Laura Innes - AOL chat
November 15, 2001

AOLiveMC11:  Good evening, and welcome to AOL Live!

Laura Innes:  Hi, it's great to be here. Fire away!

AOLiveMC11:  Tonight we are joined by one of the actresses from the very popular NBC show 'ER.' Welcome, Laura Innes! Laura, let's jump right into questions from our audience, including this very good one from TruthOTheart:

Question:  Laura, I wanted to say first off that I really admire you, and you give me so much strength. My question for you is: Has playing a lesbian on ‘ER’ changed you in any way off screen? Thank you. Love to you from TX. :)

Laura Innes:  I think when you play a character who has a different experience than yourself, you get some vicarious sense of what that person goes through. Sometimes when I'm out shopping, I'll run into people who will express disappointment in the story line, and that makes me feel kind of sad. I sort of feel like a teenage girl who is coming out, and her mother hopes it's just a phase. But yes, it gives me a deeper understanding of what that experience is like.

AOLiveMC11:  Ms. Innes, everyone is very familiar with your character, Dr. Kerry Weaver, on 'ER,' and even more familiar with her sexuality. Which brings this question from our audience:

Question:  A fan of yours read in an interview that when you were asked to do the lesbian story line, after making sure your family was cool about it, you asked your publicist whether this could harm your career, and s/he said probably not. My question is: If your publicist had said probably yes, what would you have done?

Laura Innes:  Oh, I'm sure I still would have done it! I called my publicist, because he's gay and he's one of my best friends. I knew he would be fired up by the idea. I had people say to me in warning, "If you do this story line, people might really think you're gay." My reaction was, "So what?" If this character had been gay when I auditioned, I would have still gone through with the audition. I don't have any negative feeling about this. I think actors get typecast, and that's sad. Any kind of stereotyping can diminish what you do as an actor. But I'm thrilled with this story line, and there is a lot more to explore.

AOLiveMC11:  It's been only in recent years that more mainstream, positive gay characters have been portrayed in television and in the movies. With that in mind, Sora Mylene asks:

Question:  How much input do you have in developing Kerry's character? Do you wish you had more input?

Laura Innes:  I almost always express my point of view to the writers and producers. Sometimes they alter a story line accordingly; sometimes they don't. There are certainly times when I wish I had more input. Last year I was fairly involved in the progression of the story. But yes, I wish I had a little more input. But I try!

AOLiveMC11:  We are talking with Laura Innes, who not only stars as Dr. Kerry Weaver on 'ER,' but also has taken several stints directing, especially for other high-rated NBC dramas like 'The West Wing,' which recently won her an Emmy nomination. Earthlight asks:

Question:  Dear Laura. Hello, my name is Tiffany. I love your character, Kerry Weaver. She brings out the bitch in all of us! :) But my question is, which do you favor more, acting or directing?

Laura Innes:  You know, I don't really prefer one over the other. I enjoy doing them both tremendously. They both really "feed" each other. When I'm in front of the camera, I learn what I need to bring to the table as a director, and vice versa. It certainly makes me more compassionate when I work with actors as a director. I'm very happy to do them both, and as long as I'm able to continue to do both, I will.

AOLiveMC11:  Who have been some of the most inspirational directors you've worked with?

Laura Innes:  When I first worked on the show, Mimi Leder had worked on the show. She had developed some of the best episodes, including 'Love's Labor Lost.' She helped define 'ER.' That was really before I even thought about becoming a director. But before I did do 'ER,' I went back and looked at some of her work. In recent years, my inspiration is Jonathan Kaplan. He's an incredible mentor and inspiration to me. He's so knowledgeable in directing and filmmaking. He's my "go to" guy. I've also worked with Tommy Schlamme. He has inspired and supported me as I've started off in this new career. Without them, I would not be able to do this.

AOLiveMC11:  Our next question comes from Dr drgc:

Question:  Ms. Innes, this season the episodes have been very fast-paced and full of action compared to last season, where the episodes were slower-moving and less intense. Do you think we will see this new, dramatic writing and directing continue through the season?

Laura Innes:  I know in the past couple of years, our show has added more action-packed episodes. The one on tonight, called 'The Storm,' is a very big show. It's a good story and very intense. Over the years, some of our shows have moved more in that direction. For some of us who directed on the show for a little while now, we tend to edit out the things that feel like dead weight. The audience has been with us for so long. The audience kind of gets ahead of you. I directed last week's episode, and that was a pretty calm episode. We ran about nine minutes too long on that show. We got into the editing room and cut it down. I hope when we do that, we're not sacrificing some of the story lines that might feel a bit more thoughtful.

Laura Innes:  I think the show works when it moves along quickly. In the episode that was on last week, 'If I Should Fall From Grace,' I thought it kind of went back to when 'ER' first started. I thought after the intensity of that day, we sort of earned the connection of those two characters. We have had some pretty intense shows this year. I know I've had some that were intense.

