Lake Bell
Tags: tv, comedy, [adult swim], Lake Bell, Childrens Hospital, Emmys
The four season run of Childrens Hospital on Adult Swim has also mirrored Lake Bell’s rise in popularity and success in the entertainment industry. What began as a web series created by Rob Corddry is now an Emmy winning television mainstay. While playing Dr. Cat Black on the comedy, Bell has appeared in big movies, comedy and drama, and this year she directed two episodes of Childrens as well.
Childrens Hospital is ostensibly a comedy set in a hospital, though not a children’s hospital. It’s named after Arthur Childrens. And the characters are doctors, but the random episodes can put them in a horror movie, a courtroom drama, whatever. Bell plays Dr. Cat Black, who at one point died, but then it turns out she didn’t really die. That’s Childrens Hospital.
Bell was at the Creative Arts Emmys on Saturday, Sept 15 where Childrens Hospital won the Emmy for Outstanding Special Class: Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program. That’s a mouthful. It means the best show under 30 minutes. Adult Swim airs blocks of 15 minute shows. After the big night, Bell returned to the editing room on the film she directed. She also took on a kick ass role in the upcoming film Black Rock, about women on a camping trip fighting for survival, which premiered at Sundance.
While putting the finishing touches on In a World…, Bell chatted about her creative growth on Childrens Hospital and what’s still to come this season. She also shared a good perspective on her sex appeal, which has gotten her on the cover of Maxim and other provocative photo spreads. Childrens Hospital airs Thursdays at midnight on Adult Swim.
Suicide Girls: Childrens Hospital is going really well for you. Is it a good thing you met Rob Corddry on What Happens in Vegas?
Lake Bell: I can say that as I stood on the stage of the Creative Arts Emmys winning an Emmy for our tiny, irreverent, politically incorrect, hilariously fun joy of a show that is Childrens Hospital, I can say that yes, I was very pleased to have met Rob Corddry on What Happens in Vegas.
SG:
Did you guys hit it off right away?
LB:
Yeah, our parts entailed getting into each other’s faces and numerous disgusting fart jokes and things like that. So immediately we were of like mind.
SG:
Was this your first experience at the Emmys?
LB:
Totally. Yeah, I have never been in the running for anything like that. I don't think we ever thought that would be the case. It’s utterly shocking.
SG:
That was the Creative Arts Emmys. Do you get to go again to the televised Emmys show too?
LB:
You don’t get to go to both. I mean, you wouldn’t necessarily want to. I think award shows are inherently kind of tedious unless you or a dear friend or a family member are nominated for something, or some sort of team you’re a part of is nominated. Otherwise it’s kind of you’re there and you’re like, “Well, I don't know what I’m doing here.” Just five hours of hanging out instead of watching it on television and maybe seeing the close-ups of everyone’s face’s delight or horror.
SG:
Had you always wanted to direct?
LB:
I did but I just never had the audacity to do it until one day my agent suggested it. I was like, oh, eventually I’ll take on something to direct. I had written a feature that I was looking for a director for and he was like, “Well, why don’t you direct it?” I’m like, “I’m not a director. I would never all of a sudden give myself that title without doing it.” He’s like, “Well, then write a short film and direct that and see how you like it.” I was like, “Great idea. I’m going to go do that right now.” So I literally went home, I had had a couple of characters that I had written and I was like all right, I’ll mold this into something that I think has a beginning, middle and end. I’ll make that the short film and that was the little short film. I wasn’t starring in that one though. It starred Michaela Watkins called Worst Enemy. So I directed it and it got into Sundance and that was the beginning of feeling somewhat a little more confident even though understanding respectfully that A, this is just something I like. It felt good. It felt like home. It was like, “This is really fun. I love the collaboration and I love the team aspects of it.”
SG:
Was it easier to direct an episode of a show you’d been on for three years already?
LB:
I think if anything it was a little harder because it wasn’t something that I wrote so it’s sketch comedy. I’d never directed barely anything let alone sketch comedy which is very specific. It’s kind of surreal sometimes too so the two episodes I had, they gave me like a director’s black which is ostensibly two episodes you’ve got to direct at the same time. Both of them were super ambitious. One of them was a pseudo airborne amnesia Contagion movie which was the season premiere this year and then the other one that’s coming out October 4 is likened to a Hanna meets Bourne Supremacy but all obviously within 12 minutes. So those two things to shoot at the same time, I was like, “Way to go, guys.” It was fun.
