Gilmore Girls was famous for being letter perfect with Amy Sherman-Palladino’s scripts. New actors had to learn to deliver the lines fast, and they couldn’t change a thing. For the series regulars, that meant a lot of memorization every week, but they knew the rules. Jason Kravits stepped in it his very first take as Dwight.
Dwight was only in one episode, but he appeared on Scott Patterson’s I Am All In on May 13 to discuss it. Kravits told Patterson the very familiar story of a Gilmore Girls guest star who had to be schooled in the Sherman-Palladino way.
‘Gilmore Girls’ told Jason Kravits the rules
Dwight appeared in the Gilmore Girls Season 3 episode “Eight O’Clock at the Oasis”. Lorelai (Lauren Graham) got roped into plant/lawn sitting for Dwight. Ultimately, Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rory (Alexis Bledel) had to team up to figure out Dwight’s sprinklers. Like guest stars Katie Walder or Tricia O’Kelley, the casting directors and producers advised Kravits how Gilmore Girls worked.
“And I remember immediately, the first thing is I got onto the set, I was told by the script supervisor fast, fast, go fast, go fast, don’t miss a word, don’t add a word, don’t do anything,” Kravits said on I Am All In. “Okay.”
Jason Kravits blew his first ‘Gilmore Girls’ take with this word
Most Gilmore Girls guest stars follow the rules. It may take a few takes to get into the flow, but they know the drill. Kravits committed the cardinal sin on his first take.
“The first take I did, I do remember, forgive me, I don’t remember the line exactly but it was something about ‘And I turned the corner and there it was,’” Kravits said. “And I believe I said, ‘And I turned the corner and boom, there it was.’”
Jason Kravits learned his lesson
Well, unless you’re Denzel Washington in Training Day, you can’t just go around adding “boom” to lines on Gilmore Girls. Kravits realized what he had done and was embarrassed. He obviously corrected himself, got through the scene, and made it into the final cut. It makes a fun story to tell on a Gilmore Girls podcast decades later, though.
“‘Cut, no boom. Do not add a beat, do not add a sentence, do not add a clap. Nothing. It’s got to be very specific,’” Kravits remembered the director and script supervisor saying. “Of course, that’s how Amy Sherman-Palladino writes her stuff and I totally respect that. I just had no idea until I was on the set that that was the case. So that’s my overarching memory, and also the fact of being in Stars Hollow and being around that set was really phenomenal.”
