September 23, 2024 • 41 mins
Leigh-Allyn Baker joins Will and Sabrina to talk about her career on Disney Channel, including “Bad Hair Day” and “Good Luck Charlie”.
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Thank you so much for joining us on our park
Hopper episode of Magical rewind. We are delighted today to
be joined by Officer mcstuffens herself, what is it, Officer
Ravensburger Mix Mick, and we are of course talking about
Officer Liz herself, not only the star of the film
(00:36):
that we just covered, which is Bad hair Day, but
also the executive producer of Bad hair Day. We cannot
wait to get into all of the cool stories, so
we're not gonna wait any longer. Please help us. Welcome
Lee Allen Baker. Hello, Hello, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I'm good, how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Thank you so much for joining us. We just finished
talking about Bad hair Day, which is why we were
a little late. I apologized, because we had a lot
to talk about. Oh right, okay, and we're so glad
that you're joining us here today.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Thank you so much. So nice to see you guys.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yes, so okay. Well, one of the things we of
course noticed about the film is not only are you
the star of the movie, but you're also the executive producer.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
So how did the whole project come about? Can you
walk us through how Bad hair Day came to be?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Gosh, it was a while ago, kids, But let me
go back in the way back machine and my memory
and see if I can remember. So Disney had approached
me after Good Luck. Charlie had ended about continuing forward
with a dcom a movie, and I loved Bad hair Day,
and so we kind of pitched this idea with each other,
found some writers and then you know, I did rewrites
(01:47):
in the room with them, wrote the dialogue, helped craft
the story, and when we got it to a place
where we were happy with it, that's when we started casting,
hiring the director who unfortunately just recently passed away. Yeah,
Eric Henwell, he was really I wanted him to be
the director so badly because he had Have you ever
seen bull Coop a Good Cop, Bad.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Cop in French?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
It was a it was a French film anyway, It's
a great action film. It was like an indie hit.
And I had a way of racking focus constantly and
using the camera and single shots, and I thought, okay,
a that would be a budget and a time saver.
It looks really cool and it's nothing like Disney Channel
has ever really seen before. And being a mom of
(02:28):
two boys, I wanted to have a movie that could
that the boys would want.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
To watch too.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Yeah, so that is why I was so invested in
Bad hair Day. And I have, weirdly enough, become very
much like my character on that show.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
You are you? Are you just going around pretending to
be an FBI agent? Because that would be awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I'm more like they're listening to me.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Hey, I know you're listening to me, but you know
I'm switching to a flip phone.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
That got That's so wait, you said that you really
liked Bad hair Day? Was this an existing ip No, Well.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
We discussed different pitching different ideas, and this was the
idea that we had come up with for Bad hair Day,
me playing some totally different than a mom on a
show and a nurse being completely different and looking and
appearing different.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I know that they had wanted.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Me the the kind of a gimmick was Disney knew
me and my abilities and kind of where my strength
slide and different. You know, I do voiceovers or a
lot of different accents, and they've seen other things that
you you know that you know the drill, and they've
seen other things that I've done where I look very different,
and so they thought, how can we capitalize on you
(03:42):
coming up looking At one point, it was like a
girl that walked around with like costumes. You know how
when you pitch stories, you're like, oh, that's a lot
of people were like having like with with with costumes
in the in the trunk, and I would like put
on different disguises and and be different. Eventually, that didn't
make for a good story. As much as it was
a good gimmick to show my accent and my range,
(04:04):
it wasn't a good story to tell. So that's when
we kind of really crafted this kind of buddy cop
film with the teenager and this older, out of shape
kind of cop who's thrown in the towel.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, because it was a pretty big deal for it
to have the main actor be an adult and it
not be you know, a cast of just all younger actors,
so that I felt like it definitely brought a different
vibe and a different tone to this decom versus what
a lot of the ones that we've seen. You guys
were probably on set every day together.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Every single day.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Because if I there were only I think two scenes
that I wasn't actually in.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yeah, the intro scene, right, yeah, and then yeah and.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Still I was there as an executive producer behind the camera.
That's why when it came to editing this film, I
would say, no, no, no, there's a take where she
sneezed in the middle of this, and I want to
cut off the sneeze, but use that tape because than
hers it. Because I was actually in the scene in
front of the camera with her on all of these,
so I.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Already knew in my head what takes we would use.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, but.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
It was interesting to be the only adult but in
one of these. But we kind of did a little
bit of that. And good luck, Charlie, it's Christmas, you know.
I think that was their first testing ground to see
how that would go because it even though it was
still about the Duncan family, the a storyline that was
pretty much the heaviest storyline was Bridget and myself getting
(05:32):
lost and doing this road trip.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
That movie did really, really well.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So yeah, that was the question. I mean, is it
was there ever any pushback from Disney kind of saying, hey,
you know, you get it has to be a little
more kid heavy than this one is. I'm just I'm
hearing the executives that we've all heard from Disney kind
of like, yeah, no, you need to do this, you
need to do that. I mean, did you hit up
against those walls or was it kind of like, hey,
go make your movie.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
No, it was a lot of hay, go make your movie.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I think that what they had learned and Good Luck
Charlie is that Amy Duncan became kind of one of
the most beloved characters on.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
The show, even though she was an adult.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
And I think that the format that got that character
there is that Teddy was the character that really acted
like the mom, that was the responsible one making the good,
smart choices, and I was the one that was pretty
naughty and was more like the kid trying to get
away with murder.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
So I think that when they saw that that format worked,
and you know, humor does a lot, and I was funny,
and so people responded well to me, and so they
felt pretty confident. Then after Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas
was really successful. I think they were pretty confident with
the movie going the direction that it went nice.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Well, yeah, I mean it was strange for us tonally
because it's one of those things where we are watching
a d coom sometimes two a week and we're going
at different times in the dcom. Like, for instance, the
one we did last week was called The Ghosts of
Bucksley Hall from nineteen eighty, which is You've got I
(07:00):
mean essentially the mister Roper Furley character going like, there's
ghosts in the house. That's what adults do and run around,
and then the little kids have their romance and do
their story. And then as we're creeping up in time,
it's now your movie is twenty fifteen, and we're getting
into more of the prom packed kind of more real.
(07:22):
The adults are real, more real, the kids are more real.
There's drinking sometimes in the movies. I mean it's it's
at a time in dcom where we're kind of going, oh, okay,
we have to switch how we're watching the dcom exactly
as they're switching how they're making the dcom.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, you went literally my generation that watched it, yeah,
I mean it.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Was we are kind of watching these stories where we're
then going, oh, yeah, this makes sense that they're kind
of going a more adult route with it so that
the adults can sit and watch with the kids, right.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
And I think that was what they learned in the model,
the business model of Good Luck Charlie is that they
would take some network veteran writers and a couple of
network veteran actors myself and Eric Alan Kramer, and then
put us with some kids in an ensemble cast and
see how it went. I know that they were very
surprised and didn't expect it to go as well as
it did.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
At one point, Good Look Charlie was the number one
show in.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
The world, and so I think that they built some
confidence with that because the show really did hit so
many demographics. It hit little kids wanting to watch the baby,
all the way through preteen, teen parents and grandparents. You know,
like you'd be surprised. I don't know of a demographic
that doesn't recognize me from that show.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
When I'm out.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah, yeah, it's like full House or boy Me Thrill.
You have that same kind of there's somebody for everybody
to watch.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Yes, And so I think that they were pretty confident
in doing the movie, And you know, they knew I
directed a few episodes, and so I think they trusted
me in that position.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
It was really awesome. Did you have any part in
getting Laura for the movie or was this was she
just brought to the casting call or you know how
how did you guys end up having Laura become involved.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
That they had talked to me about.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
You know how they always have one that they pick,
or one that they owe something to, or one that
they're thinking about and all the time. But there were
a couple prospects, but one girl was they felt would
be better for another one, and they felt Laura would
be better on this one. And you know, look, both
of the actors that they entertained for the part were fantastic.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
So it was a win win situation no matter what.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Had you met before, because you obviously had chemistry, the
two of you.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So much chemistry. You guys look like you were having
a last the whole time.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Here was one point.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
It was summer, and let me tell you, Montreal gets
really hot in the summer. Huggy and I've got this
wig on and this sweat shirt and sweatpants and these
baggy clothes and boots leather boots. Yes, And I'm sitting
in the front seat and I'm like, I am of
the car because you know, they won't put the air
conditioning on because it's noisy, and then they want to
(10:13):
put the windows up because it's too noisy. I literally
remember saying to someone, you know, it's illegal to do
this to dogs. Laura and I are sitting in the
front seat and I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't
think I've ever been so hot. And she looked over
at me and she has got o wig and a
sock bog and a leather jacket on.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, gave me this look and I was like, oh, sorry,
you short.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Your legs are cool at least.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
To kill your Branda was absolutely trying to kill you.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
That was the most That was so fun.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
She was so fun, and I did my own stunts
in that car, like when we were driving around. I
was driving around and there were literally there was a
radio that she would help operate in the car, and
there would be a guy in this corner being like
god like like goldop, like it's gonna stay green screen
or it's turned yellow.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Pushy, pushy, push it. I'm literally driving around.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
The cudy, Oh my good.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Cameras on different corners. No way if even knows that.
