from the Ventura County Star:
More Weaver vs. Romano
Expect more sparring as 'ER' begins its eighth season
By Dave Mason, TV Star editor
Laura Innes likes playing what she calls "a tough broad" -- Dr. Kerry Weaver. She's the "ER" boss who's not afraid to make an unpopular decision for her staff.
And she likes it when Weaver, so secure in her hospital work, ventures into a world of uncertainty -- her own sexual orientation. Last season ended with Weaver telling homophobic Chief of Staff Robert Romano (Paul McCane) that, guess what, she's gay.
That's more fuel for the nonstop war between Weaver, who's in charge of the ER at County General in Chicago, and Romano, the jerk we love to hate.
"What happens is that it (the Weaver vs. Romano story) gets more complicated in an unexpected way," Innes said about the new season's first few episodes. "I love when I have scenes with Paul. You always love sparring with someone who's so wonderful."
"ER" begins its eighth season at 10 p.m. Sept. 27 on NBC, Channel 4.
As usual, the "ER" storyline moved ahead in real time during the summer hiatus. This week, a nervous Weaver has just returned from a sabbatical of sorts, and she's waiting to see how her colleagues will react to her. How many people know of her sexual orientation, and how will they view her now?
Innes was careful not to give away the plot, and "ER" is continuing its tradition of not sending preview tapes. I'm glad; part of the series' success is its surprises.
Weaver began as a recurring character in the second season of "ER" (1995-96). She became a regular character in the third season.
"I was brought on to create conflict," Innes said. "Right from the beginning, that seemed to be her (Weaver's) function. She was really compelling for me. Her lack of social graces was refreshing. Right from the beginning, the character felt contradictory and complex.
"I want her to always remain the tough broad she is," Innes said. "She loves going in there and knowing what to do."
But Innes said she likes Weaver's exploration of the uncertain world of her sexuality. "I love that she has this experience of real connected love."
The storyline led to her brief relationship with hospital psychiatrist Kimberly Legaspi (Elizabeth Mitchell of ABC's "The Beast"). Innes talked about how she allowed Weaver to discover her sexual orientation.
"I tried to imagine it in very simple, moment-to-moment terms rather than have her suddenly see she's gay -- in very small and surprising ways as she was talking to another woman. She notices how beautiful her hands are.
"What if you were around someone and felt the impulses? Kerry surprised herself with Legaspi. She was so thrown for a loop; she was charged with uncertainty.
"I think human beings are more complex than they are usually depicted dramatically," Innes said.
Weaver's new openness about her homosexuality marked a major turning point for the character. But it doesn't mean she's completely changed, Innes stressed.
"You have to earn your moments. She doesn't come back being totally transformed and a free spirit. That would be contradictory to the character; that would feel false. She is stepping bit by bit. She's starting to feel connected with other people."
A show like "ER" must avoid repetition with the characters, Innes said. "You have to always be trying to do things that pull them (viewers) back in."
Innes again will direct episodes of "ER" and "The West Wing" this season. Innes, whose background includes the theater and movies, said she became a director to better understand the mechanics of what she could or couldn't do as a TV actress.
During this year's "ER" hiatus, Innes and Ruby Dee starred as women trying to stop the building of a petrochemical plant in "Take Our Town Back," a Lifetime cable movie tentatively set to air around Christmas. Innes and Dee play the real-life Pat Melancon and Emelda West, respectively, in the rural Louisiana story.
"It's an Erin Brockovich-type of story," Innes said.
On "ER," Innes has done a great job in showing how Weaver, who must walk with a metal crutch, doesn't allow her disability to limit her. (In real life, Innes isn't disabled.)
"The producers wanted to bring a person with a disability who was authentic to real life," Innes said. "From my perspective, I never wanted her to be seen as a victim, that she not be limited. I also wanted her to bring a certain awareness to her work. Certainly at times she's been the advocate of persons who are disabled."
Innes said she likes when Weaver is the voice of the patients who can't speak for themselves. She finds the most interesting stories to be those when she must tell a doctor or a nurse to allow a patient to die. Those include times when a patient has asked not to be resuscitated.
"We've had to do those with children, elderly people, terminally ill people," Innes said.
While those episodes don't cast Weaver in a heroic or popular light, they ring true to reality, Innes said. "It's not the easy choice, but it's the right choice."
from Daily Variety:
Emmys nominees: First-time nom - Laura Innes
By DAVID S. COHEN
Back at work as Dr. Weaver on "ER," Laura Innes says she took some ribbing for her first ever directing nomination. Innes directed some memorable "ER" episodes, but it was "The West Wing" that brought her the mention.
"I got some teasing. People are like 'Oh, so you submitted your 'West Wing,' huh, not your 'ER.' There's a little bit of sibling rivalry there."
The two-time actress nominee (both for "ER") was on vacation at her husband's family's cabin in Minnesota when the nomina-tions were announced.
"I was sleeping," Innes tells Daily Variety, "and my publicist called me. I was totally thrilled and totally surprised. It's very exciting."
Compared to an acting nom, she says she finds the directing nomination liberating. "It felt like a bigger, freer thing, because it's not so focused on you exactly."
Innes became interested in the nuts and bolts of TV production to improve her acting. Her co-workers on "ER" encouraged her to try directing; she's done three difficult episodes on the show.
"I've always gotten good, interesting scripts, which had an extra energy around them, and that's really helped a lot," she says.
She's especially grateful for the generosity and support of other directors, including Steven Spielberg, who sent her an admir-ing note after one of her "ER's."
"Shibboleth," the "West Wing" Thanksgiving episode for which she was nominated, was her second episode for the political drama. It featured the show's typically complex mix of cerebral political debate and emotional drama - as well as two rambunc-tious turkeys.
