Starring on “The Big Bang Theory” for 12 seasons made Kaley Cuoco one of the most well-paid TV actors in Hollywood history. But it was just the beginning for her it turns out.
\nBy Leigh Nordstrom on June 9, 2021<\/p>\n
Britney Spears is playing overhead, declaring that she just wants to dance with you, as Kaley Cuoco moves through her backyard in Givenchy, The Row, Jil Sander. A professional actor for some 30 years now, Cuoco is no stranger to a fancy dress. But today\u2019s selection of minimalism, stripped down of all the hype, is a newer look for the 35-year-old, one she seems to be quite at home in, if her comfort in pulling off said wardrobe is any indication.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fitting, of course, for a woman at the center of her own reinvention in the eyes of Hollywood, one from girl-next-door sitcom star to bona fide producer, award nominee and star of a dark HBO drama. Gimme gimme more, indeed.<\/p>\n
Starring on \u201cThe Big Bang Theory\u201d made Cuoco one of the most successful actors in Hollywood \u2014 her 12-season run made her one of the highest-paid actors in the history of TV, with the cast each bringing in $1 million an episode from seasons eight through 12 \u2014 but it also confined her to a very specific type of sitcom audience. She had no idea where she would go next after \u201cBig Bang,\u201d but something told her that if she wanted to pivot, she would have to go out and create it for herself.<\/p>\n
Which is exactly what she did with a little show called \u201cThe Flight Attendant,\u201d which she discovered browsing the internet one late night and which turned into a hit HBO Max series she starred in, executive produced, and for which she was subsequently nominated for two Golden Globes. Emmys, it\u2019s your move.<\/p>\n
Kaley Cuoco on Producing \u2018The Flight Attendant\u2019
\n\u201cI think people were interested in the fact that I built this from the ground-up, that this was my project from the beginning,\u201d Cuoco says of being seen in a new light since the show came out. \u201cI think that got a lot of people\u2019s attention and they respected that. They accepted the tone, they accepted this new path for me. But I do believe that them hearing my story over the last few years of how I got the book and how I got this thing going, I felt like I earned a lot of, I don\u2019t know, there was this mutual respect between me and other actors and my fans. It was just, it was incredibly nice and I felt like I had this warm welcome into a whole new career that I didn\u2019t even know was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
When \u201cThe Big Bang Theory\u201d ended in 2019, Cuoco was advised to take the summer off and relax a bit, which was the one thing she knew she did not want to do.
\n<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though \u2018Big Bang\u2019 was such a big hit, I didn\u2019t know if I\u2019d be taken seriously after,\u201d Cuoco says. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if I was going to be, \u2018Oh you\u2019re the girl from \u2018Big Bang\u2019 \u2014 which, by the way, if that\u2019s how things were going to go, I would have been OK with it. Because it was really good to be the girl in \u2018Big Bang.\u2019 But I knew I needed to push forward and find the next project to start this new path and whether the business or the fans or the world, they were either going to accept it or not. [I didn\u2019t know], but I knew this was going to be the next project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her \u201cBig Bang\u201d costars quickly set up their own production companies, but Cuoco wasn\u2019t interested yet in getting behind the camera \u2014 or, as it would turn out, wasn\u2019t interested in getting behind the camera for something that she didn\u2019t wholeheartedly believe in. Production deals were on the table for most of the \u201cBig Bang\u201d gang, but Cuoco hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember having a conversation with [her costar] Johnny Galecki one afternoon. He was like, \u2018You\u2019ve got to take this deal. You\u2019ve got to produce, you\u2019ll love it. You\u2019ll be so good at it.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018I have no interest in it.\u2019 So he goes, \u2018You know what, I totally respect that. When you feel the time is right you\u2019ll know.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Cuoco recognizes that the story of how she came to \u201cThe Flight Attendant,\u201d a 2018 book by Chris Bohjalian, is going to sound \u201csuper cheesy and also sound fake,\u201d but it\u2019s the way it happened. One night she was flipping through Amazon browsing the upcoming books section and the cover for \u201cThe Flight Attendant\u201d caught her eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say don\u2019t judge a book by its cover, but I was like, \u2018Ooh, what is this book?\u2019 I read the two sentences of the description and I immediately got this chill on my arm,\u201d she says. \u201cRight then and there I actually called my attorney and I asked if Reese Witherspoon had gotten the rights to this book.\u201d<\/p>\n
Witherspoon had not, so Cuoco spent the next six months vying for the rights to bring the story to life, eventually acquiring them.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I was like, \u2018Oh my God. Now what the hell am I supposed to do?\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Soon after she set up a meeting with Warner Brothers. \u201cI marched in and I said, \u2018I think this is a show and I want to play the role. I want to play the lead and I think it could be really interesting.\u2019 And they said, \u2018OK,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cAnd that was that.\u201d<\/p>\n
OK, so yes, it sounds a little too good to be true. But it\u2019s how Cuoco approaches everything in life: gut-oriented, in the moment, totally based on feeling.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy team at Yes, Norman Productions, that is literally what we go by. We go by our gut. We don\u2019t go by what we think we need to be shooting, what we think we need to be making, people who we should be working with. We go with people that we connect with and the stories that we want to tell,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd [my character] Cassie is complicated and she\u2019s not a great person all the time. And it\u2019s really hard to find women on TV like that who are accepted. Men get to do it all the time. They get to do terrible things and yet they\u2019re action stars. And I feel like women don\u2019t. This to me was a good step forward of like, this girl is not perfect, she makes a lot of mistakes, but you still love her and you still want her to succeed. And I just really wanted to play that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Flight Attendant\u201d was set to bow last April as the first original show on HBO Max, when the platform launched. The pandemic naturally caused their production to shut down in March, meaning that audiences didn\u2019t get to see the series until Thanksgiving \u2014 a blessing in disguise.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of interesting how we were so worried about the push and \u2018are people going to watch this?\u2019 And people at that point, they were ready for this kind of shiny escapism, this fun few episodes that took you into a whole other world,\u201d Cuoco says.<\/p>\n
