Broadway, I thought, "What did I do to deserve this?" It's as good as music gets.

PC: I agree.

JW: I don't have the opportunity to do theatre very often - especially doing a lot of film and television - so it's always humbling to step back in and try to get up to speed and remember how to really do it, you know? Because, obviously, the people who do it are head and shoulders above me and I'm really rusty. (Laughs.) It's incredibly exciting. (Pause.) But, I'm rusty.

PC: Do you like to be back, nonetheless?

JW: Absolutely. You know, I once worked in that world and now I only do it intermittently. I missed it. It's so, so exciting and challenging to jump back into that pool.

PC: You've done a lot of theatre work - like 40 plays - and some stuff even just a year or two ago.

JW: Yeah, I've done a lot of plays, but not a lot of stuff recently. I did a play regionally about a year ago and something Off-Broadway a little before that.

PC: A LIFETIME BURNING by Crusi Cram was amazing.

JW: Thank you, thank you. Cusi's a great writer and a great friend. I loved working with her and I loved working with Pam [McKinnon] and the great Isabel Keating and Christina Kirk and Raul Castillo and everyone on that. That character was so much fun - and deeply, deeply troubled. (Laughs.)

PC: How do you handle it every night, a role like that?

JW: The rigor of theatre is always what's most daunting, no? It's tough on your body. For plays, you might work on something for four months. In the case of musicals - like we did on WONDERFUL TOWN - you work for fourteen months. But, ultimately, it's worth it.

PC: How do you compare it to TV series work - like you just completed on 24; or GREY'S ANATOMY - or films with long shoots?

JW: Yeah, that's true - those can be tough. But, remember, you get breaks and weekends off and vacations all the time. People in theatre work harder than anyone in the world - as far as I'm concerned - as far as sheer output of energy and the rigor and excellence that they maintain doing something every day, or twice a day. I'm just astounded by the Broadway babies who do that.

PC: So, the saying is true? In movies you get rich, on TV you get famous and on Broadway you get good.

JW: Exactly! Exactly. It really is the ultimate test of your muscles and you have to go in and rediscover it every single day. It's a very humbling experience. It's an incredible challenge - if you aren't focused or the audience is off or whatever - but, when it works, it is something beyond anything else.

PC: Did you ever have a play that the audience really acted out at with vitriol?

JW: Well, when I was coming up I did a lot of classics and revivals and I haven't done a ton of new plays - so, not really. That usually happens at original plays and I haven't had the opportunity to do too many of those, sadly.

PC: What about Shakespeare? You must play Rosalind!

JW: Aww, are you kidding me?! I would kill to be Rosalind.

PC: Perdita in PERICLES is one you could still really score with, if someone would actually put it on for once! Or, Lady Macbeth?

JW: Aww, I love Rosalind in AS YOU LIKE IT, though! There are so many hit-lists of Shakespeare roles I want to play before I die.

PC: What are they?

JW: I love Rosalind. I love Portia in MERCHANT. I love Beatrice in MUCH ADO. I love so many parts in MIDSUMMER and the one with the nuns - MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

PC: What about Hermione in THE WINTER'S TALE?

JW: Oh, my God. Hermione is a beautiful, brilliant role. I'd love to do that one.

PC: You should do that one with Jon! He'd be perfect for it, too.

JW: (Big Laugh.) We should!

PC: That's the great one, to me - and the two great roles, as well - of all of Shakespeare.

JW: It's pretty amazing - it really is. (Pause.) When you do anything by these guys - you know, Shakespeare, Chekhov and Shaw - you can't usually go wrong. They're kind of as good as it gets, you know?

PC: What Shaw roles entice you?

JW: I have to think about that. I'm so rusty. (Laughs.) It's been too long.

PC: You're also half in the zone for the movie you're still perfecting!

JW: I feel like I'm on vacation - I mean, I get to sit around and read this beautiful play with all of these amazingly talented actors?

PC: Which Bronte sister are you, then, since its inspired by them? Emily Bronte, I'd surmise?

JW: (Laughs.) I guess so! I guess so. (Pause.) That's really funny.

PC: What do you think of the play in general? Have you seen it performed before?

JW: Oh, I saw the production that they did in New York with Paul Giamatti and Calista Flockhart and David Straithairn. I guess it was at the Roundabout? It was ages and ages ago.

PC: The new production with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard was a huge success.

JW: Oh, I know! I really wish I had seen it. I'm sure it was wonderful. But, when you do a film like I am doing you have to just dedicate a solid eight months of your life, minimum, you know?

PC: What has been the total timeline of FRIENDS WITH KIDS from inception to the ending editing process now?

JW: Well, I started writing this one and wrote the first sixty pages a few years ago and I just set it aside because I was working on other things as an actor. Then, about a year ago, I took it out again and finished it in about six weeks - and, actually, we had a table read the same day I finished it.

PC: How serendipitous!

JW: Yeah, everything just went really quickly on this one! I am super grateful. It's so hard to get money for independent films these days, and we were so lucky to find our producing partners and financiers at Red Granite Pictures. I am so hopeful that it will find a good life out there.

PC: Your own production company with Jon is elemental to the process - particularly as a screenwriter and, now, a director, yes?

JW: Yeah, in this economy - whether it's indie or studios - things are just falling apart everywhere. Every day. None of us are safe. It is a very humbling state of affairs at this point in the economy. (Pause.) It is harder than ever out there.

PC: And TV is better than most - or any - films these days. Especially, MAD MEN, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, DAMAGES....

JW: Mmmhmm. It's really true, cable TV has become the new great cinema.

PC: Would you consider writing and acting on your own series? Is that the ultimate artistic expression for a dramatic writer now?

JW: Actually, I'm in talks to start developing a show that will do just that. But, I've never done that before. It will be interesting. (Laughs.) I'm sure it will be another challenge.

PC: Well, you're married to one of the biggest TV stars in the world so hopefully he can give you some pointers.

JW: (Laughs.) Definitely.

PC: How was it to direct Jon in FRIENDS WITH KIDS?

JW: It was great! He's also a producer on the film, so he took part in the whole project. So, it was great to have your partner on your side when things get challenging and frustrating. Everyday is just a challenge to make the day on an indie, you know? So, to have your best friend and your collaborator with you every step of the way cheering you on is just amazing. (Pause.) He's amazing and I'm so lucky.

PC: Which leads me so perfectly to: Define collaboration.

JW: I think collaboration is when all together you are better than the sum of your parts.

PC: What's next?

JW: We are doing five performance of THE THREE SISTERS - Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday - and, then, we're done! Then, of course, the movie, later this year.

PC: This was great. Send my best to Jon. Come back to Broadway soon - and, all my best to you on the new movie!

JW: Oh, thank you so much. You are so kind. It was so nice to be able to talk to you. I really appreciate it, Pat. Bye.

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos