Post by ~ ♥ Mariska ♥ ~ on Aug 31, 2008 16:03:12 GMT
GOSSIP GIRL'S LEIGHTON MEESTER ON BEING BAD
Gossip Girl: Season 2 debuts this Monday on The CW, and I recently had the chance to sit down with one of the show's stars, Leighton Meester.
Meester and I discussed what it's been like being part of the Gossip PR blitz this past year; what's to come in Season 2 for her character Blair; and the actresses upcoming guest appearance on Entourage, reprising a role she played in Season 1 of that HBO series as a Britney Spears type pop-singer.
IGN TV: We last spoke right before the show debuted. I assume this has been a very interesting year for you. Obviously, you knew there was going to be some amount of press covering the show, but what was it like when the show premiered and suddenly it was everywhere?
Leighton Meester: You know, I think that we're just doing what we set out to do, which is make our show. So, it's really cool and it's kind of a pleasant surprise, but we always believed in it and loved it, so you just hope for something like that to happen, you know what I mean? So part of me is pleasantly surprised, and part of me feels like it deserves it.
IGN: Your character had a pretty big arc, in terms of where she began the season and where she ended up. Was it interesting for you to portray this Queen B, and what a big fall she took?
Meester: Yeah. She was teetering on demise as the queen, because she was very insecure and had a lot of obstacles. But then, towards the very end, she was totally put in her place and taken down a couple of notches to where she was in complete despair. And then she came back up, which was really pleasant for me. And then of course, we have this whole new conflict of her and Chuck, who is… I don't even know how to describe that! That should be interesting this season – they have a lot of back and forth and a few [good] moments, but most of it's fighting. IGN: He screwed her over big time in the finale.
Meester: Everybody's wondering what's going to happen, and it's not really resolved. When she comes back, she has a new man to sort of make him jealous. He's threatened and also very sorry for what he did, and she's not going to make it easy for him.
IGN: You wouldn't expect her to.
Meester: Yeah, she wants him to suffer!
IGN: The audience seemed to really respond to the Chuck/Blair pairing.
Meester: I know!
IGN: Were you surprised by that?
Meester: Well, he's one of my favorite people to act with on the show. He's brilliant and also as a person, he's really great, so I think that's why we have the chemistry. And I think that they like to see the softer side of the villains. I feel like they're an interesting, logical pair because it's him understanding her and how her bad side is what she tries to repress so that she can be the perfect good girl all the time. But he likes her bad side! So I think he understands her.
IGN: With a show like yours, it seems like the trick is always keeping them apart while giving the audience little moments where they connect in the midst of all the conflict.
Meester: That's the thing. They have a real passion. That's why it's so interesting. It's not like this monotonous thing. The show needs to have conflict. If everyone was happy then it would suck. So we have a lot of conflict, believe me. And their conflict is very interesting, because it's very internal. There's not real outward obstacles. It's a lot of their own minds colliding with each other. Her not wanting to give in. Him being a playboy and not being able to fall for her completely. And then when he does, he doesn't show it. And when she does, he shuns it, and all these things. So it's very real life, and to me it kind of is this sort of bad girl/bad boy version of The Age of Innocence with Daniel Day Lewis and Michelle Pfieffer's characters. I have this moment in the new season where we talk and it's just two or three lines between us – I wasn't expecting it but I just started crying. And it's so weird, because it's this "love that cannot be" and all this, but I think it's just that Ed's a really amazing actor and I was just very emotional in the scene because of him. I think that it's just a sweet pairing.
IGN: We'll be seeing you on Entourage again soon, right?
Meester: I'll be on the second episode of the next season. I'm going to go back on there and do the same character that I did four years ago. She is a little more grown up. Probably not a virgin anymore! But I get to sing – I do a duet with Tony Bennett, which is really awesome, to say the least. I don't even know if awesome is a word to describe it. It's incredible. I'm getting nervous just thinking about it, because back then I was like, "Yeah, I do this." And then when the time came, I was like, "Oh my god, I can't believe this!!" But it was really, really great.
IGN: That brings to mind Blair's cabaret/strip routine on Gossip Girl last year. How was that to film?
Meester: I was really nervous then to! I'm not really a nervous person usually, when it comes to that, but I was a mess! I learned this dance routine and then I had to get up on the stage, and even when they were just shooting me they had all the extras watching and I was thinking, "Oh god…" Everything had to be executed perfectly in six inch heels, so it was interesting.