SG:
Since you’ve started directing, are you taking to things you took for granted as an actor?
LB:
I’m actually sitting in my edit room right now on the feature that I referenced before, that I was saying I wanted to direct a feature. So I did end up directing that and I think post production, as I sit in it, seems to be the most challenging. I think every step that I’ve taken as a director is, certainly at this point, new, exciting, inspiring. It’s a constant creative evolution and I find that a huge turn on. To have great people around you and to collaborate with people and that kind of a thing, but then also feeling energized by the fact that you know what you want is really liberating and intoxicating.
SG:
Are you better able to get that feeling as an actor, now that you’ve directed?
LB:
I don't know, we’ll see. The last thing I acted in was my film so I actually haven’t taken an acting job since I starred in my feature, so it’s the kind of thing where the last director I worked with was myself. We’ll see, now after having gone through the war of making a film and being a crew member, how it will play out when I’m on somebody else’s set. I think if anything, I had an obvious reaction that it had a tremendous affect. I already was the kind of actor who would arrive on the set and want to just be part of whatever the vision of the director wanted. So what are you excited about, what do you need me to do, why do you want me to play it? I’ll get to set early, I’ll just sit here and wait, don’t worry about it, I got it. I already had that kind of mentality. I don't know if that’s being a middle child or a child of divorce. That’s how I was anyway.
SG:
Were the episodes of Childrens Hospital you were not in when you were in post on the episodes you directed?
LB:
Yes, pre-production or post-production. You know, it was the first time I was taking something on that I did not want to let my team down, my Childrens Hospital team. So we talked about it in production meetings and I was like, “I really feel like I shouldn’t be in the episodes A, that I direct or when I’m in pre-production because I just want to be as present as possible, and when I’m running the machine I want to be as efficient as possible so that we make something fun and have a good time.” This season I’m going to be in the ones I direct.
SG:
Do you already know what those episodes are?
LB:
No, they’re still writing them.
SG:
It’s funny you describe Childrens Hospital as sketch comedy. It kind of is. Is there any consistency from week to week?
LB:
I guess I refer to it as sketch because when I think of it in comparison to what I write and what I do, it lacks logic and the characters are kind of interchangeable. We pride ourselves on that illogical kind of tornado of comedy. I don't think of it as subtle in any way.
SG:
Definitely not. Are the characters even the same from week to week?
LB:
I mean, barely. We sort of joke about part of what’s so accessible and why we can have who we have on the show is because the characters, if for instance Malin [Akerman] has to go shoot something or if Erinn Hayes has to go shoot something then Malin could play Erinn’s part, or I could play Rob Huebel’s part. Whatever the storyline, there’s no sexual sort of delineation so anybody can be in love with anyone and anyone can take on anyone’s qualities at any given moment. So I think we have fun with the idea of switching attitudes. Occasionally there’s some sort of cohesiveness but it can all be derailed within the next episode, so the second you think know, there’s no character arcs to deal with.
SG:
Is there something freeing about putting your feelings right on the surface like that with no subtlety?
LB:
No, we’re not. There’s no feelings. We’re just acting like a bunch of idiots. It’s really just like grown up adults who have lives and pay taxes and maybe have husbands or wives and kids all acting like maniac 12-year-olds. And being paid a modest small sum to do so. That’s why we love it so much because it’s like comedy camp.
SG:
As you’re getting so much satisfaction behind the scenes, how do you feel about the glamour part of your job, the red carpets, awards shows and appearing in Maxim?
