Innes pulls double duty on 'West Wing', 'ER'
February 09, 2005
It's a big week for Laura Innes.
The actress is set to showcase her on-camera skills
Thursday (Feb. 10) in which her "ER" character, the prickly
Dr. Kerry Weaver, meets her biological mother (guest star
Frances Fisher) for the first time.
On Wednesday (Feb. 9), NBC will air an Innes-directed
episode of "The West Wing," in which President Bartlet
(Martin Sheen) deals with Iran's accidental downing of a
passenger jet that was mistaken for a U.S. spy plane. Innes
has now directed several episodes of the show (and of
"ER"), but she says she found her way behind the camera
almost by accident.
Coming from a theater background, Innes was still adjusting
to the style of acting needed for a television drama in her
early episodes of "ER," which she joined in 1995. "I found
myself constantly getting distracted about why I couldn't
[move a certain way] or why I couldn't overlap dialogue,"
she says, "just technical issues of lenses and sound and
how all this worked."
After a while, she started quizzing the show's crew about
such things, primarily so she could "know how to use the
medium more" while she was acting. One of the show's
producers took note of her interest and asked if she'd be
interested in directing an episode. After first saying no,
then trailing a few other directors, she helmed her first
episode in 1999.
"I can't quite describe it," she says. "I was just
overwhelmed at how much you have to do."
She also had to overcome the problem of being in charge of
her fellow cast members. "It's like your sister is telling
you what to do," she says. "It was not quite a comfortable
feeling at first. I think for me, too, I had to get my
bearings and say, 'Wait a minute -- I'm the one who gets to
decide how this goes.'"
After clearing those initial hurdles, though, Innes has
found great enjoyment in directing both "ER" and "The West
Wing," for which she earned an Emmy nomination in 2001.
(She earned acting nominations for "ER" in 1997 and '98.)
She also sees similarities in the two series.
"They're both ensemble shows, they're both very fast-paced,
and they're both these big animals -- every week, there's a
lot going on," she says. "So they don't feel that
different. ... I enjoy the kind of language- and
intellect-based world of 'The West Wing,' where people are
discussing ideas. But when I go back to 'ER' and have these
emotional payoffs and a very visceral and physical,
rhythmic environment, that's very satisfying too."
She's in line to have one of those payoffs as an actress
Thursday on "ER." Although Weaver and her birth mother are
initially thrilled to meet each other, their budding
relationship is threatened when Kerry reveals she's gay.
Her mother, an evangelical Christian, doesn't approve.
It's a touchy issue, but Innes is proud of the way it plays
out.
"Dramatically it's a good premise. That's where we always
start," she says. "... What's interesting in this show is
that Weaver becomes, after she kind of overcomes her fear,
very articulate and passionate about defending her
identity. But the character of the mother is also quite
articulate and isn't painted as a bad or evil person."
The fact that Weaver had never met her birth mother also
helps explain her often icy demeanor, Innes believes.
"She really is able to come a long way in finding peace
with herself," she says. "I know in the research I did for
this episode, people who have searched for their birth
mothers and found them ... it's like a great weight is
lifted off their shoulders: 'Okay, now I can move forward
with my life.' I think it's great for Weaver to have
that."