The show was set to be just one season, but high viewership, fan demands and awards attention nudged HBO Max and Cuoco into green-lighting a second one.<\/p>\n
The book, Cuoco says, is actually much darker than the show is, which she worked to tweak some to add a bit more levity, fun and comedy to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s [Cassie] all over the place. I mean, she\u2019s an alcoholic, she has major childhood trauma. So there were a lot of things to play there, but I was also thinking, \u2018OK, I don\u2019t want this just to be this dark, horribly sad drama, like that doesn\u2019t feel right, either,\u2019\u201d she says. It took time to develop the right tone, and they got a lot of questions from the Warner team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember the network calling saying, \u2018What is this? What\u2019s the tone? Is it sad? Is it happy? Is it scary?\u2019 And we would just say, \u2018It\u2019s weird. It\u2019s all the things. It\u2019s all the things.\u2019 And that\u2019s what it ended up being, and I think that\u2019s why I wanted to play her so badly because as an actor, it was like 10 different characters in one,\u201d Cuoco says.<\/p>\n
Season two is well underway, in the writer\u2019s room with hopeful plans to start shooting this fall. Cuoco is \u201cthrilled\u201d to be returning to Cassie, but feels the pressure: just because they\u2019ve been successful once, now is not the time to get passive, she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I feel like the work really starts; it\u2019s harder because I want to make sure it\u2019s even better than the first. And I think more eyes are going to be on us now,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s an added pressure, but it\u2019s good. It\u2019s making us really want to come out with some really fun storyline.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n
The second season will find Cassie uprooted to Los Angeles and trying to be sober, struggling with understanding who she is if she\u2019s no longer, well, an alcoholic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s going to be mixed with her day job, and possibly her now becoming a very small CIA asset, which is a very minor job, but she takes it\u2026it\u2019s going to be hard for her because that\u2019s going to be the only excitement that she has because she\u2019s now not the girl she used to be. And I don\u2019t know how she\u2019s going to handle that,\u201d Cuoco says.<\/p>\n
The show\u2019s \u201cmind palace,\u201d which shows Cassie having flashbacks or experiencing things in different dimensions, will continue. \u201cWe will still have the mind palace. I can say that she will be facing herself,\u201d Cuoco adds.<\/p>\n
Cuoco is also juggling taking on the role of Doris Day in \u201cDoris Day: Her Own Story,\u201d which she will also executive produce through her company Yes, Norman Productions. She and Warner Brothers have been trying to get the rights to the film since last year, and finally now are meeting with writers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always idolized her,\u201d Cuoco says of the icon. \u201cWe have a lot of similarities. Our careers are actually interestingly similar and our likes \u2014 she loved animals. And she was just a really interesting person. So we\u2019re very excited to bring her story to life again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, Norman Productions is also at work on the third season of \u201cHarley Quinn,\u201d which Cuoco voices, as well as a series of other projects: just last month the group signed a three-year first-look production deal with Warner Brothers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of go with what my heart takes me \u2014 there\u2019s nothing specific,\u201d Cuoco says. \u201cWe want to bring to life complicated women and diverse stories and meet up-and-coming writers and give them their chance to shine. That\u2019s the cool part about now having this company: I can give more opportunities to other people, especially to young up-and-comers who want to be in this business, and I take that very seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hollywood too seems to be open to meeting Kaley Cuoco 2.0 after all. When she was nominated for the Golden Globe for best actress, she spotted a headline that referred to her as a newcomer.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it was so funny to me, it was so brilliant because I thought, \u2018Wow, I have been in the business for 30 years,\u2019 I am in no way a newcomer. I\u2019ve been around, I\u2019ve worked my whole life, I was on the biggest show that there was, but all of a sudden this new project has literally made people see me in a whole new light and they\u2019ve accepted this new path. And that was the biggest compliment I ever could have received,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The millions who have seen Cuoco portray Cassie know just how good she is at it, and she continues to sign onto acting projects. But despite being once resistant, the production bug seems to have bitten her, and she\u2019s never felt more in control of where her career is going.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so black-and-white and all or nothing; I had to know that I was fully ready to take this on,\u201d Cuoco says. \u201cNow I really feel like I\u2019m a real producer and that I\u2019m able to put these projects together and work with all these amazing other producers who have helped me and guided me through this and still are guiding me through it. I\u2019m just really, truly loving the experience. And I love to be in front of the camera. But I do think my future lies behind it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kaley heeft een interview en fotoshoot gehad met WWD Magazine. Galerij Links: http\/\/: 2021: Jenna Greene (WWD) Starring on “The Big Bang Theory” for 12 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,14,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fotoshoots","category-kaley-cuoco","category-tijdschriften"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7712,"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7711\/revisions\/7712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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