AOLiveMC11:  Talking a little bit about your character, Kerry Weaver, we received this question from a member of our audience:

Question:  Exactly what is Kerry Weaver's leg problem?

Laura Innes:  This is the $20-million question! The short answer is, no one really knows. When I first auditioned, she was described as using a cane. When I got the part, I asked what was wrong with her leg, and no one gave me an answer. I worked with a woman who has polio, and I get the walk from her. The producers aren't revealing her disability for two reasons: one, that she's a successful doctor with a disability; the other is that there is still a mystery to her illness. Once you decide to tell the audience what is wrong with her, it becomes true, a part of the show -- it's over, you can never do anything about it.

Laura Innes:  I think there had been a couple of times that it was going to be included in the story, but for various reasons it was never added. But for now, it's going to be let go and unknown. Maybe someday we'll find out. For me, it's always been important that the disability doesn't fulfill the stereotypes of disability, i.e., someone who can't [function]. I like that she's someone with a disability who is extremely capable.

AOLiveMC11:  We're talking with Laura Innes, who plays Dr. Kerry Weaver on NBC's 'ER.' Our next question comes from Goku2653:

Question:  Actors are known to get attached to the characters they are playing. Do you have these sort of feelings towards Kerry? Had you met Kerry in real life, would you like her? Are you going to miss her when she's gone?

Laura Innes:  Yes, I think actors become very attached to the characters that they play. In this case, I'm so attached to her, I have very little objectivity to her. I think she is complicated and interesting and, to me, intriguing in a way that I never get tired of. It's almost like with your own child -- you're very, very protective and understanding, even when she does terrible things. I do understand why, and so I make excuses for her. I think that's what makes me able to play her with the enthusiasm that I do. I think it would be a mistake to soften her. I think it would be a mistake to have her own up to the episode where she lost her pager. People all the time do things to advance their careers; she's just a slightly more blatant example of that. It's fun to watch and see her in a boardroom turning against Mark Greene. It's fun! They give me so many parts of her to play. I've had people come up to me and embrace me and people who just want to slap me across the face, and I think that's great! And I think that's great for the show too.

AOLiveMC11:  One of the roles we've had a chance to see Dr. Weaver in is as a hero...

Question:  It's about time that Kerry gets an episode like 'Partly Cloudy, Chance of Rain.' I've been waiting for this since Season 2. How do you feel about your character finally having a "hero" episode?

Laura Innes:  I feel great about it! I'm very willing to take the ball sometimes to create drama, but I'm also always asking them to have story lines showing me with the patients, being a nice, gentle doctor. There are those story lines, but this one, 'Partly Cloudy, Chance of Rain,' is like a full-on heroic show. It was fun to do. It's a lot of action! It's also strange for me. By the nature of the part, I represent different groups of people: disabled people, lesbian women. I want the character to be true and complex, but I do look forward to being a hero and having the audience on my side. I really appreciate your comment about that!

AOLiveMC11:  Well, we are getting a lot of questions about Sherry Stringfield's return...

Question:  Hey, Laura! What is it like to be working with Sherry Stringfield again?

Laura Innes:  It's great! It's kind of funny, because people were kind of like, "This is strange. It's been five years!" When I first started on the show, I was a recurring character, so I didn't really know her. But when she came back, it was great. She's a great person, really down-to-earth. She has a beautiful baby now. It's really fun having her there again.

AOLiveMC11:  We have time for just a few more questions with Laura Innes, who I believe is dying to tell us about the episode tonight. What can we expect?

Laura Innes:  It's a big action episode and a great story line for me. The plot is, there is a huge, catastrophic rainstorm in Chicago. Kerry ends up going out with paramedics, and there is a pregnant woman trapped on the street. What's great about it is Kerry gets to be a full-on hero. And she is once again put in a situation where Kerry can't control what is going on. According to the doctors who work on the show, this situation is a nightmare. You're in an unsterile environment and have to decide how to treat a mother and unborn baby. I hope people will watch it and enjoy it, because it was really challenging to do. We were up all night and had rain bars dumping freezing cold rain on us! But it was fun to do.

AOLiveMC11:  And speaking of Robert -- OK, we weren't...

Question:  Why doesn't Kerry just haul off and hit Robert on the show? I'd love to see that!

Laura Innes:  I would love to see that too! That's a great idea. Just coldcock him! I love playing scenes with Paul McCrane. He's hilarious. He's so skilled, we really have a good time screaming at each other. I'm going to mention this to the writers. I would love to just beat the crap out of him! LOL.

AOLiveMC11:  Thank you, Laura Innes, for joining us tonight.

Laura Innes:  Thanks a lot, good night!