November 17, 2025 • 50 mins
Melissa Joan Hart joins Oliver for a hilarious and heartwarming chat that swings from childhood crush confessions to behind-the-scenes shenanigans. She spills stories from her Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina days and dishes on working with Oliver and his son Wilder in A Merry Little Ex-Mas.
It’s nostalgia, mischief, and major holiday spirit all wrapped up in one cozy little package - just like Melissa herself!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I am Kate Hudson and my name is Oliver Hudson.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
We wanted to do something that highlighted our relationship.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And what it's like to be siblings. We are a sibling. Railvalry.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
No, no, sibling, don't do that with your mouth, sib revelry.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
That's good. I just got off my peloton. My mom
major health kick. I'm just trying for seven days a
week of cardio, forty five minutes a day, five days
of weights. My man David Allen Nutritions hooking me up
(00:55):
with supplements. I did blood work, I did stool samples,
I did spit, I did piss, I did it all.
Peptides are coming my way. I'm just trying to get
after it. Forty nine, moving into fifty. I think it's
time to see what I'm capable of, you know, instead
of this back and forth trying to be fifth and
just going on benders and eating shitty and drinking too much.
(01:19):
I'll never give up some of my vices, because that's
who i am. But it's time. So the peloton. My
boy Steve Zim is pumping me. I just iron pumps
all over the place. I'm gonna get I'm gonna go
get this body scan, this full body scan, m or
I think at this place called Corveta. I'm just I
(01:39):
just gotta get it. I gotta get it going anyway.
I'm all sweaty, and I'm I've been leaving my lady
in the waiting room very excited to talk to her.
Not that I haven't talked to her a ton in
the last year. We've known each other for a long
ass time. I'm pretty sure she had a crush on me.
(02:03):
We're going to get into that first off. And we
did a little bit of a and we did a
little movie together that she produced, and she stars in
Merry Little X Miss Sorry on Netflix. Check it out.
And it's a very sweet Christmas movie. Myself and Lisa
Silverstone and my son Wilder Hudson is in it as well.
(02:29):
But let's bring her in. Let's bring in Melissa Joan Hart.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Right, how are you?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I just got off my peloton.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I was like, did you just wake up?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Are you crazy? Of kids? You know, you wake up
at fucking six am, even when they're older. Now you
just wake up?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I oh, and you wake up earlier for some reason. Yeah,
I'm in La. I just flew in last night. So
we woke up at like four am and like my
husband came with me for the screen tonight.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
So I have fun. Were you in Nashville's Nashville?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
We were in Nashville. We came here. Then I got
to go to New York, Philly in New Jersey in
the next few days.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
So we're really yeah, work a.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Little bit of all of it. We're going to an
Eagles game. I gotta go to do some press next
week for not only our movie, but also for some
brand stuff that I'm and some charity stuff and cool.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I'm heading to New York tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Okay, I'll probably just miss each other.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I know, I know. Well, thanks for coming on. We
know each other for a minute now. Yeah, and let's
first talk about the crush that you had on me.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Oh, just right in, just right in, no segue, no.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Easy, you know, no of course not of course not no.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Well, I was going to say it's all because of
your charm, but I feel like that intro was, uh
was lacking a little.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
We just jump we just jump right in.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
So it was right around here where I am on
Sunset Boulevard, I believe, where we ran into each other
at a few clubs, and I don't know how we
first met, but I remember there was like at least
one time when you were there and I had already
met you, so I felt comfortable enough going up and
saying Hi. It was so weird because I'm not I
talk a lot, I don't get shy, I don't not
(04:15):
have the words to say, and there was something you
just like I don't know, you like looked at me
and I said something ridiculous and then I like backed
it up with something more. I wish I remember what
I said, but it's one of those moments where you're
like I put my foot in my mouth and made
an absolutely ridiculous comment that didn't even make sense, and
then backed it was something more ridiculous, and I was
so embarrassed, and I felt like I couldn't recover and
(04:35):
I just like walked away horrified. And ever since then,
I've been like, oh my god, what is it about
you that made me like get tongue tied and like weird.
Like my brain just rotted for a second.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
And I missed those days.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
It was so funny, and I was so nervous working
with you on this because I was like I think.
I even told my hairdresser. I was like, I don't
know what I'm going to say to him, Like the
last thing I said to him was absolute ridiculous. Maybe
he remembers what it was, being actually fool of myself.
I hope he doesn't remember, but he might. And then
if he does, and I like, what if it happens again,
then I can't talk to him on set.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Funny, and then you realize that an idiot I am,
and then you're perfect, Well, this is fun. I'm so
excited for this movie that we got to do together. Yeah,
it was such a blast working with my son especially
and seeing everyone just recently again you know for press.
(05:29):
Truly what a what a fun ass time we had,
I mean really really, really really fun.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Well, it was so exciting to see you on set.
I've told some reporters this so far, and I'll continue
to praise you as far as like your son, and like,
watching you be a stage dad was so like, I
mean that if if women like you know, fall down
at your knees and get silly around you already, like
just watching you be a good dad is even sexier.
(05:56):
And then like watching you like be a stage dad
and like being nervous for your son but that want
to help him, and like I remember you in your
big puffy coat on set being like I just have
to be like I don't even work today, I just
have to be here because a wilder and yeah, you
know in that moment of like, because I know I
would be the same way if my kids were on
set without me, Like.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Oh yeah, my our first day of work, I wasn't working,
but I was his chaperone and father, you know, which
was so trippy. It was so crazy that you've never yeah,
and we've been doing this for so long, you especially,
you know you've been acting long before me. But to
watch your kid sort of you know, immerse himself for herself,
(06:37):
whoever it is, into your world. Yeah, whatever occupation that
you're in, and if you take pride in what you do,
and then your child, your kid is now there with
you on set and doing it. You have these moments
where you get introspective and you're looking at your boy
in my situation and you're like, I can't believe this
(06:58):
is happening, and you completely get filled with emotion. You
know that happens so much so that alone, I mean,
was just so special for me because who knows that
that will ever happen again, you know, And.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I was asking I remember asking you because I was
thinking put myself in your shoes. Like my kids have
been on set with me for like little tiny parts
on my TV show or something when we needed a
baby or a little kid to run through or someone
to say one line. But I'd never been on a
set where my kid was working really without me in
a sense, like like on their own. And I remember
(07:30):
asking you, like, you know, is this something you want
for it? Because I feel like in my case, I
would be like flu like frustrated between like should my
kid be doing this or should they not? Like I
know that in your case, it's like you guys are
like legacy, Like there's a lot of legacy there, But
I feel like I don't know, Like I would feel
like i'd be like torn between, like yeah, they're really
good at it, but I don't want them to go
(07:51):
down this road. And I remember asking me, You're like, no,
this is what he wants. So do you still feel
that way?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It is a great question, you know, because it's a
relevant question. My mom with my sister was not going
to let her do anything in film or TV until
she finished high school and was eighteen. She could do
plays and she could you know, work on her craft
and do all that. And believe me, she was offered
(08:17):
a lot of opportunities in that time. But I think
instinctively Mom kind of knew that, you know what the
risk reward there, let's just hold off. And I always
thought the same thing. But I do think it's child
to child. Yeah, Wilder had this opportunity. He's seventeen, he
(08:38):
was mature. I felt like, first of all, there was
no chance he was going to get the gig because
he had never auditioned. I'm just do this audition for experience.
He ended up getting having this opportunity to do it,
and he did it, and it was okay because I
didn't think I knew as the kind of person that
he is. He's not going to go off the rails.
(09:00):
He's not all of a sudden going to get green
Dollar signed contacts and Bleach's hair blonde and start flipping
off the world, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Wait, did I not see that on Instagram last night?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah? Well yeah, it's coming. But even body, my middle one,
when he was ten, he did a pilot with me,
you know, as a series regular, and it was kind
of the same thing, and I was going away against
what I thought how I thought I would parent my
kids as far as this industry goes. Now that being said,
my little baby go Rio. There's a little bit of
(09:31):
a different thing with her, you know, at least that's
what I'm feeling, you know. I mean, she did this
red carpet for Happy Gilmour two with me, and it
was she like blew up, not blew up, but in
a sense. You know, I was getting calls because she's
on thing. She looked beautiful and she was so full
of personality. And we get calls from you know, various
(09:52):
big age, big companies to like being commercials and model
and one was a movie to like potentially you know,
play Lolita or some shit. And I'm like, okay, no,
this is not happening. We're slowing this way down. Didn't
even tell her about it, you know, but she is twelve, yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, and that's the age when they start to want
it right. And I feel like, I'm with you.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
And how old were you, by the way.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Well, I was four when I started. But we didn't know,
we didn't know what the industry was like, we didn't
know what it was.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
My mom.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
So my story starts with Romper Room. Do you remember
the show Romper Room when we were kids.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Oh yes, Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
And miss Marianne I think her name was had the
Magic Mirror and at the end she would say the names,
and she never said Melissa. It wasn't a popular name.
So I did the math. I was about four years
old and I did the math and I went, Oh,
she's saying the names of the kids that are sitting
in front of her. I need to get on that show.
So she'll say Melissa in the mirror like for all Melisses.
Like I need to do this for all Melissa's right, right.
(10:54):
And I told my mom, I said I need to
be on TV. And someone in our community I just
booked their daughter on a commercial or modeling or something,
had an agent, so my mom called them. They told
him the agent's number. I went and I went on
an audition. And my mom will tell you. My mom,
who also produced our movie, Paula, will tell you that
I that we went on the audition. We drove from
(11:16):
Long Island to New York City and could barely afford
the tunnel fee and like the gas to get to
the city and parking and like went to the audition
and they called and said, okay, we need her to
come back for a callback, which we didn't know what
that was, but call back, come in the city again.
My Mom's like okay. Then they called and said okay,
she booked the commercial and Mom said, I'm sorry, I
can't afford to get her back to the city, like,
I can't keep doing this, and they were like, no, no, no,
(11:38):
you're gonna get paid now she got the job. She
was like, oh, okay, so someone will pay for my
gas when I get there. So we went and I
booked the audition. I booked my first, third, and fifth audition,
and the next thing I know, I was doing national commercials.
And you know, my dad made me a bet. At
one point, I said I wanted a clubhouse. He was
in construction at the time, and I was like, I
want a clubhouse, and he goes, I'll build you a
(12:00):
clubhouse when you get two national commercials. He thought it
would take me a year or two to do it.
I did it within a month.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah, it was like he.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Had to build me a clubhouse. It still stands today. No,
that clubhouse still stands. It stood through numerous hurricanes. My
dad did a good job.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
So it was sort of an accident that we got
into it and didn't really know what it was. It's
just that I took to it. I liked it, it
liked me.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
So this whole career, this whole career, if you're stemmed
from you wanting Melissa's to be more recognized.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Across Melissa to be more popular, right.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
That's it. What do you think? What do you think
it was? And is about you that sort of you know,
made it not so difficult to get these commercials. I mean,
were you just big and bubbly? You know you have
you know, you obviously have a big personality normally, I mean,
is this who you were?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
I was fearless. I was fearless, I was shameless. I
would do anything I loved entertaining, you know, people came over,
I would do shows. I couldn't sing, although I'd pretend
I could love to dance. I actually really wanted to
be a dancer. That was sort of like where what
I really wanted to do was dance. So everything I did,
even like down to the fact that I couldn't afford
all the ballet class classes I wanted to take at
(13:11):
our little studio. I ended up student teaching on Saturdays.
