The Media Have Such A Strong Hand

Directors Are Not Worried About Casting Beautiful Women, But They Are Not Sure That They Want To Cast Great-looking Men. My Looks Have Prevented People From Seeing My Work Objectively.

For The Only Time In My Career, I Came In And Met Tony [richardson] For The Part - I Did Not Read, I Just Met With Him - And In The Middle Of The Meeting, He Told Me That I Had The Part [in The Hotel New Hampshire]. There Was Never, "well, Thank You, And We'll Have My People Call Your People." There Was None Of That Kabuki That Goes On Now Endlessly For Even The Smallest Role.

I Had No Regrets When I Did It, I Have Even Less Regret Now Because I Can't Imagine Staying On The West Wing Show And Then, Six Weeks Later, Aaron Sorkin Leaving.

I Was... 15? And Garry Marshall, Who Had Many, Many Seasons In The Sun And A Very Long Career, Was In The Middle Of The Brightest Of All His Seasons - I Think He Owned Network Television - And It Was His Next Thing, And He Was Directing [mean Jeans ]. And I Thought, "if There's Anyone Who Can Bring Comedy Out Of A Designer Jeans Shop, It's Gotta Be Garry."

We [me,maggie Smith And Natasha Richardson ] Rehearsed [suddenly, Last Summer] Like A Play For A Month, And Then We Shot It Over The Course Of... I Believe It Was 10 Days. All Live, Basically. Long, Uninterrupted Takes. And For Me, A Lot Of It Is Me Going Head To Head With Maggie Smith. And Anybody Who's Ever Had That Opportunity Never Forgets It! It's A Real Career Highlight, And It Was Everything I Ever Thought It Would Be, And More.