7:34PM: Joining the jam-packed house at the legendary Saban Theater in Hollywood are executive producers Dean Holland, Dan Goor, co-creator Michael Schur, Retta (Donna Meagle), Jim O’Heir (Jerry Gergish), Chris Pratt (Andy Dwyer) and Amy Poehler (Leslie Knope). Also joining members of the cast and creative team are cardboard cutouts of cast members missing in action, including Aziz Ansari, Rob Lowe, Aubrey Plaza, and Adam Scott. Not included was Nick Offerman, who hoped to make it despite shooting a movie in nearby Burbank (He didn’t!).
7:35PM: “I think that Ben is the love of Leslie’s life,” says Amy Poehler with regards to her on screen love life. “And I think this season was really great because Mike [Schur] and all the writers did such a good job of exquisitely torturing us by pulling them apart and pushing them together. It was really great to get to play really big comedic moments and then really small lovely moments.”
7:36PM: Apparently, one of the working titles for the show when Greg Daniels and Michael Schur were tossing around ideas was THE EDUCATION OF LESLIE KNOPE. “The idea was that you’d follow Leslie’s professional and personal growth as a human with the original pitch being that Leslie would have a series of relationships with different kinds of guys,” says Schur. “But then we brought Adam Scott on board and we couldn’t break them up, they’re so good together and their backgrounds compliment each other perfectly.”
7:38PM: With so much of art and literature focusing on ‘making it in the big city,’ Amy Poehler believes there is something really sweet and moving about people deciding to be in love with their own small town. [Read more…]