This Wednesday night sees the return of the three ladies of author Candace Bushnell’s imagined “Lipstick Jungle” world as they continue their woven stories of love, loss and career power struggles splayed against a fashionable Manhattan cocoon of privileged luxury.
NBC's Lipstick Jungle star Brooke Shields poses in the photo room, at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California, USA, 21 September 2008. The Primetime Emmy Awards honours excellence in primetime television programming. EPA/PAUL BUCK
The series is based on the best-selling book by Bushnell about three powerful best friends in New York City - movie executive Wendy (Brooke Shields), fashion magazine editor-in-chief Nico (Kim Raver) and fashion designer, Victory (Lindsay Price).
"Lipstick Jungle," back again September 24 at 10 p.m. on NBC opens with Nico fretting to come clean with husband Charles about her affair in the second-season premiere, but there’s a shocking twist to this cathartic intention.
Meanwhile, Mary Tyler Moore guest stars as Wendy’s exacting Patrician cold fish of a mother, as she pays a visit to the family just as Wendy decides to spend more time at home; Victory hires a cheeky publicist Dahlia (Rosie Perez) and plays hardball with Joe (Andrew McCarthy) as he tries to woo her back to him.
It’s good chick TV that has heart and soul aided by a crack ensemble who play their respective roles to the hilt. They are served well by writers who script the series with authenticity and the proper amount of humor to offset the drama.
Monsters and Critics spoke to actress Brooke Shields and producer/writer Oliver Goldstick on a conference call last week.
Brooke, what was it about Wendy that resonated with you?
Brooke Shields: Well we started with the book. I mean I read the book when it first came out and I was instantly drawn to Wendy. I loved her versatility and I loved all the different areas of her life that she grappled with. So I identified with her from the start.
After doing so many episodes and being in that character every day, there's something that happened that sort of - there's this crossover that constantly happens. I hear myself say things that Wendy would say. And then while I'm doing Wendy scenes I feel that that would be my natural response and even just the cadence in which we speak is becoming more sort of naturally appropriate for both.
My husband actually is so much happier because Wendy wears a lot of lingerie and I've been getting, spray tans and I'm working out. And so basically, he's like, "Hey, I like this Wendy chick…"
But sort of the deeper answer to that question is the more time I spend in this character; the more I feel we are both becoming one another. I mean it's just when I - she's not a caricature at all. So it's not as if I go onto the set and there's this completely different tone in my voice and cadence and attitude.
It's very much my personality coming through Wendy. And I think it's also their writing to a sensibility as well. And I think the longer we're going on, the more seamless it's becoming.
The book basically was the pilot. So right now, we ended at the pilot and now we're just trying to keep true to the essence of the book, but with complete storylines. So I mean Candace is ever present, which is so wonderful because we always have our voice around us, which is great. And that kind of keeps bringing us back to it.
But we found the thread and the (through line) in all of these people and so now, it's - I think it's becoming much easier for all of us because we know who these people are and we're just getting deeper and deeper into who they are.
Tell me about what it was like working with Mary Tyler Moore – the scenes with Wendy and her mom. And how much of Mary we're going to see in this particular season.
Brooke Shields: Well, we're just about to start another episode with her, so that's very exciting. We're doing a Thanksgiving episode and we're having a big family episode. So as dysfunctional as it may be, it's going to be a wonderful family episode.
She's such a legend and such an icon that I think the anticipation of just her arriving was just so, so high that we all sort of had to work hard to just act normal around her and not want to ask her all these questions about (the iconic) career that she's had.
The scenes themselves are so layered with so many different emotions. And they are all so very - they are very real and they are very - they strike such a chord I think in so many people - so to be able to play all those different levels. For instance in the next - in the upcoming episode, there is that same - you know there's a great deal of tension, but there's also a great deal of respect between the two of them. And yet I think that they could probably (hurt) each other more than anyone can.
They are fated by their similarities and Wendy is trying to celebrate her differences. I think her mom is a bit more resistant to that because where I'm not like her is wrong according to my mom in the show.
I try to just watch her work rather than ask … I defer a lot just out of respect and out of her history. And I just try to sort of watch and appreciate.
There is that sort of fine line that you don't want to cross. I mean she has a very difficult task at hand in which she's coming into a show where - I mean we all have this second language already because we're with each other so many hours of every day, and she comes in and she has huge pages of dialogue.
And so it's a very professional relationship because I think that she has to do a lot in a short amount of time and a lot is on her shoulders.
Oliver Goldstick: Mary is really special to us because she represents something for those of us who grew up watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show as far as a single working woman and it's important what she represented.
