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When You're Shooting A Network Television Show It Inevitably Starts Airing A Few Episodes In, And Depending On The Ratings And The Response From The Public, You Find Yourself Tweaking Your Performance Or The Scripts Go In A Different Direction.

-Lizzy Caplan

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When You're Shooting A

Lizzy Caplan

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When You're Shooting A Network Television Show It Inevitably Starts Airing A Few Episodes In, And Depending On The Ratings And The Response From The Public, You Find Yourself Tweaking Your Performance Or The Scripts Go In A Different Direction.

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Topic

Finding Yourself

More From Lizzy Caplan

It's A Different Thing With Cable Tv. You Don't Have To Have Your Characters Be Lovely Again By The End Of The Episode. And In This Era Of The Male Antiheroes On Cable Tv, You Don't Even Need To Make Them Likable; You Just Need To Make Them Compelling. As Opposed To Film, Where It's Still Those Basic Tropes Of Good Versus Evil. But For Women, I Don't Think That Has Been Widely Seen Yet.

It's Weird, It's Really Weird To Be Called A Breakout Star. And Some People Are Referring To My Show As The New 'friends', Which I Can't Really Even Wrap My Head Around

It Took Me A Long Time To Realize That Being A Girl Is So Much More Powerful Than Being A Guy, But I Really Saw Myself As Boy For A Long While.

I Try To Bring Elements Of My Own Personality To Every Character I've Played, But I Think I'm Pretty Similar To The Character I'm Playing Now. The Biggest Departure Would Have To Have Been Freaks' And Geeks Sara, Who Was This Sort Of Subordinate And Shy Girl.

I've Played A Different Type Of Character In A Different Type Of Thing, For The Most Part. It's Not Like You Can't Mine Tons Of Fascinating Stuff From Any Character That You Play, And I've Always Been Fascinated With Women And Relationships, But This Has Been A Completely Different Experience, For Sure.

Different Experiences

I Never Get Recognized For 'mean Girls.' I Can Be Walking Around With Daniel Franzese, Who's In The Movie And A Friend Of Mine, And People Will Come Up To Him And Start Freaking Out And Have No Idea Who I Am.

When You're Shooting A Network Television Show It Inevitably Starts Airing A Few Episodes In, And Depending On The Ratings And The Response From The Public, You Find Yourself Tweaking Your Performance Or The Scripts Go In A Different Direction.

Finding Yourself

If You're Raised In A Household Where Questions Are Encouraged, You're The Minority. It's Sad. One Of The Things That Has Resonated The Most For Me Is That, In The '50s, If Your Sex Life Was Unfulfilling, It Was Your Fault, As A Woman. It Was Never The Man's Fault. Millions Of Women Thought They Were Working With Faulty Equipment. If They Couldn't Have Orgasms From Having Sex With Their Husbands, Then They Were Broken. That's Insane, And Everybody Believed It.

I Become An Actress To Do Things That Scare The Sh*t Out Of Me And I Felt Like I Didn't Stand A Chance To Get This Part Because People Have Preconceived Notions About Me, But If They Gave Me The Part, I Would Do Everything In My Power To Not Screw It Up.

If You Think Too Much About Nudity, It Can Be Anxiety-provoking Because It Lives On The Internet Forever. I've Only Taken My Clothes Off On That One Other Show, And Yet, If You Were To Google Image Me, It Would Seem Like I Do This All The Time. As An Actress - And As An Actor, Too, But It's Worse For Actresses - You Constantly Get Picked Apart For How You Look. Obviously, Being Picked Apart With Your Clothes On Is Slightly Less Terrifying Than When Your Clothes Are Off.

I've Been A Feminist Since The Day I Was Born. I Wanted To Play Football. I Didn't Want To Play With Dolls; I Wanted To Play With Boys And Didn't Understand Why I Couldn't.

I Find That Working With Friends Is Always The Goal, Even If Its Just One Person. Because The Comedy Community Is Kind Of Insular, Its Easy To Run Into People Youve Worked With, Even If You Worked With Someone On Something For A Day, Or Whatever.

I Think Being Mean To People In High School Is Healthy. It's Sort Of Like You're In This Situation With All These Other Kids And Sometimes You Need To Get Your Aggression Out. And If You'd Had People Be Mean To You Before, It Really Does Build Character.

I'm Still Waiting To Hit It Big. But There Was The Moment When I Didn't Have To Work At The Restaurant Anymore, Which Is The Milestone For Every Actor. When Your Job Is Just To Be An Actor And Not To Have To Do Anything Else.