But like, we wanted to get the show, we wanted
to look good.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
So it was one of the best chase scenes we've
seen in any Disney Channel movie.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
By far.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
I mean it's like an actual chase scene.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
That was a legit, super good chasing her whole entire
d m V experience was so amazing. It just sounds
great fun to.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Write that scene. It was. That was It's a fun movie,
you guys, No it is.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I loved I said, one of my favorite parts of
it is when your slow motion like.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, so good.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
It is so good.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
I loved it.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Your guys' chemistry, the way you bounced off of each
other top to bottom was just so fun to watch,
and it was awesome to see the relationship develop. Were
you anything like like Monica in high school?
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Was that? Like?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Were you?
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Were you pulling from experiences at all?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Or yeah, of course, of course.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
You know. I had a little bit of that, wondering
what other people think of me in high school.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I feel so hurt by.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
What people would think of me or say of me,
or how is misrepresented cuts to you today? I'm misrepresented
all over the media and everywhere else, and I like,
my skin is so think I could care less, right,
I'm like, oh, tell me another story, come up with
something new, please. It's getting high school's rough though, It's
high school is rough, So with this. It was kind
of like a way for me to stand up for
(12:40):
and teach that lesson to my younger self that I
wish someone would have have taught me, right, And I
love how it brought up like the beginning of like
social media, and like I.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Was just gonna say that, I was telling Will right
at the beginning of it, I go, when is this
movie twenty fifteen? So no longer just the MySpace. We've
got Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, all these social medias. I loved
how it brought in the location. Will didn't know that,
Like you can go on your media where at all,
(13:15):
but you can go see where all your friends are
and all that. I mean, it's kind of creepy. You
open yourself up to so much on the web with
all these apps.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
You really do.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
I even tell my children that, I'm like, you don't
have social media because not because I don't trust you,
but because I don't trust the world. It's literally not
giving it's not just giving you access to the world,
it's given the world access to you.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
And that is a really scary proposition.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
So I love how it delved into that, because you know,
I do I so desperately like when I speak to
kids at college campuses or to teenagers. What I'm always
telling them too is is, gosh, it's a real skill
set that is so advantageous to learn. It's not what
others think about you that matters. They're not your source
(14:04):
for happiness. You know, likes, it's just likes and follow
you know.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
They've done actual studies. They mapped the brain as it
was getting likes, and it was the same endorphin Russia
as doing drugs.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It's the same as wow.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah. You literally get addicted to the likes and the
well why did I get this many likes on this picture?
And I'm not get to it and it's it's a
drug soug.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
I can honestly tell you unless I needed social media
for work purposes.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And things that I do, I wouldn't have it. In fact, the.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Only reason I got social media is because when Bridget
and I got the Got Milk campaign, one of the
things in the contract was that I had to have
social media platforms, yeah, and sign up for I think
two or three of them. I think it was Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram at the time. And I so didn't want
to be recognized on Instagram that I made my handle
(14:56):
l Underscore a Underscore Baker Underscore thirty team like that,
I'm going to hide because I didn't think at the time,
this is something that you'll ever want people to see,
you want people to I thought, oh, you don't want
them to find you, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Right at the time, to me.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
It was like a way for me to share pictures
of my children with my parents who didn't live nearby.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Like yeah, yeah, no, I've I've actually given up jobs
because they'll say you have to have social media and
I say don't. It's like, sorry, you can join. I said, well,
I'm not going to. Well you won't get the job.
I'm like, okay, nice seeing it. Yeah, because it's just yeah,
I won't do it. But anyway, we'll get to we'll
get to we'll get to more fun stuff. For instance,
are you still in touch with Laura or anybody from
the cast?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
I know I could call her right now and be like, hey,
Laura and her mom, but we haven't like spoken in
a while other than a Christmas card or we haven't
really spoken much.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Oh, it's so sad.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
As a mom, I feel the same way about the
kids on my show. It's like I was at mom.
That's like, oh, why am I not hearing from you anymore?
And now I'm learning from my own kids who are
becoming teens and pre teens.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Oh, they're busy living their life. They don't want to
hear from their mother.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Yeah. Personal, it's that they don't want mom constantly contacting them,
and I would be so hurt by it.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
You you just mentioned your fellow cast members you had
the unfortunate job of working with. Well, we don't like
him at all, Jason Dolly, who's just he's a terrible,
terrible human being. Yeah, he came on our show and
(16:30):
just unlikable, not funny, not personal. Disney didn't like him.
They didn't put him in forty two different things.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
That's why they kept using him there.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
So Good Luck Charlie you talked about it a little bit.
But one of the things that amazes us when we
have so many people from different shows or different movies
on is how, first of all and everybody who comes
on says you could have asked us, we never would
have known, So we always ask kind of knowing the answer.
When Good Luck Charlie started, did you think there was
(17:01):
any chance it was going to become what it did. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
I thought that Disney Channel was the place where adults'
careers go to die.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
I did not want to do it, but they caught
me at a moment of weakness where I was nine
months pregnant.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
What else was I going to do?
Speaker 4 (17:21):
In fact, they had hired someone else to be the
mom in the pilot because I just never went into labor. Yes,
And then they picked the show up and said, well,
if they had actually said to me, if you will
be Amy Duncan, well we're going to pick the show
up and we're going to run with and see what happens.
And I thought, well, okay, let's just give it a
(17:42):
run and see what happens.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
And it was like the best work experience. It was
just so great. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah, I know we heard that so but the other
podcast I do, Danielle Fischel is one of the co
hosts on that, and she said, being a parent on
a Disney Channel show is one of the greatest jobs
you will ever have in your life.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, it was great. I had both my babies on
that show.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
So when they had called me Griffin, my oldest was
about five months old, and he and Mia around the
same age.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
And then they were friends growing up throughout that whole show.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
And then Baker I was pregnant with on all of
season three because we had done the Good Luck Charlie,
It's Christmas movie and they had We were shocked that
they were given Amy Duncan another baby. I mean you
should have seen the response from the cast. We were like,
that is irresponsible. We have too many babies. We get
a dog, why do we have to have another baby.
(18:35):
We got a good thing here with just does.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
We don't want to have a baby. And then I thought.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Well, gosh, they're having us have this baby. I should
probably and I thought I would. We would go back
after shooting the movie and that season I would be
pregnant the whole season.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
And I thought the way Disney thinks would be like.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Oh, you know, season ending, season finale baby. But so
I got pregnant, thinking I'm going to have my baby
in the hiatus in between. And I show up to
work ten weeks pregnant and They've got a huge pregnancy
pad for me, and I was like, oh, what is that.
They're like, well, we're starting you out at like six
(19:14):
or seven months pregnant, and I was like, are we sure,
Are you sure we want to talk?
Speaker 1 (19:18):
You don't want to start at ten weeks?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
That can be fun, way way back.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
And then why are you saying that? And why are
you eating carbohydrates? And I was like, oh, because I'm
not just and I'm so pregnant, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Oh no, I'm sorry, I have to I have to ask.
You said, is it a daughter or a son named Baker?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
A boy named Baker?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, Boyny Baker. Is his name Baker Baker?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
No, his name is Baker Kaufman.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Okay, So so, Chuckie, I was like, oh, because that
would be kind of cool if hey, I went to
school with a kid named Soren Sorenson.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
So yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
So the way that went down was my brother had
two girls, so they could not carry on the Baker name,
and I had two boys, and so I named my
last boy Baker to kind of carrier.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I love that. That's incredible. Okay, So let's if we
could talk a little bit about the differences, because you
also did twenty episodes of Ellen, Will and Grace well,
excuse me, Will and Grace, my bad, twenty episodes of
Will I did. Yeah, I met I met Will and Grace.
I met you you played Ellen.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Yeah, I actually three episodes of that show, maybe even
twenty six, but there were some double episodes in there.
But yes, I played Ellen.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Ellen, So I met you played Ellen and Will and Grace.
