While people may know her best for her roles in Kramer vs. Kramer, Poltergeist and The Big Chill, just to name a few, actress JoBeth Williams has been a prolific star in film, television and theater for decades. In addition to her acting career, she also serves as the president of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation.
An Oscar and three-time Emmy nominee, Williams has a number of projects on her plate, but her latest project is Your Family Or Mine, the new live-audience, multi-camera sitcom which begins its 10-episode run on April 7th at 10 p.m. EST on TBS. She balances her time on this show with a recurring role on NBC’s new show Marry Me. To promote and discuss her new April show, JoBeth sat down with us to discuss both sitcoms, along with other topics.
In an exclusive interview, JoBeth talks to TheCelebrityCafe.com about working with Richard Dreyfuss and Ed Begley Jr., the success of Marry Me, her thought on the upcoming Poltergeist remake, working with Dennis Hooper on his last performance in the upcoming The Last Film Festival, directing and more.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: So what appeals to you the most about this new show, Your Family Or Mine, and your character?
JoBeth Williams: Well first of all, when I read the script I thought it was really funny. And I don’t laugh out loud at a lot of scripts because I’ve read a lot and I’ve seen a lot. Second of all, I liked the fact that my character is not a particularly nice woman. I often play nice women, ever since I was the good mother in Poltergeist I’m often cast as good mothers or very nice women. And I always think it’s more fun for actors to play someone who has got a bit of the tart in them, and by tart, I mean not sweet.
And so she is a woman who really feels that she knows pretty much everything. I think she really loves her son and she loves her husband, but believes her way is the right way. And she can be kind of a drill sergeant, and a little bit—well, a lot—a snob. So I thought, “Okay, this woman would be really fun to play,” and I thought there were a lot of comedic possibilities. Then Richard Dreyfuss was cast as my husband, and I thought, “Wow, that would be really fun,” because I’ve known him for 30-something years, and we’ve never done a show together.
So I really had a great time shooting it. You know, we do it before an audience. So half-hour, multi-cam comedy is a little like theater in a way, and I come from theater and I continue to do theater periodically still. And I love, especially with comedy, working before an audience, and I think the young people are really, really funny: the people who play my son and daughter-in-law, and it’s a great cast. It’s a really great cast. So I had a ball doing it.
TCC: Yeah definitely, and that was actually my next question, because you guys have a hell of a cast and it looks like a really fun atmosphere, just from what I’ve seen so far. Can you talk about what’s it’s like having all of you on set?
JW: Yeah well, Ed Begley plays the other father-in-law. The conceit is that it’s two sets of in-laws, and every other show takes place in one of their houses and the kids, who are married, are caught in the middle. Basically, the idea is that when you marry, you marry your spouse’s family. Ed Begley Jr., who has been another good friend of mine for 30-something years, plays the other father-in-law, and Cynthia Stevenson plays the other mother-in-law. And we only got to do one show together with them, which I regretted because I love them, and I especially love Ed, but we really had a lot of fun.
There is a lot of pranking around and silliness and stuff, and Richard especially it comes showtime is a serious show-off in front of the audience. And they love him, and he really knows how to make people laugh. So, for the most part, it was really was a pretty smooth shoot, and just a lot of fun.
TCC: Great, and what’s the production schedule like? Are you guys still filming?
JW: No, we’re done. We shot all ten of them. TBS only shoots ten a season, and so we finished ours, I think, right before Christmas. I was doing another show at the same time called Marry Me, and the only reason I could do a recurring on Marry Me was because our side of the family in Your Family Or Mine, we had shot all of our shows that were separate from the other family in the space of about two months.
So then I got to do a bunch of Marry Me (episodes), which was a lot of fun too. Then, right before Christmas, we shot the last show that had both families in it. So now, it starts April 7th on TBS, and then we just keep our fingers crossed and hope that the audience likes it and that TBS likes it and wants to pick it up again.
TCC: Cool, and with the show, I really like how it has a balance of traditional, 50-esque comedy but there’s a kind of edge to it, like you guys get to swear a little bit, have some sexual talk. Where there any shows in particular that you used as inspiration before making this?
JW: Well, the conceit of this show, it’s based on an Israeli show, (also) called Your Family Or Mine. That was the number one show in comedy in Israel for several years, and the writer of that show was very actively involved in the creation and writing of this show, along with Greg Malins, who is our executive producer.
