As Celia finds herself adrift after being kidnapped, Perkins talks to AOL TV about her favorite Celia moments and the most outrageous Celia moments (many of which overlap), her thoughts on being half of the new Lucy and Ethel ... and how difficult it is to be funny when you're naked. -- By Kimberly Potts
Elizabeth Perkins Photos
Actress Elizabeth Perkins attends the 13th annual Art Directors Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 14, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California. 13th Annual Art Directors Guild Awards - Arrivals Beverly Hilton Hotel Beverly Hills, CA United States February 14, 2009 Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic.com To license this image (56739209), contact FilmMagic.com
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic.com
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - FEBRUARY 14: Actress Elizabeth Perkins attends the 13th Annual Art Directors Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 14, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Elizabeth Perkins
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BEVERLY HILLS, CA - FEBRUARY 14: Actress Elizabeth Perkins attends the 13th Annual Art Directors Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 14, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Elizabeth Perkins
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BEVERLY HILLS, CA - FEBRUARY 14: Actress Elizabeth Perkins attends the 13th Annual Art Directors Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 14, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Elizabeth Perkins
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BEVERLY HILLS, CA - FEBRUARY 14: Actress Elizabeth Perkins attends the 13th Annual Art Directors Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 14, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Elizabeth Perkins
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BEVERLY HILLS, CA - FEBRUARY 14: Actress Elizabeth Perkins attends the 13th Annual Art Directors Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 14, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Elizabeth Perkins
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Actresses Elizabeth Perkins and Mary-Louise Parker attend the official Showtime after party for the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Verandah Room at The Peninsula Hotel on January 11, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California.
Alexandra Wyman/WireImage.com
Actors Pamela Adlon and Elizabeth Perkins attends the official Showtime after party for the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Verandah Room at The Peninsula Hotel on January 11, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California.
Alexandra Wyman/WireImage.com
Actresses Elizabeth Perkins and Mary-Louise Parker attend the official Showtime after party for the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Verandah Room at The Peninsula Hotel on January 11, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California.
Alexandra Wyman/WireImage.com
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JANUARY 11: Actresses Elizabeth Perkins (L) and Mary-Louise Parker attend the official Showtime after party for the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Verandah Room at The Peninsula Hotel on January 11, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Mary-Louise Parker;Elizabeth Perkins
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In the season premiere, Celia's kidnapper, Rudolpho (Kevin Alejandro), is put in the position of trying to comfort her about the fact that no one she knows seems to care that she's being held for ransom. Is this her low point?
[Laughs] It's always a low point for Celia. I'm the low point of the show. It's kind of like, for Celia, nothing ever goes right ... even in a kidnapping situation. Nobody is willing to bail her out. But she's like that bad metaphor that won't die; she's in everybody's business and nobody can get rid of her. Even now, she's going to come back, even though she's still stuck at a rebel camp with nobody willing to come and get her and [the kidnappers] don't know what to do with her. She lands like a fly, and won't go away until somebody swats her. It's a lot of fun to play, to be honest with you. I'm having an absolute ball, and I couldn't ask for a better role and a better cast and a better show. It's like a dream job for me.
What's been your favorite Celia storyline so far? I loved when she and Doug were together, on a selfish basis, because I love Kevin Nealon, and I love working with him. He's the gentlest soul on the planet. But also because I think they're perfect for each other because they're both completely unaware ... out of all the characters in the show, they have the least amount of awareness. And so they just sort of feed off each other like a Laurel and Hardy, and I thought it was a really fun storyline for both Celia and Doug.
She's a larger than life character, and has had lots of times when she's just plain mean, but she's not an unlikable character. Why is that?
We sort of made a conscious choice with her, because, as written, and as played a certain way, she would be completely awful and you wouldn't like her. But because she's so unaware and because her vulnerability is so out on the table, it makes her wicked ways a lot more palatable. She herself is confused about how she gets herself into these situations. Things come out of her month and people recoil and she's like, "What? What did I say?" She always thinks she's doing something for good, like when she threw Nancy's pot in the pool. That was for the greater good. If she tells her daughter she's fat, it's for the greater good. And she wholeheartedly believes it; there's not one moment of doubt about what she's saying. She's so outrageous, but she has no idea that she's outrageous. She thinks she's the normal one.