What is the difference between working on a big adult
network show and working on something like a Disney Channel show.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
One is fun and you can breathe on it, and
the other Grace and then there's Grace. Yeah, it was
intense from the pilot on. There's just a lot of
pressure and network television and the network execs are not
(21:04):
very approachable or friendly, and you stay in your zone,
they stay in theirs. And Disney Channel was like, you know,
Gary marsh comes to set and you see him so
sweet and fun, and Adam would come to set, and
so it was more a family. It truly felt more
(21:26):
like a family on Disney Channel, where it felt like.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
A club that didn't really want you.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Did you like the work on Will and Grace?
Speaker 4 (21:40):
I thought the show was really funny, and I genuinely
loved some of the writers. They were great, very funny,
talented people. But the work was stressful.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
And yeah, it was. It was a pressure cooker.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I've heard that I had a couple of friends that
guest starred who said exactly the same thing. They're like, hey,
I've I've had better experiences than that one. Yeah, okay yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
And then they were always stunt casting, so then like
one day I'd be doing an episode and I'd be thinking, Okay,
finally I'm going back to a familiar your zone. I
should be able to relax, and then they're like, Madonna's here,
don't look her in the eye. I don't work where
I like know people and not look Madonna in the eye.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
You know.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
I feel like the car show that you could look
in the eye was Charlie. But that's because she was three.
You know, Madonna's supposed to know better. Right.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
We just heard from one of our producers who was
a fan, that the little girl that played Charlie just
started her sophomore year in high school. Wow, that's amazing.
Apparently they grow up quickly. I don't know because I'll
never have them, but apparently.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
And they grow It's the most things. I'm like, having
a teenager is like the longest breakup in the history
of the world. Oh it is bone crushing. Oh no,
ast it goes and that I'm always like you can
live with me forever.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
And my husband's like, that's weird. Stop saying things like us.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
So I have a four year old daughter and my
son is fifteen months old, so he's just you know,
a little over a year. And I love my daughter.
We are besties. I mean, she is the best. But
I text messaged my mother in law the day my
son was born and was like, I get it now.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I get like, yes, you.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Can live with me forever. You will never be alone.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
It will just because boys, I'm telling you, I brainwashed
mine since day one.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
You can stay with mommy forever. So I'm at some
point that that sticks.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
All right. Oh man, I don't know. My husband's got
all these big dreams of us, the travels will do
without kids, and I'm like, but when are they leaving us?
They're always going to be here.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
I can honestly tell you.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
My husband and I the one time we tried to
go on a vacation and it was during Good Luck Charlie.
We tried to go for our ten year anniversary, just
an hour away to the beach and in Allgant Hills, California,
And we got there and we got to call immediately
that the Baker had the flu and was throwing up.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
So, oh jeez.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
So we've so not gone on dates or vacations that
when my kids were little, if I got dressed up
to go out with my husband, they would say.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Oh, do you have to go to the Emmy's. Like,
because I ever dressed up and went out of my
house was when I was I just leave them.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yeah, the whole thing with kids. I read an article
the other day that said they want to eat every
single day. That's weird to me.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
I just don't care and everything you have to think
of what they have for dinner, which is the most
exhausting part.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Well, it's all my wife and I talk about anyway.
It's just what we're having for dinner night. That's our
whole relationship.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Have your two boys seen bad hair Day?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
And they love it and they may good. And they
loved watching the dailies too.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
They would walk around going, don't push the red button,
and now it's saying there's a red button.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
I'm like, So, talking about hair, you had a totally
different color, different style, everything your hair was different than
what you normally have. Was that weird for you? Was
it weird for the kids? Was that a thing you
(25:23):
guys had to talk about.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Well, here's what we had to talk about. You know.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Amy Duncan was very dulled up all the time, with
like a face full of so much makeup, right, And
my kids loved that. My thank you for making your
face beautiful.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
He loved it.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
And then I said, I'm going to get my hair
done for a new movie. They thought I was going
to go be made up like Amy Duncan or for
some award show. And I walked into the house with
this auburn hair and no makeup, and my kids are like,
think about the very upset.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Like listen.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
I said to my listaid, mommy is beautiful no matter what.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
And he gets You.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Could see his little wheels turning and he goes, oh,
so that's how it works.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Oh my god. It was such a loaded statement for
a little kid to make.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Like you could see him figuring out, Oh, that's what
I'm supposed to say.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Okay, momm yeah, sure you look great.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Yeah. So they dyed my hair and then I wore
these these clip on bangs.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Okay, yeah, yes, But adjustment to see yourself that way,
even just you, I think I just couldn't imagine when
someone goes a drastic color change.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
It's a lot.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Yeah, it was, I was. I did. I was ready
to get my blonde back when it was done. That's right. Okay.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
When you're so you're coming up with the idea for
the movie, did you have any influences that were front
and center, Because as I'm watching it, I got some
some Thelma Louise vibes, some midnight run vibes. I'm in.
Was there something that you were kind of a vibe
you were going for when you were coming.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Up with it for a little thumb on the waves,
but a little more on the heat you were.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Just talking about, that's what we mentioned, Melissa McCarthy.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Yeah, I was kind of going for that kind of vibe.
And I really love it where you can show that
two characters really learn from one another, even though it's
set up to appear that one will learn from this
one only, and then you realize at the end of
the day, the one who was truly changed was.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
The adult by being around.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
I think you can see that in that last scene
where they're outside and she's trying to fight back tears
about how if I was your mom?
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Yeah, I know, so good.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Also, the idea that there's even and I get one
of the things you talked about is there's very few
times where we believe a parent should have the right
to just step in and say, this is what you're
doing with your life. But when it's between State and MIT,
this is what you're doing with your life, this is
not a choice for you. I'm sorry, but you don't
(28:04):
get to decide between these two. You're going to MIT, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
I love being able to have like an outsider perspective
with that character.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
That wasn't really her mom. But then you see, like
in that.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Moment particular that we were talking about, just then like
all the pieces came together for Liz to realize what
this girl has missed out on. And we always think
that we've got it so hard. Liz is in her
mopey poor woe is me. I can't believe this happened
to me at the police department. I can't believe I've
been treated like this. And the second she finally hears
(28:37):
someone else's store and why they're doing what they're doing
and where they're at, that compassion just expands immensely and
then she realizes, oh wow, I've been so self centered
and not even realizing how fortunate I am, and here's
this kid struggling like this.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Yeah, well that was the other thing we noticed that
it So it was so unique about this movie compared
to a lot of the other decoms we saw were
some of the quiet, longer talking scenes which you didn't.
We didn't we. You know, when you're first explaining how
the necklace got lost and she's talking about losing your mom.
I mean, that was a good six seven eight minute
(29:15):
scene of just two people talking, and you didn't get
a whole lot of that in D cooms.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
No, that was shot in one take because we were
out of time and they threw it on the schedule
for that day, and I was like, I'm.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Sorry, Oh my gosh, Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
There's even a moment in it where you'll hear where
I hold for a motorcycle going by.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Oh I gotta go back and watch.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Oh my god, no way, that's insane.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Wow. Did you watch any d cooms previous to this
to get any kind of sense of the channel? Did
you not want to watch any dcoms or were you
even a fan of dcoms?
Speaker 4 (29:54):
I kind of didn't want to watch them because I
wanted to make something really original, and I also want
to be judgmental, Like I said, I went into Judge
to Good Luck Charlie very judgmental of like I said,
this is where adult's career is going to die and
ended up having like the highlight of my career and
having a blast.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
And being except for a great show to be You're
so good at it. Oh woh god, that's funny. Okay, So,
I mean, I guess the question then becomes, are we
ever going to see these characters again? Is there a
chance of ever seeing these characters again? Or even maybe
(30:34):
maybe Laura's character has moved on, But are we ever
going to see Officer Liz again? Is that a possibility?
Speaker 4 (30:39):
Or that would be pretty great to see how she's changed,
if Laura's lessons like kind of stuck with her right yeah?
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Yeah, and if she's still giving all the compliments on
people's nostrils and.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Flirting at all. Has she married?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Yeah? I mean, it's a great it'd be a great question.
You get onto another case, you never know what could happen.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
I mean, or maybe there's like a murder case that
we stumble upon together. But see, like see you get
things that could open the world like oh, not appropriate
for children, no, but.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Maybe something at her college.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Yeah, it could be.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
Oh, we've actually talked about that in the beginning, that
that something goes down at her college and Liz shows
up to try.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
To there you go something at mit, you've got to
go undercover as as somebody who's brilliant and you, you know,
obviously you're street smart. But I'm sorry, I'm writing in
my head, but.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
We've already pitched it all. Trust me, it's all partially.
