Melissa McCarthy might have a seriously stacked Hollywood résumé, but ‘Gilmore Girls‘ fans are still very much stuck in Stars Hollow.
The actress spent seven seasons playing Sookie St. James, and nearly two decades later, people still bring up the beloved show whenever they meet her. Turns out, though, making all those cozy Stars Hollow moments was not nearly as easy as they looked.
Melissa McCarthy Explains Why ‘Gilmore Girls’ Was Really Hard
Speaking in a new interview with Variety, McCarthy opened up about filming ‘Gilmore Girls‘ and trying to keep up with Amy Sherman-Palladino’s famously fast dialogue. Since it was her first television show, McCarthy basically assumed the intense workload was just how TV worked.
“It was hard! It was really hard,” McCarthy said. “But to me, that was normal, because it was my first show. So I was like, ‘Oh, our scripts are 93 pages, and you can’t change a contraction, even if you get them that morning and it’s a 10-page oner.’”
Looking back, McCarthy calls the experience “good training” for everything that came later. She also has major respect for Sherman-Palladino for sticking to her vision. “I love that she had her own style, and I love that she built that world,” the actress said.
“Loved that she fought for it, because a woman running that show at that time, I think you kind of had to be like, ‘It’s my way or the highway.’ I think she had to probably fight to keep it the way she wanted to. And I’m glad she did, because it stood the test of time. People really take ownership of that show.”
Melissa McCarthy’s Daughter Had One Question About Sookie
McCarthy recently took her own little trip back to Stars Hollow when she watched the ‘Gilmore Girls‘ pilot with her daughter Vivian, who had not seen the rest of the series. Vivian immediately picked up on something about her mother’s younger self, and her reaction was pretty hilarious.
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“She kept going, ‘What are you doing with your voice?’” McCarthy recalled. “And I was like, ‘Oh, it’s youth.’ She’s like, ‘That doesn’t sound like you at all.’ I was like, ‘Yeah! I was youthful, and I didn’t have kids yet. And now I sound like this grizzled old man.’”
McCarthy also returned as Sookie for the 2016 Netflix revival ‘Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life‘. Getting back together with the old gang made the experience special, especially since some of those friendships never really went away. “It was fun to see everybody again. I still see Lauren [Graham] and Yanic [Truesdale],” she said. “We’ve gone on vacation with Yanic. We’re really close. I just wanted to go and see everybody. So it was really nice to do.”
Naturally, the big question is whether another Gilmore Girls comeback could ever happen. McCarthy is wondering the same thing as everyone else. “I always wonder, will something else happen with that?” she said. “I don’t know anything about it.” So, for now, another Stars Hollow reunion remains one giant question mark.
Meanwhile, fans clearly have not moved on. Nearly 20 years after the original run ended, people still approach McCarthy about ‘Gilmore Girls‘. Considering she has starred in major projects including ‘Bridesmaids‘, ‘Spy‘, and ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?‘ since then, even she sometimes cannot believe Sookie remains such a big deal.
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