{"id":785,"date":"2017-01-15T12:53:16","date_gmt":"2017-01-15T10:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.simon-and-simon.info\/simonnew\/?p=785"},"modified":"2017-04-15T13:29:28","modified_gmt":"2017-04-15T11:29:28","slug":"this-is-us-gerald-mcraneys-art-of-making-lemonade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.simon-and-simon.info\/simonnew\/this-is-us-gerald-mcraneys-art-of-making-lemonade\/","title":{"rendered":"This Is Us – Gerald McRaney’s Art of Making Lemonade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interview from Entertainment weekly:<\/p>\n

EW: Let me start here: Do you need a hug?<\/em>
\nGERALD MCRANEY: (Laughs) Always. Always. It\u2019s amazing \u2014 the older you get, the more open to having them you are.<\/p>\n

I like that. Now let\u2019s back up, actually, to the beginning. The pilot script for This Is Us comes your way. You read the part of Dr. K. What are your first thoughts? What intrigued you about this role?<\/em>
\nWhat a great role it was to begin with. That one speech after the baby has been lost, advising him to try and move on with his life. When I first read that, it was like, \u201cGee! Who do I have to pay for this?\u201d<\/p>\n

That is one of the most memorable moments of the pilot: Dr. K\u2019s speech to Jack when he\u2019s consoling him. And then you issue that gem: \u201cI\u2019d like to think that one day you\u2019ll be an old man like me talking a young man\u2019s ear off explaining to him how you took the sourest lemon that life had to offer and turned it into something resembling lemonade.\u201d
\nWhat a great line!\"Gerald_This-Is-Us_DrK\"<\/a>
\nDid you know how special that line was at the time?<\/em>
\nIt felt that way to me when I read it, yeah. It\u2019s an interesting use on words, because the doctor doesn\u2019t say turn it into lemonade. Turn it into something resembling lemonade, which in plain speak is: Do the best you can with what you have.<\/p>\n

Life isn\u2019t all bunnies and rainbows.<\/em>
\nNo. And that\u2019s one of the things I love about this show is that it doesn\u2019t tie things up in a nice little ribbon at the end of everything \u2014 but people are going to try.<\/p>\n

By the way, do waiters bring you free lemonades when you go out to eat now? Is it free lemonades for life?<\/em>
\nNo. No. I don\u2019t get lemonade anywhere.<\/p>\n

Really? I\u2019m surprised. Are you not a fan?<\/em>
\nNo, I love lemonade! I make my own!<\/p>\n

Dr. K returned in the fall finale and barely survived that very critical surgery. Were you surprised that they brought you back again? And were you thinking that when they did that it might be his last go-around considering the seriousness of the situation?<\/em>
\nWhen I do a project like this, I don\u2019t think too much in terms of where it\u2019s headed in terms of my being on the show. It\u2019s just such a joy to do it that I appreciate it when I\u2019m doing it, and that\u2019s one of the things in my approach to acting is I just enjoy the process, not so much the result\u2026<\/p>\n

You knew there was something special with this after the pilot. Were you thinking, \u201cThey may have me back once or twice\u201d? What kind of role were you expecting?<\/em>
\nI thought that they might bring me back for one or two episodes because I knew that they were going to be going back and forth in time. But I had no idea what that might be, and then what it might entail for me.<\/p>\n

I heard that initially the way that script was written for the fall finale, Dr. K, like Toby, was left in jeopardy, as a cliffhanger. Were you asking them, \u201cWell, what will my fate be?\u201d<\/em>
\nNo. I left that totally up to them, because when you\u2019re dealing with writing that good, who the hell am I to tell them how to do something differently? I mean, that would be ridiculous! If it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Quote from: ew.com\/tv<\/a><\/span>
\nGet your tissues out:<\/p>\n

Watch the episode highlight – The Art of Making Lemonade (after the break)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n