Though she’s popped up on a number of TV shows as a guest star — starting with Family Ties when she was 15 — film and theatre star Martha Plimpton had never taken a job as a series regular until Raising Hope debuted last year.
With raves from critics and fans alike and an Emmy nomination under her belt, it’s a decision Plimpton clearly isn’t regretting.
You’re obviously very young to be a grandmother.
I don’t think it’s that unusual, actually — in this country anyway — to be a 40-year-old grandmother. It happens all the time. So in that regard, I don’t feel that we are doing anything that revolutionary or weird. But, yeah. I guess you’re right. It depends on the family, you know. We’ve all gotten past the me as a grandma thing. That’s, like, so 2010. We’ve moved on.
How has the show changed in its second season?
Well, in season one, we were establishing relationships with the family and who we all are and what this family’s about, and in season two, we’re also seeing a little bit more of their town and the people that populate this town and the world of the Chances and their friends and their co-workers. What else? We established a little bit more of the history with Virginia and her evil cousin, Delilah, played by Amy Sedaris, who is absolutely fantastic. And so we see a little bit more of Virginia’s insecure, vulnerable side with that dynamic, which was nice.
It’s fun to play that stuff. Hope is bigger, of course. She’s a toddler now. The girls who play Hope, Baylie and Rylie, are now almost 2, and so we’re growing with them. We’re adjusting our storylines and accommodating their, you know, newfound capabilities as human beings.