Obviously the show is a satire, but in some ways, do you think Celia is sort of the most realistic character?
I think Celia is realistic in that she thinks the same things other people think, but don't say. She has no filter. There's nothing that sort of stops her from speaking her subtexts, unlike the sort of uptight suburban mothers who are concerned with appearances and all this. They may think, "Oh God, my daughter's fat and this is embarrassing to me ... I'm going to the PTA and mine is the one who's the lesbian and mine is the one who's fat and mine is the one who's not the perfect cheerleader." I mean, that's something nobody will ever say, but it doesn't mean that they're not thinking it. That's what I love about Celia ... she's sort of like the Greek chorus.
What's your dream storyline for her?
What I love about what they've done with Nancy and Celia is that there's always been sort of this unspoken lust that Celia has for Nancy. It's almost like if she could, she would wear Nancy's skin, like in 'The Silence of the Lambs.' Basically, she's in love with Nancy and wants to be Nancy. But she was running a parallel life to Nancy's, in a real attempt to kind of be her, and actually there's parts of this season that touch upon that, which I'm really excited about. Nancy is with child and maybe heading back into an old way of life, and this is Celia's opportunity to kind of live Nancy's new life, through her. I always thought there was a really interesting tension between Nancy and Celia, and that's always been a storyline I've wanted to explore. You know, exactly what is Celia's obsession with Nancy?
You and Mary-Louise Parker have great chemistry, and I read an interview where the two of you joked about co-starring in a remake of 'Absolutely Fabulous.' Any definite plans for that?
Aw, thank you. We have a really good time when we work together, which isn't very often, believe it or not, but it's always really dynamic when we do. Right now, ['Weeds'] has been picked up for two seasons, so we're still focusing on that at the moment, but we have talked about stuff, and yes, it would be great to do something together again. We always try to bring elements of that kind of comedy to the relationship whenever we are working together. It just kind of happens naturally. You're also wringing comedy out of situations that are, to say the least, not typical TV comedy situations.
We're just blessed with really good writing that immediately roots down to the dark side and then comes back. And it's hysterical, and really, really, really hard to do well, especially when you're as bold as we are and touching on stuff like pornography and drugs and violence and family relations and social ills. There are times when we're reading the scripts and we'll say, "Uh, I don't know about this ... we're talking about incest here. We're talking about the Holocaust here or child abuse here ..." It's a fine line, and sometimes it's kind of scary. [As actors], we have to put ourselves in the hands of the writers and just trust, and there have been many moments where one of us has walked up to the writers' room and gone, "Guys, I'm kind of nervous about this joke."
2009 Summer TV: Returning Series
'Grey's Anatomy,' 'The Office' and 'American Idol' may be over, but the 2009 TV season is just heating up.
We're giving you the lowdown on all of this summer's hottest returning shows -- 'Mad Men,' 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and 'The Closer,' just to name a few -- to keep TV fans cooking over the next three months.
Check out all the big returning shows in our 2009 Summer TV gallery.
AMC / HBO
'So You Think You Can Dance'
Premieres: Thu., May 21, 8PM (Fox)
Premise: 'Idol' whatsit? Fox's other (and, some might argue, better) performance reality show will attempt to ease America's post-Lambert pain by bringing us not just one but two seasons of ultra-competitive dancing, the second to follow in the fall. Cat Deeley returns as host for both seasons, so let the waltzing, tango-ing, Bollywooding and hip-hopping begin. Na-na-na-na-na!
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Fox
'Burn Notice'
Starring: Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell,Sharon Gless
Premieres: Thu., June 4, 9PM (USA)
Premise: Michael Weston (Donovan) may have unraveled the mystery of who burned him at the end of last season -- we take his diving off the helicopter into the ocean as a sound rejection of the offer to bring him back into the fold. Expect more of Michael as an independent agent ... but don't think the agency is through with him yet.