That was like what ten years ago?
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Now?
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Yeah, now you need to have to be a musical
with dragons, so and Johnny's can you do that? Can
they be a musical about dragons and zombies that Officer
Liz is in?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Yes, anything to get her back, anything to get her back?
Speaker 1 (31:47):
What is it got to be?
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Do you think, obviously, if it wasn't just this movie
and a sequel to it, do you do you ever
think that you would you know, possibly either direct or
produce again for a dcom. Would you ever be interested
in trying to do that again?
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Well?
Speaker 4 (32:04):
I just recently produced a television series for Brave Books
called The Adventures of Iggy and mister Kirk and it's
a children's show, kind of like a mister Rogers meets
the Muppets meet Sesame Street. And oh wow, I was
saying the other day in an interview, I was like,
I feel like God has been like mister miaggiing me
for a while where I'm like, why.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Am I wax on wax on wax on xof.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
And I realized that when I got on this set,
I knew how to call all the shots for the Quad.
Things that I never would have thought that I had
picked up on just being immersed in this world, knowing
how to work with kids, knowing how to work with puppets.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I'd worked with the Muppets.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
I'm good luck Charlie, And all of this time I've
been learning how to execute, like editing, writing, directing shots
like I said, even camera coordinator, even going oh no,
we need more lie over here. It's too cool or
it's too warm, or it's amazing what you pick up
(33:05):
in thirty plus years of being on sets and then
you realize, oh, I know what I'm doing right.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
This is a language that I speak.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
All of a sudden, what I'm doing, you know, So
that's been fun, and yeah, I would love to direct
again and produce again.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
That's kind of where my passion is right now.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
I just finished writing the Christmas movie with my writing
partner that we literally just wrapped up this week and
it's really funny and I'm really excited to get that
out there as well.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Well, I want to talk to you a little bit
about something that is very very near and dear to
my heart, which is my ultimate passion, which is voiceover,
which I've been doing for twenty five years and I
love it so much. And I know you're very big
in the voiceover world as well. Is there one discipline
you prefer vio or on camera? Okay, I hate this question,
by the way, I get it all the time, and
(33:56):
so it's but I have to throw.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
Choose between your base exactly totally differently.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Totally different, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
You know one, I'm gonna be able in voice over
to play all different characters that don't look a thing
like me or sound a thing like me. So the imagination,
it's just like dealing with animation. You're able to do
so much more with a story and you're able to
go places that you can't go on regular television, live
live action, right sure.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
So that part I love about that.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
And then the part that I love about being on
camera is and specifically half hour comedy multiicam is I
love the interaction with the audience.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
I mean, like I was, you know.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
I did theater, I did Shakespeare, So to me, that
interaction with the audience, it automatically feeds your performance. I'll
never forget many times that the producers, you know, after
you do is seeing they come down with little notepads
and they're going to tell you how to do it differently,
and I'm like, they died laughing, We're.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Done, but moving on, moving on, How do you argue
with that?
Speaker 4 (35:03):
And they're like, okay, you know, go back to their
chairs with them note pads. So I love both of them,
and I also do There's an element of film that
I really love too, that again brings us back to
this dcom is being able to bridge hilarious circumstances that
also are heartwarming, that can make you cry, that tug
(35:24):
on your heart streams that you can really need more
of an emotional gamut with that, and you can pick
up some more subtle shots. It doesn't mean you can't
be as like big like I'm big and bad hair
day too. I mean, she's definite character. But as long
as it's grounded in reality, people buy it and eat
it up and it's you know, pretty rich.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Well, thank you so much for joining us here. This
has been the coolest thing in the world. We really
really enjoyed the movie we did. It threw us a
bit because it wasn't dcom for us, right.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
It felt more like a feature it did.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
It did like the heat like that exactly, that kind
of vibe it really did.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
Yeah, And because I wanted parents to be able to
watch it. That was one of the joys of Good
Luck Charlie is that the parents would watch it often
when they're rich. Correll posted, once my kids left the
room and I'm still watching the show. How do you
know You're a Good Luck Charlie fan? And I wanted
to carry over into this film. I wanted to really
raise the bar on d coms and see if we
couldn't do something that is a little more feature film
(36:20):
oriented and getting bored even though and I knew it
would bring their parents and their family on board.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Yeah, well that was definitely the vibe. We got it
really was. Really it was. You could also see we're
talking about different moments in Disney Channel original movie history,
and you can see this the fifteens, the seventeens, whatever
they call it nowadays is you can see it's Disney
Channel trying to find that, you know, the next version
(36:47):
of what dcoms are, right, and it was really interesting
all the way around.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
It definitely yeah, absolutely, I mean it was there. Definitely
was you know, the early on the brinks. Then it
came into the beginning of well then we had Halloween
Town for the beginning of musicals with Cheetah Girls and
high School Musical and so this was a time where
they were kind of going, all right, where are we
going next? You know, and we love it. It's the
(37:12):
one thing I will say it It brings up there's
always good messaging. But they seemed like to me, again,
one thing I really zoned in on was this was
the beginning of social media and how it was affecting
kids and the messaging of what needs to be told
to them as they have their journey of the likes
(37:33):
and the this and the you know. I mean, it
was cool that she was super techy, but it also
has to come down to like a good message, you know,
and I do like the.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Fact that it showed the good and the evil of
the tech world. Right, Yes, be used for.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
Good or it can be used for evil. Right, And
totally We're like Liz, like, I want a car like Brando.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Everybody's like, oh, you want a smart car. I'm like, no,
I want a dome trunck. I want hortified with lend
and nobody can trace me, trect me, follow me, all
the all that.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Good stuff, all that good stuff. Oh man, Well, thank
you so much for joining us. We really enjoyed the movie.
And good luck with the new Christmas film.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
Yes, so much, thank you, it's so great to talk
to you guys.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
You as well, thank you bye bye. Wow.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Yeah, I mean, just an infinite amount of talent.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
It also just seems like she was involved in just
every aspect of the film. You know. It was kind
of like, and I love that she said, Disney was
kind of like, go make your movie because you could
easily see a movie like this them saying things like, yeah,
you know it's too much about the adult or feel
that scene it's six minutes of you guys just talking.
I mean, you could see them really coming in and
(38:46):
kind of nitpicking, and instead they were like, no, go
make your movie right. Four million people watched it, which,
especially in twenty fifteen, is it's a great number.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
That's a good number, a good number, absolutely, and I
think you're right. Then it becomes too many in the kitchen,
she would have lost probably a little bit of like
what she was super passionate about and on the mission
to do when there's too many people that are switching
your direction and kind of boxing you in. This was
(39:14):
very different. Like we've said a million times about it,
it was a great movie. It was different for the
channel it was. It was one great movie, but it's
been amazing in the theater.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
I was gonna say, I stick by it was a
it was a really good movie. I'm not sure it
was a really good dcom. But that's because we were
in the void at that time of dcoms of not
really knowing what the d com was. They hadn't you know,
it wasn't Zombies yet, it wasn't you know. They were
still trying to figure out it wasn't Descendants in twenty fifteen,
I don't think by this point, I don't think though,
(39:46):
so we're still trying to They're trying to find their way,
but hey, are we all at the end of the day,
aren't we all?
Speaker 3 (39:52):
And at the end of the day, as Disney does
it for me every time, the message is there, and
that message was still needs to talked about with teenagers
and how much information they're putting out there, as well
as how not important the amount.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Of likes are in the amount of all that stuff
is just not Yeah, that's get off of social media.
That's I'm sorry. I'd say that to everybody, and then
everybody says, like if I didn't need it for work,
if everybody decides to stop doing it, and then everyone
should decide to unimportant. But anyway, anyway, live your life. Everybody,
live your life to the best of your ability. That's
all you can do. Thank you all so much for
(40:30):
joining us. Thank you le Alan Baker for joining us
and letting us know what it was like to go
and create and think about and pitch and write and
every other thing which I didn't want to get too
much into. I haven't seen it. I've never seen it.
I'm sorry, no, no again, not you know, shot at
my age or my demographic at the time, So it was.
(40:51):
I'm sure I would enjoy it if I watched it.
I just wasn't watching very little of it.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
But I mean I've known about it because it was
it is like she said, of.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
Course it was a juggernaut. Oh yeah, it was huge. Huge.
Good luck, Charlie. Yeah yeah, so very big. Well, thank
you all for joining us on this park Opper episode.
It was so great to talk to Lee Alan Baker.
Thank you for taking the time joining us, Lee Alan,
see it's Lee Allen. I'm Will Allen, but I'm just Will.
