28 December 1998
| We asked her point blank: does Keri Russell mind playing a "brain" on Felicity? The highly praised new show,
which debuts Tuesday at 9 ET on The WB, stars Russell as an emotionally confused A student. "Geeks rock!" Russell replies,
"Are you kidding? Geeks are so in style now. It can be cool to be smart and geeky and not have 500 boyfriends and big boobs
and eyeliner."
"I love the way she looks. We consciously decided on her look, no makeup, hair messy, pulled back in ponytails, big sweaters. It's funny that you don't see more of that on TV, that's how I dress. In this industry, people don't want to see girls dressed like that. I fight for it all the time, and it's great, on this show, not having to fight for that. It puts a whole different perspective in your brain, in your whole world," she says. Walking on set, people actually listen to what you say and not just look at you from afar. It's really bizarre. It's done wonders for me." The premise: Russell plays Felicity Porter, a sheltered California girl whose parents have her whole life mapped out, from high-school graduation to medical studies at Stanford and beyond. But on graduation day Felicity finally works up the courage to approach Ben Covington (Scott Speedman), the boy she has worshipped from afar for four years, and asks him to sign her yearbook. What he writes so moves her that she impulsively decides to follow him to a university in New York City. Her parents are horrified and withdraw their support. To make things worse, when Felicity bumps into Ben again in New York, he can't even remember her name. "I love that she's constantly making these decisions and having to deal with them. She doesn't do everything perfect, but she deals with it, she doesn't freak out. [She realizes] that the fact that she came to New York for this guy was a mistake, and she has to move on from that. There are so many other little pieces to this puzzle than just that one boy, as you'll see in the upcoming episodes." To help her survive 3,000 miles from home, Felicity bares her soul in taped letters she exchanges with her former French tutor, Sally. She also comes to lean on a motley assortment of friends: student Resident Advisor Noel Crane (Scott Foley), a gentle soul who develops a crush on Felicity; new best pal Julie Emrick (Amy Jo Johnson); and brash New Yorker Elena Tyler (Tangi Miller). And then there's Ben, who's escaping family pressures of his own. What message should Felicity send to young women? "I think it's mostly just about freedom," says Russell, "the freedom to make your own choices, whether they're right or wrong or crazy or silly, and also living with the consequences." "It's really just becoming an individual. That's what our show is about, that moment in life when you reinvent yourself. College is obviously one of those times, but hopefully you do that continually in life." |