'Audrey's Rain'
What attracted you to the role of Audrey in Hallmark Channel's funny and poignant telefilm, Audrey's Rain? I just found the character to be very quirky and fun. Interestingly, she's not the most sympathetic person in the beginning, but I learned to understand her. I have to also say that there's been a drastic change in the kind of scripts that are done for television and for features, but especially in television. Everyone's looking for something that's sensational. It's nice to see that Hallmark Channel is interested in doing movies that are really good stories and that are character-driven. That's the fun thing for actors - to play interesting characters. So much of what you see these days are stories about rape, incest or infidelity. That's fine sometimes, but a little of it goes a long way. In this story your character is dealing with a lot of emotional pain - her sister's suicide, having to raise her sister's children and, at the same time, caring for her other sister who is mentally handicapped - yet the story is very funny. Is that a tough balance? Yes. Sam Pillsbury, the director, really helped me a lot. He's very, very smart and very observant. I think I was afraid of making Audrey too unsympathetic in the beginning, especially with the kids. But you come to realize that Audrey doesn't want to become attached to these kids and she certainly doesn't want them to become attached to her. I think, on an unconscious level, she thinks the last thing that they need is to love her and then possibly lose her. It's just too much for her to suddenly be thrust in the position of being a mother on top of losing her sister in such a tragic way, and to also have the responsibility of the other sister, Marguerite. I think Audrey has felt like a mother ever since she was very young and her own mother died. She's already had the role of mom to her two sisters and she doesn't relish starting it all over again. But the fact that she is kind of a curmudgeon is really what makes her change that much more moving. It also makes her very funny. Did you learn anything new about this rather complex character during filming? Definitely. I liked the character when I started, but because of Sam [Pillsbury], I grew to love the character and to love playing her. I give Sam all the credit for that. He explained that it's not that Audrey is being mean to the children, but rather that she thinks she's doing what is correct and what is necessary. It's that dynamic that makes the story more interesting and, ultimately, makes it funnier. Audrey sort of puts on a face for the kids that she thinks is proper. She wants to be the proper disciplinarian. But, in a way, the tougher she gets, the more you see that it's just an act that she thinks she has to adopt, that she's really not an uncaring person. Your husband, Richard Gilliland, plays Terry Lloyd, Audrey's old boyfriend who has recently returned to town. How was it to star in a love story opposite him? It was great. A lot of people fantasize about the person who was their first love, especially if it happened when they were really young - wondering what it would be like to see them, what they would think of you, how much they would think you have changed, to see how much they had changed. Would there still be a spark there? For Audrey, it was such a difficult decision to let Terry go when she was so young. But she felt like she had to stay home and take care of her sisters. Now she's turned into this curmudgeon, this sort of eccentric spinster. When she finds out he's back and that he's a widower, I think she's kind of excited and horrified and terrified all at the same time. The thought that there would ever be any kind of chemistry or romance between them seems kind of ridiculous in her mind. That's because she's gotten herself into such a rut, she can no longer see herself in that way. Thank God she's got this wacky friend, Missy, to set her straight, played by the fabulous Carol Kane. Had you and Carol ever worked together before? We knew each other a little bit socially, but we had never worked together. The truth was we just had a blast. The friendship was very real. Audrey and Missy are best friends, but they also have their share of troubles with each other. As the story shows, you can have very painful breakups with girlfriends, too. How did the shoot go? We were lucky because it filmed in southern California, which was a huge plus for Richard and me. When our son (Connor) is in school, it's really hard for us to travel. But even though we were shooting in sunny California, I have to say that we had terrible weather problems. The movie was filmed in February, and we were plagued with rain and very high winds, so much so that some of the scenes that were supposed to take place outdoors had to be re-thought and moved indoors. Then, of course, when it was time to shoot scenes that called for rain, we didn't have rain. So they had to bring in a rain machine, and the water was freezing cold and it came down in these huge blobs. Little sprays of water don't read on camera, so they had to shower us with these gigantic, ice-cold blobs of water. That I did not relish. You're trying real hard to act and all you're thinking is, "When is this scene going to be over? I'm freezing and my mascara is running down my face." We also did a scene where I had to jump, face first, into a giant, freezing-cold mud puddle. Was it easier having Richard there? It truly was. First off, the folks at Hallmark Channel were thrilled to have Richard and me play boyfriend and girlfriend, which was great because we hadn't worked together in over 10 years. And then he's just so much fun to be around, he's always everyone's favorite actor. He's a total pro, he's always prepared. It really was a lot of fun.
