Some Of Jennifer Coolidge's Most Memorable Scenes In The Watcher Were Heavily Improvised
Though a certain generation might best remember her as Stifler's (Seann William Scott) mom from 1999's "American Pie," Jennifer Coolidge has a massive and multi-faceted acting CV, and she's recently flaunted her talent in multiple projects. From her Emmy-winning (via IMDb) turn as Tanya McQuoid in "The White Lotus" to her lengthy stint as Sophie Kaczyński in "Two Broke Girls" and supporting role in Emerald Fennell's "Promising Young Woman," Coolidge has been on an impressive roll in recent years.
In Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan's Netflix's thriller miniseries "The Watcher," Coolidge plays Karen Calhoun, Nora Brannock's (Naomi Watts) realtor acquaintance who sells the Brannocks the fateful house. On a double press conference for "The Watcher" and "Dahmer: Monster – The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" that Looper attended, Murphy described some of Coolidge's methods to portray Karen. The ending of "The Watcher" is a fascinating one, but so is every scene Coolidge is in — and, as it happens, some of her absolute most memorable scenes in "The Watcher" were heavily improvised.
Ryan Murphy gave Coolidge free improvisational reign
During the press conference, Jennifer Coolidge revealed that not only did she improvise while shooting "The Watcher," but people actually asked her to do so. When Ryan Murphy and Coolidge were asked how the unique, humorous way Coolidge performed the role was created, Murphy was quick to admit that Coolidge had his admiration and trust — and, with those, a free reign to ad-lib.
"The thing about Jennifer is that there's no one in the world like Jennifer," Murphy said. "And Jennifer has a singular, wonderful talent. When Jennifer is in a scene, my feeling was: 'Say what's written, but make up anything you want to say. You're Jennifer Coolidge.'" He then went on to describe the wild directions Coolidge would take the performance, bringing a new direction and new ad-libbed dialogue to every single time they shot a particular scene.
Later in the conference, Murphy described Coolidge's vast improvisational abilities, and how much they impressed everyone. "I love working with that woman," he said. "I've found it to be completely inspiring. There were takes when Jennifer would riff for seven minutes and then get ovations from the crew."
Naomi Watts has praised Coolidge's on-set behavior and improvisational abilities at some length. With Murphy also waxing poetic about Coolidge's skills, it's clear that the actor was a force to be reckoned with on set.
"The Watcher" is available for viewing on Netflix.