[Hilarie is sitting on the steps with a hanger with Prince’s face on it]
Hilarie Burton: [talking to ‘Prince’] No way! Are you kidding me? [Nick comes down the stairs] Hey.
Nicholas Gray: Hey Hil! What’s up?
HB: Prince was just telling me secrets. You don’t want to know. It’s so bad. What’s going on with you?
NG: Nothing. I was just thinking about somebody I really like a lot.
HB: Really? Are you going to tell me who it is?
NG: Well it’s one of my favorite southern actresses.
HB: Oh my god… tell me who!
NG: Beth Grant.
HB: [gasps] 
I’ve worked with Beth Grant!
NG: I know. You worked with Beth in “Our Very Own.”
HB: That’s true.
NG: Austin actually also worked with Beth in “The House of Usher.”
HB: Yeah!
NG: I haven’t worked with Beth.
HB: Whoa, whoa, whoa, we’ve got a lot of things going on.
NG: [exaggerated] Whoa!
Both: [with hand motions] Whoa!
NG: Whoa!
HB: I’m saying… we’ve got a lot of things going on, maybe we can snag her and pull her into our lair.
NG: I just love Beth so much. [to camera] And I don’t know if you guys know who she is. She’s like this… like Beth Grant perhaps isn’t a name that you’re identifying with right now, but she is probably in every movie you’ve ever seen in your life.
HB: Probably. “Donnie Darko” is a big one.
NG: “Donnie Darko.” She’s the sparkle motion…
HB: [quoting movie] “Sometimes I doubt your commitment to sparkle motion!”
NG: She was in “Too Wong Foo.”
HB: Yes.
NG: She was in “No Country for Old Men.” She was in “Factory Girl,” she played Andy Warhol’s mother.
HB: She was in that show “Jericho.”
NG: “Jericho.” She’s done tons of T.V., “Six Feet Under”, “Wonderfalls”, “Pushing Daises.” She’s in, like, every single thing in the world, and she’s awesome!
HB: Great, great character actress, and also, a native of Wilmington, North Carolina!
NG: I didn’t realize she was actually from Wilmington.
HB: Dude, she went to New Hanover High School!
NG: Weird!
HB: The first time I met her I was working on that movie in Tennessee, and I told her, I was like “Oh, I’m the biggest ‘Donnie Darko’ fan. I just think you’re so great.” And she said that line to me. She just took my arm and said ‘Sometimes I doubt your commitment to sparkle motion,” and I lost my mind.
NG: That’s amazing.
HB: Yeah, and then she told me all about being from here. She comes to town for Azalea Festival.
NG: I had read that she was here for this past Azalea Festival.
HB: What do you love most about her?
NG: Well there’s certain people who just inspire you to want… I mean, me personally, to want to write for them, and I think she deserves a feature…
HB: Right?!
NG: …because she always plays these really small character roles.
HB: Is that what we’re going to do next?
NG: Maybe. [to camera] Hey Beth!
HB: [to camera] Dear Beth, here we come!
NG: What about you? Is there somebody that you… a southern guy or gal that you have a shine too?
HB: I think you know who my guilty pleasure is.
NG: Oh, Sandy?
HB: It’s Sandy Bullock! Oh my god! I just can’t help it! “Hope Floats” and “Practical Magic”? I just think she’s the coolest!
NG: “Miss Congeniality.”
HB: Yeah! Well, and I’ve emailed her a few times. She’s from the same neck of the woods that I’m from. You know, she’s kind of southern, but not, like, super deep south. She sides to be southern, and I respect that in a woman.
NG: Isn’t she a good Jewish girl?
HB: God, I don’t know.
NG: I thought she was.
HB: We’ll have to Google the hell out of her later. “Practical Magic” was on T.V. the other day. It’s been coming on like every five minutes, and I just like how approachable she is, and how cute! Yeah, I like that she kind of stays low key, out of the spotlight, and just shows up and does her job. And she’s got a movie coming out this year, “The Proposal”, that I’m kind of excited to see.
NG: She has another one with Bradley Cooper.
HB: Oh, I don’t know.
NG: She’s playing like a nerdy girl, or something.
HB: She’s just the cutest.
NG: She’s so diverse.
HB: “Hope Floats”? Are you kidding me? That movie’s so good. It’s so good!
NG: I used to work in this video store and I actually… there was this one line that would play over and over again on the trailer….
HB: Oh, like the preview?
NG: Yeah. It was something about audacity. [Hilarie laughs] I hate audacious people.
HB: Oh, man. You and I will have a Sandy-Bullock-Beth-Grant-athon. Oh, if we can get them in the same picture…
NG: I’m sure you can! I’m sure you can.
HB: Let’s do it. I’m sure if you guys can figure out the six degrees of separation between Sandra Bullock and Beth Grant you will make us very, very happy! So, with that being said, go for it!
[both wave]
You guys are funny~!
ReplyDeleteBeth and Sandy are good friends and have already worked together (Speed, Time To Kill, etc...). Where have you been?! Beth is also in the Bradley Cooper movie as Sandy's mom (All About Steve)
They are also both alumna of East Carolina University.
Look for Beth in the new Mike Judge movie, "Extract" coming out around Labor Day. I think you will like "Herpes Boy" too (Google it).
She is also currently in the hit play "Cornelia" (Google it).
Thanks for being such big Beth Grant fans....I LOVE her too ... she's my sister~!
Bubba
Cary, NC