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// Chat Transcripts
Laura Innes from 'ER' stopped by AOL Live. She chatted
and answered member questions about the show, her role
as Dr. Kerry Weaver and much more. See what she had to
say below!
Scroll down to read the full transcript...
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AOLiveMC11: Good evening, and welcome to AOL Live!
Laura Innes: Hi, it's great to be here. Fire away!
AOLiveMC11: Tonight we are joined by one of the
actresses from the very popular NBC show 'ER.' Welcome,
Laura Innes! Laura, let's jump right into questions from
our audience, including this very good one from
TruthOTheart:
Question: Laura, I wanted to say first off that I
really admire you, and you give me so much strength. My
question for you is: Has playing a lesbian on ‘ER’
changed you in any way off screen? Thank you. Love to
you from TX. :)
Laura Innes: I think when you play a character who has
a different experience than yourself, you get some
vicarious sense of what that person goes through.
Sometimes when I'm out shopping, I'll run into people
who will express disappointment in the story line, and
that makes me feel kind of sad. I sort of feel like a
teenage girl who is coming out, and her mother hopes
it's just a phase. But yes, it gives me a deeper
understanding of what that experience is like.
AOLiveMC11: Ms. Innes, everyone is very familiar with
your character, Dr. Kerry Weaver, on 'ER,' and even more
familiar with her sexuality. Which brings this question
from our audience:
Question: A fan of yours read in an interview that when
you were asked to do the lesbian story line, after
making sure your family was cool about it, you asked
your publicist whether this could harm your career, and
s/he said probably not. My question is: If your
publicist had said probably yes, what would you have
done?
Laura Innes: Oh, I'm sure I still would have done it! I
called my publicist, because he's gay and he's one of my
best friends. I knew he would be fired up by the idea. I
had people say to me in warning, "If you do this story
line, people might really think you're gay." My reaction
was, "So what?" If this character had been gay when I
auditioned, I would have still gone through with the
audition. I don't have any negative feeling about this.
I think actors get typecast, and that's sad. Any kind of
stereotyping can diminish what you do as an actor. But
I'm thrilled with this story line, and there is a lot
more to explore.
AOLiveMC11: It's been only in recent years that more
mainstream, positive gay characters have been portrayed
in television and in the movies. With that in mind, Sora
Mylene asks:
Question: How much input do you have in developing
Kerry's character? Do you wish you had more input?
Laura Innes: I almost always express my point of view
to the writers and producers. Sometimes they alter a
story line accordingly; sometimes they don't. There are
certainly times when I wish I had more input. Last year
I was fairly involved in the progression of the story.
But yes, I wish I had a little more input. But I try!
AOLiveMC11: We are talking with Laura Innes, who not
only stars as Dr. Kerry Weaver on 'ER,' but also has
taken several stints directing, especially for other
high-rated NBC dramas like 'The West Wing,' which
recently won her an Emmy nomination. Earthlight asks:
Question: Dear Laura. Hello, my name is Tiffany. I love
your character, Kerry Weaver. She brings out the bitch
in all of us! :) But my question is, which do you favor
more, acting or directing?
Laura Innes: You know, I don't really prefer one over
the other. I enjoy doing them both tremendously. They
both really "feed" each other. When I'm in front of the
camera, I learn what I need to bring to the table as a
director, and vice versa. It certainly makes me more
compassionate when I work with actors as a director. I'm
very happy to do them both, and as long as I'm able to
continue to do both, I will.
AOLiveMC11: Who have been some of the most
inspirational directors you've worked with?
Laura Innes: When I first worked on the show, Mimi
Leder had worked on the show. She had developed some of
the best episodes, including 'Love's Labor Lost.' She
helped define 'ER.' That was really before I even
thought about becoming a director. But before I did do
'ER,' I went back and looked at some of her work. In
recent years, my inspiration is Jonathan Kaplan. He's an
incredible mentor and inspiration to me. He's so
knowledgeable in directing and filmmaking. He's my "go
to" guy. I've also worked with Tommy Schlamme. He has
inspired and supported me as I've started off in this
new career. Without them, I would not be able to do
this.
AOLiveMC11: Our next question comes from Dr drgc:
Question: Ms. Innes, this season the episodes have been
very fast-paced and full of action compared to last
season, where the episodes were slower-moving and less
intense. Do you think we will see this new, dramatic
writing and directing continue through the season?
Laura Innes: I know in the past couple of years, our
show has added more action-packed episodes. The one on
tonight, called 'The Storm,' is a very big show. It's a
good story and very intense. Over the years, some of our
shows have moved more in that direction. For some of us
who directed on the show for a little while now, we tend
to edit out the things that feel like dead weight. The
audience has been with us for so long. The audience kind
of gets ahead of you. I directed last week's episode,
and that was a pretty calm episode. We ran about nine
minutes too long on that show. We got into the editing
room and cut it down. I hope when we do that, we're not
sacrificing some of the story lines that might feel a
bit more thoughtful.
