Lizzy Caplandoesn’t mind that she’s known for playing sharp, sardonic brunettes.
It wasn’t always that way.
Then she didn’t work for a year.
“My phone was not ringing off the hook,” she recalled.
“So it all ended up working out.”
Alexandra represents the new blood in politics who does things differently than her predecessors.
They see themselves as the hero."
Lizzy Caplan:Yeah, it was a fight.
I loved the character of Janis from the beginning.
I always wanted to be Janis.
They thought they had somebody else, or other types of people in mind for that role.
It’s a very lovely memory for me.
How did being part of a film that went on to be so successful affect your career trajectory?
I definitely was very nervous about being pigeonholed.
The goth girl was not the main protagonist of any story back then.
That was not the landscape when “Mean Girls” came out.
The movie, I feel like it was a success at the time.
Since then, it’s become this cultural touchstone for people.
It’s really taken on a whole other life, I think, post-internet.
But no, I did not get an influx of offers at all.
I didn’t work for a year after “Mean Girls.”
How did you feel when the show was originally canceled, and how did you deal with that disappointment?
It was so sad.
We kind of saw the writing on the wall it was a complete failure in the ratings.
It was made on this shoestring budget, and it felt like theater school.
Still, I’ll watch an episode every now and then, and I will just die laughing.
The caliber of comedy from my costars in that show still blows my mind.
But again, it had bad ratings.
We were really sad.
But that was also back in the day when your show getting canceled was like death.
I think the longer I’ve been in this business, things feel a little bit more right-sized.
When you were on that show, did you feel like you had stability in your career?
Did it affect how you saw your career going at the time?
For sure, it completely changed how I saw my career more than anything else I did.
I always knew I wanted to try more dramatic roles.
I was pretty resigned to the fact that that probably wasn’t going to be my path.
If you had established yourself in comedy, chances were you were going to stay in comedy.
I didn’t think I would ever get that role.
The fact that I did still kind of blows my mind, and it completely changed my career.
It offered me so much stability.
I bought a house.
I got to stay in LA, where I was living at the time.
I would love a little of that stability again.
But, yeah, I truly, truly loved making that show.
What do you remember about the character you were supposed to play and the concept of the movie?
It was a really cool idea.
It’s kind of odd that it got scrapped [laughs].
Those movies don’t seem to ever get scrapped, but it did.
We got down the road, we were gonna shoot it.
I think there was a start date.
I had had meetings with Channing, we had a director, then we didn’t.
But I had multiple meetings with Channing and the other producers.
And the idea was great.
I think probably more the show.
Let’s just say that was, like, so many years ago.
That’s when they were dominating in every possible way.
And I had a lot of stress about doing that kind of movie even then.
So now I’m pretty OK not doing one of those movies.
I can hear my manager screaming in the other room [laughs.].
“Now You See Me 2” is one of my favorite projects of yours.
Are you coming back for the third movie that’s out in November?
I’ve seen mixed things and some unclearness.
I’m as curious as you are about that.
God, that is a good question.
I did “Fleishman Is in Trouble” and I was tortured over that decision.
I’ll say two things.
I’m very proud of that one.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
“Zero Day” is now streaming on Netflix.