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USA Network
'The Next Food Network Star'
Premieres: Sun., June 7, 9PM (Food Network)
Premise: Boasting one of the coolest prizes in all of reality TV, season 5 gets cooking with 10 new Food Network star wannabes, all vying to win their own cooking show. Sometimes dubbed the other reality cooking competition, we prefer to think of it as 'Top Chef' Plus, since the dramatic challenges aren't just about skills in the kitchen -- they're also looking for new personalities for the network.
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Food Network
'Army Wives'
Starring: Kim Delaney, Catherine Bell, Terry Serpico, Sterling K. Brown, Brigid Brannagh
Premieres: Sun., June 7, 10PM (Lifetime)
Premise: When the show left off, Frank (Serpico) was overseas while Denise (Bell) stayed home questioning their marriage and Pamela (Brannagh) was on the fence about wedding an army man. Coming up, expect to see more of Claudia Joy's (Delaney) daughter Emmalin, and Roland (Brown) will struggle with being a stay-at-home dad.
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Lifetime
'Denise Richards: It's Complicated'
Premieres: Sun., June 7, 11PM (E!)
Premise: The inaugural season gave us a peek into Denise's personal life as she struggled with juggling her career and being a single mom. This time around we can probably expect to see some behind-the-scenes footage from her 'Dancing With the Stars' days, and she'll supposedly be making some life-changing decisions.
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E!
'The Closer'
Starring: Kyra Sedgwick, Jon Tenney, J.K. Simmons, G.W. Bailey
Premieres: Mon., June 8, 9PM (TNT)
Premise: Brenda Lee (Sedgwick) navigates being a newlywed, taking in Fritz's (Tenney) teen niece, changes in the squad room ... and a sick kitty. But love is in the air: Grumpy Lt. Provenza (Bailey) finally gets a steady gal.
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TNT
'Raising the Bar'
Starring: Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Gloria Reuben, Jane Kaczmarek
Premieres: Mon., June 8, 10PM (TNT)
Premise: In its second season, the legal eagles of 'Bar' continue to battle in the courtroom. Jerry (Gosselaar) defends a barber who's prosecuted after his nephew sells crack out of the shop, while Marcus is ordered to take a hard line on the case. And finally, the show addresses the really big issue: Jerry's hair.
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TNT
'Weeds'
Starring: Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Alexander Gould, Justin Kirk
Premieres: Mon., June 8, 10PM (Showtime)
Premise: Nancy's (Parker) revelation that she's pregnant with her drug kingpin boyfriend's child may have saved her life, but what other consequences will the revelation have? Will Shane become a full-fledged drug dealer? And is Andy really in love with Nancy? Jennifer Jason Leigh joins the cast in a recurring role as Nancy's sister; no word yet on how she feels about the Mary Jane.
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Showtime
'Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List'
Premieres: Mon., June 8, 10PM (Bravo)
Premise: Four seasons -- and two Emmy awards -- later, Kathy Griffin returns to Bravo for another dose of D-list drama, this time with a slew of guest stars that include Rosie O'Donnell, Suzanne Somers and Cher. Not bad for life on the D-list.
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E!
Any examples?
Yeah, when you start making a joke about the World Trade Center or Israel or child abuse or sexual perversion. It gets a little ... like at the end of last year, where Kevin Nealon had to put a noose around his neck and masturbate. I mean, it's Kevin, for God's sakes ... it's not like we're dealing with some German film here. It's tough to take that situation and make it funny. And then there have been times where I'll read a scene where [Celia's] completely naked, and she's had a double mastectomy, and they want me to make it funny. You go, "Uh, okay, I'll work on that." But consequently, all of us have become very, very close. You don't tackle this kind of stuff and not have a real bond between you.
I have to ask you about one of my favorite movies of all time, 'About Last Night ...' -- was that really your first time in front of a camera?
It was. It's kind of interesting when I look back at that role, because sometimes I think that character I played, Joan, was like Celia at 25, even her sort of obsession with her roommate [Demi Moore]. Someone [on the 'Weeds' set] said that to me, and I thought to myself, "Ooh, that's kind of interesting." It's the movie that most people say "Oh, I love you in that movie," or they remember that character, because she was so angry and she had, like, so many cutting one-liners. People quote that movie to me more than any other movie that I've ever been in.
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