I Find That Break-ups Are So Much Easier When You Can Hate The Person.

I Was A Late Bloomer. I'm Not One Of Those Girls Who's Like, "i Love My Body! Hey, Everybody, Come Look At My Body!

If I Was On Game Of Thrones, I Think The Nudity And Sex Questions Would Probably Get Irritating, But This Is A Show About Sex.

Save The Date' Feels Like A Quiet Story About Two Sisters And The Men In Their Lives, Kind Of Reminiscent Of The Quieter Rom-coms Of The 1990s; It's Very Character-driven And Not As Wedding-focused.

It's Refreshing, Honestly, To Be Able To Have More Intellectual Conversations About Sex And The Meaning Of Sex, And Intimacy And What That Means In Relationships. As A Person In The World, It's On Your Mind. It's A Part Of Your Life, After A Certain Age Until You're Dead. So, To Be Able To Examine It In A Different Way Is Really Fulfilling.

I'm Also 31 Years Old. It's Not Like I'm Some Kid Who Can Be Slapped Across The Newspaper Pages Like Some Harlot.

If You Meet A Girl Who Has Slept With 100 Guys, You Will Think Something Of Her You Wouldn't Think Of A Guy Who Slept With 100 Girls.

I'm Extra Harsh On Pilot Scripts, Which Is Difficult Because Pilots, Generally, Are Not That Great. You Have To Imagine The Whole Series Instead Of Just That One Script, And I Have A Really Hard Time Doing That.

I've Always Been Really Selective. I Just Didn't Have The Right To Be As Selective In Other Years, I Guess. It's Very Difficult To Commit So Much Of Your Life To Go Shoot Something That You Think Sucks, So I'd Rather Do Nothing Than Go Work On Something That I Really Hate. Obviously, There Are Moments Where You Have To Take Jobs For Money, Everybody Needs To Pay Their Rent Or Whatever.

I Was A Russian Dancer In My Elementary School Production Of Fiddler On The Roof When I Was In Third Grade Or Fourth Grade. I Was One Of The Younger Kids Accepted Into The Play, And The Plays Were Pretty Impressive, Let Me Say.

'party Down' Is The Most Fun I've Ever Had Working In My Life. We Shoot 10-episode Seasons And We Shoot It In 10 Weeks, So It's Very Brief: 4-day Episode Shoots. You Never Get Sick Of Anybody, And It Never Feels Like A Drag. It's Way, Way, Way Too Short.

I Think There's Something Very Lovely And Hilarious About Exploring The Particular Neuroses Of The Female Mind. It's Just Not The Same Thing With Men. I Mean, There Are Exceptions, But For The Most Part, Women Beat Themselves Up In Their Heads More. They Overanalyze Stuff Far More Than Men Do.

The Family You Were Raised In, The Time Period You Were Born In, And The Part Of The Country You're In Absolutely Shape Your View On Sex, Which Shapes A Huge Part Of Anybody's Personality.

On Masters Of Sex, Especially In The Pilot, Everybody Was Showing Up Word-perfect, And Youre Expected To Show Up Word-perfect.

I Had A Bat Mitzvah, Was Confirmed, Went To Jewish Summer Camp, I Go To Temple For The High Holy Days. I Think, Like Most People In Their Early 20s, I Kind Of Strayed Away From It. I Think Once I Have A Family I'll Be Back Into It

I Wanted To See Myself As Something Different, And I Wanted To Convince People That I Was Capable Of Something Other Than What They Would Expect From Me.

None Of My Friends Are In The Entertainment Industry.

Entertainment Industry

I Really Like Doing Television Shows, And I Anticipated Doing A Comedy, Because Thats The Place I Feel The Most Comfortable - Those Are The Risks I Want To Take.

I'm Actually Really Proud Of How I Believe People Perceive Me In This Industry. I Worked Really Hard To Be Seen In A Certain Way. I Think I Get A Lot Of Respect For What I Usually Do. I Find That Comedic World Completely Fulfilling And Wonderful And They're All My Best Friends.

There Are Some Of Us Who Are Just Born With A More Adventurous Spirit Than Others. There Are Lots Of People Who Would Rather Do The Same Thing, And She Just Was Never That.

In Fact, The First Time I Ever Got Naked On Tv Was The Biggest Confidence Booster Of My Life.

I Don't Think You Should Be Allowed To Eat In A Restaurant If You Haven't Waited Tables At Least Once. It's So Irritating When I See People Being Rude To Waiters, Like, It Makes Me Want To Slit Their Throats! Like, Really? You're Really This Inconsiderate?

