Even Christina Hendricks is watching “The White Lotus.”
“I’ve seen all these videos of Parker Posey on Instagram. Every actor in the world wants to be a part of ‘The White Lotus’: it’s like they’ve all won the lottery. You don’t just get a TV show – you get a whole new life. I’m sure they’re enjoying every minute of it,” she said.
Hendricks, known for “Mad Men” and “Good Girls,” is no stranger to knowing that “the longer you spend with a show, the more time you spend talking about it.”
“It becomes a part of your life,” she tells Variety at France’s Series Mania, looking back on her own career.
“To be quite honest, at this point in my life, I would say just as many people bring up ‘Good Girls’ as they do ‘Mad Men.’ They’ve both had very enthusiastic audiences – and very different audiences, although there’s been some crossover. They both became cult classics, which I was thrilled about because ‘Good Girls’ is so much fun. I’m really proud of that show,” she admits.
“Television leaves a great impact on people. There are always shows that everyone’s talking about and right now, it’s ‘The White Lotus.’ We all sit around and talk about it weekly. There is something about TV that makes you feel connected. I especially enjoy it when you can’t binge it and when you have to wait.”
Her patience might come in handy – Hendricks won’t be able to binge any shows anytime soon, busy promoting “Small Town, Big Story” – currently shown at Series Mania – and readying for limited series “Good American Family,” where she acts alongside Ellen Pompeo.
“It’s based on a true story and on a documentary. It’s a current news story that’s out there, happening today, and it’s absolutely mind-blowing that this could be based on real events,” she notes.
“Good American Family” is based on the much-publicized case of Natalie Grace, accused of lying about her age by her adopted family.
“Hulu has done other series like that, ‘The Act’ being one example. I think they handled it very well and the audience really enjoyed it. I was just incredibly consumed with the story,” she admits.
“The tones of my last shows are definitely very, very different. It’s kind of exciting with ‘The Buccaneers,’ ‘Good American Family’ and ‘Small Town, Big Story’ all coming out within a few months.”
The latter, created by Chris O’Dowd, sees Hendricks as a Hollywood producer Wendy Patterson who returns to a small town in Ireland, famous for close encounters of the third kind. She’s ready to start a new production, which will put this sleepy place – and its loveable residents – on a map. Forget “cozy crime” – it’s cozy sci-fi.
“Don’t we all love an eccentric, heartfelt character? That comes from the mind of Chris O’Dowd. He looks at everyone and sees their unique side. It definitely has a sort of friendly, quirky, fun feeling. You want to be in that town, with those people.”
But even despite their kindness, or these lush Irish greens, Wendy has a secret. And a score to settle.
“Small Town, Big Story” was produced by Playground Entertainment. Nbcuniversal Global Tv Distribution handles sales.
“She keeps putting up a wall, because early on in her life, she was left feeling alone. No one believed her. She came up with this defense mechanism: that [sense of] humor. It might be a little bit of marijuana, a little bit of a tough edge,” laughs Hendricks.
“One thing that’s really funny about this character is that she thinks she’s funny. But it doesn’t always work! It’s so human to try out a joke on someone and it just drops flat.”
