Entertainment
What Does Melissa McCarthy Think of 'Gilmore Girls'? The Cast's Quotes About the Show Say a Lot
It's been nearly 15 years since Gilmore Girls first blessed the world with its presence on The WB: 15 years since Luke's Diner, Stars Hollow, Chilton, Friday night dinners, the Independence Inn, and, of course, the story of mother-daughter duo Lorelai and Rory Gilmore. It's been a long time, but, despite its age, the series manages to remain a pop culture icon and phenomenon even now — moreso, likely, thanks to Netflix's recent decision to add the series to it's coveted Instant platform — and it's about to become one even moreso: According to recent, confirmed reports, the show is set to get a mini-reunion next year at the ATX festival with Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, and creator Amy Sherman-Palladino all set to attend.
With the reunion fast-approaching, though, does this mean that the long-mythicized Gilmore Girls movie will finally happen? There's no word on that yet (which, for the sake of every Gilmore Girls fan's health, is probably a good thing), but, considering how fondly the cast seems to remember the series, I'm gonna go ahead and at least hope there's a small chance. A little wishful thinking never hurt anyone right? And I mean, the cast does remember the show awfully graciously — for instance...
Lauren Graham
During a very recent Reddit AMA, Lauren Graham had nothing but wonderful things to say about Gilmore Girls and the prospect of a reunion film. When asked if she would want to participate in a film version of the series, should it ever be made, Graham had this to say:
“Yes, IF a movie version could be as good as we’d all want it to be, I’d love to play that character again.”
She later added, while answering another question, that she still keeps in touch with Alexis Bledel, who, of course, portrayed Rory, as well as Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore) and series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino. Make this happen, guys!
Alexis Bledel
Alexis Bledel, unfortunately, hasn’t always spoken as fondly of Gilmore Girls as Graham and the rest of the cast have — when the show was still on air, her ex-boyfriend (and former Gilmore Girls star himself) Milo Ventimiglia told TV Guide that she was eager to leave her contract around season 6 — but, during a 2010 EW reunion issue that brought her and Graham back together for a photoshoot and interview about the series, Bledel did admit to missing the series. The quote came up when she was prompted to say what stood out to her about the show:
”The people, the writing, more than anything. Those two things.”
Hey, the fact that she’s participating in the reunion is telling — maybe she’s grown more open to the idea of taking on the role of Rory again!
Milo Ventimiglia
Though Milo Ventimiglia hasn’t said much about the series since it ended in 2007, he did speak with TV Guide back in 2006, during the show’s sixth season, about the prospect of returning — and made it clear that his loyalty was with series creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino, so he wouldn’t consider returning if they weren’t involved (and, of course, both had left the series at that point due to disputes with the network). He did, however, have nice things to say about the doors that the series opened for him:
“It was always nice that they kept wanting me to come back. And I always had a good experience working with them. And, I have to admit, they gave me my first public push. All the work that I did [before Gilmore Girls] was very much under the radar, and still pretty much under the radar.”
Perhaps it’s possible that Ventimiglia would consider a return if Amy Sherman-Palladino were once again involved?
Jared Padalecki
Though he’s achieved major post-Gilmore Girls success on Supernatural, it’s nice to see that Jared Padalecki — who portrayed Rory’s first love, Dean — has nothing but great things to say about his time on the show. He even stated in an interview with Zap2It back in 2011 that he’d be game for a film, if it ever happened:
”One hundred percent! I would love to. I really would truly love to. It was so fun. I have nothing but fond memories of that show. I came to it straight out of high school, I grew up on the show, and I’d love to go revisit that character.”
Dean is in!
Melissa McCarthy
Though Melissa McCarthy hasn’t directly spoken of her time on Gilmore Girls, she did share a sad tidbit of info about the prospect of a film version of the show back in 2011, during the premiere of Kristen Wiig’s Bridesmaids:
”I don’t think so…people ask that all the time. I’ve never heard anything about it.”
McCarthy is a huge star now, of course, and certainly extremely busy — but she also seems very down to earth, so hopefully that would indicate she’d participate in something related to the series, should it ever happen. After all, there’s no Gilmore Girls without Sookie!
Scott Patterson
Back in 2010, prior to the premiere of his new (sadly, now cancelled) series The Event, Scott Patterson (Luke Danes, of course!) shared his fond memories of Gilmore Girls in an interview with TV.com :
“I mean, in Hollywood, to have a job for seven minutes is good. Seven years is, you know, unthinkable. It’s a gift from above, what can you say? I just felt lucky every day.”
Sean Gunn
Though Sean Gunn hasn’t spoken of Gilmore Girls lately (he’s been too busy making surprise appearances in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy !), he did fondly speak of the show — though, not the network! — back in 2007, just before the series’ end. It came up during an interview with EW, in which he was remembering his favorite episodes, particularly season 4’s “The Festival of Living Art”:
“‘I love that episode because everything works. Everything that happens is hilarious. It was also the number-one most grueling episode to shoot for me. The makeup artists won an Emmy for that show, which they richly deserved. It looked fantastic. It didn’t look like — I’m trying to think of a polite way to diss the WB — shoddy production values.”
So, maybe Gunn didn’t like The WB, but he does speak highly of Gilmore Girls!
Kelly Bishop
Emily Gilmore may have been Lorelai’s stern mother on the series, but, IRL, Kelly Bishop is nothing like her character — and, therefore, had no issue with sharing her fond feelings for Gilmore Girls during an interview in 2012, prior to her debut on series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino’s then-new series, Bunheads. When talking about how Bunheads compared to Gilmore Girls, Bishop commended the latter series, saying:
”You’ve got that same pacing and the clever dialogue and the topical references and the historical references and all of the incredibly intelligent things that Amy puts into her scripts. I mean, you really have to be pretty sharp to—I felt that with Gilmore Girls and I think with this show too. You have to be on top of it. You have to pay attention, and the smarter you are, I think, the more you like it.”
Considering Bishop seems to have actually enjoyed the fast-paced dialogue of the series, perhaps she’d be down for a return as well!
Yanic Truesdale
Ah, where would Stars Hollow and the Independence Inn be without Michel Gerard? He was probably the town’s only grumpy resident apart from Luke Danes, and pretty much completed the series — so it’s good to know that Yanic Truesdale enjoyed portraying him as much as we all loved Michel:
”I had never done a Hollywood show, and what you realize when you do a series like that is that the global culture is the American culture, because you just need to jump on a plane and go anywhere to see the impact that the show had! That people in all kinds of corners of the world, that you’d never think had the show, and they do. That part was fascinating for me.”
Keiko Agena
Lane was an integral part of the series as Rory Gilmore’s bestie forever and ever, so it’s nice to see that Keiko Agena has nothing but lovely things to say about the series. During an interview in 2008, Agena said:
“I have a special attachment to the first season. It was an introduction to such unique and wonderful characters. The family dynamic between all the Gilmore’s is priceless.”
Liza Weil
Liza Weil is currently killing it (maybe literally?!?) on ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder, but all Gilmore Girls fans know that, before Bonnie, there was Chilton’s very own stern-faced queen bee, Paris Geller. Weil seems to have nothing but love for the show as well, and even stated in a recent interview with TV Fanatic that the impact it’s had is extraordinary:
“I still hear from mothers and daughter that they watched that show together and it was that one hour a week that they would not roll their eyes and show disdain and contempt for each other. Especially now being a mother, I hope I have that opportunity to share that with her and me being on it doesn’t make it stupid for her.”
Well, it’s definitely a better family friendly show to watch than How to Get Away With Murder is, that’s for sure.