How do you think Audrey's Rain is different from other telefilms? That's something that Jean and I talked about a lot when we first read the script. We responded to "Audrey's Rain" because they don't do a lot of love stories anymore. It really is a love story. But it's not just a love story between two people, but rather one about a woman who is learning how to get back to a place where she can love again and not just be responsible. There's also a simplicity to the story that we don't often see anymore. We seem to have come to a point where most of the movies are bang bang, shoot-'em-ups almost always starring 25 year-old kids. Everything is so youth driven, you don't see many romantic stories between solid adults over 40. The script for this was as good or better than any other television movie script I'd ever read. And the Hallmark Channel is the perfect place to do it. Some very exciting things are happening at Hallmark because they are giving us some balance. You can only take so much of Vin Diesel. In the telefilm, your character, Terry Lloyd, doggedly tries to renew his relationship with Audrey Walker, yet she does her best to rebuff him. Why does he persevere at this seemingly thankless task? It's because their previous relationship, probably back in high school through college, was very important. I remember when I was in high school and went into college, I had a girlfriend that I was crazy about. We talked about getting married when we were twenty-two, and kept it going for a couple of years after that. Then you end up going your own way. That's kind of what happened with Terry and Audrey. There's always this feeling that this could be the love of your life, which is why those flashbacks in the movie are so important. Here they are, twenty-some years later, getting back together. He's alone and she's alone - it makes perfect sense to me. They see each other and they hit it off, the humor is still there. Audrey obviously has a lot of personal issues to deal with, but Terry is suffering too - over the death of his wife. Yet, he and Audrey approach their pain differently. I think the fact that they are both coming out of grief is another thing they have in common. There's a lot of comfort there for someone who has suffered a similar kind of anxiety, in this case, the loss of a dear family member. Audrey's in a lot of denial about her grief. It's been a year or more since she lost her sister, and now she's saddled with a tremendous amount of responsibility and she feels she has to be strong for the kids. There is a finality to what Terry has had to go through; there's not that next legacy to have to take care of...in some ways it may be a little bit easier for him to move on. I've lost my father, certainly never a wife, but the loss is devastating. It takes a couple of years before you can actually begin to even recognize that you have to do something with your life. Terry is just reaching that point at the beginning of this story. When Terry returns to town after all these years, do you think he has it in his mind to start up with Audrey again? He's obviously curious about Audrey, given their past, but for all he knows she may be 700 pounds with a mustache. Still, he sees her again and he finds that she's just as gorgeous and just as persnickety as always. And they kind of pick up where they left off. There are certain relationships with people that are like that. . . you haven't talked to them in ten years and you just pick up where the last conversation left off. I think there's a little bit of that here, and they both recognize it. How was it to play in a love story opposite your wife? We'd worked together before, we'd done a play many years ago and we both worked on Designing Women, but we didn't often have scenes together, we weren't coupled up in that show. So we looked forward to that here. There are some things you just can't buy or make happen, and it's chemistry - we had the chemistry going, and that was a great advantage. There's one scene where we're having a picnic, and we make love for the first time. But we get caught and here we are acting like teenagers, wrapping blankets around ourselves and trying to get out of the orange orchard, laughing all the way, just like it was 25 years ago. You don't see that very often in telefilms these days. . .stories about two people who've had a life who are now finding a new one. What was the most enjoyable aspect of working on Audrey's Rain? The number one thing was working with Jean. Secondly, we both adored our director, Sam (Pillsbury). He's got a great sense of humor and he appreciated the chemistry we have and really worked with it. -- Courtesy of the Hallmark Channel
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