So that show was the kick-off and inspiration for this, and I think the whole idea of starting and ending each show with the young couple—a married couple—in the car commenting on everything that’s going on, I believe they also do that in the Israeli show. Some of the episodes may have been based on some of those Israeli episodes, but I know a lot of the stuff was not.
I mean, I have a show where I’m sneaking cigarettes and I’ve hidden them and I’m trying to find them, and I swear a lot and do a lot of physical stuff like ripping drawers out of the kitchen cabinets and stuff. A lot of physical shtick, and that, I think, was Greg’s, our executive producer’s, idea completely for my character, and I love it.
I love it that she’s a closet smoker, because I so look down my nose at everybody and so full of suggestions about how people should live their lives. So it’s nice to see this woman whose put herself on a pedestal, and she doesn’t really deserve to be up there. * laughs *
TCC: And before you filmed any of the episodes, did you watch the Israeli one or did you try to go in cold?
JW: I did not. I choose not to. I didn’t really want to. I never really want to base a character on what some other actor’s done with it. You know, I have to make the character mine, so I had no interest in watching it.
TCC: That’s what I thought, and I also did want to go back to talk about how it’s been seeing Marry Me have so much success on the network so far?
JW: It’s really exciting, it’s very exciting. I’m really happy for our great exec producer and Casey Wilson, his wife who’s so, so brilliant in it and Ken Marino, who plays my son, is just hysterically funny. I think all the young people on that show are incredibly talented and very funny and I think it’s a very hip show. I really think the writing is very modern and fun and I think it has heart too. I, again, hope that show gets picked up too. I love all my kids on both shows. * laughs *
TCC: Alright, and obviously, in addition to these two shows and some others you have or had recurring roles in, what’s it like being so involved with television today, especially with so many great programs and so many great ones coming up?
JW: Well, for a woman who is well over 55, let’s say, it’s really nice to be working and to be able to do shows of quality. And I think television is providing that, certainly more than movies, for woman in my age group. So I’m very appreciative of that.
I love doing comedy. For many years, people thought only of me as a dramatic actress, even though the very first movie I ever did, Kramer vs. Kramer, I had a comedy role in. And I’ve done quite a number of comedy movies. But I know a lot of people think of me more as a dramatic actress. So I really do enjoy doing comedies, so I’m happy that I’ve been cast in these two comedies.
I think television now is really…it’s an interesting time, because there’s so much out there, with streaming and all that. Business is really changing, and as one of the old fogeys in the business, I’m really trying to keep up with it, and keep up with the technological changes. But it’s pretty hard, you know.
I came up in a much more traditional television situation, where you had three main networks, or four main networks and then cable networks, and now it’s just huge. I think there’s a lot of junk out there, and I don’t know how people can wave through it all. But I also think HBO, a lot of the cable companies and the other companies are starting to make really interesting shows, with True Detective and House of Cards and, you know, I think there’s more opportunities for good stuff. And also, of course, there’s more opportunity for bad stuff. But you just have to pick and choose, and as an actor, I feel fortune that I get to pick and choose a bit and choose some stuff that I like.
TCC: Great, and in addition to the shows you’re in, what are some shows on TV, comedy or otherwise, that you like to watch?
JW: Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey *laughs * True Detective I was completely hooked on. House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Veep. I know there are many others, but of course they are not coming to me now. Oh, we’re just going to start Empire, watching Empire tonight.
Scandal, because I was on that show, I love Kerry (Washington) so much and I think that’s such a fun show. Also I worked with Dan Bucatinsky in Marry Me, and he was also in Scandal too. I love Shonda (Rhimes). She wrote me a brilliant part in Private Practice, I did an odd thing. I played Kate Walsh’s snobby, rich mother who turned out to be a lesbian, marries her lesbian lover and kills herself because her lover dies, and it was just so juicy. And I just think Shonda’s a genius. I think she continues to astonish.
TCC: Yeah, she’s definitely great. Just to switch gears for a little bit, I did want to talk about some of your films coming up. One that I’m really interested in is The List. What was that like?
JW: Oh, that was fun! You know, it was a very small movie. The guy who wrote it, Harris Goldberg, he directed it, and it was based on his own experience about a guy who wants to marry this fabulous girl and she would marry him, but only if he changes these ten things about himself. And I can’t believe it, but this actually happened to Harris. You know, and eventually the guy…and he runs around, trying to change all of these things.
