Although she is best known for her work in Less Than Perfect and Popular, Sara Rue has built a comprehensive resume dating back to her starring role in NBC's Grand and a Roseanne cameo as a younger version of the star, blockbuster parts (Pearl Harbor, The Ring) and the occasional reality appearances (Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, E! Hollywood Hold'em). These days, Rue plays Eastwick's most suspicious resident -- the younger, spunkier Gladys Kravitz of ABC if you will -- while developing her own feature film and scouting her next sitcom gig. Movieline spoke to Rue two weeks ago about all of this and Andy Dick as her dogs barked in the background.
Do you think Penny's future holds any magic of her own?
I do have a feeling that I will have powers of my own.
You have the most sitcom experience of all the leads in Eastwick. Did you have to audition? Would you ever want to carry your own sitcom again?
I didn't audition for any of the leads but [executive producers] Maggie Friedman and David Nutter offered me the part of Penny. I read the script and liked it and thought it was interesting and I think as an actor, I always try to do stuff that I've never done before. I'd never done anything with a supernatural part before. Except for my part in The Ring, but I didn't have to do anything supernatural. Maggie actually called me up and said, "I promise you that you're going to have so much to do. I have this great idea for Penny." She really talked me into it.
But carrying my own show again is exactly what I want to do. I loved my experience on Less Than Perfect so much and I would like something like that again. I love half hour -- I feel like it's where my heart and soul is somehow. It's the perfect combination of fun and light and extremely challenging. And also I have the elements of dealing with a live audience.
[Dogs barking] Sorry about this, there is a siren going by. [Struggling] Can you still hear them?
Not at all.
I locked them in the other room. It's really embarrassing if you're in a sidewalk cafe and a siren goes by.
But it's really what I want to do. The first show I ever did was Grand when I was eleven and that was a half hour. And I loved it and it's always where I want to go back to.
You've guest-starred on both of Chuck Lorre's series, Two and a Half Men and Big Bang.
I loved those experiences so much. I love Chuck Lorre. I did a little guest spot on Roseanne when I was fourteen. It was a whirlwind experience in a week and I think with Chuck, I had auditioned for him for a couple of other shows of his over the years. And not gotten anything but had gotten really close - down to the final two girls a couple times. I think he appreciated that I came in and did a good job and I was someone he could take to the network to say, "I like this girl" and they'd say "Ick, we don't." But he needed someone to bring.
So, after Less Than Perfect was canceled, he called me personally and said "I want to talk to you about doing something on Two and a Half Men, will you come in?" And I said, "Absolutely!" and went into his office where he pitched me the idea for the character, the part of the pregnant daughter. And he was like, "Would you play pregnant?" And I said, "Oh my god, yes!" How fun is that? So we shot that episode and at the end, he said, "Do you want to come back and do another one?" And I said, "Yes!" So we shot another one after she had the baby and she is kind of a little bit of a trashier character which is really fun for me.
Then I got a call to do an arc on Big Bang. What's funny is that normally I'd need to see a script and know what I was doing but with Chuck Lorre, I don't need to see anything because I know how good he is. And I just trust that it's going to be good, and it always is. Wherever he wants me to go, I will follow. I feel so honored that he calls me in to work for him.
Do you remember much about working on Roseanne? Didn't you play a younger version of her?
To be honest, it was all of twenty years ago and I don't remember. It was a week and I flew in from New York. When you're a kid, you remember the longer experiences.
I read that you're involved in developing a Teen Social Networking Thriller. Can you talk about the project at all?
Sure. I was working on a pilot called Spaced, which is the American version of the Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright show. We had shot the pilot and it was really good and we had taken a lot of flack because fans didn't want it be remade. Simon Pegg said he wasn't involved in the creative process, which of course as an actor, I didn't know any of that when I got the job. All I knew was that the script was really funny and it was a cool idea. In watching the original show, I thought it was so brilliant, I hope that we could do it justice. But anyway, we had made the pilot and I thought it had turned out well but we didn't get a pick-up.
The producer, Robert Green, and I decided to get drinks to commiserate not getting picked up and I was talking about just having joined Facebook. I started saying that it's actually pretty scary because if you don't know what you're doing and you don't set your privacy settings correctly, it's kind of a dangerous thing. The idea for the movie came from that. And then we attached a writer, took it around town and pitched it and Dimension liked the pitch. So now our writer is furiously working away on a second draft andwe'll turn it in and hopefully Bob Weinstein will like it.
Would you ever consider developing your own sitcom to star in?
Yeah, definitely. I would love to do that. It would really require finding - I think in the sitcom world, the writer is sort of the sun of that universe. It would have to be with the perfect writer. Because if you have a creator with a strong vision and a funny sensibility and someone who is willing to fight for what want it to be, then it's really a simple process. Chuck Lorre is one of them. He is really a genius and I think it would be such an honor. I think maybe after Eastwick, returning to sitcom would be exciting for me.
So you've done TV, film and guest arcs. You've said that you really love sitcoms, but when does acting feel like the most work for you?
Honestly, acting is the most work when you're unemployed. For me, the actual acting part is never hard. It's the politics and basically everything around the acting that is difficult. Sometimes it's dealing with different personalities that maybe you don't click with, or playing the game, or going to parties. I don't know, that's all stuff that is really hard for me. The stuff that's easy is from the time they yell action to cut. That's what I really love. It's the business side that's hard for me.
Does that change once you've carried your own sitcom though?
I don't know. I have to say it's been an interesting experience playing a supporting role again, because after doing Less Than Perfect when all of the responsibilities were on my shoulders in the way, traveling and doing press on weekends, it was a big responsibility. It's been a totally different kind of experience doing Eastwick because until the show aired, no one really knew I was on it. I'm kind of only required to show up and act, which I love, but at the same time, I must say that I really love feeling like a part of something and feeling like it's a team effort.
Well I'd love to see you with your own sitcom again, maybe working with Andy Dick. I watched the episode of his web series you guys did together. Was that staged?
Doing Andy's show is like doing performance art. It's 80% planned but there are moments where you kind of don't know what is going to happen. The thing about Andy, what he thinks is hysterical is and it kind of is, is that I'm a good girl. I don't really do anything too bad. I'm pretty normal. He of course, in his life, has been kind of the opposite representation of that image. So he loves that we're actually friends and that people find it appalling when he is rude to me. Which I also think is funny too so he said, "Ok, we're going to do this thing and I'm going to be really angry that you're working and I'm not and we're going to talk about it. I haven't had that many women on so I'm just going to sexually harass you."
That's pretty much where we went and we shot it a couple times and the walking out was 95% part of the bit and also 5% "Ugh, I have to get out of here." I adore Andy, and I'm super proud of him. He's done really well and he's been sober for a long time now. He's really cleaning it up and taking responsibility for his actions. He has one of the best hearts of everyone that I've ever worked with. I thought it was hysterical. I would love to go on again.