I would student teach four classes at the age of eleven,
I think I was student teaching four classes for little, tiny,
tiny kids, teaching them ballet and tap so that I
could then get a free Monday point class. So that
was like I was like bartering at like ten to
eleven years old to try to have a job, to
(13:32):
try to pay for my classes so I could take
I could keep dancing. But then Clarissa came along. When
I was thirteen, I was doing Broadway. I did a
lot of off Boat you did, Yeah, I did. I
was the youngest member of the Circle Repertory Company, and
I did plays with I mean Joe Mantello's first play,
written by Peter Hedges. It was a monolog I did
on stage. And that job the producer of Clarissa heard
(13:54):
about from his veterinarian who suggested me for the role
of Clarissa. He would not see a blonde for the
role of Larissa, and so the veterinarian recommended me to
the producer, and then that guy let me audition the
producer let me audition. I auditioned three times. He really
didn't want a blonde. He let me audition three times,
and then the third time I got the job. And
now I was off in Orlando doing a series.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
So wow, how old were you then?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I was thirteen when we started the series. I think
it was twelve when did the pilot.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
So was that your first sort of break in television.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
No, I'd already been on Saturday Night Live three times.
I'd already done the Equalizer. I was known as the
Rice Crispies girl. I was doing Arnold's bread commercial. I
had done one hundred and fifty commercials at that point,
one hundred fifty commercials that paid for my clubhouse.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Wait a minute, Wait a minute. I mean, especially back then,
commercials were a big deal. Like you get national, we
get paid. He just get those residuals kept rolling in.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I think I got paid probably more for national commercials
than I did for Clarissa, and it ended up paying
for my college.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Do you think your parents ever stole your money from you?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
No, not stole, no, but I think that we did need.
The supplemental income was helpful.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
They never skimmed a little bit.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Like, no, you know what I think we did.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
We did. I'm only asking because you know, Wilder made
some decent money for him and I'm like, he'll never know.
I just took half of it.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Nice. This is why we have Coogan accounts now. And
just like you know, we were a family of five
kids at the time. There more that came later, but
a family of five living in a house my dad
built at the end of a cul de sac at
a long island. And like my dad was a fisherman
and my mom was a stay at home mom now
(15:47):
taking kids to the city for auditions, and all the
auditions didn't pay well, and going to New York City
was expensive, and five kids and whatnot. So I think that,
like a lot of the time, it sort of balanced
itself out of like getting the job paid for you.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Know, yeah, no, for sure. Well let's go back into
your family a little bit, like where did you grow up?
Talk about your siblings as well, how did you you
know what was the vibe like, oh.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
I understand sibling revelry.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sure, I mean because you
have different sets of siblings, But did you was it
a very strict house? Was it free wheeling, you know,
were you on your own what was the vibe.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
My parents were hippies, ye grow in their own garden.
My mom would go get goat's milk for my sister
because she had allergies. I was the oldest I remember.
I remember like our old condu. We had like a
little condo thing, and I would ride my hot wheels
with a boy named Jeremy all around the complex. They
were the kind of hippies that had the beads hanging
in the you know, a bead curtain. And then when
(16:44):
we when we bought our house and my dad did renovation,
he went from being a clammer. He was he was
working in clams, and my mom will not eat clams
to this day because I think for like a year
straight all they ate was clams. Oh my god, and
so but I love clams. But my dad was a
clam breader, and then he became a construction then he
started his own construction company, and then he went to
a lobster wholesaler, and now he's an oyster farmer with
(17:06):
my sister.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I know that's cool too. By the way, this I
all love this shit because you know how much I've
talked about I've told you how much I fish. I
was fishing two days ago. I love the ocean. So
you know, that's like the coolest job. Someone who breeds
clams and is a lobster wholesaler and is actually now
breeding oysters.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
I'll put you on my sister's Instagram. Hers is really
interesting for a woman who was uneducated as a marine biologist,
she is a marine biologist.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
It's insane.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
She can grow her own the way she grows algae
and kelp and to feed the oysters and in the
off season, it's it's it's wonderful and insane. But what's
really cool is I just did this. I'm working with
ancestry dot com right now. And what I found out
was that the heart side of the family has gone
back to the like further than the seventeen hundreds in
north the north shore of Long Island as shipbuilders and
(17:54):
like marine people. Wow, And that's what my family still do.
My uncle's a shipbuilder, my cousin's ship builder. Like it's
like they're welders that you know. They my dad and
his brother have a marina and like that's what we do.
And I didn't realize that it goes back to like
Moses brush Heart from the seventeen hundreds, you know, and
the ones that came over from Ireland and that, but
(18:15):
but went from Sicily to Ireland and over, like it's
so wild, Like I didn't really realize my grandfather was
deployed during World War Two till I saw his mustard
report on his ship, so it was it's been really wild. Wow, Yeah,
it sounds like something you would like. So but back
to the siblings. The yeah, oldest of the original five,
which are from mom and dad, and we were raised
in a small house in Long Island on the wrong
(18:37):
side of the tracks, right near the train and you know,
I walked to school every day from kindergarten on and
then I went. I lived in that house in that
town until ninth grade. And that's when I got clarisse
expoints at all and had to go to Orlando to
shoot and my parents got divorced. My mom moved to
the city with the five of us, and I mean
we were spending our weekends on Long Island and weekdays
(19:00):
in New York. And I started going to professional Children's
School by tenth grade, which was like where Sarah Michelle Geller,
Jerry O'Connell Reid, like mcaulay culkin. We all went to
the school. I wasn't there a lot because I was
in Orlando most of the time, so I was in
and out of school. I got in some trouble with
Tara Reid. Some of my friends liked to smoke on
(19:21):
the church steps and I would just go with them.
I didn't smoke at the time, but I would go.
And so, yeah, I got busted a few times for
doing things that I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Doing right, just guilty by association.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah. Then eleven to twelfth grade, I ended up being tutored.
And then my mom remarried and had two girls in
the city, and then my dad remarried and had another
daughter out in Long Island. And when I was nineteen,
we found my mom was handed the comic book of
Sabrina and the Teenage Witch on a playground in New
York City and was like, this would be a great
project for Melissa. So she went to Archie Comics, bought
it for a dollar, sold it to Showtime as a movie,
(19:54):
cut a trailer together when she was editing the movie,
and pitched it out as a series. Got three in
the room offers for the series. Wow, and then we
moved to.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
La That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
She was pregnant with her seventh at that point.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
That is insane. So you have a real blended mixed
family like that. So with the original five, what was it?
Did everyone get along? Was her rivalries? Was there in fighting.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
So my sister, who's two years younger than me, she
and I were super close. The third sister was a
little quiet growing up and always kind of did her
own thing in a way, especially when she got older.
She's the one who's the oyster farmer. But Tricia and
I were very close. And Tricia and I both were
big hams and we liked to we were the actors.
But a lot of the time in the auditions, I
would book it and she wouldn't. Did do one tile
(20:44):
and all commercial together, and we did did a few
other things. I did it like a Jello pudding commercial
with Bill Cosby, and my sister was like my backup,
so so you know, and she was working here and there,
but not as much as I was, and so she
kind of designated her own thing. She ended up going
to the Bronx High School of Science and she became
the smart one. I was the talent, wanted one. Lizzie
(21:06):
I think she's like self titled herself the weird one. Emily,
my mom I think called her the pretty one. And
then my brother, of course, was the boy. So it
was like we all had like our lane.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Wow. But was there jealousy there because you were sort
of booking and she wasn't.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
No, No, you'd have to ask her. I think she would
say no. I think that she decided she needed to
find her own path and academics were her thing. That's
what she wanted to excel at. She wanted to be
the smart one. She wanted to learn and absorb it all.
And she was the first one in our family to
go to college all the way through. I went to
NYU but never graduated, So she was the first one
(21:45):
to go all the way through. And she's still no.
My sister Emily, the fifth one, she also went all
the way through college and so and then I have
two that are still in college. They still they're like
on their third masters. But yeah, So Tricia was like
the one who wanted to be the smart one, and
she became a school teacher in New York City and
so she took academics very seriously and that became her path.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
So when did you move to La? When did that happen?
Speaker 3 (22:12):
That was only with Sabrina, So Sabrina, we didn't even
do a pilot, right, we just went right to series.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
How old were you? I was twenty because you're twenty
of the oldest.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
That means I was never a teenager playing a teenager, which.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I know exactly. Did your whole family move out?
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Pretty much? My mom took all yeah, all five?
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So what was that like? I mean, that's uprooting obviously,
and it's because of you. And was there any kind
of well, I don't want to fucking leave, you know,
I mean, this is my home, this is Melissa's thing.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
We'd been moved around a little bit because we'd already
moved to men when I was twelve, so they were ten, eight,
four and two, So we moved to Manhattan. Then when
my mom remarried, we moved to Jersey for like two years,
and then we moved to LA. So I feel like
we had been kind of kind of moved around. But
we also kept our house in Jersey, so we sort
(23:17):
of had that. My dad still lived in my childhood home,
so we still had that. So we still had like
these roots, but all five of us moved to la
and at first, I think we all really liked it.
You know, we for the first time making real money,
and I had my own apartment, I got a BMW,
I went. I had a chief at Toyota before that,
and now I had a a red BMW convertible driving
down Laurel Canyon, you know, and I my boyfriend at
(23:41):
the time, was like, you have to if you're gonna
have a BMW, you have to have a stick shift,
you know. So I'm learning stick on all these freaking canyons.
And then they all were kind of happy out here
in school for a little while, and then kind of
one by one they all moved back east. So whether
it is yeah, whether it was like you know, they
just kind of were, we all liked it out here
(24:03):
at first. I think the weather. I think the excitement
of LA. I think the fact that we had my
mom had bought this or rented a big house, and
I was in my own condo, and you know, we're
kind of like living this life. And I'm in an
adult now so I don't have to go to school,
and I'm like, you know, when I worked Before it
was always balancing school and work, which was really really difficult.
(24:24):
So this is now a time when I can just work,
and I also am in scenes. The difference between my
show Clarissa and my show Sabrina, which I'm going to
assume people have not seen Clarissa, is I'm giving like
four page monologues four times an episode, so I would
have to start learning those on Sunday to deliver on Wednesday.
We would shoot our show. We'd rehearse Monday Tuesday, and
(24:44):
we'd shoot our show Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. But that was Clarissa,
and I mean I was learning these lines. These scenes
were ten pages long as we shot them like they
were live television. We only had We had four cameras
and only one was isolated, which means only one was
recording the whole time. So if the switcher or the
director and switch at the right time, we had to
redo the whole scene and it would be ten page
scenes of like me and another person. So it was
(25:05):
like back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
And sometimes I turn to the camera and give.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
A full monologue to the camera.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Yeah, and I'm also in high school and I'm doing
the SATs and I'm applying to college and it was
just overwhelming.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Well wait, hold on, let's go back Clarissa. I I
what was Clozra about. I don't even know.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Clarissa was a show on Nickelodeon. Was one of the
first kind of sitcom shows, Nicole that wasn't like a
game show, and it was about a girl and her
sibling rivalry with her brother. In fact, I had to
say the word sibling rivalry so many times. There were
so many bloopers. It was in the middle of a
monologue and I would say sibling rivalry every single freaking take,
and I'd have to go back and start the whole
(25:43):
four page monologue again. So there's like me cursing and
looking at the script supervisor going, yeah, sibling rivalry, sibling rivalry.
I can say it. I just can't say it when
I had to say it in the script. It was
a lot and it was a lot of pressure, but
it it taught me a lot. And then I go
to do Sabrina right, yeah, yeah, and I'm twenty and
I don't have high school and I'm in like two
page scenes with five people and I have to deliver
(26:05):
three lines and I was like, this is freaking awesome,
and I like, I can wait for some other people
to say some stuff. I enter late, I come into
the room and I say two lines and I leave,
and like, what is this magic? What is this wonderfulness?