So thank you all for joining us and we will
see you next time. Bye bye,
Thank you so much for joining us on our park
Hopper episode of Magical rewind. We are delighted today to
be joined by Officer mcstuffens herself, what is it, Officer
Ravensburger Mix Mick, and we are of course talking about
Officer Liz herself, not only the star of the film
(00:36):
that we just covered, which is Bad hair Day, but
also the executive producer of Bad hair Day. We cannot
wait to get into all of the cool stories, so
we're not gonna wait any longer. Please help us. Welcome
Lee Allen Baker. Hello, Hello, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I'm good, how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Thank you so much for joining us. We just finished
talking about Bad hair Day, which is why we were
a little late. I apologized, because we had a lot
to talk about. Oh right, okay, and we're so glad
that you're joining us here today.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Thank you so much. So nice to see you guys.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yes, so okay. Well, one of the things we of
course noticed about the film is not only are you
the star of the movie, but you're also the executive producer.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
So how did the whole project come about? Can you
walk us through how Bad hair Day came to be?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Gosh, it was a while ago, kids, But let me
go back in the way back machine and my memory
and see if I can remember. So Disney had approached
me after Good Luck. Charlie had ended about continuing forward
with a dcom a movie, and I loved Bad hair Day,
and so we kind of pitched this idea with each other,
found some writers and then you know, I did rewrites
(01:47):
in the room with them, wrote the dialogue, helped craft
the story, and when we got it to a place
where we were happy with it, that's when we started casting,
hiring the director who unfortunately just recently passed away. Yeah,
Eric Henwell, he was really I wanted him to be
the director so badly because he had Have you ever
seen bull Coop a Good Cop, Bad.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Cop in French?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
It was a it was a French film anyway, It's
a great action film. It was like an indie hit.
And I had a way of racking focus constantly and
using the camera and single shots, and I thought, okay,
a that would be a budget and a time saver.
It looks really cool and it's nothing like Disney Channel
has ever really seen before. And being a mom of
(02:28):
two boys, I wanted to have a movie that could
that the boys would want.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
To watch too.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Yeah, so that is why I was so invested in
Bad hair Day. And I have, weirdly enough, become very
much like my character on that show.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
You are you? Are you just going around pretending to
be an FBI agent? Because that would be awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I'm more like they're listening to me.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Hey, I know you're listening to me, but you know
I'm switching to a flip phone.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
That got That's so wait, you said that you really
liked Bad hair Day? Was this an existing ip No, Well.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
We discussed different pitching different ideas, and this was the
idea that we had come up with for Bad hair Day,
me playing some totally different than a mom on a
show and a nurse being completely different and looking and
appearing different.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I know that they had wanted.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Me the the kind of a gimmick was Disney knew
me and my abilities and kind of where my strength
slide and different. You know, I do voiceovers or a
lot of different accents, and they've seen other things that
you you know that you know the drill, and they've
seen other things that I've done where I look very different,
and so they thought, how can we capitalize on you
(03:42):
coming up looking At one point, it was like a
girl that walked around with like costumes. You know how
when you pitch stories, you're like, oh, that's a lot
of people were like having like with with with costumes
in the in the trunk, and I would like put
on different disguises and and be different. Eventually, that didn't
make for a good story. As much as it was
a good gimmick to show my accent and my range,
(04:04):
it wasn't a good story to tell. So that's when
we kind of really crafted this kind of buddy cop
film with the teenager and this older, out of shape
kind of cop who's thrown in the towel.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, because it was a pretty big deal for it
to have the main actor be an adult and it
not be you know, a cast of just all younger actors,
so that I felt like it definitely brought a different
vibe and a different tone to this decom versus what
a lot of the ones that we've seen. You guys
were probably on set every day together.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Every single day.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Because if I there were only I think two scenes
that I wasn't actually in.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yeah, the intro scene, right, yeah, and then yeah and.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Still I was there as an executive producer behind the camera.
That's why when it came to editing this film, I
would say, no, no, no, there's a take where she
sneezed in the middle of this, and I want to
cut off the sneeze, but use that tape because than
hers it. Because I was actually in the scene in
front of the camera with her on all of these,
so I.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Already knew in my head what takes we would use.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, but.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
It was interesting to be the only adult but in
one of these. But we kind of did a little
bit of that. And good luck, Charlie, it's Christmas, you know.
I think that was their first testing ground to see
how that would go because it even though it was
still about the Duncan family, the a storyline that was
pretty much the heaviest storyline was Bridget and myself getting
(05:32):
lost and doing this road trip.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
That movie did really, really well.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So yeah, that was the question. I mean, is it
was there ever any pushback from Disney kind of saying, hey,
you know, you get it has to be a little
more kid heavy than this one is. I'm just I'm
hearing the executives that we've all heard from Disney kind
of like, yeah, no, you need to do this, you
need to do that. I mean, did you hit up
against those walls or was it kind of like, hey,
go make your movie.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
No, it was a lot of hay, go make your movie.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I think that what they had learned and Good Luck
Charlie is that Amy Duncan became kind of one of
the most beloved characters on.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
The show, even though she was an adult.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
And I think that the format that got that character
there is that Teddy was the character that really acted
like the mom, that was the responsible one making the good,
smart choices, and I was the one that was pretty
naughty and was more like the kid trying to get
away with murder.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
So I think that when they saw that that format worked,
and you know, humor does a lot, and I was funny,
and so people responded well to me, and so they
felt pretty confident. Then after Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas
was really successful. I think they were pretty confident with
the movie going the direction that it went nice.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Well, yeah, I mean it was strange for us tonally
because it's one of those things where we are watching
a d coom sometimes two a week and we're going
at different times in the dcom. Like, for instance, the
one we did last week was called The Ghosts of
Bucksley Hall from nineteen eighty, which is You've got I
(07:00):
mean essentially the mister Roper Furley character going like, there's
ghosts in the house. That's what adults do and run around,
and then the little kids have their romance and do
their story. And then as we're creeping up in time,
it's now your movie is twenty fifteen, and we're getting
into more of the prom packed kind of more real.
(07:22):
The adults are real, more real, the kids are more real.
There's drinking sometimes in the movies. I mean it's it's
at a time in dcom where we're kind of going, oh, okay,
we have to switch how we're watching the dcom exactly
as they're switching how they're making the dcom.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, you went literally my generation that watched it, yeah,
I mean it.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Was we are kind of watching these stories where we're
then going, oh, yeah, this makes sense that they're kind
of going a more adult route with it so that
the adults can sit and watch with the kids, right.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
And I think that was what they learned in the model,
the business model of Good Luck Charlie is that they
would take some network veteran writers and a couple of
network veteran actors myself and Eric Alan Kramer, and then
put us with some kids in an ensemble cast and
see how it went. I know that they were very
surprised and didn't expect it to go as well as
it did.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
At one point, Good Look Charlie was the number one
show in.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
The world, and so I think that they built some
confidence with that because the show really did hit so
many demographics. It hit little kids wanting to watch the baby,
all the way through preteen, teen parents and grandparents. You know,
like you'd be surprised. I don't know of a demographic
that doesn't recognize me from that show.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
When I'm out.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah, yeah, it's like full House or boy Me Thrill.
You have that same kind of there's somebody for everybody
to watch.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Yes, And so I think that they were pretty confident
in doing the movie, And you know, they knew I
directed a few episodes, and so I think they trusted
me in that position.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
It was really awesome. Did you have any part in
getting Laura for the movie or was this was she
just brought to the casting call or you know how
how did you guys end up having Laura become involved.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
That they had talked to me about.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
You know how they always have one that they pick,
or one that they owe something to, or one that
they're thinking about and all the time. But there were
a couple prospects, but one girl was they felt would
be better for another one, and they felt Laura would
be better on this one. And you know, look, both
of the actors that they entertained for the part were fantastic.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
So it was a win win situation no matter what.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Had you met before, because you obviously had chemistry, the
two of you.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So much chemistry. You guys look like you were having
a last the whole time.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Here was one point.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
It was summer, and let me tell you, Montreal gets
really hot in the summer. Huggy and I've got this
wig on and this sweat shirt and sweatpants and these
baggy clothes and boots leather boots. Yes, And I'm sitting
in the front seat and I'm like, I am of
the car because you know, they won't put the air
conditioning on because it's noisy, and then they want to
(10:13):
put the windows up because it's too noisy. I literally
remember saying to someone, you know, it's illegal to do
this to dogs. Laura and I are sitting in the
front seat and I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't
think I've ever been so hot. And she looked over
at me and she has got o wig and a
sock bog and a leather jacket on.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, gave me this look and I was like, oh, sorry,
you short.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Your legs are cool at least.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
To kill your Branda was absolutely trying to kill you.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
That was the most That was so fun.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
She was so fun, and I did my own stunts
in that car, like when we were driving around. I
was driving around and there were literally there was a
radio that she would help operate in the car, and
there would be a guy in this corner being like
god like like goldop, like it's gonna stay green screen
or it's turned yellow.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Pushy, pushy, push it. I'm literally driving around.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
The cudy, Oh my good.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Cameras on different corners. No way if even knows that.