LB:
I really like the juxtaposition of being in Maxim and directing your first feature in the same year. I don’t see why you can’t do that. It’s super hot to pose in uber sexy scenarios and makes me feel great as a woman, which is a completely different thing than directing. They satisfy very different parts of my being and all the magazines and the red carpet stuff is obviously, I think we can all admit, is pretty frivolous when it comes down to it. Even directing is fun. It’s not like anyone’s curing cancer over here doing what we do but it’s sort of exhilarating to be able to wear both hats and I definitely get much more sustenance and emotional inspiration obviously from writing and directing. Or even acting for that matter. All that other stuff I find sort of a necessary evil or you can turn it into something that’s hilarious. Or even like playing a part. The Maxim thing or even just doing a photo spread, it’s like you’re playing this kind of role for a second. It’s nice. It’s like date night with yourself.
SG:
I also got to see Black Rock at Sundance. Was it fun to go primal?
LB:
Yes, that was fun. I mean, it got weird up in the woods over there with me and Katie [Aselton] and Kate [Bosworth.] We had such a strange kind of emotional, raw dynamic when we were shooting that movie because we actually lived together all in this little cabin by the water. Katie and Mark Duplass, that’s actually their real cabin. We lived in their little home and we just cooked mac and cheese every night and watched Deliverance, then went back in the woods again and foraged for scenes. It was super primal.
SG:
Speaking of sexy, that body warmth scene was something else. You and Katie Aselton stripping in the woods to keep each other warm…
LB:
It’s sort of sexy and also sort of not sexy at all I think. When I look at it I feel like first of all, we were fucking freezing. Even going in that water, I almost died in that water so I feel like I earned my nudity stripes on that but also earned my 40 degree water swimming stripes.
SG:
Was that your first ever full nudity?
LB:
I mean, I’m nude every day when I get in the shower.
SG:
That we’ve seen…
LB:
But I got the girls out for How to Make it in America too. I don’t really care that much. My agents do care more. It’s like my representation do care more about what you show and what you don’t show and stuff like that. I just never have. When I was younger it never really bothered me and then as my career has moved forward, I’m just less precious about it. I don’t see what the big deal is. And by the way, it’s like you might as while show it now when you can.
SG:
Were you funny as a kid? Did you always know you had that gift?
LB:
I was trying to make people laugh as a kid but my brothers and I laugh about it because my parents were divorced and remarried and I think most families have to deal with that at one point. But mainly, I think I just never wanted to go to bed and to this day I’m an insomniac so I would try to procrastinate any way I could, not go to bed. So I had a show called The Late Late Show which was I understood that my parents thought it was very cute when I tried to do little plays and things. So if I could just cue that to happen right before they said, “Okay, everybody goes to bed now.” If I could just get that to happen, then I would not ever have to go to bed. So I would buy myself like an hour if I could just start doing a play, so I started to make up plays and stupid shit just to get out of sleeping and that was called The Late Late Show. It became a tradition, especially when parents had friends over and stuff because then you had like a little audience going.
SG:
In the movie you directed, are we going to get to see another new side of you in that?
LB:
Yeah, it’s not glamour at all. I’m really proud of it. It’s a total dream come true to be sitting in this room and looking at a still of it right now as I lock picture today. I’m excited for everyone to see it but it’s definitely a very unplugged version of myself I think.
SG:
What is the movie about?
LB:
First of all, I never remember that I’m in it. I always think of it as the thing that I’m working on and I refer to myself as Carol which is the name of the protagonist in order to be able to edit objectively. So I always forget at the end, people are like, “Oh, you were great,” and I’m like, “Oh, oh, oh, in the movie, got it, got it. Thank you so much.” But I never think about it. I always think of everybody else in the movie is really great. It’s about a two bit female vocal coach who sets out to be inadvertently the first woman to say the words “In a world…” a la the famous movie trailer phrase. Her father is the patriarch of the business and it’s basically a comedy about voiceover work.
SG:
Like the trailer voice, “In a world where…?”
LB:
You know in the beginning of every movie that ever was that’s epic, it goes, “In a world where one woman gets…” Yes, like that.
SG:
And that’s Carol?
LB:
Yes, she’s like a two bit vocal coach. Her dad is the patriarch of the business, the guy who gets everything. It’s kind of like a neo-feminist comedy about the voiceover industry.
SG:
Will we see this at some of the festivals?
LB:
I mean, your lips to God’s ears, I hope. I’m going to try my best. I hope. That is the intention. Obviously it’s helpful to do that. I will submit, how about that?
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