Something Old, Something New

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Now appearing in her fi fth year on The New Adventures of Old Christine, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is reuniting with the Seinfeld crew for the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. As Elaine would say, “Get out!”

BY ADAM K. RAYMOND // PHOTOGRAPH BY MELANIE ACEVEDO

WHEN SHE WAS JUST THREE years old, Julia Louis-Dreyfus strategically placed several raisins in her nose and made two startling discoveries. One: She liked making people laugh. Two: Raisins don’t go in noses. “I sucked them in too hard after making my mom laugh, and we had to go to the emergency room,” she says. More than 40 years later, LouisDreyfus’ comedic technique has matured considerably. Though she’s still a master of slapstick, she’s better known for her indelible portrayals of highly neurotic women—from Elaine Benes, her frantic Upper West Side editor on Seinfeld, to Christine Campbell, the frazzled suburban divorcée she plays on The New Adventures of Old Christine. But this fall, when the cast of Seinfeld reunites on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, she’ll play a more challenging character: herself. She spoke with Hemispheres about her latest adventure.

How is it you’re so good at playing a hapless divorcée when your own life (22year marriage, two sons, two successful sitcoms) is so perfect? Well, first of all, nothing’s perfect. In fact, I’m miserable.… I’m kidding! Actually, I’m the product of a divorced family, so I know the world of divorce well. Do you draw on that to play Christine? Yes. And the show’s not just about divorce; it’s about being a working mother, which I am. I’m a working mom who’s trying to do the right things and failing very frequently. The anxiety about failing is ever-present, so that’s an easy thing to tap into. On the show you run into failure quite often. If things worked out for Christine, we would be in the drama category. So how will Christine embarrass herself this season? Well, Barb, played by the sublime Wanda Sykes, is going to be deported to the Bahamas. I try to retrieve her and it turns into a whole mess with

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lost passports, etc. We also have Eric McCormack guest-starring for a few episodes as my psychiatrist and potential romantic interest. So it’s very confl icted and ugly. Those are just a couple little snippets. I read that the show’s writers have challenged themselves to cook up something so humiliating that you refuse to do it. Have they succeeded? Not yet. But we’re about to start shooting the new season, so it’s still possible. They might succeed, but I’m always willing to give something a shot if it gets a laugh. Did you ever think you guys would get back together? Never. But when Larry called I said, “Oh, well, that makes sense.” The show within the show idea is a cool way of doing it. Any other way, it’s not cool. Reuniting in the old format would have… ...It would have been depressing! But this, well, I hope it’s not depressing. Is shooting Curb diff erent from what you’re used to? Well, it’s improvised. So you go into a scene knowing the beats you have to hit, but beyond that you’re kind of riding bareback.

“ If things worked out for Christine, we’d be in the drama category.”

The idea of the Seinfeld reunion is that it's actually taking place within the context of Curb Your Enthusiasm, the series based around the life of Seinfeld cocreator Larry David. It's all a little bit mind-boggling. What else can you tell us about doing that show? Not much. Larry said he will shoot me, and I take him very seriously. But I can tell you that it was a surreal experience and an enormous amount of fun. Is that any easier or harder? Just diff erent. You have to exercise diff erent muscles in the brain. But I do adore it. You’re said to be notoriously foulmouthed. Since Curb is on HBO, you can fi nally let loose, right? Heck yes, every other word is [a swear word]. Not something CBS is very keen on? They’re not keen on it, and I’m guessing Hemispheres isn’t very keen on it either. Let’s abruptly change the subject. What are the biggest diff erences between Old

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The New Adventures of Old Christine premiered September 23 on CBS and Curb Your Enthusiasm September 20 on HBO. ADAM K. RAYMOND will be watching, if he can fi nd the remote.