And Mary was invited to be a part of it and she didn't ask to be treated different than anybody else on the set and came into the first table reading ready to work. And that sort of established the relationship.
Oliver, the storyline is obviously… I don't want to give away because the season opening is a shocker.
Oliver Goldstick: Right, right.
But the pregnant thorn in Nico’s side - we'll just talk in vague terms. How far along into the season is that particular layer of the story going to go?
Oliver Goldstick: We delve into it pretty deeply. Again, without wanting to give away too much, but much of the objective for Nico this season was the questions we sort of raised last season. Things about - at one point in the last season, Wendy had said, "So it's a good thing you're not a mother because your values are questionable to pass on to a child."
And it's interesting because we'll be exploring some of that this season. And Nico also - as much as this journey is about what happens when you turn a fantasy into reality and that's regarding the younger lover that she has.
Again, we had a fantasy element last year - all about - there was an affair, which was illicit, and she'll have an opportunity to make that legitimate. And that's fraught with all the difficulties that come with people who are in very different places in their lives - you know they're dating someone who is 12 or 13 years younger than you.
They are at a very different place. So that's one of the things we'll really be exploring this season.
Oliver, about Victory, it seems like the more she protests -- the more Andrew comes beckoning back to her, and it seems it's going to culminate perhaps in a very explosive relationship. Will we be seeing them getting closer together?
Oliver Goldstick: Yes. I mean granted, we know it's one of the things of a romantic comedy. You know we do want that element of just when she's ready, he's not and when he's ready, she's not and can these ships ever meet in the night.
Yes April, some of the things you're seeing in the first couple of episodes would have been part of last season. And because of the strike, we just sort of froze right there at episode season, and that's fine with us because you're launching a second season with a very provocative subject matter, and huge challenges and changes in these relationships.
But again, that's a power struggle relationship. And we basically were sowing the seeds last year. We were sort of frozen in time because of the writers' strike. Because it wasn't the full season and we sort of had a lot of this planned.
Well, it all sounds great. I can't wait to watch more.
Brooke Shields: After just having - we start the Thanksgiving episode today. And by the end of reading it because we had just got it, I couldn't even believe. I was...
Oliver Goldstick: Don't say!
Brooke Shields: I won't say anything. No, I just want to say that I even went, "What? No way." So it's sort of like even though we get to be in it, we also - I find I'm a fan so I sort of has this sort of separate - or I'm just schizophrenic. I'm not sure, but I separate myself and I think, "He did not. He did not. Oh, no." I have my own water cooler that I keep in my apartment actually and I just - I bring my friends over just to talk around it.
Oliver Goldstick: You talk to it. You just talk right with yourself too, right.
Brooke Shields: Right, it's just me actually.
Oliver Goldstick: You're (working as Wendy). The simple yes, right.
Brooke Shields: It's just me around the water cooler alone in my apartment. But you know what, I could be worse. I could be on drugs.
Brooke you're very funny.
Brooke Shields: Thank you.
I love humor and comedy probably more than anything else. Whenever there is a scene that entails some sort of comedy, it is so loud to me. I can hear it before I even go and do it and that's just - it's just the way I see things.
Oliver, are guys are able to enjoy the show as well?
Oliver Goldstick: Well sure. I mean it will be a guilty pleasure because no guys can admit - look (I was on) on Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty and it was very hard to find guys who would openly admit it unless they were under, you know, duress and at gunpoint how much they liked the show.
I have that history and I know that these kinds of shows - it's - guys it can become habit forming. And all of a sudden before they know it, they are (mirrored) towards their relationships or the women in their lives whether it is their mothers or siblings aren't being reflected. The issues those women are going through. And there are men in this show by the way who are in these relationships that are going through things that our male audience is experiencing.
I mean Wendy - just to mention that Wendy's journey this season is very much about a huge shift in her domestic situation because her husband is working now. And that was sort of introduced last year because it was very much she wanted him to pursue his dreams and pursue his ambition of composing and this season his career is going to take off, which causes a major shift. It's the kind of shift...
Brooke Shields: Be careful what you wish for.
Oliver Goldstick: This season could be really called 'Be Careful What You Wish For 'because we're sort of realizing all of those fantasies from last season. Things that were brought up are being - they are being dramatized and all the ensuing issues that come with them.
Brooke Shields: I also want to add that I think what - beyond the obvious, which is these women are often scantily clad and sort of the beauty of it all and the...
Oliver Goldstick: The men are scantily clad too.
Brooke Shields: Yes, exactly. But beyond that as sort of the draw, I think the most important thing about the way our men - are male characters are portrayed is that we're not - we don't portray them weak. And we don't - I don't believe that we diminish them in any way. We sort of celebrate how much we need them and the need is different for each one of us. But I don't feel - this is not one of those shows where we paint these men as just pathetic, or stereotypical, or you know that they are...
