Bridget Everett shares a lot with Sam Miller, the character she plays on HBO’s Peabody Award-winning comedy Somebody Somewhere. Both Everett and Sam grew up in Manhattan, Kan.; they both lost a sister to cancer; and they both really, really wish doctors would do something about those ill-fitting paper gowns they make patients wear.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly‘s The Awardist podcast, Everett looks back on filming a scene for Somebody Somewhere‘s third and final season, when Sam — after being nudged by her best friend Joel (Jeff Hiller) and her sister, Trisha (Mary Catherine Garrison) — finally goes to the doctor after more than a decade. Compounding Sam’s anxiety about the visit is the way-too-small paper gown she’s been given to wear, which barely covers her chest. She struggles to close the gown over her front, muttering, “Jesus, are you f—ing kidding me?” It’s uncomfortable to watch, and a discomfort that Everett herself has felt in real life.
“It is very undignified when you go to the doctor. I go to the doctor, and my doctor has those [paper gowns],” she says. “I’m like, ‘Can’t you just order a couple [size] XXL or whatever for your big girls?'”
Despite the intense embarrassment Sam feels, going to the doctor is a big step forward for the character, who continues to struggle with her self-worth. Everett says that the tough love from her doctor (played by Paula Anglin) forces Sam to confront the idea that she deserves to be happy and healthy.
HBO
Paula Anglin and Bridget Everett on ‘Somebody Somewhere’
“It’s difficult for her to have somebody tell her, ‘You need to take care of yourself. You’re worth this,’ so directly, like a doctor does,” says the actress, who also served as a writer and exec producer on Somebody Somewhere. “Constantly, she’s being thrown up against trying to find value in herself, and that’s another one of those moments.”
Adding to the scene’s intensity and impact is the way it ends, with Sam sitting in silence for 10 seconds as she processes all the complicated emotions the doctor’s visit has stirred up. “We tend to sit in scenes and let them play out in the speed of life,” explains Everett of Somebody Somewhere. “So the characters have a minute, and you can really see it, you can feel it, and it’s not just sort of, ‘On to the next thing!’ We like that pace.”
Though HBO announced last fall that Somebody Somewhere would be ending after season 3, Everett — like the show’s passionate fans — isn’t ready to say goodbye for good. “Do I wish that we can make a movie down the line or something? Of course,” she says. “I would love to revisit the world again, because they do live in my brain. I think about them all the time… Maybe I’ll play a couple scratch-offs and I can finance it myself.”
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To hear more from Everett — including what she took from the set (yes, she did get some “Live, Laugh, C*nt” pillows); working with Severance‘s Darri Ólafsson, who plays Sam’s love interest, Iceland; and how her late dog Poppy inspired her during emotional scenes — listen to the full interview on The Awardist podcast below.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
