Parenthood's Lauren Graham and Ron Howard chat

Mar 01, 2010 11:59 PM by Joel D. Amos

Posted in Entertainment / Television

Parenthood Premieres March 2

Ron Howard's Parenthood has been with us in popular culture since the film's remarkable debut in 1989. Ever since, Howard and his creative team have sought ways to bring the story of the Braverman family and their all-too familiar trials and tribulations -- the entity of Parenthood -- to television.

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Graham: Lorelai versus Sarah

SheKnows: Your Parenthood character is a much different mom than on Gilmore Girls.

Erika Christiansen and Lauren Graham in Parenthood

Lauren Graham: And that's been really interesting. You know, I don't see dawn as much as I did on the other show which has been really enjoyable (laughs). I think what I've discovered and what I've really enjoyed -- we're in maybe Episodes like 5 and 6 right now -- is just finding the ways in which this character just continues to sort of feel like, it's too strong to say, like a failure. But as opposed to maybe Lorelai Gilmore who had a very sunny outlook on things, it's been really interesting for me to play someone who has -- is kind of shouldering a lot of baggage in terms of being disappointed about where she is in life and the feeling of living in your parent's house at 38 and how that informs everything. (It) doesn't make you feel too great.

SheKnows: The tone of Parenthood could not be more different than Gilmore Girls, yet it still shares that resonance that is universal about being a parent...

Lauren Graham: You know, it's just -- in so many ways the experience of doing the show is so totally different. They don't remind me of each other at all. You know, this show is less about verbal kind of dexterity and long speeches and it's more small moments and real behavior and people reacting to each in a moment. There's a lot more silence. It's Sarah really struggling in her life and not in a great place and hasn't reached her potential in a lot of ways. And, you know, the character I played in the past is sort of always winning in a way. This is someone who has much further to go to reach any of her dreams and that was all appealing to me.

SheKnows: Ron, what was so delightful about the film Parenthood and also resonates throughout the pilot is that although life's curveballs being a parent can be brutal, life is still funny...

Ron Howard: It is that sort of elevator ride that makes stories on the subject of parenting and being a part of a family so relatable and so entertaining. And I've loved what Jason has been doing with the sort of the family that we started 20 years ago. Ever since our first conversation and from the first script onward, there just has been such a fantastic contemporary take on the whole thing that I've been nothing but proud of it.

SheKnows: Lauren, do real moms ever ask you for advice after seeing you so effectively navigate the mother minefield on TV?

Lauren Graham: They do! Well, and that's sort of one thing I said to Jason. I don't know what the thing is because my dad essentially raised me and I think if there's any sort of connection I have it's that I don't have an idea of what a mom is supposed to be; I just look at who the person is.

SheKnows: Plus, the moms you portray have had a great supporting actor in your children.

Lauren Graham: (They) are really easy to love. And even in this case with Mae Whitman, who we have a very contentious relationship on the show. But, there's a chemistry in that even, that you really have to have. And I've just been really lucky to have that. And, yes, moms do ask me for advice. And I say I don't know how to help you. I don't necessarily want anyone to want to be me as a mom on Parenthood. Like that's what I like about her is that she's really kind of doing things in a more haphazard way and isn't always noble and doesn't always make the right choice. And so that felt different enough to me that it wasn't going to be it's just like Lorelai.