Oliver Goldstick: Yeah, male bashing.
"Kirby"
Brooke Shields: Yeah, there's no male bashing in it and I think that's important. And I've spoken to the men, you know, about this. You know even Kirby - even a sort of objective symbol that's sort of this character. And you know he said that there's a lot of power that you derive from that. I mean it's different - but I mean they have a respect for their male characters because they are not stereotypical, pigheaded. You know the male that we've often seen so that we can augment the women.
Brooke, have you gotten the men in your life to watch Lipstick Jungle so far or are you still working on that?
Brooke Shields: They have no choice. You love me, you love Lipstick Jungle.
Do you share Wendy’s taste in clothing?
Brooke Shields: I actually love her style. This season she is changing a bit more and becoming sort of slightly more Bohemian and a little less sort of corporate. And I don't keep any of the clothing, but who knows maybe (one or two) making - (be the) demands about my wardrobe.
I do much more this season than I did last year. We - it's sort of an amazing kind of joint effort. You know I - the first season, I think everybody was a bit more (pressured about it) and so we got many notes from network, and everybody had an opinion, and we sort of had to satisfy many people.
I was asked to weigh in a bit more. I'm much more familiar with Wendy and there's this bit of a crossover between the two of us. So her wardrobe is definitely being infiltrated by my taste and my wardrobe is being infiltrated by the show. So there's this sort of crossover, but we really now want her to be slightly more eclectic in the way she mixes things together.
Last year, there was a bit more sort of a corporate strictness to her and we all decided that it didn't relate to her character as such.
Oliver – talk about your writing staff; how did they approach doing the comedy and the drama in each episode?
Oliver Goldstick: Right. Well, it's finding the truth in those. I mean the situation is - you know that's life. I mean life cannot be one or the other. And the people who - they are all (adults). I mean this writing staff now this year; it's more of an East coast. You know we're based in the West Coast. I met somebody who used to work for the New York Times and was the Deputy Editor of the Style section and her partner is the former (translator) of New York Magazine and Esquire.
As far as balancing humor and drama, I think when we're breaking stories we look for both. Any dramatic story worth its weight has to have levity. You know we know there has to be a balance because you couldn't get laughs with the most traumatic events without having something absurd happen.
And the comedy comes from these situations and these people that are behavioral and character-based. I think it's integral to the show and I don't think it has to suffice one or suffice the other.
This season a lot of what's going on with Wendy seems to be motherhood issues. Can you talk about the kind of mother she is and then compare that to the kind of mother that you are?
Brooke Shields: I think that there's a similarity in the way we feel about motherhood. Our children are in very different stages, so the daily - what I have to deal with daily in my life versus what Wendy deals with daily with her children is slightly different.
I'll talk about Wendy first. And I think that she is a very passionate person and I think that she - mothering and her family is very important to her, but not at the risk of losing herself and losing what she's fueled by outside of her family, and that brings with it a great deal of guilt.
I can identify with that because my career is so much a part of who I am. I mean the working, the actuality - the actual working in my life. It's a huge motivator in my life - it has been for years. And - but I also have to children. So to a degree, there's a problem. I never feel truly like I'm ever able to be fully in one place, so I bounce back and forth.
I finished work this morning at 5:30 am and then had to go home, not sleep because that would have been dangerous, get breakfast, get the girl's up. I took Rowan to school, had a teacher's conference, and then came back… and it was - then I got to sleep for a couple of hours before I (tried) myself with - and I'm not complaining, but it's just the nature of the way I don't want to give anything up.
But I don't think Wendy wants to either. I think if push came to shove, her children and her family would always come first as with me. But I also think she recognizes - she has a better (flair) or is a more self-realized and actualized person when she has her passion and her own focus in her life and it allows her to have perspective of her family. I mean I appreciate my family so much more because I also have something that's just my own.
Oliver Goldstick: But what Brooke has in her life, which she brings to the show, is balance and that brings - that's the constant thing we're dramatizing in this show as well in this series. But there's a balance (professional woman) who has a family. And you know obviously Brooke does that beautifully in real life and on this show with her character.
Brooke Shields: Well one of the things I think the show does, it doesn't - when you - it's dangerous to say (that's done) beautifully because it's not pretty, you know, but it's real.
Oliver Goldstick: It's flawed. It's flawed.
Brooke Shields: Oh, yeah, there's that. And I think that that's an important thing that we're saying. You know we're not saying, "Oh, every - women can have it all and still be glamorous."
