Thanks to Curb Your Enthusiasm, Cheryl Hines' improvisation skills are not only well known, but highly acclaimed. But she's also a pro at scripted material. When she acts in a film like Waitress, she does what she's told.
Hines Improvs Waitress
"Adrienne [Shelly] wrote the script and it really didn’t change much from the time I read it to when we shot," said Hines. "So this character was written that way. And Adrienne, when we were shooting it, was pretty liberal about letting me do what I thought the character should do and we worked together that way."
Hines plays a fellow waitress at the diner with the title character. She gets to say funny things while Jenna (Keri Russell) is going through a personal crisis with a pregnancy and an affair. Her job then is literally to support the main story, not make up her own.
"It’s much different. When there’s a script, there’s usually blocking involved, it’s been talked about a lot, every word has been thought out, a group of people have thought out the words, a group of people have gotten together and changed the words, so it’s different animal altogether. When it’s improvised, we don’t talk about the scene before we shoot it, there’s no rehearsal, it’s the opposite of that. You don’t want to talk about what you’re going to say or what you’re going to do or how you’re going to feel or how you’re going to walk so cameramen really have it difficult. But yes, it’s a different vibe."
Even her funniest lines, Hines insists, were scripted. Also, because it was an indie film shot in 20 days, there wasn't much room for changing things up. "Adrienne obviously had a very clear vision of the tone of this movie and when we were shooting it, I wasn’t really aware of the exact tone of this film until I watched it. So, to me, if anyone does any sort of creating or directing, I thought that was a very good lesson. I don’t know if I’m articulating it right. The film has parts that are very stylized that you don’t realize what the finished product is going to be until because you’re just showing up and shooting your scene so you don’t know what the big picture is going to be. So it’s just interesting watching that, I suppose."
Waitress
Waitress
Though her character is not the center of the film, Hines enjoyed contributing to an overall portrait of small town life. "I read the script and loved the role that Adrienne had created. And I thought she did such a good job not only creating these characters but capturing the complexity of life and the choices that we make. The idea that life isn’t black and white, sometimes you make the wrong decision but you might be having the time of your life while doing it and then is that wrong? I thought it captured very interesting concepts."
Hines hopes audiences find the little movie because it could give them a more genuine experience than some of the less personal projects unloaded in theaters this summer. "I think this is a movie that everybody should see because they will be truly transported into another world. At the very least, they will be entertained by it. And at the most, it will leave them thinking about life, who they are and who they want to be. I know I’m in a good movie when I’m not looking at my watch seeing how much longer. And this movie, all of my friends have told me when they watched it, they didn’t want it to end. They wanted to keep watching these characters and see what they were going to do next. And I think those kind of movies are rare."
Waitress is out in theatres now.
For the trailer, poster and more movie info, go to the Waitress Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
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