Californication's Cast Talks Shop for DVD Release
Pamela Adlon and David Duchovny by Paul Redmond/ WireImage.com
An elegant backyard cocktail party behind a historical manse, young actresses adorning the understated evening, flitting about in simple summer dresses and industry types mingling in small groups with hors d'oeuvres in hand: It was the kind of party that Hank Moody crashes with bravado.
But at Monday's real-life Showtime soiree, which celebrated the Season 1 DVD release of
Californication, everyone behaved themselves, including "Hank's" auteur,
David Duchovny. Dressed in a Moody-eqsue black-on-black shirt and jacket combo, he reflected on the show's first season, and addressed some of the more serious boundary-pushing he's been doing in it. "We're always pushing it to be funny, in terms of the sex." he said. "So we never try to be sexy. I think that would feel kind of creepy. If we're sexy we're doing it by mistake, but usually, the sex is funny, and that's what our approach to the sex is, it's ridiculous and it's funny."
The "mistake" has clearly not been lost on many of the show's female viewers, who are tuning in in droves, and not
only to see Duchovny shirtless (ooh... again?!).
Pamela Adlon, who was heating up the scene with her flattering frock and full-throttle energy, knows the ladies are watching. "The women that I run into are just going bananas - the women that I work out with, and the moms at school," she explained. "When I did the pilot, I said to my husband, 'this is a guy's show. This is not going to be for women.' And it's just turned out to be the opposite. Men love it, of course, but it's a show that women really respond to and relate to."
Set against the calm, cool atmosphere of the evening, Adlon was also blunt about the seamy underside of L.A. living that's revealed in each of the show's 30-minute installments - some of which reflects her own world. "Everybody [in the series] has an adult life," she said. "It's not a thing that's like a debased, awful thing. We all have sex, we all drink, we all want to smoke a cigarette, we all want to smoke a joint, or one, or none, but we're all grownups, and we have to live our lives while we're raising our kids. So I just think that the parents who watch this show, they're grateful because they watch that and get off on that and not feel dirty or bad."
Evan Handler, who plays Adlon's husband on the show, has also been embracing its edgier aspects, in a hands-on kind of way. Relaxed and friendly, the actor mused, "Television series aren't really known as the places where actors get challenged, necessarily. But this is like going to work and doing some pretty raw, open private stuff."
The unique challenges and opportunities that the show affords are clear both to the actors and the audience. For Adlon,
Californication has been "like a dream come true." She explained, "It's like one of those lightning in a bottle moments. Everyone's like, 'Don't move. Don't ask for any more money. Just keep going.'" With Season 2 production in motion, everyone is already going full steam ahead toward the series' next phase. For one evening, however, most of the cast stayed put at the garden party to enjoy their
own adult lives and savor a little success - something even Hank could try.
- Anna Dimond
Use our Online Video Guide to see some of
Californication.
