rattycorduroys

a super self-indulgent list of all the interviews and excerpts i can find on how christian & laura shaped their emmett and elle :o)

i've always been curious what was the creative process in writing their characters' relationship & their gradual romance so it's really cool to learn they spearheaded a lot of it ?! very sweet to read how much love & care was put into them ueue ..

(also my first time seeing them explicitly talk about their relationship at that time whahsjajwja?!)

1. Laura Bell Bundy's Interview on iHeartRadioBroadway (2020)

(On Jerry Mitchell giving her creative liberty for her Elle) [34:24] "Now I don't wait for permission for a director, [...] Now I can feel like I can do that. And I also witnessed Christian Borle doing that. I mean, he is the 'idea here', 'idea there', 'let's change this line to that', constantly at the creative team's table with ideas. And I saw that happen and I was like, 'I can do that too!' And he and I really worked very hard together to build in where these two people become friends, where these two fall in love, because it wasn't really in the script at first, so we really had to fight for that. And fell in love in the process, so there you go."

2. A Wonderful Guy: Conversations with the Great Men of Musical Theater 1st Edition , 15: Christian Borle

"It was a lot about figuring out the reality and the groundedness of the love story,"

"And at that point, Laura Bell Bundy and I were collaborating in a way and kind of falling for each other. We wanted to bring a little bit more of our actual dynamic into the thing. It just seemed like the obvious thing to do."

"And so we’d have moments of, “Well, I wouldn’t say that, I would say this. I actually have said this." And they actually listened to little moments or inside jokes that we had found. There was one epic hotel room night with [the creators] and me and Laura, which is very delicate because you are obviously there because something isn’t working and it’s in the writing. To gently figure out together how to crack it took weeks in San Francisco. A lot of politicking and a lot of gently talking, gently finding a moment, going out for drinks with producers to figure out what’s wrong and how to make it right."

"But it was the first time I felt genuinely heard, like they trusted me that I knew in my bones what was working and what wasn’t. I think we got pretty close, and I think one of the things that surprised people about Legally Blonde was that it actually did have moments of heart and soul and a sweetness to it. A genuine love story. It was really fun and gratifying in that way to—it was the first time that I felt like I molded a role."

3. Laura Bell Bundy’s ‘Blonde’ affair (Variety, 2007)

"She says she and Borle argued that their characters needed more time to connect, which led to additional songs and a romantic scene set in a men’s clothing store."

(Below the cut: Just classic bonuses of Christian and Laura analyzing the characters' romance that I liked from old official LB content ^_^)

legally blonde appreciation week → favorite characters: emmett forrest