And I can go out at night, have two Gin
and Tonics at Dublins, and then head back to work
at five am.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Great Dublins, Dublins, Dublins.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
I'm like right next door to it right now.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
That's so funny. It's still easy to get caught up
in the whole la scene. But you were in it,
but you were moderate, right you You really like kept
it together.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I mean, i'd like to think so we didn't have
social media to say differently, but yeah, but I think
being the oldest of so many siblings, I was so responsible,
Like I was, you know, changing diapers from the time
I was four years old. You know, like I feel
like I always wanted them to look at me. I
didn't want to do anything that would embarrass them or
hurt them or you know. So even when I did
(27:02):
Maxim magazine once and my brother was pretty young, he
was like in middle school or high school, and I
did Maxim magazine and he and my father were both
being tortured by people at work. Go and look at
your daughter, look a look at your sister. And then
Playboy magazine came and asked me to do something and
I was like, I can't do it. I can't do it,
and they offered me a lot of money, and I
was like, I can't do it because I don't want
(27:24):
my brother to be hurt by that, like the last
thing he needs. He's already getting tortured by me and underwear,
let alone completely. And I would have been willing to
do it because I was like, I'm not ashamed of
my body. I'm proud of my body. I'm fine with that.
But then I'm really glad I didn't because now I
have three boys and I don't need those images out
there for them, I know, I know, so kind of
(27:47):
happy I made that choice for my brother, which then
also translates to my children. And I always kind of
knew that that would be a correlation that someday I
would have children that would you know, what do I
want them to see? And I kind of played that
through my siblings' eyes, so, you know, I feel like
I also was raised by these hippie parents who were
growing their own pot in the garden, and my mom
once told me, she was like, you know, I did
all the drugs. You don't have to. They're that they're
(28:09):
not worth it. And I was like, okay, great, that
sounds like I like that, Like I take your word
for that. I don't need it. And I was sort
of like I trusted my mom. We had a really
good because we were only nineteen years apart, and I
feel like, you know, there's this well almost exactly twenty
years apart, and I'm like there was this like kind
of raising each other in a way of like she
took me out to dance clubs all the time, but
I wasn't allowed to drink, and you know, she we'd
(28:32):
go to all these clubs in New York and LA
and you know, and we would party together and we
would go on especially once we started doing Sabrina. We
we would go out to like Paris for a girl's
weekend with all my sisters and do these fun things.
But it was never it was never it was never
surrounded by like drugs and alcohol. It was like, let's
go dance, let's go have fun. You know. It wasn't
(28:52):
about spending money. It wasn't about fame. It wasn't about
any of that like for me. And that's why I think,
like going back to like our kids being in the industry,
For me, I know that my kids only the only
time they've ever expressed interest in the industry is when
they think it's going to make them rich and famous.
And I'm reading Matthew Perry's book right now, and I'm like,
that's all he wanted was to be famous, right, and
(29:13):
it caused so many of his problem Like he's very
insecure and he just wanted fame. And I'm like, if
you're just reaching for fame, that's not the right reason
to do this. Because he comes and it goes, and
it comes and it goes and it comes and it goes,
and you got to ride that ride and people love
you and they hate you, and you have to figure
out what you believe. Like I feel like I always
felt like if I believe the good stuff that people
(29:34):
say about me, then I have to believe the bad
stuff too. So I just choose not to listen to
compliments or you know, or any kind of like bad stuff.
I just I just try to gauge and the character
Clarissa that show was really helpful in she was like
a nonconformist, tough girl who did the right thing, but
also what she wanted to do was very strong and passionate.
(29:56):
And it taught me at a young age that I
could be that way, that I could hold to my
beliefs and my values and not and kind of be
unapologetic about it, but also be kind and gracious to everybody.
Like mm hmmm, So yeah, that's what I wanted, you know,
And that's that's what I and that's what I want
for my kids.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
It was fun to watch you work because you had
to wear two hats in this movie that we did,
you know, where the actor and doing your shit there
and then the producer where sometimes it was like hold
on you guys, no, this is not happening. We need
to do this, this, and this, you know, and you
showed your power and in a good way, and you
(30:34):
had to put that hat on. Yeah. I was like, oh,
that's a tricky one because you don't want to alienate
yourself from anybody because you are part of the crew,
part of the acting, part of the troop. At the
same time you're like, you, guys, we got to speed
this shit up. Like, come on, let's go.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
There was I mean, I I got into directing and
producing a little bit, but especially directing for efficiency, and
it makes me crazy when things aren't efficient, and because
this industry can be so wasteful in time and money
in everything, and so I really try to look at
that and make sure we're using our time the best
of our ability and getting the best story. And it
(31:14):
was really tricky. This is the first time I've really
kind of just produced something and wasn't number one on
the call sheet or wasn't direct. So I felt like
I was like, how much am I allowed to say?
How much am I allowed to influence? How much am
I allowed to you know, like, or how much do
I want it? How much? You know, when will people
just shut me down and not listen? So I tried
to pick my battles, but it was a tough one.
It was hard to know that balance for sure.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah, how did you deal with fame? Did you give
a shit about it? Or were you like whatever? Or
I you know, I mean at such a young.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Age, you know, what I liked was getting into the
clubs right in my early twenties, Like being able to
walk in the club.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yeah, like that was.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
The only place I really saw it, or getting to
go to premiers, like when Romeo and Juliette came out
and we were just in our first season A Sabrina,
I was like, can I go to that? One of
my co stars was like she had lived in la
and she was like, I want to go to that premiere.
Can you ask for publicist? I was like, oh, is
that something we can do? And I was like, Hey,
can we go to see Romeo and juliet And they
were like, yeah, sure, you want tickets. I was like, oh,
I can go see any movie I want, like with
the stars of the movie. That's fun. So I would
(32:13):
use it for that. In Disney World like that was
where I used my fame, right and getting some cool
clothes yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah yeah, and then just the recognition, you know, street
recognition on that. Yeah you were cool, You're cool, you
were cool with all that. It never bothered you. It
was never kind of like god, like, I know, I
love being in this business, but this side of it,
I'm not. Don't love or you do love or you know.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
New York was like walk in the streets of New York.
When I was doing theater, nobody knew who I will
walk in the streets of New York. When I did Clarissa,
a few people would recognize me and I'd be like, oh,
you watch Nickelodeon. I'm sorry. Like I was actually like
kind of like embarrassed by that. But then because I'm like, oh,
I'm on a kids show. You know, I'm like sixteen seventeen,
and I'm like, I'm on a kids show. That's weird.
(32:57):
But then moving to LA I feel like nobody here
really unless you went to Rodeo or the Ivy or something,
you know, Like I feel like I was just with
everybody else, like I was constantly with the that seventies
show cast, or you know, I was kind of like
at events with other people that were you know, famous
(33:18):
also or more famous or you know. So I feel
like it was I still had a little bit of
imposter syndrome of like, will they let me in the
club tonight? I don't know. I never thought that the
show was as big as it was. Even though I
knew people liked it, I didn't know. I didn't know
what I had there.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Really, Yeah, how many how many seasons did it run?
Speaker 3 (33:42):
We did seven seasons on eight what we did four
seasons on ABC and three on wb.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Right and then so you were late twenties when it.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Ended, Yeah, twenty seven and married twenty seven, about to
be married. Then I started having babies in two thousand
and three, unmarried in two thousand and six and half
a baby. And as soon as he turns one, I
go to Canada and I do this movie called Holiday
and Handcuffs with Mario Lopez and it was a Christmas
movie for ABC Family and it was one of the first,
I want to say, the first Christmas TV movie, and
(34:15):
it was such a huge success. I still get told
all the time that it's like the number one It
was for many many years the number one rated Christmas
TV movie, and for like probably a decade, And it
kind of started the genre of Christmas movies that then
became Hallmark in Lifefetime and ABC Family which still does
free Form and now Netflix now We're a movie, you know,
(34:36):
So it kind of launched this new genre of holiday movies.
But the thing about Holiday and Handcuffs is it was
really funny. It was like stupid funny, Like it's one
of the only things I will watch that I'm in
because it was just so ridiculous. I kidnapped Mario Lopez,
bring him out to a log cabin and try to
convince my family that he's my boyfriend. But he's not,
(34:58):
you know, but he doesn't know where he is. I've
taken his sell phone. He he doesn't know how to
get out of the cabin. And I basically kidnapped this guy.
And it's really cute, really sweet, really stupid, really funny,
and I just got to be over the top and
have so much fun with it. So then I wanted
to do another one, and I did one called My
Fake Fiance for ABC Family. And these are like big
money making movies. Yeah, yeah, you know now we do
(35:21):
them for like pennies, like compared to what. But then
I did a show because of the movie. I did
My Fake Fiance with Joey Lawrence. We decided to kind
of kind of riff off that and we did a
show called Melissa Joey on ABC Family for five years.
And in that time, I'm having babies. I have three
kids at this, you know, in the middle of Melissa
(35:41):
and Joey, I have my third baby. And yeah, and
I had so much fun with that show. But mean,
while I'm raising my kids in Connecticut, but shooting a
show in la and then when that ended, I took
a nice break, came back to Netflix for a show
called No Good Nick with Sean Aston and some incredible
young talent, and got to play the mom for the
(36:03):
first time ever. Wow, I know I was already like
forty two when I'm playing a mom for the first time.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Ah No, but you've always been that, like a hustler,
just meaning like just keep hustling it up, but also
having babies doing your thing at the same time. I mean,
that's such a huge sacrifice. I guess you we as actors,
(36:32):
do have to make. But you know what point is
it kind of not worth it where you are doing
me Listen and Joey, your kids are in Connecticut. You're
not seeing them as much as you know you should,
or being around as their mom. And it's like, you
know what, I'm okay with money, I got it, Everything's fine.
I need to be a fucking mother.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
It was really tough. It was a really tough decision.
But I thought we had just moved to Connecticut when
I did Dance with Stars and then we backed the
pilot onto that for Melissa and Joey and I was like,
but we still moved because I was like, who knows,
it's a pilot that's happening in December, it would go
next August. I'm not going to put all my eggs
in that basket. So we moved the family to Connecticut,
and I thought it was best for them to sleep
(37:12):
in their bed and go to school and have like
this is where their roots are. I'll bounce in and out.
I'll be sad, but they'll be okay. But now looking back, well,
and then I had my third baby and we all
moved back to LA for a little while. So we
moved back to LA for a few years. And then
when I was doing No Good Nick for Netflix, we
were living in our house in Lake Tahoe and I
was traveling back and forth. So there's been a lot
of like push and pull. But what I like about
this business for us is that and for my family
(37:36):
is that it's really like I can be all in
as a full time mom, and then I'm all in
as an actor when I leave and I go on
a project, like we're in Toronto for six weeks and
it's like I'm here, I'm in Toronto and I'm working
and then I go home. But there's an end in
sight too. I don't know if I do like a
job where it's like year after year going to the
same office, Like yeah, like the end of it, and
(37:56):
then I'm like full time mom. But I'm always looking
for the next thing. What's the next job? What am I?
But I'm enjoying my time at home and going to
every you know, class party or you know, getting them
ready for homecoming or all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Yeah. And I think setting an example for your kids
as well, you know, I think, you know, even subconsciously,
it's like, oh, yeah, mom's gone, but she's working, she's
doing her thing, and she comes back and she's present
and in love and it's you know, it's you know,
I think that's important as well.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Try I hope they notice it later on. I don't
know that teenage boys really get it yet.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Oh we oh my god, I know, we don't know.
Who knows. Hopefully they come around in their twenties and like,
I really have an epiphany. I realize how amazing you
really are. I know, I trust trust me, Like, where
is that kid that would not let me out of
his room because he wanted to cuddle so much?
Speaker 3 (38:49):
I know. My kid won't even sit on the same
couch with me. He's like, what are you doing? I'm like, dude,
there's like three spaces between. I said, here much football? No? No,
why did you say so clues? I mean I definitely
have pouties, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Well, and then it's like, you know what, five years
ago you were all over me. You were in my bed,
cuddling me, like don't leave and snuggled. What happened?
