‘Firefly Lane’ Review: Katherine Heigl Has Finally Found Her Perfect Role in This Netflix Series
Heigl: It was so much fun, but thank God for CGI. When they were trying out tape, it’s like the old Hollywood thing where it pulls your neck back and you can barely speak and the tape pulls your eyes back. You don’t look younger, you look weird—like a bad face lift. We were like, “That’s not going to work.” It was incredibly distracting. Because can I, at 42 years of age, pull off looking 20? No. Thankfully they did CGI, and it’s really humbling, I’ll say that.
Chalke: We tested out the makeup as our characters enter their 40s to figure out how we make it look different. For the first time I think in my life, I was wearing pretty much no makeup on camera. I had never done that before, so it was kind of scary. You feel like you don’t have your armor on. I said to the makeup team, “Are you sure I don’t need a little more?” I don’t really wear that much makeup in my daily life at all, but here on the show I was wearing less than what I’d wear to Whole Foods. It was really none. We eventually added more once Kate gets back into the dating scene as a 40-something woman, but the idea of her wearing none was one way to differentiate it from the ’80s.
And Katherine, you also dyed your hair to play Tully.
Heigl: I love changing my hair. As my hairstylist said, my hair is like an accessory to me. It’s like a hat. To me, Tully was always a brunette.
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Finally, talk to me about the Kate or Tully in your life. Who is that person for you?
Chalke: I have a real life Tully who I met in kindergarten. We packed up her truck and moved to L.A. together when we were 24. She’s the one that introduced me to [showrunner and EP] Maggie Friedman a few decades ago. I didn’t know anyone in L.A. at the time, so to have that person that would drop anything for you in a minute is everything. When I read the book and the script, Tully and Kate’s relationship reminded me so much of me and Jen, though their dramas and problems are really big and huge. Jen’s and mine biggest problem was over cereal. [Laughs.]
Heigl: I can be my absolute truest self with my friends and know they have my back. But the person I speak to literally every day—sometimes twice a day—and probably consider my soulmate is my mother. Maybe that makes me sound ridiculous, but it just works. There’s something about the connection between us, and it has grown as I’ve become an adult. She still bosses me around and drives me completely insane at times, but I can’t call anybody else my soulmate. It’s Nancy and Katie, and it’s always been Nancy and Katie.
Firefly Lane is now streaming on Netflix.
Jessica Radloff is the Glamour West Coast editor. You can follow her on Instagram at @jessicaradloff14.
