Enlightened Fanblog

Fan tumblr dedicated to the HBO comedy/drama Enlightened.

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Mike White on Creativity.

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In Memoriam: James Rebhorn 1948 - 2014

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It's been a year.

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It was interesting to hear how the producers [of Enlightened] ended up with such a formidable line-up of directors. Especially after Seasons 1 and 2, directors were approaching THEM. Mike White credited Laura Dern for drawing them in. She revealed that Alexander Payne and Spike Jonze had both spoken to her about directing episodes if there was a third season, and that every time she runs into HBO execs, she happily relays the latest directors who will never be working for HBO because they canceled her show.

I won't include the caps lock rage that I typed on my own Tumblr, but let's say I'm just a woman who's over it. Alexander Payne and Spike Jonze? Come on, HBO.

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I haven't been able to find many details about the Enlightened panel at SF Sketchfest that took place last Sunday, but here's a press release from the festival:

The reunion of the HBO series “Enlightened” took place on a rainy Superbowl Sunday at Marines’ Memorial Theatre. Moderated by Andy Richter, co-creators and stars Laura Dern (“Amy”) and Mike White (“Tyler”), actors Timm Sharp (“Dougie”), Molly Shannon (“Eileen”), Sarah Burns (“Krista”) and producer David Bernad dished about the show, how privileged they felt to be a part of it, and how a third season might have been shaped. Audience members were treated to a sincere and often tender panel discussion, punctuated by behind the scenes stories and genuine laughter from the stage. Mike White shared that his guiding principle for the show was, “How do you do the thing that’s exactly what they haven’t done?” He noted the desire “to capture an existential crisis, and it’s all in pastels.. like a Southern Californian Miss Havisham’s!” He also leant insight to Laura Dern’s character, Amy. “I believe that the world can be better than this and that’s a good quality… even if it’s crazy.” The San Francisco Sketchfest audience burst into applause.

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Visit Original Link

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The Key: Closing Monologue

This kingdom. This amazing kingdom we have made. This monstrous kingdom. Its castles are magic. They are beautiful. They are built on dreams and iron. And greed. They are inorganic, and cannot sustain. No kingdom last forever. Even this will end.

And life and Earth will reign again. 

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There are still tickets for the "Becoming Enlightened" panel at SF Sketchfest! It takes place in the afternoon on Sunday, February 2nd. The panel features Laura Dern, Mike White, Luke Wilson, Timm Sharp, Sarah Burns, Jason Mantzoukas, Molly Shannon and producer David Bernad. I know I'm pretty jealous of everyone who's going.. Check all the info here. :)

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There's even more Enlightened news for all the fans in the San Francisco area.. or any fans who are able to be there on February 2nd. As a part of the San Francisco Comedy Festival SF Sketchfest, there will be an afternoon panel with Laura Dern, Mike White, Luke Wilson, Timm Sharp, Sarah Burns, Jason Mantzoukas and producer David Bernad called Becoming Enlightened. They'll tell stories about their experience with the show and answer audience questions. Tickets are $30, click here for all the info! :)

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Enlightened was named best TV show of 2013 on the A.V. Club today. Todd VanDerWerff wrote a beautiful article about it that starts like this:

“Amy Jellicoe doesn’t operate a drug empire that ultimately spans two hemispheres. She doesn’t live in a bygone decade or a fantasy kingdom. She doesn’t go to prison or chase down the criminals who should be there. She’s not particularly cool or easy to take or even all that funny.

Yet she does good.”

Read the full article here. The illustration was made by Jeremy Wheeler.

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Enlightened hasn't been forgotten by the critics yet, judging from the "Best TV of 2013" lists that are being released this month. James Poniewozik of TIME magazine picked it as his number one show of the year! His description:

"Laura Dern and Mike White’s series was always an odd hybrid: part drama, part comedy; part satirical, part earnest; part introspective character study, part outward-focused whistleblower story. But it was always fully committed. In the second (and, sadly, final season), New Age crusader Amy Jellicoe (Dern) fought to expose corruption at the company she worked for while wrestling with her own issues after a nervous breakdown. At a time when ambitious TV focused mostly on ruthless men breaking bad, this was an unsparing but hopeful look at how much work it is to be good."

