411Mania Interviews: Marla Sokoloff

Posted by Al Norton on 07.09.2009

411's Al Norton sits down for an exclusive interview with Marla Sokoloff to talk about her NBC mini-series Meteor, her role on The Practice, and still being hounded by Full House fans.



Marla Sokoloff was just 13 when she first appeared on your TV sets in a recurring role on Full House. Since then she has gone on to many TV and movie appearances, including a six year run on the Emmy winning series The Practice. Earlier this year she co-starred in Lifetime's top rated mini-series Maneater and this Sunday can be seen opposite Jason Alexander and Christopher Lloyd in the NBC mini-series Meteor.

Al Norton: I was happy when I saw you on Burn Notice last season, and then came Maneater, and now Meteor…Was there an action plan to be working more or is this just when the parts came in?

Marla Sokoloff: You know, I wish I could saw I took some time off and was starting to work again (laughing)…I just had a really good year, which was awesome and I'm super grateful for that. I had a rough little patch for a second where work wasn't really coming my way.

Al Norton: Do you feel momentum when parts like this start to come in?

Marla Sokoloff: Yes, and I actually definitely believe in that. I believe that momentum is something that's really important in the business that we're in, the craziness of it all. If you go away for 5 seconds people think you quit or have a drug problem or something. I was really pleased with the consistency of it all.

Al Norton: These days it seems like a drug problem can be a positive career move.

Marla Sokoloff: I know. I really got to get me one of those (laughing).

Al Norton: How did Meteor come to be for you?

Marla Sokoloff: The script was sent to me and I was elated when I read it, for many reasons, one being Christopher Lloyd was going to be in it and he's someone I have always wanted to work with. Also, it was something I had never done before, it was an action movie and I hadn't spent a lot of time working in that genre. I was really excited to be able to do a lot of the things required of me for the film and it was tons of fun.

Al Norton: Part of the fun for viewers with these types of disaster or "end of the world" movies is the way they can work in a b-movie mentality, or some tongue-in-cheek stuff. Is it hard to do that and still maintain a level of drama?

Marla Sokoloff: I think if you think about that, you're pretty much screwed. There are definitely times where you get a line and you think, "how the hell am I going to make this believable?" You have to get through it and know that people will laugh at those parts, if they are supposed to or not.

Al Norton: This is both an action and a science fiction movie; are you much of a science fiction fan?

Marla Sokoloff: Not a big science fiction fan. I do like a disaster movie sometimes. Everybody loves to veg out on the couch with those sometimes.

Al Norton: The cast in this movie is quite good; Christopher Lloyd, Stacy Keatch, Jason Alexander, Bill Campbell, Michael Rooker, Ernie Hudson…It must have great to be a part of that group.

Marla Sokoloff: It was pretty crazy. I was really impressed with the cast that they got. Everybody was awesome and it was so much fun to work with all of them. I had a lot of scenes by myself so the days when other actors were included I was really happy.

Al Norton: It must be a unique set of challenges when you are acting by yourself.

Marla Sokoloff: Oh yeah, ones that I was not prepared for in any way, shape, or form. I'd never done it before. It was a whole new level of weirdness.

Al Norton: Was it hard to come off a show like The Practice and go back out there looking for jobs when very little material as is good as what you were doing?

Marla Sokoloff: It's really hard. I was 17 when I got that job, so I never really knew what it was like to not be on a great show that people loved. I had to learn what it was like to get out there and pound the pavement, worrying about things like your mortgage. I never had to deal with that before because I was pretty lucky. When I got off of the show there was a period of time when I realized I was never going to have another experience like that, on many levels. Maybe it was a once in a lifetime thing but who knows, I still have time ahead of me.

Al Norton: It's been a great year for you Practice alums.

Marla Sokoloff: I know. Kelli's (Williams) show (Lie to Me) is doing so great, Jessica (Capshaw) is doing Grey's.

Al Norton: As is Chyler (Leigh).

Marla Sokoloff: Exactly. I forgot that they're both on that.

Al Norton: And Dylan McDermott has a new show on TNT…Do you think it takes some time for both viewers and casting people to stop seeing you in the roles they were first introduced to you as?

Marla Sokoloff: Absolutely. It's a really tricky situation when you got off of a series because you're seen as something for so long. I was the younger character on the show and even though I've been off of it for a number of years, people still see me as the young receptionist. It's hard to break through that mold and it takes a lot of work and a period of time for people to stop thinking of you in that one way, to forget that side of you.

Al Norton: Do people still come up to you and recognize you from Full House?

Marla Sokoloff: Oh my God. It's endless (laughing) .The Practice is a very rare occasion; it' never The Practice, it's only and always Full House.

Al Norton: With Full House, Boy Meets World, and Step By Step, you pretty much did the Holy Trinity of 80's family comedies.

Marla Sokoloff: And it was ridiculous at the time because it was once a week. At that age it was crazy because I watched those shows and then I was on the set of Full House and Step By Step. It was like heaven.

Al Norton: To put you on the spot a bit, tell me why someone who might not normally watch a disaster movie would want to tune in to Meteor.

Marla Sokoloff: I would say take out the whole disaster part of it. There is a lot of that in there but if you're not a fan of those movies, there's a lot of relationship stuff, human behavior. It's not just about a meteor; there are a lot of other things that take place. We've got something for everybody.

Don't miss part one of Meteor this Sunday at 9 pm on NBC, followed by part two the following Sunday.