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JANE DOE
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‘JANE DOE’ leading lady Lea Thompson makes her directing debut
Lea Thompson had always wanted to try her hand at directing. But it took a little peer pressure to make her actually follow through.
“One of the executives at the network first brought it up,” says Thompson, star of the Hallmark Channel Mystery movie franchise Jane Doe. “He said, ‘So when are you going to direct one of these?’ Because the actors in the other mystery movies (John Larroquette of McBride and Kellie Martin of Mystery Woman) were already directing episodes.
“Well, after that, I started to feel like a wimp. So I said, ‘I guess I’d better go do it.’”
But let it be known that Lea Thompson is no wimp. Despite appearing in virtually every scene of “The Harder They Fall,” the new Jane Doe installment, she simultaneously did the work behind the camera.
“It’s awfully consuming,” she says. “I was working all the time, thinking about every little detail all day long, and dreaming about it at night. It was as if the entire crew was in my bedroom with me!”
But she loved it. “There weren’t a lot of scenes that I wasn’t in and those were my favorite ones to direct,” Thompson says. “Because I could just sit and watch the actors do their work. I had a wonderful actor as the main guest star, Dorian Harewood. He’s an awesome guy.
“And I would get so into it that I would be sitting on the floor, watching the actors do their thing. I couldn’t even sit in my little chair. I got down on the floor and watched my monitor from there.”
Thompson’s least favorite aspect of the gig? “When I had to film myself sleeping,” she says. “I remember thinking, ‘Do I need to get a close-up of myself sleeping?’ What a crazy thing to think about.”
The former “Caroline in the City” star says she could have directed an episode of her 1995-99 sitcom if only she had asked. “But my youngest daughter was so small then,” Thompson explains. “She was just born when I did the pilot. So the timing just wasn’t right.”
Over the years, Thompson has worked with many dynamic directors. “And I sleep with my favorite one,” she says deviously, quickly adding the explanation that she and director Howard Deutch have been married for 16 years.
“The best thing I think I’ve taken from those directors I really liked is being firm but flexible,” she says. “I always admired the ones who listen to other people’s ideas and are willing to take them when they’re good, but also willing to say, ‘Hmm, I don’t think so and this is why,’ or even simply, ‘I don’t think I like it that way.’ It’s a fine line, being firm but flexible. It’s kind of like parenting.”
As for doing the series and playing soccer mom/spy Cathy Davis, Thompson says she’s thoroughly enjoying herself. “Sometimes when I play a character for a long time, I get the itch to do something different. But this character is fun to play, so I haven’t gotten tired of it.”
It doesn’t hurt when she gets some nice feedback either.
“I was at my daughter’s dance recital the other day and a little girl came up to me and said, ‘Are you in that movie?’ I said, ‘”Back to the Future?” And she said, ‘No, no, no, Jane Doe. And she said, ‘My mom and I laughed so hard the time you walked out of the elevator and you held your milk like a gunslinger.’ That was nice. And it made my daughter proud.”
Whether the same can be said about her directing debut, Thompson says, remains to be seen. “I’m very nervous to see what people think,” she says. “But I’m excited too. Every now and then, I play different scenes back in my mind and I worry that I’ve missed something. It’s the same with acting, but I don’t beat myself up about that any more. But this is different. I guess I won’t stop worrying until it actually airs.”
-- HALLMARK CHANNEL --
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