Melissa Rauch on 'Big Bang,' 'Bronze' and working with her hubby
You know her as Bernadette, the comical blonde with the squeaky high voice who pumped up the third season of the CBS hit sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” then went on to become a series regular during Season 4.
Melissa Rauch, 35, is now the star and co-writer of a new movie, “The Bronze,” a comedy about Hope, a socially toxic former athlete who checked out of life after an injury ended her Olympic career as a gymnast. In a recent phone interview, she talked about her very different characters and writing with her husband.
Q. How did your early career in stand-up comedy shape your acting career?
A. The thing that stand-up does for you is that it toughens you up a bit as far as the business goes. It's hard. If a joke doesn't get a laugh, that's instant rejection.
And that's mostly what this business is most of the time, a lot of rejection. Emotionally, it prepared me for that.
Q. What's the difference between working on a TV set vs. working on a movie set?
A. The live performance aspect of shooting a multicamera sitcom is wonderful. You have that instant audience reaction.
But this performance (“The Bronze”) we were shooting at a breakneck pace, 22 days on a very low budget. I compare it to running on a treadmill vs. running outside. It's the same muscle, but different circumstances.
Q. How does being married to your writing partner, Winston Rauch, influence the creative process?
A. We started together as writing partners. We met in college in a script analysis class. We worked together with a “best idea wins out” mentality, and I tried to carry that over into our marriage, like “the best idea is for you take out the garbage,” but it doesn't always work.
Q. Hope has a different physicality than Bernadette. She moves like an athlete.
A. Well, first, thanks for noticing that. When I'm trying to find my way into a character, the voice and physicality are the first two things I do.
My real voice is a little bit lower than hers, but my Bernadette voice is at the top of my register. I wanted to put Hope in-between. Everything is tense, in the midrange of her vocal chords. All her emotions are placed in there.
I took gymnastics lessons not because I was going to do stunts. I just wanted to learn how to hold my body like a gymnast. Then, because the character wraps her chest, I spent every day wrapped up in a bandage.
That not only informed how she held herself, but how everything is pulled in. Everything is literally close to her chest. It's very tense and controlled.
Q. Is Hope modeled after anyone you actually know?
A. Not really. Little mannerisms inspired me. Hope's smile is like my father's. He has this smirk, something he can't really control, but he tries to. Hope's smile is derived from his.