Speaker 3 (39:13):
This is what Mark and I had to recently come
to grips with. We were like, why am I like
needing you so much? More? Like why weren't we like
this before? Because now we're like holding hands all time,
we lean on each other, We're constantly all over each other,
and we're like, what changed in twenty two years of marriage?
And like, oh, the kids were all over us and
we were like ugh, like I need a little space,
(39:33):
And now we're like the kids don't want us anymore,
so we're like all over each other.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Yeah. No, I know it's so true. And all I
can do is hope that that shifts. I think it will.
Everyone says it does.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Because Wilder's your oldest right, Yeah, and he's he's I
see him like, I mean, I don't know if it
was only because on set he was like needed daddy,
but like.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Yeah, no, it's there, it's there, it's there.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
Yeh yeah. My nineteen year old is like all about
he's willing to hug me, tells me he loves me,
all those things again, right when the thirteen year old
is like uh ah, and I'm like, you were always
the one that told me you'd always love me, that
you were gonna marry me and all these things, and
he's like, what are you talking about? And they're all
taller than me, like my Christmas card. We just did
the pictures and like they're all five eight and above,
and I'm like, what has happened?
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Like that's so funny.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Oh god, I know it changes so quick, but like
I do, I do have to say, the nineteen year
old has come back around. The seventeen year old is
pretty sweet. He recognizes like sometimes he'll be like grossed
out by me, but then other times you'd like he'll
call me and be like sorry about that, I love
you like that.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Yeah. Yeah, of course, you just have to understand this
is what they are, what they're going through and they're individuating.
It's what we all did. Yeah, so how did you
get into producing?
Speaker 3 (40:46):
It was Sabrina. We got the comic book and brought it.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
To Oh, so you were a producer from that?
Speaker 3 (40:52):
From the producer from the time I was twenty yeah,
nineteen twenty and and then I was always just finding projects.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
What about these Christmas movies and stuff? Did you? Were
you able to produce those as well?
Speaker 3 (41:01):
So all of them just not Holiday and not the
first one Holiday and Handcuffs that when I was a h
actor for hire, but the rest of them we produced them.
That's the only way I really wanted to make those
Christmas movies was being in complete control, finding the project,
casting it and having fun with it that way, and
then directing, Like I directed a lot of Sabrina, but
it was really hard for me to get into directing
(41:24):
anything I wasn't in Like I could say, like the
very first Christmas movie I actually produced was because I
directed it, but I promised them I'd take a small
part in it, but I really wanted to be the director.
So I'll take a part in this, but I want
to be the director. And so that's how I started
directing Christmas movies, and then I directed Angelica Houston in
a remake of The Watcher in the Woods, which was
a Betty Davis scary movie from the eighties.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
It was a movie I loved. It. Took us seventeen
years to get the rights from Disney, and so then
when we did it, Angelica Houston played the part of
Betty Davis and we shot it in Wales and that
was wonderful. That was like twenty seventeen. And then in
like during COVID, I was directing three movies. That's and
then I started directing other people's television shows, which was
really fun. I was shooting, I was going back and
(42:06):
forth between multicam and single cam. I was doing Young Sheldon,
I was directing The Goldbergs, I was directing School, I
directed I Carly a few other Netflix of their family shows.
So I had so much fun, like twenty eighteen through
twenty twenty three directing a ton so great and so
(42:28):
that was really fun. And then the last three years, honestly,
I've been working on this movie. I'm Mary Little Xmas.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
Yeah, no, I know.
Speaker 3 (42:34):
I've spent the last like three years really hungering down
on this one. And some other projects I've got going on.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
I start.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
I transitioned from Christmas movies myself doing them, myself really
being in them, to doing true crime stuff. So that's
been really I never trusted myself with drama since my
Broadway days because I became a sitcom girl and so
I thought, you know, I don't like crying, I don't
feel like I'm good at this. Didn't trust myself with it,
(43:00):
especially when I did an episode of Law and Order
SVU and I was like, oh, I suck at this.
So I that's when I did Melissa and Joey. I
was like, I need more comedy in my life.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
I got to go back, how did you get this?
So the direct thing? Did you direct Sabrina? Was that
your first?
Speaker 3 (43:13):
Yeah? I got my DGA card on Sabrina. I did
some of our bigger episodes, like our Halloween episodes, in
our hundredth episode, and again going back to our earlier conversation,
was all about efficiency for me. I wanted to make
sure that show was so difficult because we did shoot it.
Like Clarissa, we rehearsed Monday Tuesday, and like a usual sitcomony,
we rehearsed for four days and shoot on the well,
(43:34):
shoot on the fourth and fifth we shot. We rehearsed
on Monday and did a run through. We rehearsed on
Tuesday and did a run through, and then we filmed Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
And those were long days because we had a lot
of scenes. We had a talking cat, so we had
live cats out amatronic cats. We had a ton of
special effects. Our special effects guy went off to do
Game of Thrones, and our makeup artist now does like
Stranger Things and Ryan Murphy and she's like this award winning,
(43:58):
most award winning makeup artist. So we had some incredible
crew on this show and we were able to pull
the show together. But it was we were all learning
on the job, Like all these special effects and all
this stuff was really complicated, and these seasoned directors would
come in and be like what do I do? And
I would oftentimes explain it to them, So then I
ended up being like, why don't I just direct it?
So luckily my mom, being my executive producer, was like,
(44:21):
I got you a DGA car. You're directing the next episode.
And I was like, uh okay. But I was protected
by my crew that I've been working with for a
few years, and I knew the characters and I was
there from the start and I knew what to do,
and everybody rallied around me, and it was an amazing
education and how to direct, and I just love with
it creatively. That feeds me more than acting. Like Sean Aston,
(44:44):
I'll tell you, like he calls actors meat puppets a
little bit like we do. The director tells us what
the script says we have to do and all this stuff.
But when you're directing, you read that script, you get
that vision, you make that come true. You know the
storyteller in a sense. And I really connect with that more.
And I was directing so much for a few years
that I would beg for I was like, I got
to make a Christmas movie in order to get my
union insurance, Like I got to I got to keep
(45:07):
my SAG insurance. So I need to like get an
acting job real quick and kind of pop off a
Christmas movie so I can keep directing. So yeah, it
was fun, though, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
What after what do you what do you do? What's next?
Speaker 3 (45:18):
Developing a few more, developing a Christmas movie right now,
developing a true crime movie, right now developing a sitcom
right now, So a bunch of stuff in the works
that hopefully we'll all sort of start to come to
fruition next year.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Hm.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
So I'm just you know, we're all kind of hunkering
down these holidays, and.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
You're happy on your path, meaning in ten years from now,
you want to just keep doing what you're doing, like
you have found your found your You've hit your stride.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
I feel like in the the New Yorker in me
is more about being a working actor and working in
this industry in any capacity. I'll do craft service like
I just love being a part of it, and I
love good but I'm also really enjoying like middle aged
life with my husband and my kids, and I don't
want to miss, you know, the all that, Like next year,
my son's going to beat my second son's going to
be a senior, and I want to go through all
(46:06):
that senior stuff with him, you know, I want to
be present for all that. I want to do big
vacations because I know time's coming where they're going to
have wives and children and they're not going to want
their mom and dad around. So I'm trying to really
soak all that in in the next few years. Yeah,
And I'm trying to just like really spend time with
my husband and and and you know, at the same
time get some passion projects going. I found some great
books that I've acquired, and you know, it's I have
(46:29):
a lot going on. You know what, We this industry
have so many things we throw at the wall and
see what's Yeah. Yeah, you never really know what's going
to work. But I have some passion projects that I'm
like deep into and I hope you know, come to fruition.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
But did you there are books you've read an option?
Speaker 3 (46:45):
Yeah, yeah, there's there's a few.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
That older books are newer books.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
No, newer books that are like, well newer books.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
I'm obsessed with reading lately, Like this whole year, I've
been Yeah, I've been reading, my face off, I'm just obsessed.
Speaker 3 (46:59):
Well, the ones I'm really into our sort of historical fiction.
Speaker 2 (47:02):
Yeah, taking some historical fiction.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
I just a little bit. Yeah, they're like murder mysteries
but sat in the past.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
Fun.
Speaker 3 (47:10):
Yeah, some fun stuff for sure.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
Fun. Well, Well, I'm gonna see you tonight, are we tonight?
Speaker 3 (47:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (47:16):
We're screening the movie.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
How many times have you watched it? Already is this
gonna be I haven't.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
I haven't really no, I mean I've well, you know,
like you said, you only watch that one movie that
you like. I hate fucking watching myself. It drives me crazy.
So I'm like, I'm not gonna watch it until i
have to watch it. You know. Wilder has been watching it,
and you know, he's like, oh god, you know, like
why I just said, buddy, you know, just get ready.
(47:42):
Watching yourself is no one really loves you.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Know.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
You're hearing your voice, You're looking at your hair, you're
looking at your clothes.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
Ah, why why did I do it that way?
Speaker 2 (47:53):
I look right right? And so it's like, just know
that you're gonna hate You're gonna hate yourself, you know,
but you'll get used to it. Yeah, and that's that,
you know. So I watched some of the scenes are
very cute, really sweet, They're really real. You know, you're
gonna love it.
Speaker 3 (48:08):
You're gonna love it. We're gonna watch it on the
big screen tonight. You're gonna love it. I think the
audience is gonna really love this one because you are
so incredibly charming in it. You and Alicia have amazing chemistry.
You and Jamila have amazing chemistry. Jamila is so funny Pureson,
like absolutely hilarious, and we just have some high jinks
that seriously ensue. So I mean, I think this is
(48:31):
gonna be a new classic Christmas movie for everybody. That's
what I really wanted to bring. Like, yeah, I was
a little sick of the vanilla sweet Christmas movies that
are out every year. They're the same, and I know
people like that. People want the predictability of Like I
want a happy ending. I you know, they're usually going
through something tough at the holidays. They're missing somebody there,
you know, they didn't get a paycheck this month, they
(48:51):
whatever it is that they're going through. I think the
Christmas movies are a safe place for them. But what
I miss about Christmas movies is the comedy. I miss
the Christmas Baking and Elf and Home Alone and and
that sort of fun natured movie. And I really wanted
to bring more of that back to a movie. And
so that's where this one came from. Like when Holly Hester,
the writer brought us she was a writer on Sabrina
(49:12):
and she brought us the script and I was like, oh,
this is fun, Like this is fun. And I also
love that it's not like your exes, but you're getting
along and the new girl comes in and she's not hated,
she's not awful, she's not the devil right, like we
don't want her out immediately, Like it's not like parent
trap where you're like, get her out right, I want her,
you know. Kate kind of falls in love with her
two and goes, oh, I see it, like she's really
(49:33):
she's fantastic, like you know, Pearson's fantastic, and you know,
everybody in this movie is very nice and fun to
be around. But who actually belongs together is?
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Yes, it's true. And when we were doing press, Jamila
was talking about that a lot, which is I love
that these aren't two women who are pitted against each other. Yeah,
you know, which is nice.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
It's not like a young, sexy one and then the
woman you know, mature who like you know, it's it's
really like they're both great, But who belongs together is
really the ultimate question? Like yes, yes, So I love
it for that and I think people will love it
and I'll.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
See it will I'll see you tonight. Bye. Oh, I'm jay,
I'm ja. She's done some shit, like you know, I mean,
you know, you get put in toll, a little bit
of Melissa Joan Hard and the Sabrina teenage witch and
blah blah blah, and that's who she's thought of. But
she's prolific. I mean she picks her lane and then
(50:30):
fucking pushes the gas down, pedal to the metal and
just rips it. Directed a ton of things, producing a
ton of things. Her mom, there's a boss, like you know,
pretty cool shit. Anyway, I'm gonna leave by a
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I am Kate Hudson and my name is Oliver Hudson.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
We wanted to do something that highlighted our relationship.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And what it's like to be siblings. We are a sibling. Railvalry.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
No, no, sibling, don't do that with your mouth, sib revelry.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
That's good. I just got off my peloton. My mom
major health kick. I'm just trying for seven days a
week of cardio, forty five minutes a day, five days
of weights. My man David Allen Nutritions hooking me up
(00:55):
with supplements. I did blood work, I did stool samples,
I did spit, I did piss, I did it all.