Laura Innes: I think the show works when it moves along
quickly. In the episode that was on last week, 'If I
Should Fall From Grace,' I thought it kind of went back
to when 'ER' first started. I thought after the
intensity of that day, we sort of earned the connection
of those two characters. We have had some pretty intense
shows this year. I know I've had some that were intense.
AOLiveMC11: Talking a little bit about your character,
Kerry Weaver, we received this question from a member of
our audience:
Question: Exactly what is Kerry Weaver's leg problem?
Laura Innes: This is the $20-million question! The
short answer is, no one really knows. When I first
auditioned, she was described as using a cane. When I
got the part, I asked what was wrong with her leg, and
no one gave me an answer. I worked with a woman who has
polio, and I get the walk from her. The producers aren't
revealing her disability for two reasons: one, that
she's a successful doctor with a disability; the other
is that there is still a mystery to her illness. Once
you decide to tell the audience what is wrong with her,
it becomes true, a part of the show -- it's over, you
can never do anything about it.
Laura Innes: I think there had been a couple of times
that it was going to be included in the story, but for
various reasons it was never added. But for now, it's
going to be let go and unknown. Maybe someday we'll find
out. For me, it's always been important that the
disability doesn't fulfill the stereotypes of
disability, i.e., someone who can't [function]. I like
that she's someone with a disability who is extremely
capable.
AOLiveMC11: We're talking with Laura Innes, who plays
Dr. Kerry Weaver on NBC's 'ER.' Our next question comes
from Goku2653:
Question: Actors are known to get attached to the
characters they are playing. Do you have these sort of
feelings towards Kerry? Had you met Kerry in real life,
would you like her? Are you going to miss her when she's
gone?
Laura Innes: Yes, I think actors become very attached
to the characters that they play. In this case, I'm so
attached to her, I have very little objectivity to her.
I think she is complicated and interesting and, to me,
intriguing in a way that I never get tired of. It's
almost like with your own child -- you're very, very
protective and understanding, even when she does
terrible things. I do understand why, and so I make
excuses for her. I think that's what makes me able to
play her with the enthusiasm that I do. I think it would
be a mistake to soften her. I think it would be a
mistake to have her own up to the episode where she lost
her pager. People all the time do things to advance
their careers; she's just a slightly more blatant
example of that. It's fun to watch and see her in a
boardroom turning against Mark Greene. It's fun! They
give me so many parts of her to play. I've had people
come up to me and embrace me and people who just want to
slap me across the face, and I think that's great! And I
think that's great for the show too.
AOLiveMC11: One of the roles we've had a chance to see
Dr. Weaver in is as a hero...
Question: It's about time that Kerry gets an episode
like 'Partly Cloudy, Chance of Rain.' I've been waiting
for this since Season 2. How do you feel about your
character finally having a "hero" episode?
Laura Innes: I feel great about it! I'm very willing to
take the ball sometimes to create drama, but I'm also
always asking them to have story lines showing me with
the patients, being a nice, gentle doctor. There are
those story lines, but this one, 'Partly Cloudy, Chance
of Rain,' is like a full-on heroic show. It was fun to
do. It's a lot of action! It's also strange for me. By
the nature of the part, I represent different groups of
people: disabled people, lesbian women. I want the
character to be true and complex, but I do look forward
to being a hero and having the audience on my side. I
really appreciate your comment about that!
AOLiveMC11: Well, we are getting a lot of questions
about Sherry Stringfield's return...
Question: Hey, Laura! What is it like to be working
with Sherry Stringfield again?
Laura Innes: It's great! It's kind of funny, because
people were kind of like, "This is strange. It's been
five years!" When I first started on the show, I was a
recurring character, so I didn't really know her. But
when she came back, it was great. She's a great person,
really down-to-earth. She has a beautiful baby now. It's
really fun having her there again.
AOLiveMC11: We have time for just a few more questions
with Laura Innes, who I believe is dying to tell us
about the episode tonight. What can we expect?
Laura Innes: It's a big action episode and a great
story line for me. The plot is, there is a huge,
catastrophic rainstorm in Chicago. Kerry ends up going
out with paramedics, and there is a pregnant woman
trapped on the street. What's great about it is Kerry
gets to be a full-on hero. And she is once again put in
a situation where Kerry can't control what is going on.
According to the doctors who work on the show, this
situation is a nightmare. You're in an unsterile
environment and have to decide how to treat a mother and
unborn baby. I hope people will watch it and enjoy it,
because it was really challenging to do. We were up all
night and had rain bars dumping freezing cold rain on
us! But it was fun to do.
AOLiveMC11: And speaking of Robert -- OK, we weren't...
Question: Why doesn't Kerry just haul off and hit
Robert on the show? I'd love to see that!
Laura Innes: I would love to see that too! That's a
great idea. Just coldcock him! I love playing scenes
with Paul McCrane. He's hilarious. He's so skilled, we
really have a good time screaming at each other. I'm
going to mention this to the writers. I would love to
just beat the crap out of him! LOL.
AOLiveMC11: Thank you, Laura Innes, for joining us
tonight.
Laura Innes: Thanks a lot, good night!
AOLiveMC11: 'ER' is on tonight at 10PM ET on NBC.
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