‘Gilmore Girls’ Co-Star Remembers Alexis Bledel Drove ‘the Most Beat to S*** Car’
Gilmore Girls made Alexis Bledel a star. It was her first credited role, and she took off from there. Fame and success didn’t change her, though. Bledel’s co-star Olivia Hack, who played one of Rory’s Yale roommates, Tana Schrick, remembers Bledel still drove a beat-up old car during the heyday of the show.
Hack was a guest on Scott Patterson’s I Am All In podcast on Oct. 12 to discuss her time on season 4, during which she also revealed her deleted season 7 scene. Bledel’s car encapsulated Hack’s memory of her co-star.
Olivia Hack loved ‘Gilmore Girls’ star Alexis Bledel’s ‘beat to s*** car’
Joining the cast of Gilmore Girls wasn’t easy for Hack. She had to film her first scene twice because she looked to old the first time. Tana was supposed to be much younger than Rory. Once the season smoothed things over, Hack remembers celebrating Bledel’s car.
“I do remember her driving, like, the most beat to s*** car and really kind of loving that,” Hack said on I Am All In. “Like oh, you’re on season 4 of a network TV show and you’re driving this old sedan. I always think it’s cool when actors are a little low key like that.”
Scott Patterson weighed in on the ‘Gilmore Girls’ car habits
Hack’s anecdote triggered a memory in Patterson too. He said Bledel wasn’t the only Gilmore Girls star who drove old, beat up cars. Patterson has previously described his close relationship with co-star Lauren Graham. So he felt he was in the right position to advise her to drive a better car.
“Lauren and Alexis share that,” Patterson said. “They both were sort of car challenged. I had to give Lauren a pep talk. ‘You’re projecting an image here.’ I do remember the collection of cars Lauren had and they just weren’t up to snuff. And I just had to sit her down and talk to her.”
What ultimately worked was appealing to Graham’s tax write offs.
“I think I got her with a deduction argument,” Patterson said. “It’ll create more deductions if you lease it.”
Olivia Hack had industry seniority over Alexis Bledel on ‘Gilmore Girls’
Though Bledel was in season 4 by the time Hack joined Gilmore Girls, she was still basically only four years into her career. Hack had been acting her whole life, including memorable stints in The Brady Bunch movies and guest spots on Wings, Touched By an Angel, Party of Five ,and more classic shows. Hack empathized with the whirlwind Bledel was going through.
“She’s great,” Hack said. “I think Alexis, I don’t know her personally, but she’s very, at least with me, and we got along well, you know, she’s shy and reserved. You know, I’d been doing the actor dance for 20 years at that point. She kind of got plucked out of college and thrust into that. So I think it was all just an adjustment.”