But like, we wanted to get the show, we wanted
to look good.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
So it was one of the best chase scenes we've
seen in any Disney Channel movie.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
By far.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
I mean it's like an actual chase scene.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
That was a legit, super good chasing her whole entire
d m V experience was so amazing. It just sounds
great fun to.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Write that scene. It was. That was It's a fun movie,
you guys, No it is.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I loved I said, one of my favorite parts of
it is when your slow motion like.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, so good.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
It is so good.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
I loved it.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Your guys' chemistry, the way you bounced off of each
other top to bottom was just so fun to watch,
and it was awesome to see the relationship develop. Were
you anything like like Monica in high school?
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Was that? Like?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Were you?
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Were you pulling from experiences at all?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Or yeah, of course, of course.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
You know. I had a little bit of that, wondering
what other people think of me in high school.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I feel so hurt by.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
What people would think of me or say of me,
or how is misrepresented cuts to you today? I'm misrepresented
all over the media and everywhere else, and I like,
my skin is so think I could care less, right,
I'm like, oh, tell me another story, come up with
something new, please. It's getting high school's rough though, It's
high school is rough, So with this. It was kind
of like a way for me to stand up for
(12:40):
and teach that lesson to my younger self that I
wish someone would have have taught me, right, And I
love how it brought up like the beginning of like
social media, and like I.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Was just gonna say that, I was telling Will right
at the beginning of it, I go, when is this
movie twenty fifteen? So no longer just the MySpace. We've
got Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, all these social medias. I loved
how it brought in the location. Will didn't know that,
Like you can go on your media where at all,
(13:15):
but you can go see where all your friends are
and all that. I mean, it's kind of creepy. You
open yourself up to so much on the web with
all these apps.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
You really do.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
I even tell my children that, I'm like, you don't
have social media because not because I don't trust you,
but because I don't trust the world. It's literally not
giving it's not just giving you access to the world,
it's given the world access to you.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
And that is a really scary proposition.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
So I love how it delved into that, because you know,
I do I so desperately like when I speak to
kids at college campuses or to teenagers. What I'm always
telling them too is is, gosh, it's a real skill
set that is so advantageous to learn. It's not what
others think about you that matters. They're not your source
(14:04):
for happiness. You know, likes, it's just likes and follow
you know.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
They've done actual studies. They mapped the brain as it
was getting likes, and it was the same endorphin Russia
as doing drugs.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It's the same as wow.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah. You literally get addicted to the likes and the
well why did I get this many likes on this picture?
And I'm not get to it and it's it's a
drug soug.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
I can honestly tell you unless I needed social media
for work purposes.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And things that I do, I wouldn't have it. In fact, the.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Only reason I got social media is because when Bridget
and I got the Got Milk campaign, one of the
things in the contract was that I had to have
social media platforms, yeah, and sign up for I think
two or three of them. I think it was Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram at the time. And I so didn't want
to be recognized on Instagram that I made my handle
(14:56):
l Underscore a Underscore Baker Underscore thirty team like that,
I'm going to hide because I didn't think at the time,
this is something that you'll ever want people to see,
you want people to I thought, oh, you don't want
them to find you, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Right at the time, to me.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
It was like a way for me to share pictures
of my children with my parents who didn't live nearby.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Like yeah, yeah, no, I've I've actually given up jobs
because they'll say you have to have social media and
I say don't. It's like, sorry, you can join. I said, well,
I'm not going to. Well you won't get the job.
I'm like, okay, nice seeing it. Yeah, because it's just yeah,
I won't do it. But anyway, we'll get to we'll
get to we'll get to more fun stuff. For instance,
are you still in touch with Laura or anybody from
the cast?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
I know I could call her right now and be like, hey,
Laura and her mom, but we haven't like spoken in
a while other than a Christmas card or we haven't
really spoken much.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Oh, it's so sad.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
As a mom, I feel the same way about the
kids on my show. It's like I was at mom.
That's like, oh, why am I not hearing from you anymore?
And now I'm learning from my own kids who are
becoming teens and pre teens.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Oh, they're busy living their life. They don't want to
hear from their mother.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Yeah. Personal, it's that they don't want mom constantly contacting them,
and I would be so hurt by it.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
You you just mentioned your fellow cast members you had
the unfortunate job of working with. Well, we don't like
him at all, Jason Dolly, who's just he's a terrible,
terrible human being. Yeah, he came on our show and
(16:30):
just unlikable, not funny, not personal. Disney didn't like him.
They didn't put him in forty two different things.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
That's why they kept using him there.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
So Good Luck Charlie you talked about it a little bit.
But one of the things that amazes us when we
have so many people from different shows or different movies
on is how, first of all and everybody who comes
on says you could have asked us, we never would
have known, So we always ask kind of knowing the answer.
When Good Luck Charlie started, did you think there was
(17:01):
any chance it was going to become what it did. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
I thought that Disney Channel was the place where adults'
careers go to die.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
I did not want to do it, but they caught
me at a moment of weakness where I was nine
months pregnant.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
What else was I going to do?
Speaker 4 (17:21):
In fact, they had hired someone else to be the
mom in the pilot because I just never went into labor. Yes,
And then they picked the show up and said, well,
if they had actually said to me, if you will
be Amy Duncan, well we're going to pick the show
up and we're going to run with and see what happens.
And I thought, well, okay, let's just give it a
(17:42):
run and see what happens.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
And it was like the best work experience. It was
just so great. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah, I know we heard that so but the other
podcast I do, Danielle Fischel is one of the co
hosts on that, and she said, being a parent on
a Disney Channel show is one of the greatest jobs
you will ever have in your life.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, it was great. I had both my babies on
that show.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
So when they had called me Griffin, my oldest was
about five months old, and he and Mia around the
same age.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
And then they were friends growing up throughout that whole show.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
And then Baker I was pregnant with on all of
season three because we had done the Good Luck Charlie,
It's Christmas movie and they had We were shocked that
they were given Amy Duncan another baby. I mean you
should have seen the response from the cast. We were like,
that is irresponsible. We have too many babies. We get
a dog, why do we have to have another baby.
(18:35):
We got a good thing here with just does.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
We don't want to have a baby. And then I thought.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Well, gosh, they're having us have this baby. I should
probably and I thought I would. We would go back
after shooting the movie and that season I would be
pregnant the whole season.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
And I thought the way Disney thinks would be like.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Oh, you know, season ending, season finale baby. But so
I got pregnant, thinking I'm going to have my baby
in the hiatus in between. And I show up to
work ten weeks pregnant and They've got a huge pregnancy
pad for me, and I was like, oh, what is that.
They're like, well, we're starting you out at like six
(19:14):
or seven months pregnant, and I was like, are we sure,
Are you sure we want to talk?
Speaker 1 (19:18):
You don't want to start at ten weeks?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
That can be fun, way way back.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
And then why are you saying that? And why are
you eating carbohydrates? And I was like, oh, because I'm
not just and I'm so pregnant, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Oh no, I'm sorry, I have to I have to ask.
You said, is it a daughter or a son named Baker?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
A boy named Baker?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, Boyny Baker. Is his name Baker Baker?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
No, his name is Baker Kaufman.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Okay, So so, Chuckie, I was like, oh, because that
would be kind of cool if hey, I went to
school with a kid named Soren Sorenson.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
So yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
So the way that went down was my brother had
two girls, so they could not carry on the Baker name,
and I had two boys, and so I named my
last boy Baker to kind of carrier.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I love that. That's incredible. Okay, So let's if we
could talk a little bit about the differences, because you
also did twenty episodes of Ellen, Will and Grace well,
excuse me, Will and Grace, my bad, twenty episodes of
Will I did. Yeah, I met I met Will and Grace.
I met you you played Ellen.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Yeah, I actually three episodes of that show, maybe even
twenty six, but there were some double episodes in there.
But yes, I played Ellen.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Ellen, So I met you played Ellen and Will and Grace.
