The star of CBS’ Bad Teacher has played her fair share of big, brassy roles, but she’s excited to take on any character — as long as she’s playing a strong, complex woman.
Ari Graynor as the titular Bad Teacher.
Cliff Lipson / CBS
Ari Graynor may be the lead on a high-profile CBS sitcom — a stark contrast to her usual indie film roles — but that doesn't mean she's "made it." At least, that's not a phrase that she would use.
"Just last year, there was sort of a moment where I thought, OK, this is all amazing, but now what? I've been working so hard at this one thing — and not that I'm there. There is no there," Graynor says, leaning into our table at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. "It's the constant journey of it. But I've accomplished things, specific things that I wanted to, and now what do I want to do?"
Those familiar with Graynor's bold comedic roles in films like Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and For a Good Time, Call… might be surprised at just how subdued she comes across in person. She's passionate about her work, but far more thoughtful than loud.
And Graynor has plenty to say about her latest project Bad Teacher, CBS' sitcom inspired by the 2011 film of the same name. The series, created by Community and Happy Endings alum Hilary Winston, offers a slightly different take on the "bad teacher" concept. Graynor's titular role as Meredith Davis is an exciting challenge, but it's certainly a stretch: "I'm much farther away from her than people might think."
The confusion is understandable. Since her first major role as Meadow's neurotic college roommate Caitlin in Season 3 of HBO's The Sopranos, Graynor has tended toward comedic roles, and a specific type of character. Her role as drunken disaster Caroline in Nick and Norah may be her most recognizable, but she's an equally commanding force as Eva Destruction in the roller derby comedy Whip It and as Jewish bad girl Rachel in Holy Rollers.
Bad Teacher's Meredith may come off as more of the same, though Graynor was drawn to the character's complicated, multi-faceted identity: Like Graynor, Meredith is not quite what she seems.
"More and more, people probably associate me in this world of comedy and these confident, brassy, big ladies, which I love, but my insides and who I feel like internally and the kind of work that I hope to continue doing feels very different from that," she says.
Not to mention the fact that Graynor is also working behind the scenes: She's one of show's producers, and was granted input during Bad Teacher's development process.
"I've been calling myself 'just an actor' since I was 6 years old," Graynor says. "That's a long time. And really in the past six months I've started thinking about and working on writing and creating things. And I think for a long time, I didn't even go there because I had more fear than I realized. And I really want to think about what it is that I want to say and put into the world and stand behind 100%, and say, 'This is something that I feel inside that I'm putting out into the world and hope it affects someone else.'"
As Katie in For a Good Time, Call...
Focus Features
The decision to make the switch from indie features to TV comedy wasn't always an easy one for Graynor.
"I was definitely nervous about it, so much so that for years I had said no TV," she admits. "Last year was a turning point for me where I wasn't going out looking for it, but I just said, 'It's not a hard no, let's see what's out there.'"
In Bad Teacher, Graynor found something that's still regrettably rare in both TV and film: a strong, outspoken female character who doesn't make concessions for her behavior. Meredith may not always be the best teacher — that would, of course, go against the show's logline — but Graynor still sees her as a role model in her uncompromising nature and constant need to speak her mind.
The sad reality, Graynor notes, is that these kinds of roles are few and far between.
"The truth is, there are so few female roles in movies," she says. "That's really limiting. As an actor, you wanna be able to sink your teeth into something. You don't want to just be the best friend. You don't want to just be the girlfriend. And a lot of the really juicy roles that do exist go to the top five people out there. So I think there was a certain reality in that, which was, I want to get in there. I want to create a character. I want to explore someone's whole life."
And while Meredith may bear some similarities to Nick and Norah's Caroline and For a Good Time, Call…'s Katie, she still represents a distinct new venture for Graynor, who refuses to settle for doing the same thing over and over again.
"If I'm gonna stay in this world of comedy, then it has to be a really special character to me in a really smart piece of material," she says. "That's what Bad Teacher was. It was a totally new challenge and opportunity, and it was really exciting to stay with the character for so long."
Over the course of 13 episodes — and potentially more, if Bad Teacher is picked up for a second season — there's plenty of time to grow.
"When I got this script, it was so funny and smart, and this character was so rich and unique," Graynor continues, "and there was clearly so much room to play around, that I felt like, OK, yes, there are fears about network television, but in terms of what's real and what's in front of me, this is the best thing that I've seen and the best opportunity I have to go do work that excites me."
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