Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Getty Images
The problem with being a blonde, according to actress June Diane Raphael, is finding the discipline not to dye your hair even blonder. “I don’t think people talk about this enough,” she deadpans. “You can always go a little blonder, and then next thing you know, you’re bald. You have to know when you are blonde enough.”
Luckily, there is no such thing as too blonde in Legally Blonde, the iconic film starring Reese Witherspoon that debuted 25 years ago. It’s a movie that is still very close to Raphael’s heart. “I feel like I was raised by Elle Woods,” she says. “That character means so much to me and so many women of my generation.” This summer, Elle Woods returns to our small screens in Elle, a Prime Video prequel series that follows the future lawyer’s high-school years — and Raphael is playing a central role as Elle’s mom, Eva. In fact, she was handpicked by director Jason Moore and cast within two days of a chemistry read with lead Lexi Minetree. What, like it’s hard?
From Bride Wars to New Girl, Raphael has been working steadily in comedic roles since the early 2000s, but it was playing Brianna Hanson alongside Jane Fonda in Netflix’s cozy sitcom Grace and Frankie that cemented her in the Mount Rushmore of comfort shows. “That always means a lot to me,” she says of anyone who identifies with the show as such. “I know what it is to go through a hard time in your life and to turn to something that really makes you smile and laugh and feel comforted.”
Elle might just make its way to comfort-binge status, too. It’s a high-school dramedy that sees the Woods family relocate from sunny L.A. to rainy Seattle for a fresh start at the height of the Pacific Northwest’s mid-1990s grunge wave. Not the easiest transition for a family who love to wear head-to-toe pink — but a journey they’ll take together.
Manage cookie preferences
In Elle, how much of yourself do you see in Eva?
Well, I am a mom, so I connected to that fierce love you have for your kid and your belief in them. I also connected to this idea that Eva cares so much about Elle that she ends up not totally seeing her clearly all the time. Sometimes it’s hard to watch your child grow up and separate from you and become independent. Eva’s also a woman who’s finding herself and coming of age in her own way. It’s very true of many women of her generation, how they gave everything to their husbands and their kids.
You have played a Republican news anchor on The Morning Show and pulled Julia Garner’s hair in Weapons — what’s a role you wish got more recognition?
It’s a niche piece of alternative comedy, but it got recognition from the fan base that I really care about: Julie Gristlewhite on Burning Love, which was a parody of The Bachelor, created by Erica Oyama and Ken Marino. Julie was such a fun character to play. She’s utterly demented and trying to find a man and going about it all the wrong ways. I hold that series and that role very close to my heart, and I wish more people saw it. It’s such a deep cut.
What do you miss about Grace and Frankie? Because I miss everything about it every day!
Oh man, I’m having such an interesting experience on Elle working with younger people and being an elder. On Grace and Frankie, they used to call me the kid. I was like, I’m 40, but I love it, thank you. I’m having the opposite experience now on Elle. What I miss, of course, is just hanging out with the cast for that many hours a day. They are hilarious and warm and so smart, and hearing their take on the world and current events, it was just really special. I’m showing my 12-year-old son the show — don’t put me on some sort of watch list for doing that — but he loves it so much. What better way for this young boy to learn about aging and what it is to be a woman than through feminist icons Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin?
Getting into our “Rules to Live By” questions: What’s your No. 1 rule for a successful dinner party?
Cocktails at the door. I really believe that when you enter into a dinner party, you need a little bit of a social elixir; you need to take that edge off. I don’t want to be hunting down a drink! Just put a bunch of cocktails at the door. We need drinks, and we need ’em quick. Be ready to liquor your guests up. Don’t have them asking or making it themselves.
What’s your No. 1 fashion rule?
We all put a bit too much of a premium right now on being comfortable. Even when I’m working. The costume designer on Elle, Sara Byblow, did such an unbelievable job. I wear so many archival vintage pieces in the show — Mugler, Versace, Chanel — and tailored to every inch of my body. Sometimes she’ll ask me, “In this scene, you have to walk a lot, are you sure you want to wear this?” I’m always like “Sara, honey, you let me worry about that.” I want it to look good. I know a lot of people aren’t going to agree with this, but I’ll handle the comfort. I will be “comfortable” if it looks amazing. We’re living in the time of athleisure; we have to dress up more.
What is your favorite thing that you own that is pink?
A Shiseido pink lipstick called Pixel Pink. I wear many, many of my own tubes of it on the show. And this happens to me all the time where I’ll fall in love with a product and then the company will almost immediately discontinue it. I have purchased every tube of this lipstick. I’m sure purchasing it from eBay means I’m gonna grow another arm in a couple years, God knows what’s in there, but that is my favorite pink thing that I own because it’s an everyday lipstick.
What’s your No. 1 rule for gift-giving?
I love a gift that can be used, like a candle, flowers, chocolates, eaten and never seen again. I don’t like having a lot of stuff. I’m a bit of a minimalist, so I don’t love the idea of giving people another thing. Oh, and don’t give me a gift certificate, please; I’ll also never use that and it’ll just be a thing that sits in an envelope. You can’t go wrong with flowers. It dies eventually and back to the ground it goes. I think that’s a really beautiful way to think about it.
What’s your No. 1 rule for dating?
I’m not in the dating scene, so it’s wild for me to have a rule, but nonetheless, I’ll share one. I’m going to specifically address heterosexual women here: We really should only be pursued. Call me grandma, call me old-fashioned, but we are too special and sacred to be running after a man. We need to sit in our power and be discerning and wait. I don’t like seeing girlfriends text first. A dear friend of mine has a great rule: If you are worried at nighttime that you are going to text a guy, have some NyQuil by your bedside and literally put yourself out. You’ll feel differently in the morning, you know you will.
In the spirit of Elle going to Harvard, what’s something you find really easy that seems to be challenging for most people?
Decision-making. I’m a Scorpio rising, so I’m just like this, Not that, this, no, yes, you go, you stay. I struggle with people who get really lost in the sauce with making a decision. Now, could you argue that sometimes my decisions are poor? Yeah, sure. I do a gut check and I make a decision and then I don’t look back.
What rules do you have in your home?
We don’t have our phones out at nighttime, and at dinner, we’re pretty disciplined about spending that screen-free time with the kids in our family. The other thing I’m really intense about is snuggles. Part of the reason to have kids is just to get those good snuggles, so if we’re watching TV, you better be snuggling me.
What was your No. 1 rule on the set of Elle?
Interestingly, Elle’s second season was a phone-free set. It’s something Lexi and I talked about in the beginning of the season. We feel so grateful to have this opportunity to work and create something, that we get paid to play. We’re really proud of the show and how much joy I believe it’s going to bring into people’s lives. We decided to invite the crew and all of our cast to not bring their phones to set. There’s so many horrifying news alerts that come in that take you out of what you’re doing, and we just know how sacred and special the time is that we get to spend together. Everybody was onboard, and I think it was a wonderful experience. People want it, they just kind of need to be told or invited.
Do you gossip?
I’m going to be so for real, as my 20-year-old co-stars would say. I don’t love the word “gossip.” I do believe that women, especially with their girlfriends, do like talking about how we’re all surviving this life. It’s not in an effort to ever bring anyone down. But yeah, we talk about, What’s this person doing? How is she? What’s going on in the marriage? Do I have some enemies? Yeah. And do I like to share about their failures? Yeah, I do. So that’s true too. But when it comes to just our group of friends, I find that it’s really in the spirit of checking in on our community. We’re making sure we’re all surviving and thriving together.
Related