It’s very cute. It’s got a great cast. I got to work with Bob Gunton, who played my husband and I’ve known him, and Michael Nouri, for many years. The young people I didn’t know, but they were…I mean, I knew their work, but I never got to work with them before, but they were fabulous. So that, I’m hoping Harris will…it’s finished, and I think he’s now trying to get distribution for it. So I hope that happens really soon for him, because it’s a really charming piece.
TCC: Well I definitely look forward to checking it out. And this one, I know you filmed a couple years ago but with the Kickstarter has been coming up again, but can you tell me a little bit about what’s been happening with The Last Film Festival?
JW: Oh, well yeah. That was Dennis Hopper’s last movie.
TCC: Right.
JW: And it has a great cast. Jacqueline Bisset, Chris Kattan, I’m blanking now, Leelee Sobieski. I mean, there are so many great actors in it. And * laughs * that was crazy. I never worked with Dennis (before this). I’ve met him, but I’d never worked with him, and he was just great. Because the movie was pretty much improvised, that’s how Linda Yellen likes to work. I had done two other things with her. And at first I think Dennis was really nervous about that, which surprised me, because I always thought he was loosey-goosey. You know, you look at Easy Rider and all that.
But then he really went with it, and he was so funny. I had a scene in the movie where * laughs* I play the mayor of this small town where the film festival is going on, and he and I wind up having sex on a desk in this high school where it’s taking place. And we accidentally hit the button, which turns on the monitor system throughout the school. So everyone hears it. And so it was a lot of wild, crazy, silly stuff. He really was such a good sport.
So Linda, she only needs $90,000 to finish the thing. She started this Kickstarter campaign last week. So we’re all trying…I don’t tweet, but, you know, we’re all trying—the whole cast—is trying to, through Facebook and tweeting and Instagram and all that stuff, get people to contribute to the campaign. Because it really has very special meaning, because it was the last film that Dennis did, and it’s very funny.
TCC: Yeah I really hope it does come together, because, in addition to the cast, it does sound like a great premise and it really can be a great movie when it comes out.
JW: Well if you Twitter or you use Instagram, why don’t you mention the Kickstarter campaign?
TCC: I’ll do that.
JW: That would be fabulous. That would help a lot. It really would.
TCC: Alright, great, and this isn’t one that you’re in, but I wanted to know—I’m a big Poltergeist fan, but I’m curious what your thoughts are on the upcoming remake?
JW: Well, you know, I watched the trailer that’s out recently, and I was fascinated because somehow I thought it would be completely different. But there were scenes in there that were so similar to the scenes in our version of it. But it’s a great cast that they have, and Sam Rockwell did such a classy thing.
He called me, and he called Craig Nelson, and he said, “Listen, just so you know, I’m getting ready to shoot this new version of Poltergeist” and he said, “First of all, we’re not going to try to redo what you guys did. What you guys did was very special and unique and we know we can’t do that and so, I just want to tell you how much I respect you, and I respect your performance, and I respect Craig’s performance and I think you guys, as a family, really made it work and stuff.” Which I thought was really such a nice thing for him to do, and I love him.
I’m such a fan of his and I think he’s a really good actor and I like Rosemarie DeWitt. And I think that it’s going to be very good. I think they’re so good, they’re really good actors, and when I saw the trailer, it really kind of creeped me out. The little girl that they have, to make, looks exactly like the Heather O’Rourke, except with dark hair. And that really gave me chills, because, you know, we lost Heather when she was twelve. So to see someone who looks so much like her, even though her hair is a completely different color, I think that’s going to be hard for me to watch.
But I will see it. I’m definitely going to see it, I’m very interested in what it’s going to be like and I think with Sam and Rosemarie DeWitt in those two lead roles, it’s going to be in good hands.
TCC: Great, and since we’re talking about one of your past films, do you have any personal favorite roles that you’ve played, in film, TV or on the stage?
JW: Well, I love a movie I did called American Dreamer, which I shot in Paris for four months. It was a comedy, and Tom Conti played opposite of me. Actors like Coral Browne and Giancarlo Giannini were in it.
