‘Gilmore Girls’: Why Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs Worried They Wanted a Woman to Play Principal Merton
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs appeared on two episodes of Gilmore Girls as Principal Merton. Merton was the principal of Jess (Milo Ventimiglia)’s high school. Hilton-Jacobs thought they were looking for a female principal, so he was surprised he ended up getting the role, let alone coming back a second time.
Hilton-Jacobs appeared on Scott Patterson’s I Am All In podcast on Sept. 7 to talk about his role on Gilmore Girls. He described being the only man to audition for the role of Principal Merton.
A room full of women auditioning for Principal Merton intimidated Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs
Apparently, Principal Merton only has a last name. That meant the principal could have been either a man or a woman. When Hilton-Jacobs got to the Gilmore Girls audition, he thought he was out of his element.
“It was funny, man, on casting, I was the only male up for the gig” Hilton Jacobs said on I Am All In. “I was like,’ I don’t think it was going to happen.’ I came and met and they had the audition process. And I saw all these females, and a lot of wonderful actresses who’d been around for a long time and so forth.”
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs was surprised ‘Gilmore Girls’ wanted him
A lot of Gilmore Girls guest stars have fun stories about their auditions. Katie Walder, Rusty Schwimmer and Rose Abdoo auditioned for multiple roles. Alan Blumenfeld had his arm in a cast when he auditioned. Hilton-Jacobs was relieved when his audition went so well.
“I was like okay, let me just go in and do my thing,” Hilton-Jacobs said. “And I went in, I popped up my glasses and I did it. They didn’t let me leave the room. Told me I had the part.”
Principal Merton’s first impression on ‘Gilmore Girls’
Luke (Patterson) shows up at school to meet with Principal Merton about Jess. The situation is rather dire. Jess has done “Nothing,” Merton tells Luke. “No homework, no class participation. His attendance record is erratic at best. His attitude towards his teachers ranges from indifference to hostile. He shows no interest in school activities or other students. And there is the issue of the disappearing baseballs. Every baseball on campus seems to have disappeared.”
At the end of the scene Merton reveals they’ve been using tennis balls as substitutes. Gilmore Girls never resolved the missing baseballs, but Merton was more focused on Jess’s grades.
“Now, I don’t suspect we’ll solve every problem in one meeting so let’s focus on the most important one: his grades,” Merton said. “Not good. You’re going to have to do a lot more than talk to him. You’re going to have to help him.”
Luke doubted his ability to help Jess with his schoolwork. Merton suggested hiring a tutor.
“Mr. Danes, Jess is flunking out,” Merton said. “He’s not going to make it. If something is not done about that right now, he’s going to repeat this year. I’m sorry, but that’s where we are.”
This would ultimately come to pass as Jess did not graduate from high school.
