Jeff Daniels and Lauren Graham disclose the ups and downs of fame in Hollywood and on Broadway

Lauren Graham and Jeff Daniels in "The Answer Man"

Jeff Daniels and Lauren Graham have something else in common besides starring in the dramedy film "The Answer Man": This year, they’ve also starred in Broadway shows. Daniel has been one of the headliners of the play "God of Carnage" (for which he received a Tony nomination), while Graham co-starred with Oliver Platt in the Broadway revival of "Guys and Dolls." Daniels and Graham have also been steadily working in movies (both indie and major-studio releases), and "The Answer Man" showcases their comedic skills in a movie that has heavy emotional overtones about loneliness, honesty and self-esteem.

In "The Answer Man," Daniels plays Arlen Faber, a reclusive self-help guru who became famous for writing the international bestseller "Me and God," which spawned a huge franchise and made Arlen the idol of millions. The trouble is that Arlen is a fraud who doesn’t believe in the spiritual advice that he writes about in "Me and God," and he becomes a bitter loner while taking great pains to hiding his true identity while living in Philadelphia. But Arlen’s life starts to change when he falls for a chiropractor named Elizabeth (played by Graham), a single mom who has her own emotional scars when it comes to love. I recently sat down with Daniels and Graham at the New York City press junket for "The Answer Man." During the interview, they opened up about how being on Broadway has changed them, what they love most about the golden age of cinema, and what it was like for them to meet some of the celebrities they’ve idolized.

Jeff Daniels in "The Answer Man"

A lot of "The Answer Man" deals with fame and the perceptions and pressures that go along with fame. Is there anyone you've really admired that when you met them in person they've either exceeded or fell short of your expectations?

Daniels: I found the best people in the business are the people who handle it or who don't take it seriously. Clint [Eastwood] and Meryl [Streep] in particular … George Harrison, he produced an indie I?did in the ‘80s [1989’s "Checking Out"]. And here's a guy who could walk in and dismiss you and he couldn't. They're always more interested in you: "What are you doing? Did you go to Disneyland?" and that's how they are. They exceed expectations. They're not there to prove anything anymore. They're more interested in what you've got going and talking to you and listening to you. And those are the ones I learn from and love being around.

Graham: I think it's helpful when someone extends themselves to you. Even in the world that we work in, you can just put something on somebody that they don't really want either. They don't want to walk around being treated like anything other than who they are, especially in a work situation I?think it's really helpful to get through that quickly. One of my first movies I ever did was with Meryl Streep [in 1998’s "One True Thing"], and she was excellent. She was really friendly and nice — and to a young actor it just puts you at ease. I think, in general, very seldom is someone worse than you thought they would be. In general, these jobs are really hard and people work very hard and you have to be an industrious person to get through the day, so there's not a lot of time for kookiness.

Daniels: I've been with worse, and so have you.

Graham: I've been with worse! That was the nice answer, and then there's some people who… Whoa! But then, whatever …

Daniels: And then we overcame that.

Graham: Meryl Streep … I still run into her and she’s still nice to me and remembers, so that was a really big deal. Diane Keaton was another one. The sad thing is in both of those cases, those were two of my giant idols growing up, and I worked with them already, but in a small enough capacity that hopefully we could do it again. No one is so jarred by work in "Because I Said So" with Diane that I think we couldn’t work together again.

Daniels: The best in the business don’t have anything to prove anymore. It’s the mediocre who have to use you to climb up to where they were in their last movie [that] launched them … "Well, you did a movie that made $200 million." One. Count it: one. It’s the people over the decades, like the Jimmy Stewarts and the Spencer Tracys, the guys who decade after decade after decade … There’s a class to how you can handle this. You kind of want to learn from those people and go about your career in the same way.

Lou Taylor Pucci and Jeff Daniels in "The Answer Man"

Would you say "The Answer Man" was inspired by Eckhart Tolle, Elizabeth Gilbert or "Jonathan Livingston Seagull"?

Daniels: I don't know what any of those are.

Graham: They're self-help authors.

Daniels: [He says jokingly] And they're brilliant. I remember reading his entire catalogue.

Graham: I'll help you answer that. I think it's more about, to me, the phenomenon of fame than it is [about] self-help. To me, it's like what happens when you do one thing … and it becomes something so much bigger to everyone else that you're sort of defined by it and maybe restricted by it. And how do you get back to the truth of who you are?

Daniels: And also John Hindman [the writer/director of "The Answer Man"] had a lot of fun with somebody [Arlen Faber] who wrote one book, "Me and God," which sold 92 million copies, we had decided. Then there comes the "Me and God Diet," the "Me and God for Atheists," and those are the spinoffs where you see people making money off the one idea this guy had. And I think that drives Arlen Faber absolutely nuts. He's become this industry whether he had anything to do with it or not it didn't really matter. It's just this stampede of "Me and God" stuff. It's driven him into his room, and [he] shut the door and locked it.

The title of "The Answer Man" was originally "Arlen Faber." What do you think about the title change and did you have any input on it?

Daniels: I long ago understood that the last day of shooting is the last day I have to say about anything. I walk away from it. You’ve got the studios and distributors, everybody trying to decide what’s the best title that people can walk by a poster and go in and see a movie — because of the title. I think John [Hindman] said at one point there were 150 titles. Literally. And I just go, "Let me know what they call it at the end of the day."