"The funny thing was the turkey wranglers were these totally gorgeous women, so the crew was really distracted. The last people in the world you'd expect to be really sexy, the turkey wranglers," she says.
She's especially grateful for the generosity and support of other directors, including Steven Spielberg, who sent her an admir-ing note after one of her "ER's."
"Shibboleth," the "West Wing" Thanksgiving episode for which she was nominated, was her second episode for the political drama. It featured the show's typically complex mix of cerebral political debate and emotional drama - as well as two rambunc-tious turkeys.
"The funny thing was the turkey wranglers were these totally gorgeous women, so the crew was really distracted. The last people in the world you'd expect to be really sexy, the turkey wranglers," she says.
With two prior Emmy shows behind her, this year Innes is looking forward to being there with her directing mentors, including Jonathan Kaplan. But there's still one problem: "I'm not even sure who I'm sitting with this year, 'ER' or 'West Wing.'"
What's Up, Doc
November 15, 2001
With a failed lesbian relationship behind her, "ER" doc LAURA INNES looks forward to a new season of highs and lows for Kerry Weaver, as she battles for control at work and in her personal life.
ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT: Is this Kerry's wild ride year? Is this the year she comes undone?
LAURA INNES: What I've always loved about the character is that she is so extreme - both in her control and her expertise, or her bitchiness and her rage. She's extreme in being passionate about matters. She's extreme in the advocacy for the underdog at times. Last year and this year they have made available to me storylines that allow me to keep showing different sides of Kerry. Obviously the arc last year with the sexual orientation was great for me to play -- to try and make this woman who is so controlling and so private show different sides of her that you almost couldn't show in any other way. It's great to have a character that is so controlled and unhinge her. Now they are throwing me for a loop and having me make mistakes. For me as a viewer, I like to see characters in some sort of transformation where you see them in a situation that you have never seen them before.
ET: Out of all the characters on the show it seems that Kerry is the least developed. How much we will find out about her?
LAURA: One of the things you do as an actor is you fill in those blanks for yourself. I remember very distinctly when I first got the part, I imagined what would kind of make this woman into who she is today. I had this whole backstory in my mind -- which was not in the writers mind at all -- that her parents had been missionaries, she lived in Africa, and she had this repressive religious father. That is what made her vehemently get into science and medicine. It's something that you can control. That was in my mind but I had never talked about it, and then (back in season two) I read my script, and I was like, "Oh my God!," because (it revealed) that she had spent some time in Africa. So I think there will be things that talk about her history. There's a storyline that talks about the seeds have been sown now that she is searching for her birth mother, and that will come up again as the years will go on.
ET: Kerry seems as if she is doing so much to push people away from her this season. Is she going to be able to come back and make friends or allies?
LAURA: She has always been somebody who is not easy with other people and certainly not easy or familiar with intimacy. One of the things that has fueled "ER" over the years is the politics of the hospital. For Kerry that is a big thing. She is a very ambitious person. She is very focused on the goal of being successful and a leader in the hospital and she is also a real expert at what she does. She went through the love affair that ended badly last year. I think in response to that she is full-bore focused on work again. It is slightly different in that she is making some mistakes. So there are certain things that are happening to her and will happen in the future where she starts to become unraveled. I think the way that people change in real life is incrementally. You have an experience that feels like it changes you completely, and then you fall back into old patterns or habits or real ambitions before you become a more balanced person. So in terms of her driving other people away, emotionally it feels like a response to what happened at the end of last year. In terms of where she is headed, hopefully, that will all balance out in a way that feels right, but I never want to lose the energy of that character.
ET: How do you pick which episodes you will direct?
LAURA: In terms of which episode a director gets, we have no idea. We are assigned a slot and an episode number. I always have directed during sweeps. That usually means you are going to get a beefed up script. In terms of being an actor and a director, I've only done both once in an episode that I directed called, "Power," which is the first time I directed. It's a very strange experience because you are essentially using a different side of your brain. When you are directing it's all about being the observer and being aware everything that's going on with sound and background and acting and lighting. It's a very multi-faceted way of thinking. When you are acting and it's going well, hopefully, you are just inside the character and the moment and responding to the other actors authentically. I would like to do it more, because then I would become more accustomed to it and learn to switch back and forth more easily.
ET: Will we see the return of MING-NA's character or Dr. Dave?
LAURA: I believe that we are going to see more Ming-Na, which I am happy about, but I don't know how. Dr. Dave I am not so sure about.
ET: When you signed on with "ER" years ago, did you know that your contributions would go beyond playing a character on the show?
LAURA: I had no idea. Originally, I signed on for the part and it was supposed to be a six-episode arc, and then the character grew beyond that. I became a regular in the third season, and after that, I started getting more and more interested in how the other side of it worked. Initially, it was survival curiosity. How could I do my job better, and understand more about what was going on, so I felt like I could sink my teeth into the acting as much as possible? As I started to do that, I got more curious about the directing, and, luckily, was encouraged by other cast members and by the writer-producers to pursue the directing, so that is how that happened.
ET: Can you talk about being a working mom?
LAURA: I work a lot of hours because I am on a TV show, but I know a lot of families struggle with this. Luckily for me, I am on an ensemble show, so although I have weeks when I am super busy, this week I am kind of light in the episode. When I have a few days, I can be more available. What I have found is that when you have a challenging job. -- I have one son who is 11 years old -- take every moment you can and put it into the family. After I direct, I take my son and we go away for the weekend. We might go to a hotel and watch movies and hang out -- spend two days just the two of us alone and reconnect. You need to schedule yourself and not get stressed out. If I have to leave the house early, I leave him a note, or I call during the day and leave him a message, so he knows I am thinking about him, and he knows he can always call me on my cell phone.
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