For The Past Few Years, I've Been More Selective Than I Have Any Right To Be, But I Think That's Finally Starting To Work In My Favor. I Think I Get Way Too Much Credit For Making What People Consider To Be Smart Choices, But It's Only Because I Made A Decision To Stop Worrying About Making Money.

On True Blood — I've Never Told Anybody This—but I Was So Nervous And I Was So Drunk That After I Shot The Scene I Was Going Up To The Crew Members — And I Had Just Met All These People The Day Before — And I Was Going Up To All Of Them Like, 'you Got A Boner! You Do! You've Got One!' It Was Horrible. Horrible!

I Find That Working With Friends Is Always The Goal, Even If It's Just One Person. Because The Comedy Community Is Kind Of Insular, It's Easy To Run Into People You've Worked With, Even If You Worked With Someone On Something For A Day, Or Whatever. It Just Makes It More Comfortable.

It's Too Scary In Television. It's Scary To Sign A Six-year Contract For Something That You Don't Necessarily Know About.

I Think If A Girl Who Liked 'party Down' Found Out That Her Boyfriend Liked 'two And A Half Men,' She Would Break Up With Him.

I Was A Weird Tomboy Most Of My Life. I Didn't See The Power In My Own Female Form For Quite A Long Time. Maybe That's A Good Thing.

I Feel Lucky Because Most Of My Friends Aren't Married. So I Don't Feel That, 'oh, Step On It, You're Thirty.'

There Is A Certain Expectation Of Girls To Eventually Grow Up And Behave And Fall In Line. I've Always Bucked Against That.

My First Acting Role As A Kid Was On Freaks And Geeks.

I Usually Don't Know How To Fight Hard For Roles. I've Certainly Sent A Passionate Letter Or Two... Which Always Leads Nowhere.

There's Definitely A Luxury To The Fluidity Of Not Being A Mega-star. I've Done A Ton Of Really, Really Odd, Off-the-wall Movies. There's This Movie I Did Called 'queens Of Country' A Couple Of Summers Ago That Is So Bananas, And If I Was At A Certain Level, I Probably Would Not Have Done That Movie.

I Think It's Necessary To Identify With Anything - With Any Character You Play, There's Got To Be Something In Common, So You Can Link Up To That Person, Even If It's Like One Tiny Thing. But It's Equally Fun To Play Somebody Completely Different, And Trying To Find What That Thing Is To Make It.

I Feel More Confident In Being Able To Be Funny If I'm Comfortable With The People I'm Around. When You're Friends With Them, It Just Makes It All The Better. Plus, Shooting A Movie, You're Sitting On Your Ass For Hours At A Time, So If You Have Somebody There To Mess Around With And Have Fun, Then It's Great.

I Like Being Put In Embarrassing Positions Because It's The Reason Why I Wanted To Be An Actress. I Want To Try Different Things And Things That Make Me Uncomfortable.

I Really Unfortunately Don't Have Tons Of Hilarious Sundance Stories, Because Really I Am Not The Biggest Fan Of Hanging Out, But The Reason Why Is Because I Never Go See Other People's Movies And I Think That's The Way To Do It.

You'd Be Surprised. Girls Like Sensitive, Namby-pamby Guys.

A Wedding Seems To Be, Unless You've Been Married More Than Once, So Then It's A Much More Mellow Affair - It's One Of The Biggest Decisions You Make In Your Life. Of Course, Half Of Marriages Fall Apart And Most People End Up Being Single Again Anyway.

I'm Really Awkward When People Recognize Me. I'm Not Good At It, And For The Most Part It Hadn't Happened To Me Until 'true Blood,' And Then, All Of A Sudden, It Started Happening All The Time.

Everybody Hangs Out With Everybody, Which Is Very Strange For A Cast This Large And This Young. We're All Cool And Down To Earth And Not Caught Up In This Maniacal Business At All.... Everybody Really, Really Likes Everybody Else.

When You Get Seen In One Particular Way, It Can Be Paralyzing. You Start To Believe It's All You Can Do.

I Really Like Doing Television Shows, And I Anticipated Doing A Comedy, Because That's The Place I Feel The Most Comfortable - Those Are The Risks I Want To Take. But It Was Always Really Hard For Me To Find A Script That I Really Liked.

There's Only So Many Times You Can Read How Ugly You Are And How Much People Hate You.

Don't Peak In High School.

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