The Miami New Times talked to Lily Tomlin about those leaked videos from the set of I Heart Huckabees. Clearly, she has a sense of humor.
“Oh my God, the one in the car is on there too? I can’t believe the damn car is in there. I’ve never seen it. Is that when I’m sitting in the seat and really going nuts? Oh my God, I’m gonna die when I see that. I love David. There was a lot of pressure in making the movie – even the way it came out you could see it was a very free-associative, crazy movie, and David was under a tremendous amount of pressure. And he’s a very free-form kind of guy anyway.”
The second video is my personal favorite. In that one, David is the doing all the cussing. He eventually becomes so enraged, he swipes a desk clean, sending an object flying at one of the assistants who ends up cowering in the corner like a child after daddy’s happy hour. Lily says,
“Adults have fights and go through stuff. I know some people are more dignified in the world, that if you transgress against that kind of professionalism, that it’s some kind of great sin, but I don’t see it that way.”
She called the episode “in a way liberating… now it’s all over, and so what, and I don’t have to keep up some great pretention I’m the most dignified, eloquent, elegant, perfect, smart-thinking, kind, generous person. I’m just a plain old human with a whole bunch of flaws.”
Tomlin mostly laughed off the incident, and the leak of the video from the set. “After poor Britney Spears, with her poor little legs open … I’m not the least bit upset about it,” she said. “That’s part of the upside and the downside of the Internet.”
The one thing you can take from this is that there’s a new litmus test in Hollywood. How embarrassing is your indiscretion compared to Britney flashing her crotch? If it’s not as bad, then we all have a good laugh and move on. If it’s worse, then you’re screwed. But wait, it’s not over yet. Redemption is within reach. All you have to do is check into a glitzy rehab for the minimum required time and you may discover just how forgiving/forgetful people can be.