What is the difference between working on a big adult
network show and working on something like a Disney Channel show.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
One is fun and you can breathe on it, and
the other Grace and then there's Grace. Yeah, it was
intense from the pilot on. There's just a lot of
pressure and network television and the network execs are not
(21:04):
very approachable or friendly, and you stay in your zone,
they stay in theirs. And Disney Channel was like, you know,
Gary marsh comes to set and you see him so
sweet and fun, and Adam would come to set, and
so it was more a family. It truly felt more
(21:26):
like a family on Disney Channel, where it felt like.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
A club that didn't really want you.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Did you like the work on Will and Grace?
Speaker 4 (21:40):
I thought the show was really funny, and I genuinely
loved some of the writers. They were great, very funny,
talented people. But the work was stressful.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
And yeah, it was. It was a pressure cooker.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I've heard that I had a couple of friends that
guest starred who said exactly the same thing. They're like, hey,
I've I've had better experiences than that one. Yeah, okay yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
And then they were always stunt casting, so then like
one day I'd be doing an episode and I'd be thinking, Okay,
finally I'm going back to a familiar your zone. I
should be able to relax, and then they're like, Madonna's here,
don't look her in the eye. I don't work where
I like know people and not look Madonna in the eye.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
You know.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
I feel like the car show that you could look
in the eye was Charlie. But that's because she was three.
You know, Madonna's supposed to know better. Right.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
We just heard from one of our producers who was
a fan, that the little girl that played Charlie just
started her sophomore year in high school. Wow, that's amazing.
Apparently they grow up quickly. I don't know because I'll
never have them, but apparently.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
And they grow It's the most things. I'm like, having
a teenager is like the longest breakup in the history
of the world. Oh it is bone crushing. Oh no,
ast it goes and that I'm always like you can
live with me forever.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
And my husband's like, that's weird. Stop saying things like us.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
So I have a four year old daughter and my
son is fifteen months old, so he's just you know,
a little over a year. And I love my daughter.
We are besties. I mean, she is the best. But
I text messaged my mother in law the day my
son was born and was like, I get it now.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I get like, yes, you.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Can live with me forever. You will never be alone.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
It will just because boys, I'm telling you, I brainwashed
mine since day one.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
You can stay with mommy forever. So I'm at some
point that that sticks.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
All right. Oh man, I don't know. My husband's got
all these big dreams of us, the travels will do
without kids, and I'm like, but when are they leaving us?
They're always going to be here.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
I can honestly tell you.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
My husband and I the one time we tried to
go on a vacation and it was during Good Luck Charlie.
We tried to go for our ten year anniversary, just
an hour away to the beach and in Allgant Hills, California,
And we got there and we got to call immediately
that the Baker had the flu and was throwing up.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
So, oh jeez.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
So we've so not gone on dates or vacations that
when my kids were little, if I got dressed up
to go out with my husband, they would say.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Oh, do you have to go to the Emmy's. Like,
because I ever dressed up and went out of my
house was when I was I just leave them.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yeah, the whole thing with kids. I read an article
the other day that said they want to eat every
single day. That's weird to me.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
I just don't care and everything you have to think
of what they have for dinner, which is the most
exhausting part.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Well, it's all my wife and I talk about anyway.
It's just what we're having for dinner night. That's our
whole relationship.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Have your two boys seen bad hair Day?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
And they love it and they may good. And they
loved watching the dailies too.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
They would walk around going, don't push the red button,
and now it's saying there's a red button.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
I'm like, So, talking about hair, you had a totally
different color, different style, everything your hair was different than
what you normally have. Was that weird for you? Was
it weird for the kids? Was that a thing you
(25:23):
guys had to talk about.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Well, here's what we had to talk about. You know.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Amy Duncan was very dulled up all the time, with
like a face full of so much makeup, right, And
my kids loved that. My thank you for making your
face beautiful.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
He loved it.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
And then I said, I'm going to get my hair
done for a new movie. They thought I was going
to go be made up like Amy Duncan or for
some award show. And I walked into the house with
this auburn hair and no makeup, and my kids are like,
think about the very upset.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Like listen.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
I said to my listaid, mommy is beautiful no matter what.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
And he gets You.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Could see his little wheels turning and he goes, oh,
so that's how it works.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Oh my god. It was such a loaded statement for
a little kid to make.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Like you could see him figuring out, Oh, that's what
I'm supposed to say.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Okay, momm yeah, sure you look great.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Yeah. So they dyed my hair and then I wore
these these clip on bangs.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Okay, yeah, yes, But adjustment to see yourself that way,
even just you, I think I just couldn't imagine when
someone goes a drastic color change.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
It's a lot.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Yeah, it was, I was. I did. I was ready
to get my blonde back when it was done. That's right. Okay.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
When you're so you're coming up with the idea for
the movie, did you have any influences that were front
and center, Because as I'm watching it, I got some
some Thelma Louise vibes, some midnight run vibes. I'm in.
Was there something that you were kind of a vibe
you were going for when you were coming.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Up with it for a little thumb on the waves,
but a little more on the heat you were.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Just talking about, that's what we mentioned, Melissa McCarthy.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Yeah, I was kind of going for that kind of vibe.
And I really love it where you can show that
two characters really learn from one another, even though it's
set up to appear that one will learn from this
one only, and then you realize at the end of
the day, the one who was truly changed was.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
The adult by being around.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
I think you can see that in that last scene
where they're outside and she's trying to fight back tears
about how if I was your mom?
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Yeah, I know, so good.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Also, the idea that there's even and I get one
of the things you talked about is there's very few
times where we believe a parent should have the right
to just step in and say, this is what you're
doing with your life. But when it's between State and MIT,
this is what you're doing with your life, this is
not a choice for you. I'm sorry, but you don't
(28:04):
get to decide between these two. You're going to MIT, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
I love being able to have like an outsider perspective
with that character.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
That wasn't really her mom. But then you see, like
in that.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Moment particular that we were talking about, just then like
all the pieces came together for Liz to realize what
this girl has missed out on. And we always think
that we've got it so hard. Liz is in her
mopey poor woe is me. I can't believe this happened
to me at the police department. I can't believe I've
been treated like this. And the second she finally hears
(28:37):
someone else's store and why they're doing what they're doing
and where they're at, that compassion just expands immensely and
then she realizes, oh wow, I've been so self centered
and not even realizing how fortunate I am, and here's
this kid struggling like this.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Yeah, well that was the other thing we noticed that
it So it was so unique about this movie compared
to a lot of the other decoms we saw were
some of the quiet, longer talking scenes which you didn't.
We didn't we. You know, when you're first explaining how
the necklace got lost and she's talking about losing your mom.
I mean, that was a good six seven eight minute
(29:15):
scene of just two people talking, and you didn't get
a whole lot of that in D cooms.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
No, that was shot in one take because we were
out of time and they threw it on the schedule
for that day, and I was like, I'm.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Sorry, Oh my gosh, Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
There's even a moment in it where you'll hear where
I hold for a motorcycle going by.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Oh I gotta go back and watch.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Oh my god, no way, that's insane.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Wow. Did you watch any d cooms previous to this
to get any kind of sense of the channel? Did
you not want to watch any dcoms or were you
even a fan of dcoms?
Speaker 4 (29:54):
I kind of didn't want to watch them because I
wanted to make something really original, and I also want
to be judgmental, Like I said, I went into Judge
to Good Luck Charlie very judgmental of like I said,
this is where adult's career is going to die and
ended up having like the highlight of my career and
having a blast.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
And being except for a great show to be You're
so good at it. Oh woh god, that's funny. Okay, So,
I mean, I guess the question then becomes, are we
ever going to see these characters again? Is there a
chance of ever seeing these characters again? Or even maybe
(30:34):
maybe Laura's character has moved on, But are we ever
going to see Officer Liz again? Is that a possibility?
Speaker 4 (30:39):
Or that would be pretty great to see how she's changed,
if Laura's lessons like kind of stuck with her right yeah?
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Yeah, and if she's still giving all the compliments on
people's nostrils and.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Flirting at all. Has she married?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Yeah? I mean, it's a great it'd be a great question.
You get onto another case, you never know what could happen.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
I mean, or maybe there's like a murder case that
we stumble upon together. But see, like see you get
things that could open the world like oh, not appropriate
for children, no, but.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Maybe something at her college.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Yeah, it could be.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
Oh, we've actually talked about that in the beginning, that
that something goes down at her college and Liz shows
up to try.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
To there you go something at mit, you've got to
go undercover as as somebody who's brilliant and you, you know,
obviously you're street smart. But I'm sorry, I'm writing in
my head, but.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
We've already pitched it all. Trust me, it's all partially.
That was like what ten years ago?
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Now?