You can want it all and I think it's very empowering to go for it all. It's just there's always going to be a certain little bit - there's going to be a cost every day in some area.
Currently, my husband is in Los Angeles. That's tough for him not to see the girls every day. So there's a little bit of a cost there, but we work it out. And I don't think it ever feels balanced, but we're always trying and keeping the eye open so that our kids- I mean Wendy in this season realizes her teenage daughter really needs her. She's at a crisis in her life and so she makes a decision.
How do you try to achieve balance?
Brooke Shields: I just trust my instincts and it's daily. I never set out with something and it's set in stone. I just - it's a matter of doing as much as I possibly can.
It's instead of going on Thursday to Los Angeles in the afternoon to get there comfortably before doing Leno on Friday; I've got to be at a school - my daughter's school. So I'm going to be taking the last flight out and probably getting less sleep. So it's just - but I won't miss the school event. So it's just every day there's a different set of challenges as to - and it's just a matter of showing up for all of them.
Brooke is how did the Project Runway episode come about and with that, the outfit that won, what episode does that appear in?
Brooke Shields: We haven't' decided yet. We just got the outfit and now we're trying to decide what the designer - if he's okay if we separate the skirt and the top. Because the top goes really well with the jeans - well on Wendy. And the skirt would be cuter with like a t-shirt or a sweater.
Oliver Goldstick: It's all about balance.
Brooke Shields: Yeah, exactly. They also decided to send me the one that the model wore, which basically fits my pinky. So I was like, "Hey, he's not serious is he that I'm supposed to wear this one?"
So I didn't know exactly how that works. And we've been trading calls with him and we're going to buy the material and he's going to design it again in a human size.
They just approached us and asked if I would do it. I mean I had been a fan of the show, but I never dreamt in a million years that they would ask me to - I'm used to people putting on my clothes for me. And then I take them off, give them back, and put on jeans.
That has been my relationship with fashion over the years - wearing fabulous clothes, but really never having them in my wardrobe. And so when they asked me I thought, "Oh, I'm going to have to fake it. I'm going to have to pretend like I know what I'm talking about." Then I realized when I started opening my mouth I was a lot more opinionated than I thought I was. And then they couldn't shut me up.
Oliver, was the plan was for Kirby to be as involved as he was in Nico's life - or was it a reaction to sort of the public based on Robert's appeal?
Oliver Goldstick: Good question. Because like I said, we were frozen in time, so we definitely wanted him in more episodes. But then again, you have to - we had actually a bizarre advantage because we were able - we had distance because of the writers' strike as well. We had shots in the last winter and they were sort of delivered as a long movie in a weird way.
And there was truly something evolving alchemy. You know there was chemistry between him and the actress Kim Raver that had great instincts and there was a great chemistry. And so I was inspired and the other writers as well to make him integral into the show. Again, there was great story - once it can become a reality, there are great stories to tell about that kind of a relationship.
Who selects the music for the show?
Oliver Goldstick: We basically have two wonderful men at Universal who help. I choose a lot of it, but there's (Casey Elfensnyder) and (Casey McCarthy) are two supervisors we have at Universal Studios. And because Universal has a wonderful music division, they are always on the lookout for up and comers and for music that's fresh.
They make a slew of CDs and I listen to them like twice between New York and L.A. and I will check off things and sort of earmark things that I think are wonderful for (moments) - you know that are wonderful for a particular moment in an episode. I will say, "Try this."
But it's a process where some music is established and everybody knows, but a lot of it we're trying to find fresh music that you haven't heard. And of course Jeffrey Waldman is our composer who does the original score and he's brilliant.
So if you're talking about songs that already exist, I would say Stacy Allison has been wonderful as far as passing on and bringing to my attention new groups and that's ultimately the writer/producer's decision.
What TV do you like Brooke?
Brooke Shields: I would definitely be that sort of pathetic fan of my own show, and I do like Grey's Anatomy. And so those are my two sort of - I either have to TiVo them or I have to make sure that my schedule works, but we're working so many hours that it's definitely hard to do. I watch a lot of kids' TV.
What direction in tone and story can fans expect that's going to be different from the first season?
Oliver Goldstick: I think it kind of challenges (some of the mistakes) are life changing. I think last year we were doing - again, I feel like we were sowing seeds last year that we can reap this season. Because there are life changes that are going to dramatically alter, you know, the decisions people make the course of their lives. So when I say provocative, I think they are - again, I don't want to give away too much because of the nature of the show. I would hate to spoil later episodes by giving away too much.
We're going to have different combinations as far as people interacting who didn't interact last season. You know marriages being tested, working relationships being tested in big ways, people possibly losing jobs. Things like that that are really life altering.
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