Lake Bell on Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon, & Nancy Meyers

Larry King: You were directed by Nancy Meyers in ‘It’s Complicated.’ Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin...What makes Nancy so good?

Lake Bell: Nancy, um….I love Nancy Meyers and she’s definitely somebody that I...who has influenced me. I think just seeing her command the epic set that she inspires and invigorates, I think think her power is very very cool, and she has a tone that’s very specific that she adheres to…

Larry King: Did she affect your directing?

Lake Bell: Um...I think, truthfully, the way I learned to direct is, being on a myriad of sets and taking from all of the directors i've ever worked with and I collect…Um...

Larry King: Little things…

Lake Bell: Little things, yeah..and that’s how I learned.

Larry King: What was it like to play an antagonist to Meryl Streep?

Lake Bell: Oh my gosh. Yeah, Nancy has put me in two situations where I’ve played this --

Larry King: Reese Witherspoon, too?

Lake Bell: Sort of like high status, yeah exactly...I play a bitch, really --

Larry King: And Nancy’s daughter directed ‘Home Again’, right?

Lake Bell: Yeah, but Nancy was the one who called me and said, “Halle and I want you to come and do this’ --

Larry King: Is Halle good, too?

Lake Bell: She’s great, yeah. I’ve never seen a more tremendous relationship between mother and daughter in a creative fashion, because that can be hard!

Larry King: What’s it like to work with Meryl?

Lake Bell: Well, as you said, I had to be very high status with Meryl, and Nancy actually had to pull me off the set and be like “Lake, you need to get it together...because you’re way too starstruck right now.”

Larry King: What about Reese?

Lake Bell: But wait, let me answer about Meryl, because I just want to say that working with her was obviously a dream come true and she could not have been more hilarious as an actress, and also moving and amazing and yeah, I’ll never forget it. And Reese...You know, I’m friendly with Reese and I feel like she is sort of the most deeply professional, sharp, just...She’s just so damn good at her job. She’s just like a racehorse. So, I was lucky to work with her as well.

Larry King: You’ve had quite a career. And it’s just burgeoning.

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