Peptides are coming my way. I'm just trying to get
after it. Forty nine, moving into fifty. I think it's
time to see what I'm capable of, you know, instead
of this back and forth trying to be fifth and
just going on benders and eating shitty and drinking too much.
(01:19):
I'll never give up some of my vices, because that's
who i am. But it's time. So the peloton. My
boy Steve Zim is pumping me. I just iron pumps
all over the place. I'm gonna get I'm gonna go
get this body scan, this full body scan, m or
I think at this place called Corveta. I'm just I
(01:39):
just gotta get it. I gotta get it going anyway.
I'm all sweaty, and I'm I've been leaving my lady
in the waiting room very excited to talk to her.
Not that I haven't talked to her a ton in
the last year. We've known each other for a long
ass time. I'm pretty sure she had a crush on me.
(02:03):
We're going to get into that first off. And we
did a little bit of a and we did a
little movie together that she produced, and she stars in
Merry Little X Miss Sorry on Netflix. Check it out.
And it's a very sweet Christmas movie. Myself and Lisa
Silverstone and my son Wilder Hudson is in it as well.
(02:29):
But let's bring her in. Let's bring in Melissa Joan Hart.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Right, how are you?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I just got off my peloton.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I was like, did you just wake up?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Are you crazy? Of kids? You know, you wake up
at fucking six am, even when they're older. Now you
just wake up?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I oh, and you wake up earlier for some reason. Yeah,
I'm in La. I just flew in last night. So
we woke up at like four am and like my
husband came with me for the screen tonight.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
So I have fun. Were you in Nashville's Nashville?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
We were in Nashville. We came here. Then I got
to go to New York, Philly in New Jersey in
the next few days.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
So we're really yeah, work a.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Little bit of all of it. We're going to an
Eagles game. I gotta go to do some press next
week for not only our movie, but also for some
brand stuff that I'm and some charity stuff and cool.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I'm heading to New York tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Okay, I'll probably just miss each other.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I know, I know. Well, thanks for coming on. We
know each other for a minute now. Yeah, and let's
first talk about the crush that you had on me.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Oh, just right in, just right in, no segue, no.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Easy, you know, no of course not of course not no.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Well, I was going to say it's all because of
your charm, but I feel like that intro was, uh
was lacking a little.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
We just jump we just jump right in.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
So it was right around here where I am on
Sunset Boulevard, I believe, where we ran into each other
at a few clubs, and I don't know how we
first met, but I remember there was like at least
one time when you were there and I had already
met you, so I felt comfortable enough going up and
saying Hi. It was so weird because I'm not I
talk a lot, I don't get shy, I don't not
(04:15):
have the words to say, and there was something you
just like I don't know, you like looked at me
and I said something ridiculous and then I like backed
it up with something more. I wish I remember what
I said, but it's one of those moments where you're
like I put my foot in my mouth and made
an absolutely ridiculous comment that didn't even make sense, and
then backed it was something more ridiculous, and I was
so embarrassed, and I felt like I couldn't recover and
(04:35):
I just like walked away horrified. And ever since then,
I've been like, oh my god, what is it about
you that made me like get tongue tied and like weird.
Like my brain just rotted for a second.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
And I missed those days.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
It was so funny, and I was so nervous working
with you on this because I was like I think.
I even told my hairdresser. I was like, I don't
know what I'm going to say to him, Like the
last thing I said to him was absolute ridiculous. Maybe
he remembers what it was, being actually fool of myself.
I hope he doesn't remember, but he might. And then
if he does, and I like, what if it happens again,
then I can't talk to him on set.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Funny, and then you realize that an idiot I am,
and then you're perfect, Well, this is fun. I'm so
excited for this movie that we got to do together. Yeah,
it was such a blast working with my son especially
and seeing everyone just recently again you know for press.
(05:29):
Truly what a what a fun ass time we had,
I mean really really, really really fun.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Well, it was so exciting to see you on set.
I've told some reporters this so far, and I'll continue
to praise you as far as like your son, and like,
watching you be a stage dad was so like, I
mean that if if women like you know, fall down
at your knees and get silly around you already, like
just watching you be a good dad is even sexier.
(05:56):
And then like watching you like be a stage dad
and like being nervous for your son but that want
to help him, and like I remember you in your
big puffy coat on set being like I just have
to be like I don't even work today, I just
have to be here because a wilder and yeah, you
know in that moment of like, because I know I
would be the same way if my kids were on
set without me, Like.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Oh yeah, my our first day of work, I wasn't working,
but I was his chaperone and father, you know, which
was so trippy. It was so crazy that you've never yeah,
and we've been doing this for so long, you especially,
you know you've been acting long before me. But to
watch your kid sort of you know, immerse himself for herself,
(06:37):
whoever it is, into your world. Yeah, whatever occupation that
you're in, and if you take pride in what you do,
and then your child, your kid is now there with
you on set and doing it. You have these moments
where you get introspective and you're looking at your boy
in my situation and you're like, I can't believe this
(06:58):
is happening, and you completely get filled with emotion. You
know that happens so much so that alone, I mean,
was just so special for me because who knows that
that will ever happen again, you know, And.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I was asking I remember asking you because I was
thinking put myself in your shoes. Like my kids have
been on set with me for like little tiny parts
on my TV show or something when we needed a
baby or a little kid to run through or someone
to say one line. But I'd never been on a
set where my kid was working really without me in
a sense, like like on their own. And I remember
(07:30):
asking you, like, you know, is this something you want
for it? Because I feel like in my case, I
would be like flu like frustrated between like should my
kid be doing this or should they not? Like I
know that in your case, it's like you guys are
like legacy, Like there's a lot of legacy there, But
I feel like I don't know, Like I would feel
like i'd be like torn between, like yeah, they're really
good at it, but I don't want them to go
(07:51):
down this road. And I remember asking me, You're like, no,
this is what he wants. So do you still feel
that way?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It is a great question, you know, because it's a
relevant question. My mom with my sister was not going
to let her do anything in film or TV until
she finished high school and was eighteen. She could do
plays and she could you know, work on her craft
and do all that. And believe me, she was offered
(08:17):
a lot of opportunities in that time. But I think
instinctively Mom kind of knew that, you know what the
risk reward there, let's just hold off. And I always
thought the same thing. But I do think it's child
to child. Yeah, Wilder had this opportunity. He's seventeen, he
(08:38):
was mature. I felt like, first of all, there was
no chance he was going to get the gig because
he had never auditioned. I'm just do this audition for experience.
He ended up getting having this opportunity to do it,
and he did it, and it was okay because I
didn't think I knew as the kind of person that
he is. He's not going to go off the rails.
(09:00):
He's not all of a sudden going to get green
Dollar signed contacts and Bleach's hair blonde and start flipping
off the world, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Wait, did I not see that on Instagram last night?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah? Well yeah, it's coming. But even body, my middle one,
when he was ten, he did a pilot with me,
you know, as a series regular, and it was kind
of the same thing, and I was going away against
what I thought how I thought I would parent my
kids as far as this industry goes. Now that being said,
my little baby go Rio. There's a little bit of
(09:31):
a different thing with her, you know, at least that's
what I'm feeling, you know. I mean, she did this
red carpet for Happy Gilmour two with me, and it
was she like blew up, not blew up, but in
a sense. You know, I was getting calls because she's
on thing. She looked beautiful and she was so full
of personality. And we get calls from you know, various
(09:52):
big age, big companies to like being commercials and model
and one was a movie to like potentially you know,
play Lolita or some shit. And I'm like, okay, no,
this is not happening. We're slowing this way down. Didn't
even tell her about it, you know, but she is twelve, yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, and that's the age when they start to want
it right. And I feel like, I'm with you.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
And how old were you, by the way.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Well, I was four when I started. But we didn't know,
we didn't know what the industry was like, we didn't
know what it was.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
My mom.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
So my story starts with Romper Room. Do you remember
the show Romper Room when we were kids.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Oh yes, Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
And miss Marianne I think her name was had the
Magic Mirror and at the end she would say the names,
and she never said Melissa. It wasn't a popular name.
So I did the math. I was about four years
old and I did the math and I went, Oh,
she's saying the names of the kids that are sitting
in front of her. I need to get on that show.
So she'll say Melissa in the mirror like for all Melisses.
Like I need to do this for all Melissa's right, right.
(10:54):
And I told my mom, I said I need to
be on TV. And someone in our community I just
booked their daughter on a commercial or modeling or something,
had an agent, so my mom called them. They told
him the agent's number. I went and I went on
an audition. And my mom will tell you. My mom,
who also produced our movie, Paula, will tell you that
I that we went on the audition. We drove from
(11:16):
Long Island to New York City and could barely afford
the tunnel fee and like the gas to get to
the city and parking and like went to the audition
and they called and said, okay, we need her to
come back for a callback, which we didn't know what
that was, but call back, come in the city again.
My Mom's like okay. Then they called and said okay,
she booked the commercial and Mom said, I'm sorry, I
can't afford to get her back to the city, like,
I can't keep doing this, and they were like, no, no, no,
(11:38):
you're gonna get paid now she got the job. She
was like, oh, okay, so someone will pay for my
gas when I get there. So we went and I
booked the audition. I booked my first, third, and fifth audition,
and the next thing I know, I was doing national commercials.
And you know, my dad made me a bet. At
one point, I said I wanted a clubhouse. He was
in construction at the time, and I was like, I
want a clubhouse, and he goes, I'll build you a
(12:00):
clubhouse when you get two national commercials. He thought it
would take me a year or two to do it.
I did it within a month.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah, it was like he.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Had to build me a clubhouse. It still stands today. No,
that clubhouse still stands. It stood through numerous hurricanes. My
dad did a good job.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
So it was sort of an accident that we got
into it and didn't really know what it was. It's
just that I took to it. I liked it, it
liked me.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
So this whole career, this whole career, if you're stemmed
from you wanting Melissa's to be more recognized.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Across Melissa to be more popular, right.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
That's it. What do you think? What do you think
it was? And is about you that sort of you know,
made it not so difficult to get these commercials. I mean,
were you just big and bubbly? You know you have
you know, you obviously have a big personality normally, I mean,
is this who you were?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
I was fearless. I was fearless, I was shameless. I
would do anything I loved entertaining, you know, people came over,
I would do shows. I couldn't sing, although I'd pretend
I could love to dance. I actually really wanted to
be a dancer. That was sort of like where what
I really wanted to do was dance. So everything I did,
even like down to the fact that I couldn't afford
all the ballet class classes I wanted to take at
(13:11):
our little studio. I ended up student teaching on Saturdays.