I'll try to do a full round-up of TV top 10 mentions at the end of the year. Other notable Enlightened news for fans in region 2 (like me!) is that the DVD for season 2 will be released there next year.

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Hey @OfficialJLD @lenadunham I’m such a huge fan. Do you guys wanna come over and watch Breaking Bad tonight? Oh, shit, I forgot.

Laura Dern (@LauraDern) on Twitter

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"3 LDs with red eye.#emmys @primetimeemmys #dayinthelife @lenadunham" -Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@officialjld) on Instagram. Good luck to Laura tonight!

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Better late than never: I've added details about the season 2 DVD to the DVD page. The second season comes with three audio commentaries:

Episode 3 - ‘Higher Power’ - commentary by Mike White and Luke Wilson.

Episode 5 - ‘The Ghost Is Seen’ - commentary by Mike White, Molly Shannon and Dody Dorn (producer).

Episode 6 - ‘All I Ever Wanted’ - commentary by Laura Dern, Dermot Mulroney and Luke Wilson.

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Sam Jones: On a film, you get to play someone for several weeks, but on your television show you had to live with this character for the better part of two years. Was it hard to not let your own life slip into that character?

Laura Dern: “Good news, bad news. The bad news is I’ll probably find out in a decade or so how it infused my personal life and will have to be accountable for that [laughs]. Right now, I’m just completely unconscious about how it affected my life. When I leave set each day, I’m pretty good at leaving all of that at work. But when I’m on set and my character is feeling everything in an enormous way, and I have to sob hysterically or rage violently at the drop of a hat, the lines can blur. And if I’m in the middle of a scene and HBO or Mike or anyone on set has an opinion that is against Amy, well, that’s not probably going to be a good moment. And I probably won’t handle it the way Laura might handle it.  In retrospect, I’m sure I was triggered far more easily on Enlightened than in anything I’ve ever done, just to keep it alive all the time.”

Sam Jones of Off Camera interviewed Laura Dern about her acting career from the early roles to wrapping Enlightened, and many things in between, as you might expect from a one hour, seventeen minute (!) interview. You can watch it above, or read it here.

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SNL star Andy Samberg, who is engaged to Joanna Newsom, recently discussed Enlightened with Vulture:

Vulture: I loved the song [Joanna] wrote, "Esme," which Mike White used to close out one of the best episodes of TV ever on Enlightened, [The Ghost Is Seen]. Samberg: We cried, it was so good. I love Mike White. I've never worked with him, but I've hung out with him and met him socially many times. He's the best.

Vulture: I was pretty torn up when HBO canceled it after two seasons. Samberg: Yeah, there was like a national, "WHAT?!" I actually, through mutual friends, had dinner with Laura Dern right after it got nominated for a bunch of awards. It was the first time I had met her and she was like, "Yeah, it's great that we got nominated. What the hell was HBO thinking?"

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Laura Dern is featured in a Hollywood Reporter article about Emmy nominated actresses:

"How my character and I differ: I have learned to have boundaries in my life, which makes my life easier but also makes me harder to be around. The most difficult part of playing Amy: Keeping my “skin” raw enough that one word — not even the wrong word — taken the wrong way, and I would leap into an unbelievably, inappropriately huge response. What I need most to play Amy: Longing. That pretty much sums her up, and I find it relatable. My favorite scene from last season: My favorite Amy moment was when Dermot Mulroney’s character dumps her and he says something like, “We both knew that this was never going anywhere,” and instead of the Amy you’ve watched go ape shit for two seasons, she says, “I didn’t know.” I loved it — it showed that sometimes maturity and wisdom comes from being your most vulnerable self.”