It was a very charming romantic comedy about a woman who’s a housewife who reads these novels, and the lead character in the novels is a woman named Rebecca Ryan, who is kind of an international woman of intrigue and a spy in some way. So this housewife enters this contest that said, “Write a story in the style of the Rebecca Ryan stories.” And she does and she sends it in and she wins a trip to Paris. She goes to Paris, and she gets hit in the head and she wakes up thinking she is Rebecca Ryan. So she starts living out this ridiculous scenario that she is being followed by spies and all this kind of stuff.
It was so much fun to shoot, and being in Paris and I love that character, I love that movie. It’s a movie that unfortunately there was an upheaval in the studio right in the time when it was being released, and there was an argument over foreign rights and all this stuff. So it didn’t get the money and advertising that it should have had, but it was a just a very sweet romantic comedy, and I love doing that.
And, of course, I love doing The Big Chill because of all the wonderful actors in that, and Lawrence Kasdan did some brilliant writing. So, you know, it’s hard to say what my favorite is, but those two are very high up on the list.
TCC: Yeah I was just curious, and in addition to your acting career, you’ve had a pretty prolific career behind the camera. And especially with your husband being a director, do you have an interest, or plans, to go back to that?
JW: Well, I would love to. Unfortunately, what happened is—I don’t know if you know the statistics of female directors in our business—but they’re very sad, fewer than 10 percent. It’s very hard to break into an all-boys club, if you will. Particularly with television directors…well, the same is true with movie directors too.
So when I did my short film and it got nominated for an Oscar, Showtime was very generous because they gave me this TV movie, a family movie to do, which I did with Mischa Barton. And then I shot a couple episodes of television stuff up in Vancouver, and then I started doing a TV series John Grisham’s The Client as the lead. And, of course, I couldn’t do anything else for that season because I was in every shot.
Once I had gotten out of the loop, if you will, and the family that supported me at Showtime had changed there, it was like I was no longer considered part of the club. I was considered an actress, rather than a director. So I haven’t really had any other opportunity, unless I do a film myself you know and find a script and produce it and all that, which is certainly always a possibility.
But I would love to. I love directing, I really felt very at home doing it and I was surprised. But then I thought about the number of movies I made over the years and how much I absorbed watching them set up shots and all that stuff. So that’s definitely something I’d love to go back to, yes.
TCC: And since your husband was a director first, was he the one who got you into it?
JW: Oh no, no, no. He had nothing to do with it. It was sheer luck, if you want to know the truth. I was sitting on the panel for the Television Critics Association about a show I had done called Chantilly Lace, which was actually done by the woman who did The Last Film Festival which I did with six other actresses improvising. I was on this panel, and the guy who was the head of television for Showtime was on the panel with me and I said, during the panel, that I would like to direct sometime.
And he came to me and said, “Are you serious about that?” And I said, “Yeah,” and he said, “We have a program at Showtime called Directed By, for actors who want to direct to do their first short film with us.” I said, “Wow.” He said, “You bring us the material, and if we like it, and we think it’s right, then we’ll give you a small budget and you can shoot it.” So that’s how I did that. I found a friend of mine had some short stories, I found one that she turned into a wonderful half-hour script, and so I did it under the offices of Showtime. It was a great program. I know Laura Dern did one, and I think Christine Lahti did one and Kathleen Turner, a lot of actors and actresses did them.
TCC: And you said that program is no longer around?
JW: I don’t think so. This was years ago. This was in the late ‘90s.
TCC: That’s a shame, though. Also in addition to your acting, you work with the SAG Foundation, so how do you balance your time between that and your acting?
JW: Yeah it takes up a lot of time *laughs * I have to be very careful about how I schedule myself, but it’s something I really enjoy doing. I love the charity itself, I love that we give back to actors in need. Because so many of our actors who’ve had wonderful careers, whose names are well-known to you and young people can no longer get hired because they are too old or have health problems or whatever. And so this charity, this SAG foundation, we have charities to help them.
We have emergency assistance, claustrophobic health care, and we also have three programs for young actors who are just starting out about the business. The business of being in show business, and how to manage the money and how to get a second job and how to audition and all things up-and-coming actors need to know, and we also have a children’s literacy program. So I love giving my time to the charity. Sometimes it gets tough when I’m working, but sometimes I’m not working and so I have that and it’s very fulfilling.
Your Family Or Mine premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. EST on TBS. To give to The Last Film Festival Kickstarter page, click here.
Image courtesy of Jonas Public Relations Inc.