I would student teach four classes at the age of eleven,
I think I was student teaching four classes for little, tiny,
tiny kids, teaching them ballet and tap so that I
could then get a free Monday point class. So that
was like I was like bartering at like ten to
eleven years old to try to have a job, to
(13:32):
try to pay for my classes so I could take
I could keep dancing. But then Clarissa came along. When
I was thirteen, I was doing Broadway. I did a
lot of off Boat you did, Yeah, I did. I
was the youngest member of the Circle Repertory Company, and
I did plays with I mean Joe Mantello's first play,
written by Peter Hedges. It was a monolog I did
on stage. And that job the producer of Clarissa heard
(13:54):
about from his veterinarian who suggested me for the role
of Clarissa. He would not see a blonde for the
role of Larissa, and so the veterinarian recommended me to
the producer, and then that guy let me audition the
producer let me audition. I auditioned three times. He really
didn't want a blonde. He let me audition three times,
and then the third time I got the job. And
now I was off in Orlando doing a series.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
So wow, how old were you then?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I was thirteen when we started the series. I think
it was twelve when did the pilot.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
So was that your first sort of break in television.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
No, I'd already been on Saturday Night Live three times.
I'd already done the Equalizer. I was known as the
Rice Crispies girl. I was doing Arnold's bread commercial. I
had done one hundred and fifty commercials at that point,
one hundred fifty commercials that paid for my clubhouse.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Wait a minute, Wait a minute. I mean, especially back then,
commercials were a big deal. Like you get national, we
get paid. He just get those residuals kept rolling in.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I think I got paid probably more for national commercials
than I did for Clarissa, and it ended up paying
for my college.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Do you think your parents ever stole your money from you?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
No, not stole, no, but I think that we did need.
The supplemental income was helpful.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
They never skimmed a little bit.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Like, no, you know what I think we did.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
We did. I'm only asking because you know, Wilder made
some decent money for him and I'm like, he'll never know.
I just took half of it.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Nice. This is why we have Coogan accounts now. And
just like you know, we were a family of five
kids at the time. There more that came later, but
a family of five living in a house my dad
built at the end of a cul de sac at
a long island. And like my dad was a fisherman
and my mom was a stay at home mom now
(15:47):
taking kids to the city for auditions, and all the
auditions didn't pay well, and going to New York City
was expensive, and five kids and whatnot. So I think that,
like a lot of the time, it sort of balanced
itself out of like getting the job paid for you.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Know, yeah, no, for sure. Well let's go back into
your family a little bit, like where did you grow up?
Talk about your siblings as well, how did you you
know what was the vibe like, oh.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
I understand sibling revelry.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sure, I mean because you
have different sets of siblings, But did you was it
a very strict house? Was it free wheeling, you know,
were you on your own what was the vibe.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
My parents were hippies, ye grow in their own garden.
My mom would go get goat's milk for my sister
because she had allergies. I was the oldest I remember.
I remember like our old condu. We had like a
little condo thing, and I would ride my hot wheels
with a boy named Jeremy all around the complex. They
were the kind of hippies that had the beads hanging
in the you know, a bead curtain. And then when
(16:44):
we when we bought our house and my dad did renovation,
he went from being a clammer. He was he was
working in clams, and my mom will not eat clams
to this day because I think for like a year
straight all they ate was clams. Oh my god, and
so but I love clams. But my dad was a
clam breader, and then he became a construction then he
started his own construction company, and then he went to
a lobster wholesaler, and now he's an oyster farmer with
(17:06):
my sister.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I know that's cool too. By the way, this I
all love this shit because you know how much I've
talked about I've told you how much I fish. I
was fishing two days ago. I love the ocean. So
you know, that's like the coolest job. Someone who breeds
clams and is a lobster wholesaler and is actually now
breeding oysters.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
I'll put you on my sister's Instagram. Hers is really
interesting for a woman who was uneducated as a marine biologist,
she is a marine biologist.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
It's insane.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
She can grow her own the way she grows algae
and kelp and to feed the oysters and in the
off season, it's it's it's wonderful and insane. But what's
really cool is I just did this. I'm working with
ancestry dot com right now. And what I found out
was that the heart side of the family has gone
back to the like further than the seventeen hundreds in
north the north shore of Long Island as shipbuilders and
(17:54):
like marine people. Wow, And that's what my family still do.
My uncle's a shipbuilder, my cousin's ship builder. Like it's
like they're welders that you know. They my dad and
his brother have a marina and like that's what we do.
And I didn't realize that it goes back to like
Moses brush Heart from the seventeen hundreds, you know, and
the ones that came over from Ireland and that, but
(18:15):
but went from Sicily to Ireland and over, like it's
so wild, Like I didn't really realize my grandfather was
deployed during World War Two till I saw his mustard
report on his ship, so it was it's been really wild. Wow, Yeah,
it sounds like something you would like. So but back
to the siblings. The yeah, oldest of the original five,
which are from mom and dad, and we were raised
in a small house in Long Island on the wrong
(18:37):
side of the tracks, right near the train and you know,
I walked to school every day from kindergarten on and
then I went. I lived in that house in that
town until ninth grade. And that's when I got clarisse
expoints at all and had to go to Orlando to
shoot and my parents got divorced. My mom moved to
the city with the five of us, and I mean
we were spending our weekends on Long Island and weekdays
(19:00):
in New York. And I started going to professional Children's
School by tenth grade, which was like where Sarah Michelle Geller,
Jerry O'Connell Reid, like mcaulay culkin. We all went to
the school. I wasn't there a lot because I was
in Orlando most of the time, so I was in
and out of school. I got in some trouble with
Tara Reid. Some of my friends liked to smoke on
(19:21):
the church steps and I would just go with them.
I didn't smoke at the time, but I would go.
And so, yeah, I got busted a few times for
doing things that I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Doing right, just guilty by association.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah. Then eleven to twelfth grade, I ended up being tutored.
And then my mom remarried and had two girls in
the city, and then my dad remarried and had another
daughter out in Long Island. And when I was nineteen,
we found my mom was handed the comic book of
Sabrina and the Teenage Witch on a playground in New
York City and was like, this would be a great
project for Melissa. So she went to Archie Comics, bought
it for a dollar, sold it to Showtime as a movie,
(19:54):
cut a trailer together when she was editing the movie,
and pitched it out as a series. Got three in
the room offers for the series. Wow, and then we
moved to.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
La That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
She was pregnant with her seventh at that point.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
That is insane. So you have a real blended mixed
family like that. So with the original five, what was it?
Did everyone get along? Was her rivalries? Was there in fighting.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
So my sister, who's two years younger than me, she
and I were super close. The third sister was a
little quiet growing up and always kind of did her
own thing in a way, especially when she got older.
She's the one who's the oyster farmer. But Tricia and
I were very close. And Tricia and I both were
big hams and we liked to we were the actors.
But a lot of the time in the auditions, I
would book it and she wouldn't. Did do one tile
(20:44):
and all commercial together, and we did did a few
other things. I did it like a Jello pudding commercial
with Bill Cosby, and my sister was like my backup,
so so you know, and she was working here and there,
but not as much as I was, and so she
kind of designated her own thing. She ended up going
to the Bronx High School of Science and she became
the smart one. I was the talent, wanted one. Lizzie
(21:06):
I think she's like self titled herself the weird one. Emily,
my mom I think called her the pretty one. And
then my brother, of course, was the boy. So it
was like we all had like our lane.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Wow. But was there jealousy there because you were sort
of booking and she wasn't.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
No, No, you'd have to ask her. I think she would
say no. I think that she decided she needed to
find her own path and academics were her thing. That's
what she wanted to excel at. She wanted to be
the smart one. She wanted to learn and absorb it all.
And she was the first one in our family to
go to college all the way through. I went to
NYU but never graduated, So she was the first one
(21:45):
to go all the way through. And she's still no.
My sister Emily, the fifth one, she also went all
the way through college and so and then I have
two that are still in college. They still they're like
on their third masters. But yeah, So Tricia was like
the one who wanted to be the smart one, and
she became a school teacher in New York City and
so she took academics very seriously and that became her path.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
So when did you move to La? When did that happen?
Speaker 3 (22:12):
That was only with Sabrina, So Sabrina, we didn't even
do a pilot, right, we just went right to series.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
How old were you? I was twenty because you're twenty
of the oldest.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
That means I was never a teenager playing a teenager, which.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I know exactly. Did your whole family move out?
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Pretty much? My mom took all yeah, all five?
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So what was that like? I mean, that's uprooting obviously,
and it's because of you. And was there any kind
of well, I don't want to fucking leave, you know,
I mean, this is my home, this is Melissa's thing.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
We'd been moved around a little bit because we'd already
moved to men when I was twelve, so they were ten, eight,
four and two, So we moved to Manhattan. Then when
my mom remarried, we moved to Jersey for like two years,
and then we moved to LA. So I feel like
we had been kind of kind of moved around. But
we also kept our house in Jersey, so we sort
(23:17):
of had that. My dad still lived in my childhood home,
so we still had that. So we still had like
these roots, but all five of us moved to la
and at first, I think we all really liked it.
You know, we for the first time making real money,
and I had my own apartment, I got a BMW,
I went. I had a chief at Toyota before that,
and now I had a a red BMW convertible driving
down Laurel Canyon, you know, and I my boyfriend at
(23:41):
the time, was like, you have to if you're gonna
have a BMW, you have to have a stick shift,
you know. So I'm learning stick on all these freaking canyons.
And then they all were kind of happy out here
in school for a little while, and then kind of
one by one they all moved back east. So whether
it is yeah, whether it was like you know, they
just kind of were, we all liked it out here
(24:03):
at first. I think the weather. I think the excitement
of LA. I think the fact that we had my
mom had bought this or rented a big house, and
I was in my own condo, and you know, we're
kind of like living this life. And I'm in an
adult now so I don't have to go to school,
and I'm like, you know, when I worked Before it
was always balancing school and work, which was really really difficult.
(24:24):
So this is now a time when I can just work,
and I also am in scenes. The difference between my
show Clarissa and my show Sabrina, which I'm going to
assume people have not seen Clarissa, is I'm giving like
four page monologues four times an episode, so I would
have to start learning those on Sunday to deliver on Wednesday.
We would shoot our show. We'd rehearse Monday Tuesday, and
(24:44):
we'd shoot our show Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. But that was Clarissa,
and I mean I was learning these lines. These scenes
were ten pages long as we shot them like they
were live television. We only had We had four cameras
and only one was isolated, which means only one was
recording the whole time. So if the switcher or the
director and switch at the right time, we had to
redo the whole scene and it would be ten page
scenes of like me and another person. So it was
(25:05):
like back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
And sometimes I turn to the camera and give.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
A full monologue to the camera.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Yeah, and I'm also in high school and I'm doing
the SATs and I'm applying to college and it was
just overwhelming.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Well wait, hold on, let's go back Clarissa. I I
what was Clozra about. I don't even know.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Clarissa was a show on Nickelodeon. Was one of the
first kind of sitcom shows, Nicole that wasn't like a
game show, and it was about a girl and her
sibling rivalry with her brother. In fact, I had to
say the word sibling rivalry so many times. There were
so many bloopers. It was in the middle of a
monologue and I would say sibling rivalry every single freaking take,
and I'd have to go back and start the whole
(25:43):
four page monologue again. So there's like me cursing and
looking at the script supervisor going, yeah, sibling rivalry, sibling rivalry.
I can say it. I just can't say it when
I had to say it in the script. It was
a lot and it was a lot of pressure, but
it it taught me a lot. And then I go
to do Sabrina right, yeah, yeah, and I'm twenty and
I don't have high school and I'm in like two
page scenes with five people and I have to deliver
(26:05):
three lines and I was like, this is freaking awesome,
and I like, I can wait for some other people
to say some stuff. I enter late, I come into
the room and I say two lines and I leave,
and like, what is this magic? What is this wonderfulness?
