Wendie Malick on Playing a Complex and Neurotic Character in Lifetime's "Deranged Granny"

After initially being kept at a distance Barbara manages to infiltrate the new family but when her devious nature begins to raise red flags it39s soon apparent she39ll do anything to keep the kids in her life For Malick taking on the grandma role given she usually plays against age was a great way to show age isn39t everything quotYou know when you say 39grandmother39 you immediately think of the little old lady with grey hair who bakesquot she laughed when MediaVillage spoke to her exclusivelyquotBut there39s an awful lot of my peers who are grandmothers I39m not as I didn39t have kids but women my age who have and still bring it They may have had kids at a pretty young age and now they39ve got grandchildren but they39re still vibrant and attractive womenquotMalick tells me there was never talk of portraying the character as a stereotypical grandmother quotI guess it39s not going to be a surprise that this woman is a little out of controlquot she laughed of the title quotBut when they asked me to do this they wanted me as me so it never came up and they didn39t want me aged in any way It39s not that iconic little old lady thingquotInitially it was called Grandma Dearest which kind of let you know they were going down that Mommie Dearest road It39s been a long time since I39ve done a thrillerquasi horror movie and that intrigued me I liked the director Jennifer Liao and I thought this could be a really interesting ride We had a blast and I always like to find things a little outside of my wheelhouse just to keep it interestingquotI think with this character she just loves too muchquot she continued quotI39ve known people who get completely obsessed with others in that they move into a rather dark area of stalking opposed to devotion I feel my character was just so obsessed with these kids that nothing could stand in her way She adores her son and loves those grandchildren but just don39t let anyone get in the way of her access to all of the abovequotIn playing a Deranged Granny Malick admits she did look for the redeeming qualities of a person whose sense of reality goes awry quotPeople all have flawsquot she explained quotWhat was interesting to me was finding out what happens if those flaws become the dominant feature of someone39s life I love playing complex and sometimes neurotic characters as they39ve sort of been my MO for a long time and most of the characters I seem to play have some serious character flaws amp8211 it39s what makes them interestingquotI was never the ingenuequot she added quotI just never looked like one Maybe because I was always too tall dark and intimidating or something It39s always much more fun to play people who are complex because almost everyone you know is We all have our baggage and our stuff good points and bad points People are complicated and we can all relate to the more extremequotIn an industry often criticized for ageism Malick has remained relevant She effectively used her vast career experience while playing Victoria Chase in the TV Land comedy series Hot in Cleveland an aging soap star forced to come to terms with being relegated to play older roles and feels fortunate to be where she is quotI don39t know what I would do if I wasn39t an actorquot she shared quotI love it so much and it39s kind of what I39m good at I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was younger but I sucked at science so this was the way to go There have been dry spells in my career and I think one of them was before I moved into that sort of middleaged area but it was tricky I survived and when things got slow in television or film I39d do a play which I also love to doquotShe offered great advice for career longevity admitting quotI39ve been really fortunate I have a lot of friends who are amazingly talented but maybe didn39t have the same opportunities I did I make the most of every one of them and always tell people 39Whenever you39re on a set bring it Bring it every day no matter what you39re doing and don39t ever phone it in39 It39s such a privilege to get to do the thing you lovequotDuring the pandemic Malick has managed to keep career momentum She39s done some Zoom plays a movie filmed entirely on Zoom entitled Talking and Listening as well as maintaining her animated voiceover commitments to the show The Owl House for Disney albeit from her makeshift studio closet She managed to adopt a new dog Phoebe and spend some time in her east coast hometown of Buffalo with family quotI love the northeast I miss itquot she said in closing quotBeing there this last time it was like an Indian summer and absolutely beautiful I get back often but I forgot how beautiful New York State is and it39s just beginning to turn so it39s going to be a very showy fallquotDeranged Granny is telecast Saturday September 12 at 8 pm on LifetimePhotos courtesy of LifetimeClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not 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Wendie Malick on Playing a Complex and Neurotic Character in Lifetime's "Deranged Granny"

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Steve Gidlow

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Wendie Malick on Playing a Complex and Neurotic Character in Lifetime's "Deranged Granny"

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Steve Gidlow

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