Liza Weil Talks ‘Gilmore Girls,’ ‘How to Get Away with Murder,’ and Krav Maga [Exclusive Interview]

One of the most interesting characters on Gilmore Girls was always Paris Geller.

The morning following the Gilmore Girls Reunion panel at the ATX Television Festival, I sat down with Liza Weil to talk about her experience of playing that role. We also talked about her current role as Bonnie Winterbottom on How to Get Away with Murder.

It’s been fifteen years since Gilmore Girls premiered, and Weil described the reunion as something incredibly special.

“We never would have comprehended that we would have had this kind of resurgence so many years later. And it feels special and lovely to be able to get together and be a part of something like that,” Weil said.

“It also makes you aware that time is passing, and you’re getting older. It’s sweet and sour. But it’s been a really lovely opportunity to revisit that time in our lives. So I think we all feel fortunate that we got to do that together.”

Gilmore Girls has reached an entirely new fan base now that it’s available on Netflix, but it has also kept the same faithful fans it had in the beginning. Weil attributed that not only to the writing, but also to the type of storytelling.

“I think that Amy [Sherman-Palladino] has a really special voice. I think her writing is just so extraordinary, and Gilmore Girls is the perfect recipe,” Weil explained.

“There are so many things that people can latch on to. Having two central characters that you can follow, that live in this town and are surrounded by these eccentric people, that’s always something that you can latch on to. She [Amy Sherman-Palladino] brought it up in the panel yesterday — the simple storytelling. I think that’s a really comforting thing for people to see. It’s rare to be able to tell small stories like that.”

Weil originally auditioned for the role of Rory, but was instead offered a role that was written just for her. Weil mentioned in the panel that she was surprised that was the character they thought she could play. Weil elaborated on that further when we spoke the next day.

“Going in for Rory was a very different thing, and having Paris come out of that audition was a little startling. But again, being older and looking back, I see that that’s actually a huge vote of confidence and very, very lovely,” Weil said.

“In the beginning, I think Paris presented as very harsh and competitive and nasty. And then over time you got to see what was informing all of that. But if you have the opportunity to play somebody for so long, you do get into a rhythm, and it becomes second nature, which is such a great feeling — to be able to embody the same person for so long. I miss that. I miss knowing that it’s a muscle that I can flex. Especially now playing a new person and trying to figure out who that person is. It’s a really slow burn.”

So what was it like to play that the role of Paris Geller for so many years? Weil said it was a fun role to play, but it also took hard work and research.

“It was so fun to play Paris, because she could really do anything, and it all made sense somehow. Danny [Strong] and I talked a lot last night about the Krav Maga episode (“The Perfect Dress,” Season 6 Episode 11). We were going to Krav Maga intensive boot camp for like a month just for that one scene. And we both became – we were ripped. I mean, it was quite an undertaking. But it was so fun and amazing to be able to get to do things like that. Those things stand out for me, because it was actually really immersive, and they were very serious about us knowing what we were doing for like a ten second thing. The Yale stuff sticks out a little, but more because it was more recent.”

Weil was also partial to episodes that involved the growing friendship between Paris and Rory. “I love the episode where Paris waits for Rory to open all the letters for grad school. Those things stand out for me.”

There’s also a memorable scene when Paris visits Stars Hollow and gets drunk from the Founder’s Day punch (“To Live and Let Diorama” Season 5 Episode 18).

She then runs around barefoot, trying to get enough change to use a pay phone and call Doyle, since she had given Rory her cell phone to keep her from doing exactly that. Weil said that was a particularly fun scene to play, and it also served as an important cultural reference.

“That was a big homage to this movie called A Woman Under the Influence. It’s a John Cassavettes movie with Gene Rowlands, and Amy [Sherman-Palladino] sent me the movie. That whole ‘pfffft’ thing is directly from that movie. So I basically got to do a Gena Rowlands impression, which was incredible because she’s probably one of my favorite actors of all time. It’s just a super dark movie about a woman in the world. That was a really fun one.”

Weil has gone on to play many roles since being on Gilmore Girls, and that experience helped to shape what came next. “I didn’t go to college or anything like that. Gilmore Girls was really a huge training ground for me. It was my version of figuring it out,” Weil explained.

“And to be able to be as young as I was and to have a job that lasted that long, and have it be specifically this show – you know, you get to do everything. It certainly informed my work ethic and helped me build a confidence that I wouldn’t have had. It was similar, I think, to Alexis [Bledel]’s experience. Not quite as hardcore, but it was really my first big job. We are all sort of learning how it works together. I did feel afterward that I could go and do anything.”

If you’re a fan of TGIT, you may have picked up on the fact that Weil has made an appearance in each of the four major Shondaland series throughout the years: Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal, and now How to Get Away with Murder as a series regular. Of the first three, Weil named her role as Amanda Tanner on Scandal as the experience she enjoyed the most.

“I think I always have an affinity for the ones that last a little bit longer. You get to dig in in a way that you don’t get to if it’s just a one episode thing. But being with that group of people in the first season on that show felt really special. That role was different than anything I’d ever done before,” Weil said.

“It was super dark and hard, but I think we all just had a really good time. The thing that’s been so nice about the relationship with Shondaland is that it’s been sort of gradual progression. And I’m somebody who is very comfortable with baby steps. So it’s nice to have this relationship that’s started small, and now I get to be a series regular on one of those shows. It’s pretty dreamy. But I feel like I put in the time.”

Weil also shared her thoughts on playing Bonnie Witterbottom on How to Get Away with Murder, and why that role was one she was excited to play.

“That pilot was so interesting. Similar to Gilmore Girls, you put a group of people [together] and just have crazy things happen around them. You’re watching people respond to extremely high stakes. The launching pad for that show was infinite. There’s so much potential for this to go so many different ways, and I thought the writing was amazing. Bonnie was intriguing to me because it’s a lot of internalized behavior. Paris certainly talks about everything that she’s thinking and everything that she’s going to do. It’s all informed by language. Bonnie is sort of a lurker and a watcher. So the idea to be able to behave without words I found really interesting. And her name was Bonnie Winterbottom [laughs]. That’s somebody I want to play. The character name is incredible.”

Before beginning How to Get Away with Murder, Weil had the chance to work on a small film titled, The Situation is Liquid.

“I was able to do this cool thing with a very close friend of mine named Noah Buschel, who is a really awesome writer and filmmaker. I’ve worked with him over the years in smaller capacities. He came to me last year and was like, ‘I wrote this thing. Maybe we should just figure out a way to do it.’ So we found a really tiny camera and found a bunch of people that were game, and we made this little movie for eight days. I got to do that before I started How to Get Away with Murder. It was really awesome to be able to have this guerrilla film experience before going into TV. Hopefully we’ll figure out what to do with that. It was fun. It’s nice to get to work with friends.”

Additionally, Weil worked on an indie film titled, Medicine Men. “It’s a Western. That was very fun. I was actually on that set when I got the call that How to Get Away with Murder got picked up. I was in full Western [clothing], like a corset, skirt, and bonnet — the whole thing. It was very bizarre. I remember that that’s where I was when I got that call.”

*Edited for space and content.

You can read our recap of the Gilmore Girls reunion panel here.