In "La La Land", premiering tonight on Showtime, British comedian Marc Wootton plays three obnoxious characters who try to make it in Hollywood. One of them is Gary, a cab driver convinced of his sizeable acting skills. As the
New York Times review puts it:
The absolutely clueless Gary somehow befriends the veteran actress Ruta Lee and seeks out career advice at her house, where Ms. Lee profanely berates him for his stupidity, in a completely beguiling way. You get the feeling that Mr. Wootton and his crew just liked hanging out with her.
In
another interview, Wootton reveals more about Ruta Lee:
JH: Gary interacts with actress/dancer Ruta Lee in the first two episodes and...
MW: She's in every episode! She's wonderful isn't she?
JH: How did such a staple of the old Hollywood era become involved in "La La Land?"
MW: She is probably my favorite person in the whole series. I think she's just such a proper Hollywood icon. She has a star on the Walk of Fame. She's old school proper talent. She can sing and act. She's someone who has done her fair share of stuff on Broadway and internationally but I loved, as well, how she would put the character Gary in his place. Various things happen throughout with Gary and Ruta but [by episode six] she becomes incredibly annoyed with him and at the end of the series Gary decides to leave Ruta's place because he feels that it's all a little "When Harry Met Sally' and he thinks it's dangerous when a man and woman get this close. "We're friends and should always remain that way' and she's like "Jesus! Do yourself a favor!' By that point she just can't stand me and she still is, I don't know, charming enough to say "You have a lot going for you but you're not going to make it as an actor and you've to get rid of this arrogance! I can't do this! You go on with your life and I'll go on with my life' and we part ways. She's a yummy character! She's someone that we really didn't want to undermine or kind of ridicule because I think it's important especially with all this reality hybrid television to have the joke on me as much as possible instead of on someone else.
Ruta Lee will appear in each of the series' 6 episodes, and what I've read so far leads me to believe her on-camera time may be funny, bawdy and compelling. And which game-show geek couldn't resist, at least, checking out the High Rollers "dice girl" in her flowing nightgowns and memorabilia-filled home, berating her young protégé?
