Fall in love with Ari Graynor…we did!
By Blaine Zuckerman Photography by Jeff Vespa
For newly anointed comedy queen Ari Graynor, the star of this summer’s out-of-nowhere hit, “For a Good Time, Call,” becoming an actor was never a question. “Some of us come out of the womb an actor, an artist, whatever pretentious term you want to use,” says the 29-year-old actress who relishes every opportunity to make a bit of fun of herself during our coffee date. “You hear some stories of people being approached while walking down the street, ‘Want to be in a movie?’” This was not the case with Graynor, who notes she began plotting her path at the ripe age of 4. “I spent hours talking to myself and playing dress up and saying, ‘How do I make this happen?’”
As the Boston native continues to reflect on her childhood, it becomes unmistakable that she had no choice in the matter. Her mother a parenting expert also fancied herself an amateur actress and made the community theater in Waltham, a university town some 30 minutes outside Boston where they lived, a family affair. They all appeared onstage in a local production of “The Sound of Music.” “I played Marta,” says Graynor of her turn as the second to youngest in the Von Trapp family. “My dad played a Nazi; my mom likes to say she was the only tan nun in the bunch!”
The Graynor family pastime showed no limits, as her parents made the eight-hour round trip to New York as their daughter made the auditioning rounds. There was plenty of musical theater, and some less than pleasant feedback. “For many years I heard it: not pretty enough, too fat…” Despite the requisite rejections, Graynor worked consistently. “When I was 13, I did an all-female production of “King Lear” and lived in a house with all of these women. I did a tour of “Annie” in Korea with Ashley Tisdale—before she was ‘the Tiz.’” Her mother was terrified, but trusted the budding thespian.
Having worked professionally since she was 7, Graynor reasoned she could skip an acting conservatory for college. “I knew if I was going to take the time to go to college, I wanted the all-American experience—to hang out in the quad…and date a jock.” She did it all. Having earned a scholarship to a top-notch prep school, her parents and teachers questioned her criteria for going there. “I was like, ‘Have I not made myself clear?’” Graynor teases. “The athletes are much cuter at Trinity College.” That’s one way to make an Ivy League choice.
The day gig kept calling, and she took several breaks from campus life in Connecticut. “I did an off-Broadway play called ‘Dog Sees Dog.’ It had this amazing set of young actors, writers and directors. I found my tribe. I found where the social and artistic worlds came together and that set off a major life journey.”
Graduation from Trinity wasn’t a part of that journey, as key movie roles followed—including the critically acclaimed 2003 drama, “Mystic River,” directed by Clint Eastwood. She was 19 and nervous. “I didn’t know you could get up between setups,” she recalls. “I was so nervous about losing the space I was in, so I stayed in the same position for two hours. Finally, Clint Eastwood came over and said, ‘You know you can get up.’”
As heavy roles with stellar costars came her way, including “American Crime” with Ellen Page and “Game 6” with Robert Downey, Jr., she started to calculate and envision fame. Each part, she imagined, would lead to her big break. Acclaim and awards would surely come when each movie was released, she believed. “At the very least a Golden Globe,” she recalls, laughing at her younger self. The films came and went with little fanfare.
After a string of darker films, memorably hilarious (and drunken) roles in “Nick and Nora’s Ultimate Playlist“ and “Whip It,” casting directors recalibrated Graynor’s place in Hollywood. “For funny to really work, it has to come from a place of pathos and of honesty,” she observes. While “For a Good Time, Call” is on the surface a hilarious romp in the world of phone sex, the substance of the film is all heart and the making of the movie was all romance. “[Writers], Katie [Naylor] and Lauren [Miller] wrote me a love letter when they sent me the script.” Graynor and her collaborators on the film, including director Jamie Travis, hashed out the script and watched the film morph through several incarnations. The comedy was even more broad at times. In one draft, “there was an Indian man who owned a porn shop who drove a dick car,” Graynor recalls. Eventually, the creative foursome decided to ground the film in a story of friendship. For many critics and even more fans, it worked.
While she’s hotter than ever in Hollywood, Graynor’s heading back to Broadway to open a new play called “The Performers.” “It takes place at the Adult Entertainment Awards,” she says. She’s quick to add that, like her recent movie role, this stage work is not really about sex, but “love, relationships and monogamy.” Although she’s set to leave any day now, she hasn’t a clue where she’s going to stay. “I have crazy Craigslist karma. I have found some of the most insane, too-good-to-be-true apartments.”
That she’s headed back to New York City with a few more dollars in her pocket is not lost on her. “I’m going to have a real grown up apartment. Not just 400 square feet, a place with an oven and a closet,” she rejoices, going into detail over the dinner parties she loves to host. Her excitement about the whole trip is spilling out of her as she pulls out her iPhone to show off the poster for the play. In the image, she looks like herself, only glammed up with a blazing red wig, slightly va-va voom, with every styling effort to make this educated, confident, stunning woman look believable in the porn world. “I’m really into the red hair. It’s been a dream of mine.” Fortunately, for the rest of us, Graynor’s dreams are coming true.
“The Performers” is set to begin previews Oct. 23rd and opens November 14th on Broadway at Longacre Theatre.
“For A Good Time, Call” is currently in theaters.