| By Fred Topel
In Theaters Friday
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What is a girl to do in a Vin Diesel action comedy? Kiss and kick ass, that’s what. As the principal of a school, Lauren Graham becomes Diesel’s love interest and partner in action as he tries to protect the family from evil secret agent types.
“He was a good kisser,” Graham said. “He has a beautiful mouth. He's very sexy.”
And shaven headed tough guys aren’t normally Graham’s type. “I normally go for bookish, skinny Irish guys. But those muscles are so fascinating to me. I went out with somebody once who rowed heavyweight crew, and his legs were like hams. It's not nice to poke your co-star and squeeze them so I tried to keep it together.”
Graham only gets one action scene where she takes out a bad guy, but got to do the moves herself. “You choreograph it and stuff but initially it was fun to me. I wanted to do more of that. They had gotten me a stunt person, and they were like, ‘Noooo! You're not going to be doing that.’ And then my stunt person got injured because that's how difficult the stunt is. Really tough. So I ended up getting to do it myself. There's a lot of preparation because they want you to be safe and know what you're doing. It was fun.”
Diesel gets a crash course in child rearing, but Graham says she has plenty of experience. “I'm good. I was a camp counselor for many years, and I have lots of [kids] in my world. Like younger teens, and I've got a godson that's two. I really like kids because when you do the hours I do on that show, you never see anybody. You never see your own family, let alone other people's families so it's very soothing to hold a baby.”
Graham is not sure, though, if she could be the disciplinarian. “I don't know. I'm not a parent I just play one on TV. Until you do it yourself, you don't know how'd you'd be. I grew up in a family where there was no yelling and screaming as discipline. It was like, the rules were clear and the worst my dad could say is I'm really disappointed in you. That kind of thing. I don't think I'd be so tough. I can tell them what to do a little bit.”
Working on a regular TV series like Gilmore Girls, it can be hard for Graham to find movie projects that fit into her summer hiatuses. “It's always tricky to plan that because it's such a specific period of time. There are always things that had I been available would have been amazing opportunity. That's frustrating. As long as I keep building a film career, you know I've been the lead in a TV show but never the lead in a movie. That's a different process and I'm not there yet. As long as I can keep working with different people and working my way up then it's really satisfying for me. From Bad Santa, all the stuff I'm reading, I'm on top of some guy. It's gratifying because I didn't used to get seen that way before, but once they see you play a ho, then, man, it’s like ‘Let's get her to play that sleazy role.’ But it's fun. The parts for women, you're either like the quietly suffering wife or you're the wild girl. As long as I can do a bit of both, I guess [I’m happy].”
Graham is signed for seven years of the show, the fifth of which ends this year. “It looks like we're coming back for next year. We're having a nice ratings year, which is mainly what they care about. The show is in a fun place. There's some good conflict and good stuff to play. I could see it one more year and I don't know the year after that. It's changed my life, that schedule. It's not a complaint. The reality of that work is that I miss a balanced life. I don't know that it would go beyond seven. You want the story to end when it's supposed to and not be squeezed for somebody's financial gain, neither mine nor the studio. Seven could be the perfect time. Rory could graduate from college and I'm sure there will be some double wedding or something like that.”
With her single mom character, Graham meets many real life mothers who feel close to her. “I do get a lot of single parents who say it's been a bonding experience for them to be able to watch the show, which is a wish-fulfillment of the best possible scenario, being a single parent. It was just me and my dad for a long time. It was much harder. That's TV, so it makes life a little better. The nicest compliment is when people say, ‘We watch it over the phone or we get together.’ It's been a generational kind of bonding experience. So that's nice.”
See Lauren Graham in The Pacifier on Friday. |