And I can go out at night, have two Gin
and Tonics at Dublins, and then head back to work
at five am.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Great Dublins, Dublins, Dublins.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
I'm like right next door to it right now.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
That's so funny. It's still easy to get caught up
in the whole la scene. But you were in it,
but you were moderate, right you You really like kept
it together.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I mean, i'd like to think so we didn't have
social media to say differently, but yeah, but I think
being the oldest of so many siblings, I was so responsible,
Like I was, you know, changing diapers from the time
I was four years old. You know, like I feel
like I always wanted them to look at me. I
didn't want to do anything that would embarrass them or
hurt them or you know. So even when I did
(27:02):
Maxim magazine once and my brother was pretty young, he
was like in middle school or high school, and I
did Maxim magazine and he and my father were both
being tortured by people at work. Go and look at
your daughter, look a look at your sister. And then
Playboy magazine came and asked me to do something and
I was like, I can't do it. I can't do it,
and they offered me a lot of money, and I
was like, I can't do it because I don't want
(27:24):
my brother to be hurt by that, like the last
thing he needs. He's already getting tortured by me and underwear,
let alone completely. And I would have been willing to
do it because I was like, I'm not ashamed of
my body. I'm proud of my body. I'm fine with that.
But then I'm really glad I didn't because now I
have three boys and I don't need those images out
there for them, I know, I know, so kind of
(27:47):
happy I made that choice for my brother, which then
also translates to my children. And I always kind of
knew that that would be a correlation that someday I
would have children that would you know, what do I
want them to see? And I kind of played that
through my siblings' eyes, so, you know, I feel like
I also was raised by these hippie parents who were
growing their own pot in the garden, and my mom
once told me, she was like, you know, I did
all the drugs. You don't have to. They're that they're
(28:09):
not worth it. And I was like, okay, great, that
sounds like I like that, Like I take your word
for that. I don't need it. And I was sort
of like I trusted my mom. We had a really
good because we were only nineteen years apart, and I
feel like, you know, there's this well almost exactly twenty
years apart, and I'm like there was this like kind
of raising each other in a way of like she
took me out to dance clubs all the time, but
I wasn't allowed to drink, and you know, she we'd
(28:32):
go to all these clubs in New York and LA
and you know, and we would party together and we
would go on especially once we started doing Sabrina. We
we would go out to like Paris for a girl's
weekend with all my sisters and do these fun things.
But it was never it was never it was never
surrounded by like drugs and alcohol. It was like, let's
go dance, let's go have fun. You know. It wasn't
(28:52):
about spending money. It wasn't about fame. It wasn't about
any of that like for me. And that's why I think,
like going back to like our kids being in the industry,
For me, I know that my kids only the only
time they've ever expressed interest in the industry is when
they think it's going to make them rich and famous.
And I'm reading Matthew Perry's book right now, and I'm like,
that's all he wanted was to be famous, right, and
(29:13):
it caused so many of his problem Like he's very
insecure and he just wanted fame. And I'm like, if
you're just reaching for fame, that's not the right reason
to do this. Because he comes and it goes, and
it comes and it goes and it comes and it goes,
and you got to ride that ride and people love
you and they hate you, and you have to figure
out what you believe. Like I feel like I always
felt like if I believe the good stuff that people
(29:34):
say about me, then I have to believe the bad
stuff too. So I just choose not to listen to
compliments or you know, or any kind of like bad stuff.
I just I just try to gauge and the character
Clarissa that show was really helpful in she was like
a nonconformist, tough girl who did the right thing, but
also what she wanted to do was very strong and passionate.
(29:56):
And it taught me at a young age that I
could be that way, that I could hold to my
beliefs and my values and not and kind of be
unapologetic about it, but also be kind and gracious to everybody.
Like mm hmmm, So yeah, that's what I wanted, you know,
And that's that's what I and that's what I want
for my kids.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
It was fun to watch you work because you had
to wear two hats in this movie that we did,
you know, where the actor and doing your shit there
and then the producer where sometimes it was like hold
on you guys, no, this is not happening. We need
to do this, this, and this, you know, and you
showed your power and in a good way, and you
(30:34):
had to put that hat on. Yeah. I was like, oh,
that's a tricky one because you don't want to alienate
yourself from anybody because you are part of the crew,
part of the acting, part of the troop. At the
same time you're like, you, guys, we got to speed
this shit up. Like, come on, let's go.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
There was I mean, I I got into directing and
producing a little bit, but especially directing for efficiency, and
it makes me crazy when things aren't efficient, and because
this industry can be so wasteful in time and money
in everything, and so I really try to look at
that and make sure we're using our time the best
of our ability and getting the best story. And it
(31:14):
was really tricky. This is the first time I've really
kind of just produced something and wasn't number one on
the call sheet or wasn't direct. So I felt like
I was like, how much am I allowed to say?
How much am I allowed to influence? How much am
I allowed to you know, like, or how much do
I want it? How much? You know, when will people
just shut me down and not listen? So I tried
to pick my battles, but it was a tough one.
It was hard to know that balance for sure.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah, how did you deal with fame? Did you give
a shit about it? Or were you like whatever? Or
I you know, I mean at such a young.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Age, you know, what I liked was getting into the
clubs right in my early twenties, Like being able to
walk in the club.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yeah, like that was.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
The only place I really saw it, or getting to
go to premiers, like when Romeo and Juliette came out
and we were just in our first season A Sabrina,
I was like, can I go to that? One of
my co stars was like she had lived in la
and she was like, I want to go to that premiere.
Can you ask for publicist? I was like, oh, is
that something we can do? And I was like, Hey,
can we go to see Romeo and juliet And they
were like, yeah, sure, you want tickets. I was like, oh,
I can go see any movie I want, like with
the stars of the movie. That's fun. So I would
(32:13):
use it for that. In Disney World like that was
where I used my fame, right and getting some cool
clothes yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah yeah, and then just the recognition, you know, street
recognition on that. Yeah you were cool, You're cool, you
were cool with all that. It never bothered you. It
was never kind of like god, like, I know, I
love being in this business, but this side of it,
I'm not. Don't love or you do love or you know.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
New York was like walk in the streets of New York.
When I was doing theater, nobody knew who I will
walk in the streets of New York. When I did Clarissa,
a few people would recognize me and I'd be like, oh,
you watch Nickelodeon. I'm sorry. Like I was actually like
kind of like embarrassed by that. But then because I'm like, oh,
I'm on a kids show. You know, I'm like sixteen seventeen,
and I'm like, I'm on a kids show. That's weird.
(32:57):
But then moving to LA I feel like nobody here
really unless you went to Rodeo or the Ivy or something,
you know, Like I feel like I was just with
everybody else, like I was constantly with the that seventies
show cast, or you know, I was kind of like
at events with other people that were you know, famous
(33:18):
also or more famous or you know. So I feel
like it was I still had a little bit of
imposter syndrome of like, will they let me in the
club tonight? I don't know. I never thought that the
show was as big as it was. Even though I
knew people liked it, I didn't know. I didn't know
what I had there.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Really, Yeah, how many how many seasons did it run?
Speaker 3 (33:42):
We did seven seasons on eight what we did four
seasons on ABC and three on wb.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Right and then so you were late twenties when it.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Ended, Yeah, twenty seven and married twenty seven, about to
be married. Then I started having babies in two thousand
and three, unmarried in two thousand and six and half
a baby. And as soon as he turns one, I
go to Canada and I do this movie called Holiday
and Handcuffs with Mario Lopez and it was a Christmas
movie for ABC Family and it was one of the first,
I want to say, the first Christmas TV movie, and
(34:15):
it was such a huge success. I still get told
all the time that it's like the number one It
was for many many years the number one rated Christmas
TV movie, and for like probably a decade, And it
kind of started the genre of Christmas movies that then
became Hallmark in Lifefetime and ABC Family which still does
free Form and now Netflix now We're a movie, you know,
(34:36):
So it kind of launched this new genre of holiday movies.
But the thing about Holiday and Handcuffs is it was
really funny. It was like stupid funny, Like it's one
of the only things I will watch that I'm in
because it was just so ridiculous. I kidnapped Mario Lopez,
bring him out to a log cabin and try to
convince my family that he's my boyfriend. But he's not,
(34:58):
you know, but he doesn't know where he is. I've
taken his sell phone. He he doesn't know how to
get out of the cabin. And I basically kidnapped this guy.
And it's really cute, really sweet, really stupid, really funny,
and I just got to be over the top and
have so much fun with it. So then I wanted
to do another one, and I did one called My
Fake Fiance for ABC Family. And these are like big
money making movies. Yeah, yeah, you know now we do
(35:21):
them for like pennies, like compared to what. But then
I did a show because of the movie. I did
My Fake Fiance with Joey Lawrence. We decided to kind
of kind of riff off that and we did a
show called Melissa Joey on ABC Family for five years.
And in that time, I'm having babies. I have three
kids at this, you know, in the middle of Melissa
(35:41):
and Joey, I have my third baby. And yeah, and
I had so much fun with that show. But mean,
while I'm raising my kids in Connecticut, but shooting a
show in la and then when that ended, I took
a nice break, came back to Netflix for a show
called No Good Nick with Sean Aston and some incredible
young talent, and got to play the mom for the
(36:03):
first time ever. Wow, I know I was already like
forty two when I'm playing a mom for the first time.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Ah No, but you've always been that, like a hustler,
just meaning like just keep hustling it up, but also
having babies doing your thing at the same time. I mean,
that's such a huge sacrifice. I guess you we as actors,
(36:32):
do have to make. But you know what point is
it kind of not worth it where you are doing
me Listen and Joey, your kids are in Connecticut. You're
not seeing them as much as you know you should,
or being around as their mom. And it's like, you
know what, I'm okay with money, I got it, Everything's fine.
I need to be a fucking mother.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
It was really tough. It was a really tough decision.
But I thought we had just moved to Connecticut when
I did Dance with Stars and then we backed the
pilot onto that for Melissa and Joey and I was like,
but we still moved because I was like, who knows,
it's a pilot that's happening in December, it would go
next August. I'm not going to put all my eggs
in that basket. So we moved the family to Connecticut,
and I thought it was best for them to sleep
(37:12):
in their bed and go to school and have like
this is where their roots are. I'll bounce in and out.
I'll be sad, but they'll be okay. But now looking back, well,
and then I had my third baby and we all
moved back to LA for a little while. So we
moved back to LA for a few years. And then
when I was doing No Good Nick for Netflix, we
were living in our house in Lake Tahoe and I
was traveling back and forth. So there's been a lot
of like push and pull. But what I like about
this business for us is that and for my family
(37:36):
is that it's really like I can be all in
as a full time mom, and then I'm all in
as an actor when I leave and I go on
a project, like we're in Toronto for six weeks and
it's like I'm here, I'm in Toronto and I'm working
and then I go home. But there's an end in
sight too. I don't know if I do like a
job where it's like year after year going to the
same office, Like yeah, like the end of it, and
(37:56):
then I'm like full time mom. But I'm always looking
for the next thing. What's the next job? What am I?
But I'm enjoying my time at home and going to
every you know, class party or you know, getting them
ready for homecoming or all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Yeah. And I think setting an example for your kids
as well, you know, I think, you know, even subconsciously,
it's like, oh, yeah, mom's gone, but she's working, she's
doing her thing, and she comes back and she's present
and in love and it's you know, it's you know,
I think that's important as well.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Try I hope they notice it later on. I don't
know that teenage boys really get it yet.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Oh we oh my god, I know, we don't know.
Who knows. Hopefully they come around in their twenties and like,
I really have an epiphany. I realize how amazing you
really are. I know, I trust trust me, Like, where
is that kid that would not let me out of
his room because he wanted to cuddle so much?
Speaker 3 (38:49):
I know. My kid won't even sit on the same
couch with me. He's like, what are you doing? I'm like, dude,
there's like three spaces between. I said, here much football? No? No,
why did you say so clues? I mean I definitely
have pouties, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Well, and then it's like, you know what, five years
ago you were all over me. You were in my bed,
cuddling me, like don't leave and snuggled. What happened?
