Whoville's femme fatale

Christine Baranski: Busy lady, Grinch love interest

Christine Baranski

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Christine Baranski knows comedy. After all, she's worked with some of the best.

She starred with Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin in "Bowfinger" (1999) and shared the screen with Robin Williams in "The Birdcage" (1996). Now the Tony, Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and American Comedy Award-winning actress is appearing with another king of comedy, Jim Carrey, in Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

But that's not all. Baranski also stars as a fictional morning-TV producer on the small screen in "Welcome to New York," a CBS sitcom. Her life, obviously, is full.

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Even with all this going on, Baranski found a few minutes recently to speak with CNN's Laurin Sydney about Carrey, comedy ... and cleavage.

CNN: You're one busy lady. How did you even have the time to make it to the studio?

Christine Baranski: I was up at 6 in the morning. I finished shooting "Welcome to New York" last night, went out for a drink -- a celebratory drink with my pals in the crew -- and then I guess I got 4 1/2 hours of sleep last night. Then I was on "The Today Show" and "The Rosie O'Donnell Show."

Baranski appears with Jim Carrey in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

It's a lot of promotion for "The Grinch" and "Welcome to New York." It's a great time to be an actress at this point in my life.

CNN: There was some controversy about your character's appearance in "The Grinch." What was that all about?

Baranski: I guess Mrs. Geisel, Ted Geisel's (Dr. Seuss) widow, only questioned my "pillowy cleavage." She called it "pillowy," or somebody called it "pillowy." I take that as a compliment -- I mean, if there's enough there to make a controversy, I'm rather flattered. After all, my character, Martha May Whovier, is the femme fatale in the movie.

CNN: What's it like to work with Jim Carrey?

"Welcome to New York" on CBS stars Jim Gaffigan, Rocky Carroll and Christine Baranski

Baranski: Jim Carrey is a consummate actor and professional. He's a very disciplined actor. He comes on set, and he knows his lines and he knows his moves. And he improvises, maybe, in a rehearsal, but then takes whatever he has learned from the improvisations and incorporates it. ... He can do, five to 10 takes and hit it every time.

When the shot is over, Jim goes to the monitor and looks with everyone else and says, "How can we make it better?" and then he'll sit and talk and joke with his colleagues, and then gets back to work. He's just a total actor. I think people think because he's a comedian that he is just like, wild and crazy, (that) the cameras are running and they just get him at a crazy moment. He really is very disciplined. It is true of Eddie Murphy ... and Robin Williams as well.

These people are very skilled, very intelligent, very thoughtful about the process that they are going through. It is not just mayhem and a lot of joking on the set. It is really hard to do comedy; it takes a lot of energy and a lot of focus. It's rather like music: It's a lot of hitting notes precisely.

The fall TV season: Big names come to the small screen
September 29, 2000

CBS: Welcome to New York
The Grinch

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