Taking on...Tracy

Tracy Ullman has been sending up American stereotypes on television for many many years now-her wildly popular self-titled show has gained her a vehemently loyal following. "The Simpsons," of course, premiered as a short on her show before exploding on the FOX Network. A comedic chameleon, Ullman barely stays in character for more than five minutes on her show, but she elicits sympathy and laughs as Frenchy Winkler, the lead role in Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks. Talking to her in New York City, I realized that Ullman is just as hilarious and witty off camera as she is once they start rolling.

THC: Do you ever worry about criticism for playing to American stereotypes?

TU: No, not really. I mean, I've been doing it for so long now. But you know what, I'm so sick of political correctness in American comedy-you know the black shows here, the white shows here. Why can't we all just work together?

THC: So you think there is a universal comedy?

TU: Oh yeah.

THC: Then you must hate it when people ask you the difference between British and American comedy. You've obviously been successful in both countries.

TU: Yeah, I do get sick of that question. If it's funny, it's funny. It's so integrated now. I've been living here since 1982 so I myself feel integrated here. The only thing I don't do is vote-I'm not a citizen, just a green card girl. But I don't think I'm missing that much there. [laughs] I feel like I have an international viewpoint-I'm in with that group, Toppa Gigio, Nanamus Scurry, Celine Dion, the best! I just travel around, I don't even know where I live anymore. What was the question? Oh yes, I mean I'm proud of myself now. You talk about longevity in this business! I'm starting to say, "Look how long I've been here!" I've been getting awards with Calista Flockhart, Lisa Kudrow and suddenly I'm older than them now. I feel very fortunate, very accepted here. Talent is really applauded and relished here.

THC: Ten or twelve years ago, you said in an interview that you dreamed of working with Woody Allen someday.

TU: I used to write to him, you know. I used to write silly notes. And I hate pushing myself -but I always used to go have tea with Juliet Taylor, his casting director and another friend of mine, Julie Kavner, slipped him a tape of mine years ago. And the feedback I heard he gave was, "She's funny from the inside." And I was just overwhelmed. Because he made such an impact on me when I saw Broadway Danny Rose. I had just come to live in America and all I had really seen was "The Facts of Life" on TV-I used to think those four girls are so big, they're gonna break the floorboards-and then I thought, "Oh God, this is humor in America." And then I saw Broadway Danny Rose which celebrates the loser. And that doesn't seem to be a lot of what I see in America. Everyone's like, "I'm a winner and I'm special and I'm great." It was so good to see someone different from all that. Now, of course, I know you're all losers as well. You just disguise it a lot better than we do in England. In England, it's like, "Bah, I'm nobody." But Woody touched me because it was the comedy I liked. It's not trying so hard, it was just endearing, poignant, beautiful.

Another thing is, it's just so daunting for actors to meet him. He's such a legend now and all the actors want to work with him because you know you're being cast because you're right for the part, not because you're pretty or box office or anything like that. You just want to do so well for him. I've seen lots of actors come in and be overcome by nerves in front of him because they want to impress him so much. That's why he gives so little direction.

He's also got a great team around him. They're all there to do the best work they can do. Everyone's on the same level, everyone works for the same pay. Filming is usually such a bore-it's usually about the bleepin' cappucino machine and people taking four hours in makeup and shit-so boring. There's no spontaneity-that's why I love TV, it's quicker. No dicking around with the big crane shot. I mean, tell a story for God's sake. But with Woody, it's obviously different. But still it was tough-I mean somedays, Woody would make me reshoot stuff and I would go home questioning myself.

But above all, I definitely didn't want to get into doing rhythms with him-you know, everyone starts to talk like Woody and I was like [pounding the table] "Don't do that." Try and do your own thing, be bolder. Above all, don't be him.

THC: But the dialogue rhythms in this movie already seem different than other Woody comedies, right?

TU: It struck me when I read the script - I was like, "These aren't Jews." Jewish people also wouldn't like people telling them what to do - like Frenchy pushing Ray around and Frenchy going to Hugh and asking him for an "education." The Jews would be like, "Hey, I'm fabulous." They have a lot more confidence than the Winklers have. Though I have to say, my dream would be to play retired Jews in Boca Raton. [laughing] The movie's called Retired Jews in Retirement. Me and Woody. The condo would be beautiful.

THC: We can predict the character's trajectory fairly early on in the film. Do you play it just for laughs, then, or do you still try to create a sympathetic and affecting character?

TU: She's smart, you know. She's the smarter one of the two. And I find that endearing. I always love characters that have the humor and the sadness. It comes out best in that dinner party scene - she has that obsession with being involved with the charities. It's not, "I want to be on the board," it's "I want to be a patron." I like people who know who they are because I'm obsessed with class - you know because I'm from England. There's not such an obvious class system here - though there does seem to be an ethnic and financial class system. I love when people are trying to sound nice, you know the "I loooovvvee it," with that accent. When Frenchie goes to the matinee, I play that up - she's like, "Oh, it moved me. Soooo wonderful." You know those types don't live in the city. They have the Jersey hairdos. But I love her - she's such a challenge.

THC: You had to have fun with the costumes. They're insane.

TU: I certainly got to look glamorous. I usually like my tight little business suits - but I mean I had great fun with the outfits. It was nouveau riche dressing at its worst.

THC: That one dress looked like you murdered a peacock.

TU: Wasn't that brilliant! We found that dress - I think it was by Calvin Klein, a fantastic crizia piece. A model had worn it on the catwalk in Milan and it looked great, but with fake nails and blonde hair, it looked awwwfull. It looked like someone, you know, had had a word with her about all of her clothes. And I liked the way her hair changes. You know you get what you pay for with hair and at the beginning, it looks so overworked and overprocessed - it's been permed, bleached, it's like a carpet. I imagined someone taking her to a salon uptown and doing what they call up there, the "Buttery Chunks" style.

THC: You, Elaine May and Woody in the same movie. Three situational comics all working together - extremely rare in the age of gross-out comedy. Did your three different types of comedies mesh well?

TU: Oh man, it's amazing. I can't even believe I'm here to talk about it. I mean Elaine May is one of my heroes. She's extraordinary. The pair of them together, Woody and Elaine, had more scenes together than I had with Elaind - they're quiet when they're together though. They're like the New York classics.

THC: You have a fashion website, www.purpleskirt.com. What's up with that?

TU: It's a business venture! The office I work out of has become very internet savvy - and we sent one of our boys to the crash courses at the Holiday Inn in Glendale for the weekend. And my husband started a television distribution venture on the Web and so we had all the technology in the office. So when I did Woody's film and took a year off HBO, a girl in my office came in and suggested, "Why don't we start selling clothes on the web?" Because I'm totally into clothes and I know so many people and my friend has two Fred Segal stores in Los Angeles. I looked on the web and there's tons of cosmetic sites but there's no eclectic clothes sites. There's just Land's End, J Crew, GAP, but you know what you're going to get. We've taken younger designers and created this great mix - even in sizes 16, 18, because everyone can't be an Italian model. And I love fashion but I hate it when people are like I have to wear that because the magazine says so - everyone ends up looking the same! It's like these homemaking shows - everyone looks like they have a bloody house in Connecticut. Where's the individuality??

THC: Last question, Tracy. Did you sample any of those cookies that you make for the company in the film?

TU: Ugggghhh, nooo! [squeals, groans] I don't eat shit like that! I'm an organic person. I'm always like, "Is there anything organic around here?" Woody's making it with the cracker jacks - he looks so sweet eating apple jacks in those stone washed denim shorts. Don't you just want to make a beanie baby out of the guy?