Graham: So no, we didn’t have any input.

Lauren Graham and Olivia Thirlby in "The Answer Man"

"The Answer Man" is John Hindman's first feature film as a director. Is there any anxiety that comes along with working with a first-time director?

Graham: It's all I did for the last two years. It's so bizarre. One thing that's fun about it is that it can be very collaborative … In one case, [it was] a producer who had a lot of experience and had been on sets a lot. John [Hindman] has more experience as a writer. They weren't coming with no knowledge of actors. John also was a stand-up and an actor. So you just need some common language. Then it feels fun. It's a privilege to be part of that first experience for them.

Daniels: As long as he's got a good — and this is "set talk" — A.D. [assistant director] to keep things moving, to keep things on schedule, if he's got a good camera guy where he doesn't have to suddenly understand everything about the camera and go, "I need it to look like this" and walk away, then, in John's case, like with "The Squid [and the Whale]," you have a writer/director. That diffuses it in some cases because you have the guy who wrote it who's been with this story and these characters for years — and that's a great resource. Then you use that person. That's what we did with John. You go to him to figure things out. It’s not like somebody who picked up the script three months.

Jeff Daniels and Max Antisell in "The Answer Man"

What have been the most rewarding highlights of your Broadway experiences?

Graham: For me, it was a huge, big deal … Don’t let me talk about this for a long time, because I can really talk abut it for a long time. I think if you are lucky enough to have some childhood dreams come true, then it can be a very good thing and also a tough thing, because something becomes a reality that had been a fantasy. And so that was a very big deal, to do this work was a very big deal, to work on this amazing material was a very big deal. And to actually be a mixed bag that it was — it was a successful but it wasn’t a big hit — there were a lot of lessons in that. All of those things were really powerful.

But the biggest deal was to be in that kind of vocal and physical shape. Unfortunately, now the best thing I’m in shape to do is a Broadway musical, and it took so long to get there, and by month four [when the 2009 Broadway revival of "Guys and Dolls" ended its run], I was like, "Oh, now I can speak to people after the show and not lose my voice." It’s just amazing what your body goes through in a job like that.

Daniels: You starred on Broadway in a musical. That’s really cool.

Graham: It’s ridiculous! It’s crazy! Now, I’m itching to do it again. You’re still in your [Broadway] thing [with "God of Carnage"].

Lauren Graham in "Guys and Dolls"

Daniels: We’re still very much in it. We’re doing fine … We had a lot of things go right. We opened in March, ahead of a lot of other people, so we became this thing to beat in the whole Tony [Awards] world. ["God of Carnage" is] four actors who really are from film who are kind of redefining how to do a straight play on Broadway. We have taken presentational acting out of it. There’s no turning to the balcony and giving a speech while the other three listen to the back of your head. We drag you onstage. It’s really cool to be in a show that everyone wants to see, to look out there and it’s standing room only.

Graham: And it’s only an hour-and-a-half long.

Daniels: It’s a dream come true. You can say, "Yeah, I did that." Because it ain’t easy. It’s eight shows a week. Physically, it’s difficult. It’s not like singing and dancing. That’s a whole other exertion. Mentally, especially by month six, you really have to work mentally to stay there. The brain just wanders away and you have to stay there.

Jeff Daniels and James Gandolfini in "God of Carnage"

If you could work with any director from the past, who would it be and why?

Daniels: Preston Sturges. That’s automatic. I could’ve probably done the Joel McCrae stuff. I would’ve loved to have worked with Preston Sturges. The pacing that he had, he didn’t wait for the audience; he made you stay with it. I wish I could’ve been around to do a movie with him.

Do you think that style of storytelling in films will ever come back in a big way?

Daniels: I think it’s all cyclical. I think it all does come back. The serious filmmakers, even with digital cameras, can go to school and learn from [the classic filmmakers]. It’s about storytelling, at the end of the day. It doesn’t change. Maybe how you shoot it changes, but you’re either telling the story and staying ahead of the audience, or you’re not. I think young people can really learn from … the [Frank] Capras, the Sturgeses, the [Alfred] Hitchcocks and on and on and one.

The Quentin Tarantinos of the world, they really study. That’s their school. They watch other directors. Actors, that’s what we do: We steal from other actors. You see a good performance and go, "How did she do that? How did he do that?"

Graham: I just wonder if those comedies can ever exist again. I grew up really loving "Philadelphia Story" and "Bringing Up Baby," and even the Doris Day/Rock Hudson comedies … all of that language. For example, "The Philadelphia Story," that came from a play. I don’t know if that comedy exists any more, with that pace and those great relationships. I like Rosalind Russell in "His Girl Friday," like [she says in a 1940s movie voice] "Hey, fella."

Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel in "Gilmore Girls"

Lauren, do you want to clear up any "Gilmore Girls" rumors that are out there?

Graham: What are they? Are they that the movie’s happening, ‘cause it’s not. Then somebody said to me [this rumor], "There’s another season that’s never aired that’s airing." "What are you talking about?" Maybe they compiled some bloopers.

"Gilmore Girls: The Musical." That’ll probably be the next rumor.

Graham: That’s not a bad idea! They’re all not a bad idea, but the only people talking to me about them are people writing about it on the Internet.

Photo credits: Photos # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5: Magnolia Pictures. Photo #6: Andy Ryan. Photo #7: Joan Marcus. Photo #8: WB.