Girl Talk with Alexis Bledel

Every time we think Gilmore Girls can't possibly surprise us again, the beloved WB dramedy (Tuesdays at 8 pm/ET) goes and does just that. And so, for that matter, does its cast. Take, for instance, Alexis Bledel. This year, the 22-year-old ingenue took her character, virginal brainiac Rory, from all-night cramming sessions to one-night stands, got herself cast against type as a Sin City hooker and, in this TVGuide.com interview, gave up a rare insight into her real-life romance with her former leading man, American Dreams heartthrob Milo Ventimiglia. What will she possibly do for an encore? Read on and find out!
TVGuide.com: What do you think of the new, sexual Rory?
Alexis Bledel: It's been different. I hope that it's more about relationships than it is about just her being slutty.

TVG: Since you have such great chemistry with Matt Czuchry (Logan), I'd say that's a given.
Bledel: I think our scenes are turning out well. He's stuck around for a while, so that's a good sign. I think it's cool just to see a fresh, new relationship with all of its problems and complications.

TVG: Everyone's talking about the show's big resurgence this season. Do you feel it on the set?
Bledel: Yeah, it seems refreshed. It's felt that way for me, especially, because we have all these new young kids coming in for the college scenes. That's really fun for me, because for a long time, I was the youngest person by far. It's a lot of new blood, new energy coming in.

TVG: How do you feel about doing the show for a couple more years?
Bledel: It's very all-consuming. While it's certainly positive that they would want to continue the show for a couple more years, we're probably closer to the end than we are to the beginning. And for me, personally, it's exciting to think of how much my life will change when the show does end. When you are on something like this for so long, and it's so all-consuming, it's just exciting to... [Pauses thoughtfully] I like change. So that prospect excites me, whenever that may be. But it's not in my control at all when it'll be.

TVG: Actually, it kinda is. Your contract is up in two years, so you could either quit or stay and do both the show and movies.
Bledel: That's a decision I'll make at that time, if it's a possibility. I have no idea, because I don't even know if we'll be lucky enough to do a seventh year. It's sort of year by year with television, so I think, as it gets closer, it'll be easier to decide.

TVG: Speaking of movies, you play a prostitute in Sin City. Did you worry at all that you might alienate your younger fans?
Bledel: I used to worry about that [kind of thing] when the show first started. But my perspective is that when you're a kid, if your audience is a group of children or teenagers, you do have some level of social responsibility. I feel that. But other entertainers will say that that's not their responsibility, and I can see how they might feel that way as well. But I sort of feel like once [your character is] 18 and moves on to college, you sort of decide what you do. You [as an audience] can sort of decide how you feel about people and their choices from there, but they're their choices once they're 18. So I think it's OK at this point — especially with the way the show's gone this year.

TVG: Let's talk a little bit about your relationship with your TV mom. How do you and Lauren Graham get along when the cameras aren't rolling?
Bledel: Well, we had just met when we went straight to shooting — we didn't know each other at all! But she was very patient with me, because I didn't know what I was doing, and she was always helping me out to get through the day. She was always very respectful of me and very much on my level... much more of a peer than trying to be a parent or anything like that. Now it's leveled out, and we really are like peers.

TVG: In other words, it's more like a friendship.
Bledel: It's happened more as we've gotten to know each other more. We have hung out outside of work, and it's fun, but we see each other so much at work that it's almost like if we hung out outside of work, we'd hang out all the time! We'd never be apart.

TVG: That would certainly cut down on the time you have available to spend with your boyfriend, Milo Ventimiglia (ex-Jess). How's that going, by the way?
Bledel: [Laughs nervously] It's going good.

TVG: I know you don't like to discuss your personal life.
Bledel: It's just, the articles I read when I was younger, they said the only way [a Hollywood romance] works is if you don't talk about it, and I agree with that. And also, it's your stuff, and if you share things that are too personal with a magazine or with your public, it's sort of like it's not really yours anymore, it's shared information and it's not special to you anymore. I don't like that. I think people with personalities who like to talk about what's going on in their lives, they'll talk without really knowing how it's going to come back and bite them, and generally, it does. And luckily, I have the kind of personality where I am extremely private. I don't really like to tell everyone my business. I'd much rather people wonder or not know.

TVG: Is Milo on the same page with that approach?
Bledel: We're both fairly private about our personal lives. I don't really talk about it, because relationships are so personal, but they're also so fragile. They're so ever-changing — people are constantly evolving within their relationships. You may always be together, but the way you feel on a day-to-day basis, it either stays the same or it changes, and I don't usually talk about it.

TVG: Enough said.