It’s a sunny fall afternoon in early October and Jennifer Garner, stylishly casual in a luxe gray sweater, black leather miniskirt and barely-there makeup, is recounting the unglamorous side of filming almost exclusively outdoors for HBO’s new comedy, Camping.
In the eight-episode series, adapted from a British property by Girls team Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, Garner plays controlling, quintessential type-A mom Kathryn Siddell-Bauers, who throws what’s meant to be a low-key 45th birthday weekend for her meek and obedient husband, Walt, but which quickly unravels into a weekend of tested marriages and unexpected revelations among their quirky group of friends and family members. Garner and Tennant aren’t new to the rigors of television, though it’s been a while since Garner has led her own show — since she donned the red wig as undercover spy Sydney Bristow on Alias, which wrapped more than a decade ago.
For the 46-year-old actress, Camping was a departure and a reprieve. Not only was she being asked to play a character so completely opposite from the good-natured, lady-like women she’s portrayed in the past, but Garner had also just finished filming the emotionally and physically exhausting vigilante movie, Peppermint, and had a desire to cleanse her palette with lighter fare. Camping came through at just the right time.
“I had just finished this action movie and it was so brutal and sad, and I cried all the time. I was so happy at the thought of being in an ensemble comedy with words. I just wanted words, words, words and this definitely provided,” Garner says. “Once I was on [board], it just kept getting better and better as the cast was rolling in.”
Garner and Tennant were both offered the parts of Kathryn and Walt, respectively, but their Camping characters are far cries from what they’ve been established in Hollywood to be. For Garner, the all-American sweetheart; for Tennant, the chameleon-like Scotsman deeply embedded in high drama (and some sci-fi — hi Doctor Who!). So much so that they admit they were, at first, surprised they were Dunham and Konner’s picks for their roles in the comedy.
Because the character of Kathryn, who deals with chronic pain, is undeniably unlikable, Garner recalls a moment where she had to look inward to understand why Dunham and Konner would believe she could transform into the Instagram-obsessed L.A. mom who operates life with an iron grip. “I felt like, ooh,what is out there? What is it about me? I was a little nervous in that way. What does this say about me that they would think that I should do this?” Garner says. “I think you always feel that way as an actor.”
“But also when it’s someone like Lena and Jenni, I feel flattered they even know who I am. Those people do that amazing work, sure, I’ll work with you!” Tennant adds. “That’s a huge part of the job, that the source material by [Camping creator] Julia Davis, who I’m also a desperate fan of… to be working with people like that, that’s what you do it for.”
And Garner makes it clear she’s not at all like Kathryn, though her believable performance certainly blurs that line.
(Excerpt) Read More at: ETOnline.com