Monday, June 25, 2007

In Praise of Merritt Wever

Basically there is only one reason why I continue to watch the waning episodes of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: Merritt Wever who plays Suzanne, Matt Albie's personal assistant.

If you don't recognize her name, don't worry. I have a feeling that in the next few years, her name is going to be on a lot of lips.

She is an actress whose career I had followed almost inadvertently before Studio 60, and now looking back on it, I am surprised that I didn't follow it with a more intense interest.

When I first saw her on Studio 60, I knew that I had seen her before, and so I looked her up on the IMDB and like I said above, I had seen a LOT of the things she was in. But a particular project stood out. She was young Lindsay Berns in Series 7: The Contenders(which I will probably write a remembering piece about sooner rather than later), and I love that movie, but because of an unfortunate tape accident, I hadn't seen it in years.



But it turns out that she was in Signs in a small role I really enjoyed(probably the only part in that entire movie I liked). And then there is that gathering of child actresses(Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffman, Rachael Leigh Cook) emerging into young adulthood that was Strike! (Yes, I've seen Strike! a few times, I admit it), and she ably held her own in the company of her young peers. And there were so many other smaller roles that she has taken over the past decade that now I keep seeing her all over the place.

She hasn't really had top billing in any of her projects yet, but from what I've read, her career as a stage actress is also in bloom, and it reminded me of something.

Back in the mid-1990's, I followed the career of a young comedian / performance artist who was trying to make a name for herself in Hollywood, and I'd see her appear deep down in the credits of a movie, like Sunset Strip, Magnolia, Road Trip or Dude, Where's My Car and various recurring roles on a few sitcoms and then, she got a part on a dramatic series and by her 4th season on the show, she was the second billed performer. I am of course talking about Mary Lynn Rajskub, and I have a feeling that one solid part is going to bring Merritt Wever into the hearts of America in the next few years as well.

She has three movies coming out this year, and I am probably going to see them all, at least on DVD. I wish her much luck on her future thespianic endeavours.

2 comments:

robkroese said...

Isn't it weird how blah Studio 60 feels? I've got like 6 of them languishing on Tivo, and I can't bring myself to watch them.

MC said...

I still think it drove over a cliff at the Christmas episode, because I watched the episode before that(B-12) 4 times over the two day period it aired.