The cast of Grosse Pointe
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Move over Brenda...
This article by Christine Champagne is from Gay.com and is
Copyright © 2000, Online Partners.com, INC.
Irene Molloy may not always agree with the nasty things her Grosse Pointe alter ego Hunter Fallow does, but she loves playing the character. Fallow's an insecure but talented actress who will do anything to further her career in Hollywood.
The Hollywood scene is actually pretty new to Molloy, who is making her television debut on Grosse Pointe. Her roots are in theater. A native of Philadelphia, she was set to attend New York University after graduating from high school. But the actress shelved her college plans when she was cast in the lead of a Washington, D.C., production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Whistle Down the Wind the day after she graduated from high school.
After that show ended its run, Molloy moved to New York City, and it wasn't long before she was making her Broadway debut in The Civil War.
Nowadays, Molloy is far from Broadway but still immersed in drama. Written by openly gay TV mastermind Darren Star, the campy Grosse Pointe cleverly spoofs the teen soap Beverly Hills, 90210.
The show, which airs on the WB Network, has a solid gay fan base as does Molloy, who is playing a character loosely based on former 90210 diva Shannen Doherty.
Gaywatch TV recently chatted with the actress.
Gay.com: According to the e-mail Gaywatch TV gets from Grosse Pointe fans, you play the best bitch on TV. How do you feel about that?
Irene Molloy: Really!
Yeah, our readers have really taken to the show and Hunter in particular as well as Al Santos' character. Are you surprised that you have so many fans in the gay community?
I'm not really surprised because I think she is the kind of character that lends herself to being appreciated, especially because Darren really writes for (a gay) sensibility.
You must get quite a reaction when you're out in public. Any interesting fan encounters lately?
I was stopped by two older gay men the other day at the mall. It was really funny. They were so sweet. They were so into it. They were like, "Oh my God. We love Grosse Pointe!" And they told me how they tape it every week, and how they don't watch TV but that this is the one show that they love.
So your audience isn't just 15-year-old girls.
That's the really nice part actually. I think the show is written for an older audience. A lot of times the jokes are harder to get for kids.
Do fans assume you're going to be nasty like Hunter?
I get really great reactions because people are so surprised to notice the broad difference between me and my character. I think out of all the characters on the show there is the biggest difference in real life between me and my character. I'm shy and introverted, and Hunter is an all-out confident bitch.
Is it fun for you to play someone so different from you?
Oh yeah, I think that's one of the reasons I can kind of go as far as I do because I know that it's a game. It's a side of me that I don't get to see very much, and it's really fun to just let it go.
Has Hunter ever done anything that has totally shocked you?
She almost always does. There was a scene recently where I get angry at some guy for breaking up with me, and I throw something at his head. Sometimes you just get like, "Who does this? Who goes crazy like this?" And she is very unapologetic. It's not like she'd go, "Oh, I went crazy. I threw something at his head." She'd be like, "Yeah, damn straight I threw something at this head. He deserved it."
Have you ever worked with an actress like Hunter in real life?
I've experienced some recently. (She laughs.) It's a trip. The most amazing thing about it is the people who are doing it don't even realize at the time that everyone else sees them as being so outrageous. I guess to be like that you have to kind of justify it in your head somehow. You have to be like, "Well, I deserve people to go out of their way for me." It's really interesting. I think it must come from somewhere really deep because it's so harsh.
Were you a fan of Beverly Hills, 90210 before you landed this role?
I watched it when I was little. I think it came on when I was like 11.
Were you obsessed with the show?
No, I wasn't obsessed. I did like it better when Brenda was on it, though, than after she left. I was always more of a Brenda fan vs. a Kelly fan.
Has Shannen Doherty (who played Brenda) or any of the 90210 cast members ever told you what they think of Grosse Pointe?
Well, Jason Priestley just directed an episode of ours, and he was guest starring so we got a lot of interesting information and feedback from him. It was kind of fun to have him around because he had so many great stories to tell us about the time they spent on 90210. And recently, (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's) Sarah Michelle Gellar guest starred on the show. She is really good friends with Shannen, and she was telling us how she has a really good sense of humor about it, and she thinks it's really funny.
You have quite a background in theater. Are people surprised to learn you've been on Broadway?
Sometimes. My theater background included a lot of singing and sweet ing�nue roles, so people who have only seen this are confused as to how that was because it was such a different side of me. Playing Hunter has been a good escape from that.
Will you have a chance to do any theater when Grosse Pointe goes on hiatus?
I think so. I'm not really definite on what I'm going to be doing on hiatus yet. But there are a lot of different options I have. I'm interested in going back to do some live theater projects and in doing some film.
Do you think Hunter would do well in the theater?
Uh, no. (She laughs.) I think it's a different world, and the character is sort of based on someone who was raised in Los Angeles, and that's all they ever really knew. I think that Hunter is written to be a talented actress. She can focus. But I don't know how she would fare with having an audience right there where she couldn't go back and do another take.
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