Speaker 3 (39:13):
This is what Mark and I had to recently come
to grips with. We were like, why am I like
needing you so much? More? Like why weren't we like
this before? Because now we're like holding hands all time,
we lean on each other, We're constantly all over each other,
and we're like, what changed in twenty two years of marriage?
And like, oh, the kids were all over us and
we were like ugh, like I need a little space,
(39:33):
And now we're like the kids don't want us anymore,
so we're like all over each other.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Yeah. No, I know it's so true. And all I
can do is hope that that shifts. I think it will.
Everyone says it does.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Because Wilder's your oldest right, Yeah, and he's he's I
see him like, I mean, I don't know if it
was only because on set he was like needed daddy,
but like.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Yeah, no, it's there, it's there, it's there.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
Yeh yeah. My nineteen year old is like all about
he's willing to hug me, tells me he loves me,
all those things again, right when the thirteen year old
is like uh ah, and I'm like, you were always
the one that told me you'd always love me, that
you were gonna marry me and all these things, and
he's like, what are you talking about? And they're all
taller than me, like my Christmas card. We just did
the pictures and like they're all five eight and above,
and I'm like, what has happened?
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Like that's so funny.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Oh god, I know it changes so quick, but like
I do, I do have to say, the nineteen year
old has come back around. The seventeen year old is
pretty sweet. He recognizes like sometimes he'll be like grossed
out by me, but then other times you'd like he'll
call me and be like sorry about that, I love
you like that.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Yeah. Yeah, of course, you just have to understand this
is what they are, what they're going through and they're individuating.
It's what we all did. Yeah, so how did you
get into producing?
Speaker 3 (40:46):
It was Sabrina. We got the comic book and brought it.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
To Oh, so you were a producer from that?
Speaker 3 (40:52):
From the producer from the time I was twenty yeah,
nineteen twenty and and then I was always just finding projects.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
What about these Christmas movies and stuff? Did you? Were
you able to produce those as well?
Speaker 3 (41:01):
So all of them just not Holiday and not the
first one Holiday and Handcuffs that when I was a h
actor for hire, but the rest of them we produced them.
That's the only way I really wanted to make those
Christmas movies was being in complete control, finding the project,
casting it and having fun with it that way, and
then directing, Like I directed a lot of Sabrina, but
it was really hard for me to get into directing
(41:24):
anything I wasn't in Like I could say, like the
very first Christmas movie I actually produced was because I
directed it, but I promised them I'd take a small
part in it, but I really wanted to be the director.
So I'll take a part in this, but I want
to be the director. And so that's how I started
directing Christmas movies, and then I directed Angelica Houston in
a remake of The Watcher in the Woods, which was
a Betty Davis scary movie from the eighties.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
It was a movie I loved. It. Took us seventeen
years to get the rights from Disney, and so then
when we did it, Angelica Houston played the part of
Betty Davis and we shot it in Wales and that
was wonderful. That was like twenty seventeen. And then in
like during COVID, I was directing three movies. That's and
then I started directing other people's television shows, which was
really fun. I was shooting, I was going back and
(42:06):
forth between multicam and single cam. I was doing Young Sheldon,
I was directing The Goldbergs, I was directing School, I
directed I Carly a few other Netflix of their family shows.
So I had so much fun, like twenty eighteen through
twenty twenty three directing a ton so great and so
(42:28):
that was really fun. And then the last three years, honestly,
I've been working on this movie. I'm Mary Little Xmas.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
Yeah, no, I know.
Speaker 3 (42:34):
I've spent the last like three years really hungering down
on this one. And some other projects I've got going on.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
I start.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
I transitioned from Christmas movies myself doing them, myself really
being in them, to doing true crime stuff. So that's
been really I never trusted myself with drama since my
Broadway days because I became a sitcom girl and so
I thought, you know, I don't like crying, I don't
feel like I'm good at this. Didn't trust myself with it,
(43:00):
especially when I did an episode of Law and Order
SVU and I was like, oh, I suck at this.
So I that's when I did Melissa and Joey. I
was like, I need more comedy in my life.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
I got to go back, how did you get this?
So the direct thing? Did you direct Sabrina? Was that
your first?
Speaker 3 (43:13):
Yeah? I got my DGA card on Sabrina. I did
some of our bigger episodes, like our Halloween episodes, in
our hundredth episode, and again going back to our earlier conversation,
was all about efficiency for me. I wanted to make
sure that show was so difficult because we did shoot it.
Like Clarissa, we rehearsed Monday Tuesday, and like a usual sitcomony,
we rehearsed for four days and shoot on the well,
(43:34):
shoot on the fourth and fifth we shot. We rehearsed
on Monday and did a run through. We rehearsed on
Tuesday and did a run through, and then we filmed Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
And those were long days because we had a lot
of scenes. We had a talking cat, so we had
live cats out amatronic cats. We had a ton of
special effects. Our special effects guy went off to do
Game of Thrones, and our makeup artist now does like
Stranger Things and Ryan Murphy and she's like this award winning,
(43:58):
most award winning makeup artist. So we had some incredible
crew on this show and we were able to pull
the show together. But it was we were all learning
on the job, Like all these special effects and all
this stuff was really complicated, and these seasoned directors would
come in and be like what do I do? And
I would oftentimes explain it to them, So then I
ended up being like, why don't I just direct it?
So luckily my mom, being my executive producer, was like,
(44:21):
I got you a DGA car. You're directing the next episode.
And I was like, uh okay. But I was protected
by my crew that I've been working with for a
few years, and I knew the characters and I was
there from the start and I knew what to do,
and everybody rallied around me, and it was an amazing
education and how to direct, and I just love with
it creatively. That feeds me more than acting. Like Sean Aston,
(44:44):
I'll tell you, like he calls actors meat puppets a
little bit like we do. The director tells us what
the script says we have to do and all this stuff.
But when you're directing, you read that script, you get
that vision, you make that come true. You know the
storyteller in a sense. And I really connect with that more.
And I was directing so much for a few years
that I would beg for I was like, I got
to make a Christmas movie in order to get my
union insurance, Like I got to I got to keep
(45:07):
my SAG insurance. So I need to like get an
acting job real quick and kind of pop off a
Christmas movie so I can keep directing. So yeah, it
was fun, though, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
What after what do you what do you do? What's next?
Speaker 3 (45:18):
Developing a few more, developing a Christmas movie right now,
developing a true crime movie, right now developing a sitcom
right now, So a bunch of stuff in the works
that hopefully we'll all sort of start to come to
fruition next year.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Hm.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
So I'm just you know, we're all kind of hunkering
down these holidays, and.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
You're happy on your path, meaning in ten years from now,
you want to just keep doing what you're doing, like
you have found your found your You've hit your stride.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
I feel like in the the New Yorker in me
is more about being a working actor and working in
this industry in any capacity. I'll do craft service like
I just love being a part of it, and I
love good but I'm also really enjoying like middle aged
life with my husband and my kids, and I don't
want to miss, you know, the all that, Like next year,
my son's going to beat my second son's going to
be a senior, and I want to go through all
(46:06):
that senior stuff with him, you know, I want to
be present for all that. I want to do big
vacations because I know time's coming where they're going to
have wives and children and they're not going to want
their mom and dad around. So I'm trying to really
soak all that in in the next few years. Yeah,
And I'm trying to just like really spend time with
my husband and and and you know, at the same
time get some passion projects going. I found some great
books that I've acquired, and you know, it's I have
(46:29):
a lot going on. You know what, We this industry
have so many things we throw at the wall and
see what's Yeah. Yeah, you never really know what's going
to work. But I have some passion projects that I'm
like deep into and I hope you know, come to fruition.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
But did you there are books you've read an option?
Speaker 3 (46:45):
Yeah, yeah, there's there's a few.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
That older books are newer books.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
No, newer books that are like, well newer books.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
I'm obsessed with reading lately, Like this whole year, I've
been Yeah, I've been reading, my face off, I'm just obsessed.
Speaker 3 (46:59):
Well, the ones I'm really into our sort of historical fiction.
Speaker 2 (47:02):
Yeah, taking some historical fiction.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
I just a little bit. Yeah, they're like murder mysteries
but sat in the past.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
Fun.
Speaker 3 (47:10):
Yeah, some fun stuff for sure.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
Fun. Well, Well, I'm gonna see you tonight, are we tonight?
Speaker 3 (47:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (47:16):
We're screening the movie.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
How many times have you watched it? Already is this
gonna be I haven't.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
I haven't really no, I mean I've well, you know,
like you said, you only watch that one movie that
you like. I hate fucking watching myself. It drives me crazy.
So I'm like, I'm not gonna watch it until i
have to watch it. You know. Wilder has been watching it,
and you know, he's like, oh god, you know, like
why I just said, buddy, you know, just get ready.
(47:42):
Watching yourself is no one really loves you.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Know.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
You're hearing your voice, You're looking at your hair, you're
looking at your clothes.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
Ah, why why did I do it that way?
Speaker 2 (47:53):
I look right right? And so it's like, just know
that you're gonna hate You're gonna hate yourself, you know,
but you'll get used to it. Yeah, and that's that,
you know. So I watched some of the scenes are
very cute, really sweet, They're really real. You know, you're
gonna love it.
Speaker 3 (48:08):
You're gonna love it. We're gonna watch it on the
big screen tonight. You're gonna love it. I think the
audience is gonna really love this one because you are
so incredibly charming in it. You and Alicia have amazing chemistry.
You and Jamila have amazing chemistry. Jamila is so funny Pureson,
like absolutely hilarious, and we just have some high jinks
that seriously ensue. So I mean, I think this is
(48:31):
gonna be a new classic Christmas movie for everybody. That's
what I really wanted to bring. Like, yeah, I was
a little sick of the vanilla sweet Christmas movies that
are out every year. They're the same, and I know
people like that. People want the predictability of Like I
want a happy ending. I you know, they're usually going
through something tough at the holidays. They're missing somebody there,
you know, they didn't get a paycheck this month, they
(48:51):
whatever it is that they're going through. I think the
Christmas movies are a safe place for them. But what
I miss about Christmas movies is the comedy. I miss
the Christmas Baking and Elf and Home Alone and and
that sort of fun natured movie. And I really wanted
to bring more of that back to a movie. And
so that's where this one came from. Like when Holly Hester,
the writer brought us she was a writer on Sabrina
(49:12):
and she brought us the script and I was like, oh,
this is fun, Like this is fun. And I also
love that it's not like your exes, but you're getting
along and the new girl comes in and she's not hated,
she's not awful, she's not the devil right, like we
don't want her out immediately, Like it's not like parent
trap where you're like, get her out right, I want her,
you know. Kate kind of falls in love with her
two and goes, oh, I see it, like she's really
(49:33):
she's fantastic, like you know, Pearson's fantastic, and you know,
everybody in this movie is very nice and fun to
be around. But who actually belongs together is?
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Yes, it's true. And when we were doing press, Jamila
was talking about that a lot, which is I love
that these aren't two women who are pitted against each other. Yeah,
you know, which is nice.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
It's not like a young, sexy one and then the
woman you know, mature who like you know, it's it's
really like they're both great, But who belongs together is
really the ultimate question? Like yes, yes, So I love
it for that and I think people will love it
and I'll.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
See it will I'll see you tonight. Bye. Oh, I'm jay,
I'm ja. She's done some shit, like you know, I mean,
you know, you get put in toll, a little bit
of Melissa Joan Hard and the Sabrina teenage witch and
blah blah blah, and that's who she's thought of. But
she's prolific. I mean she picks her lane and then
(50:30):
fucking pushes the gas down, pedal to the metal and
just rips it. Directed a ton of things, producing a
ton of things. Her mom, there's a boss, like you know,
pretty cool shit. Anyway, I'm gonna leave by a
Hosts And Creators
Oliver Hudson
Kate Hudson
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