Source
Gossip Girl: Season 2 debuts this Monday on The CW, and I recently had the chance to sit down with one of the show's stars, Leighton Meester.
Meester and I discussed what it's been like being part of the Gossip PR blitz this past year; what's to come in Season 2 for her character Blair; and the actresses upcoming guest appearance on Entourage, reprising a role she played in Season 1 of that HBO series as a Britney Spears type pop-singer.
IGN TV: We last spoke right before the show debuted. I assume this has been a very interesting year for you. Obviously, you knew there was going to be some amount of press covering the show, but what was it like when the show premiered and suddenly it was everywhere?
Leighton Meester: You know, I think that we're just doing what we set out to do, which is make our show. So, it's really cool and it's kind of a pleasant surprise, but we always believed in it and loved it, so you just hope for something like that to happen, you know what I mean? So part of me is pleasantly surprised, and part of me feels like it deserves it.
IGN: Your character had a pretty big arc, in terms of where she began the season and where she ended up. Was it interesting for you to portray this Queen B, and what a big fall she took?
Meester: Yeah. She was teetering on demise as the queen, because she was very insecure and had a lot of obstacles. But then, towards the very end, she was totally put in her place and taken down a couple of notches to where she was in complete despair. And then she came back up, which was really pleasant for me. And then of course, we have this whole new conflict of her and Chuck, who is… I don't even know how to describe that! That should be interesting this season – they have a lot of back and forth and a few [good] moments, but most of it's fighting. IGN: He screwed her over big time in the finale.
Meester: Everybody's wondering what's going to happen, and it's not really resolved. When she comes back, she has a new man to sort of make him jealous. He's threatened and also very sorry for what he did, and she's not going to make it easy for him.
IGN: You wouldn't expect her to.
Meester: Yeah, she wants him to suffer!
IGN: The audience seemed to really respond to the Chuck/Blair pairing.
Meester: I know!
IGN: Were you surprised by that?
Meester: Well, he's one of my favorite people to act with on the show. He's brilliant and also as a person, he's really great, so I think that's why we have the chemistry. And I think that they like to see the softer side of the villains. I feel like they're an interesting, logical pair because it's him understanding her and how her bad side is what she tries to repress so that she can be the perfect good girl all the time. But he likes her bad side! So I think he understands her.
IGN: With a show like yours, it seems like the trick is always keeping them apart while giving the audience little moments where they connect in the midst of all the conflict.
Meester: That's the thing. They have a real passion. That's why it's so interesting. It's not like this monotonous thing. The show needs to have conflict. If everyone was happy then it would suck. So we have a lot of conflict, believe me. And their conflict is very interesting, because it's very internal. There's not real outward obstacles. It's a lot of their own minds colliding with each other. Her not wanting to give in. Him being a playboy and not being able to fall for her completely. And then when he does, he doesn't show it. And when she does, he shuns it, and all these things. So it's very real life, and to me it kind of is this sort of bad girl/bad boy version of The Age of Innocence with Daniel Day Lewis and Michelle Pfieffer's characters. I have this moment in the new season where we talk and it's just two or three lines between us – I wasn't expecting it but I just started crying. And it's so weird, because it's this "love that cannot be" and all this, but I think it's just that Ed's a really amazing actor and I was just very emotional in the scene because of him. I think that it's just a sweet pairing.
IGN: We'll be seeing you on Entourage again soon, right?
Meester: I'll be on the second episode of the next season. I'm going to go back on there and do the same character that I did four years ago. She is a little more grown up. Probably not a virgin anymore! But I get to sing – I do a duet with Tony Bennett, which is really awesome, to say the least. I don't even know if awesome is a word to describe it. It's incredible. I'm getting nervous just thinking about it, because back then I was like, "Yeah, I do this." And then when the time came, I was like, "Oh my god, I can't believe this!!" But it was really, really great.
IGN: That brings to mind Blair's cabaret/strip routine on Gossip Girl last year. How was that to film?
Meester: I was really nervous then to! I'm not really a nervous person usually, when it comes to that, but I was a mess! I learned this dance routine and then I had to get up on the stage, and even when they were just shooting me they had all the extras watching and I was thinking, "Oh god…" Everything had to be executed perfectly in six inch heels, so it was interesting.
Source