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Yeah, now you need to have to be a musical
with dragons, so and Johnny's can you do that? Can
they be a musical about dragons and zombies that Officer
Liz is in?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Yes, anything to get her back, anything to get her back?
Speaker 1 (31:47):
What is it got to be?
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Do you think, obviously, if it wasn't just this movie
and a sequel to it, do you do you ever
think that you would you know, possibly either direct or
produce again for a dcom. Would you ever be interested
in trying to do that again?
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Well?
Speaker 4 (32:04):
I just recently produced a television series for Brave Books
called The Adventures of Iggy and mister Kirk and it's
a children's show, kind of like a mister Rogers meets
the Muppets meet Sesame Street. And oh wow, I was
saying the other day in an interview, I was like,
I feel like God has been like mister miaggiing me
for a while where I'm like, why.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Am I wax on wax on wax on xof.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
And I realized that when I got on this set,
I knew how to call all the shots for the Quad.
Things that I never would have thought that I had
picked up on just being immersed in this world, knowing
how to work with kids, knowing how to work with puppets.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I'd worked with the Muppets.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
I'm good luck Charlie, And all of this time I've
been learning how to execute, like editing, writing, directing shots
like I said, even camera coordinator, even going oh no,
we need more lie over here. It's too cool or
it's too warm, or it's amazing what you pick up
(33:05):
in thirty plus years of being on sets and then
you realize, oh, I know what I'm doing right.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
This is a language that I speak.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
All of a sudden, what I'm doing, you know, So
that's been fun, and yeah, I would love to direct
again and produce again.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
That's kind of where my passion is right now.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
I just finished writing the Christmas movie with my writing
partner that we literally just wrapped up this week and
it's really funny and I'm really excited to get that
out there as well.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Well, I want to talk to you a little bit
about something that is very very near and dear to
my heart, which is my ultimate passion, which is voiceover,
which I've been doing for twenty five years and I
love it so much. And I know you're very big
in the voiceover world as well. Is there one discipline
you prefer vio or on camera? Okay, I hate this question,
by the way, I get it all the time, and
(33:56):
so it's but I have to throw.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
Choose between your base exactly totally differently.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Totally different, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
You know one, I'm gonna be able in voice over
to play all different characters that don't look a thing
like me or sound a thing like me. So the imagination,
it's just like dealing with animation. You're able to do
so much more with a story and you're able to
go places that you can't go on regular television, live
live action, right sure.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
So that part I love about that.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
And then the part that I love about being on
camera is and specifically half hour comedy multiicam is I
love the interaction with the audience.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
I mean, like I was, you know.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
I did theater, I did Shakespeare, So to me, that
interaction with the audience, it automatically feeds your performance. I'll
never forget many times that the producers, you know, after
you do is seeing they come down with little notepads
and they're going to tell you how to do it differently,
and I'm like, they died laughing, We're.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Done, but moving on, moving on, How do you argue
with that?
Speaker 4 (35:03):
And they're like, okay, you know, go back to their
chairs with them note pads. So I love both of them,
and I also do There's an element of film that
I really love too, that again brings us back to
this dcom is being able to bridge hilarious circumstances that
also are heartwarming, that can make you cry, that tug
(35:24):
on your heart streams that you can really need more
of an emotional gamut with that, and you can pick
up some more subtle shots. It doesn't mean you can't
be as like big like I'm big and bad hair
day too. I mean, she's definite character. But as long
as it's grounded in reality, people buy it and eat
it up and it's you know, pretty rich.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Well, thank you so much for joining us here. This
has been the coolest thing in the world. We really
really enjoyed the movie we did. It threw us a
bit because it wasn't dcom for us, right.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
It felt more like a feature it did.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
It did like the heat like that exactly, that kind
of vibe it really did.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
Yeah, And because I wanted parents to be able to
watch it. That was one of the joys of Good
Luck Charlie is that the parents would watch it often
when they're rich. Correll posted, once my kids left the
room and I'm still watching the show. How do you
know You're a Good Luck Charlie fan? And I wanted
to carry over into this film. I wanted to really
raise the bar on d coms and see if we
couldn't do something that is a little more feature film
(36:20):
oriented and getting bored even though and I knew it
would bring their parents and their family on board.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Yeah, well that was definitely the vibe. We got it
really was. Really it was. You could also see we're
talking about different moments in Disney Channel original movie history,
and you can see this the fifteens, the seventeens, whatever
they call it nowadays is you can see it's Disney
Channel trying to find that, you know, the next version
(36:47):
of what dcoms are, right, and it was really interesting
all the way around.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
It definitely yeah, absolutely, I mean it was there. Definitely
was you know, the early on the brinks. Then it
came into the beginning of well then we had Halloween
Town for the beginning of musicals with Cheetah Girls and
high School Musical and so this was a time where
they were kind of going, all right, where are we
going next? You know, and we love it. It's the
(37:12):
one thing I will say it It brings up there's
always good messaging. But they seemed like to me, again,
one thing I really zoned in on was this was
the beginning of social media and how it was affecting
kids and the messaging of what needs to be told
to them as they have their journey of the likes
(37:33):
and the this and the you know. I mean, it
was cool that she was super techy, but it also
has to come down to like a good message, you know,
and I do like the.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Fact that it showed the good and the evil of
the tech world. Right, Yes, be used for.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
Good or it can be used for evil. Right, And
totally We're like Liz, like, I want a car like Brando.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Everybody's like, oh, you want a smart car. I'm like, no,
I want a dome trunck. I want hortified with lend
and nobody can trace me, trect me, follow me, all
the all that.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Good stuff, all that good stuff. Oh man, Well, thank
you so much for joining us. We really enjoyed the movie.
And good luck with the new Christmas film.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
Yes, so much, thank you, it's so great to talk
to you guys.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
You as well, thank you bye bye. Wow.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Yeah, I mean, just an infinite amount of talent.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
It also just seems like she was involved in just
every aspect of the film. You know. It was kind
of like, and I love that she said, Disney was
kind of like, go make your movie because you could
easily see a movie like this them saying things like, yeah,
you know it's too much about the adult or feel
that scene it's six minutes of you guys just talking.
I mean, you could see them really coming in and
(38:46):
kind of nitpicking, and instead they were like, no, go
make your movie right. Four million people watched it, which,
especially in twenty fifteen, is it's a great number.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
That's a good number, a good number, absolutely, and I
think you're right. Then it becomes too many in the kitchen,
she would have lost probably a little bit of like
what she was super passionate about and on the mission
to do when there's too many people that are switching
your direction and kind of boxing you in. This was
(39:14):
very different. Like we've said a million times about it,
it was a great movie. It was different for the
channel it was. It was one great movie, but it's
been amazing in the theater.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
I was gonna say, I stick by it was a
it was a really good movie. I'm not sure it
was a really good dcom. But that's because we were
in the void at that time of dcoms of not
really knowing what the d com was. They hadn't you know,
it wasn't Zombies yet, it wasn't you know. They were
still trying to figure out it wasn't Descendants in twenty fifteen,
I don't think by this point, I don't think though,
(39:46):
so we're still trying to They're trying to find their way,
but hey, are we all at the end of the day,
aren't we all?
Speaker 3 (39:52):
And at the end of the day, as Disney does
it for me every time, the message is there, and
that message was still needs to talked about with teenagers
and how much information they're putting out there, as well
as how not important the amount.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Of likes are in the amount of all that stuff
is just not Yeah, that's get off of social media.
That's I'm sorry. I'd say that to everybody, and then
everybody says, like if I didn't need it for work,
if everybody decides to stop doing it, and then everyone
should decide to unimportant. But anyway, anyway, live your life. Everybody,
live your life to the best of your ability. That's
all you can do. Thank you all so much for
(40:30):
joining us. Thank you le Alan Baker for joining us
and letting us know what it was like to go
and create and think about and pitch and write and
every other thing which I didn't want to get too
much into. I haven't seen it. I've never seen it.
I'm sorry, no, no again, not you know, shot at
my age or my demographic at the time, So it was.
(40:51):
I'm sure I would enjoy it if I watched it.
I just wasn't watching very little of it.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
But I mean I've known about it because it was
it is like she said, of.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
Course it was a juggernaut. Oh yeah, it was huge. Huge.
Good luck, Charlie. Yeah yeah, so very big. Well, thank
you all for joining us on this park Opper episode.
It was so great to talk to Lee Alan Baker.
Thank you for taking the time joining us, Lee Alan,
see it's Lee Allen. I'm Will Allen, but I'm just Will.
So thank you all for joining us and we will
see you next time. Bye bye,
Hosts And Creators
Will Friedle
Sabrina Bryan
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