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Hart: Well, this show is sort of its own entity in that the mini-series was about marriage and the demise of that marriage. This picks up really from an entirely a new place, which is Molly trying to find her sea legs and declaring herself and finding a career for herself. So as far as I'm concerned, it's not like, I didn't take over for another actor. It's a new character. It's a brand new relationship for Molly. It was nothing but terrific. I can't say enough good things about the show, my experience or working with Debra. She's just an absolute joy and I'm just crazy about her. We finished last night and it was all very sad for everybody. We're very much hoping that we're coming back, obviously and we have high expectations for the show, but nonetheless, we shot ten episodes and it became like a family. It became a family really very quickly. It was the nicest group that I've ever worked with. A lot of that is due to Debra and the fact that expression "the fish stinks from the head," well, she's just delightful and adorable and incredibly gifted and we had so much fun everyday. What I find so remarkable about Debra, while everyone calls her the Lucille Ball of her generation is, she's also brilliant dramatically. She can turn that on a dime. And so for me, it was just really a question of showing up and being in the moment because most of my scenes, all of my scenes are with her. So it was really quite easy to see and feel that relationship evolve just by virtue of being there with her everyday.
Nads: How did you become involved with this show?
Hart: Well, it sort of came out of left field, because I had just finished writing and directing this movie that had come out. I thought, "Well, what am I going to do this summer?" And suddenly my manager called me and he said, "You've been called in to meet on this Debra Messing show." I was aware of the mini-series and the book, so I read it and I thought, this is a no-brainer if they offer it to me, so I have to pursue it and that was that.
Nads: I know you've directed a bunch of films. In fact, I grew up watching PCU and High School High...so as far as directing and acting go, which do you prefer? And is it hard to wear so many hats on set?
Hart: That's a really good question. Wearing different hats is not difficult. It's actually challenging and creatively fulfilling for the most part. I love directing. I had a movie that came out earlier this year, that I wrote and directed called Just Add Water with Danny DeVito and Jona Hill and Justin Long and Dylan Walsh and that was a very personal project that took me basically five years to get going from inception to execution. And then I started a movie that my buddy, Campbell Scott wrote and directed last fall, but prior to that hadn't acted in a few years and so it's a muscle that needs to work out, that needs to be worked out. When I was offered this show, it's not that I found it difficult to recognize what my place in the show was and the process, but sometimes I find myself when I'm in front of the camera thinking, "I wonder if we need this or this or this," and sometimes that's difficult. But I had my work cut out for me in this show, and as I said, it's the first series that I've ever done. So the fact that you don't have a lot of time and you don't really rehearse a lot was new to me. I think it was initiation by fire and I think I got up-to-speed rather quickly. As I said earlier, it's been one of the great work experiences in my career and I hope that they have me back and that the show comes back and runs forever, because it's just been such a joy.
Nads: So...so do you have a favorite (acting or directing)?