Molly Shannon
Appearances
The White Lotus Official Podcast
Episode 7: The Mike White-iverse
He's not precious at all. I would say his style is very laid back, fun, like a party atmosphere. Like, yay, let's just shoot.
The White Lotus Official Podcast
Episode 7: The Mike White-iverse
Mike and I met for coffee in New York City. This was years ago, before I had kids. And we just got along so well. We went out for iced coffee downtown. And then we just kept walking and talking and walking and talking. And he was like, yeah, I think you're too young to play the mom in Cracking Up. You're too young. But we just got along as friends. It was just like an instant click. It was great.
The White Lotus Official Podcast
Episode 7: The Mike White-iverse
But then he came back around and was like, actually, I think you would be great to play the mom in Cracking Up. So then he cast me as the mom. I remember I saw an actress on an airplane. She's like, oh, you're so lucky. Every –
The White Lotus Official Podcast
Episode 7: The Mike White-iverse
actress wanted that part of the mom on cracking up that's like the best part because she was like a pill-popping alcoholic with a complicated marriage and so they have a therapist that moves into their house to help them with their kids and their family dynamics and I remember thinking yeah I feel so lucky I got this great part it just it was just the greatest job ever
The White Lotus Official Podcast
Episode 7: The Mike White-iverse
Cracking up ended up being stressful for Mike, which he has spoken openly about in the past because the network was like, wait, we don't know. We don't want Molly locked up in the bathroom, pill popping. We want her like, I love Lucy. And, you know, they just gave these notes that were so frustrating to Mike.
The White Lotus Official Podcast
Episode 7: The Mike White-iverse
But Mike and I became very aligned during that process because I was like, don't be hard on Mike. He's my king. Like, like Jason Schwartzman and I were like, oh, Mike's are everything. And the scripts were brilliant. Like, why are they bothering? And they were brilliant.
The White Lotus Official Podcast
Episode 7: The Mike White-iverse
The greatest scripts, gifts from God, and a true joy and pleasure to perform brilliant, funny, ahead of its time, like a primo Mike White comedy show.
The White Lotus Official Podcast
Episode 7: The Mike White-iverse
Mike stuck his neck out for me because I think that they would have preferred at that time a different woman as the lead for that movie and the financing. And Mike was like, no, I want Molly. I only want to make it with Molly. And so he really changed my career because I feel that with Mike, people started to learn that I could do drama.
The White Lotus Official Podcast
Episode 7: The Mike White-iverse
I got known, famous from Saturday Night Live, but Mike was like, oh, Mike really knew me and could see me, could write for me. So I credit Mike to changing my whole career. I'm so grateful to Mike.