Martha Plimpton, who plays Virginia Chance on Raising Hope, recently spoke to the press about this season of the show, the “Clean Sweep” contest that she and co-star Garret Dillahunt are participating in, and more. Read on to see what she had to say.
On what she thinks resonates with viewers about the show
Martha: Well, I think it’s really well written. I think people are surprised when they watch it at how well written it is. I think people are surprised by the sort of underlying sophistication of the show, and I think that as nutty and as crazy as it gets, it has a sort of underlying core of honesty and authenticity. These are people who love each other and it’s not cynical.
They’re not mean to each other. They’re all in it together. There are a lot of families out there in this county, who are living with multiple generations under one roof, and they can relate to the sort of ridiculous things that happen when you’re living with that many people in a home. Stuff like that I think.
Jump with me to read more.
On guest stars this season
Martha: Well, as you know, Melanie Griffith and her mom, Tippi Hedren, are on our premiere episode. Then coming up, who else do we have? We have a bunch of people. We have Jenny Slate coming on, who was an SNL alumn.
Oh, of course, Wilmer Valderrama, what am I even thinking? He is on a bunch of episodes coming up. Chris Klein, who is hilarious. Then I’m not sure who is coming up after. We have a little bit of a break right now, so I don’t know who is coming up after that.
On this season of Raising Hope
Martha: We are going to be branching out a little bit, meeting more of Sabrina’s family, and seeing a little bit more of the outside world. There is a risk that Maw Maw could be removed from the home, and we have to rescue her from a state-run nursing home. We sort of pull off a little Mission Impossible thing there. What else? Just more of the same, hilarious hijinks.
On Virginia’s use of malapropisms
Martha: That’s all the writers, but to be honest, we did incorporate something that a friend of my father’s says a lot in an upcoming episode about a real estate mongrel. I feel proud to be able to have contributed to at least one malaprop, and I think I may have contributed one or two others last season; although, I don’t know if I remember which ones they were. No, that’s the writers. The writers are brilliant.
On filming with the twins now that they’re a little older
Martha: First of all, they’re so smart, they’re so sweet, and they’re so fun that they’re never hard to work with, ever. Now that they’re getting a little older, it’s harder to get them to do things if they don’t want to do them. It’s easier when they are babies. You can just prop them in a chair, and they’re just adorable, you know what I mean? The girls are learning the concept [of] “no.”
The truth is they are so sweet, and their mom is so great with them, and they love coming on set. They like everybody there. They have a good time. We try to keep it fun for them. It’s actually been really easy.
On the “Clean Sweep” contest
Martha: Well, last May, during the up fronts, I pitched an idea for a contest that I wanted to do to engage the fans more and give thanks to them, because I was so excited about getting a third season. I suggested to the people over at Fox that we have a contest in which Raising Hope’s biggest fans win a chance for me to come fly anywhere in the country and clean their house.
I was amazed that they thought it was a good idea, and that they wanted to do it. So here we are, and we somehow managed to hoodwink Garret into it as well. He is going to be coming with me and cutting lawns or cleaning pools, whichever is more appropriate.
To enter the “Clean Sweep” contest & get a chance to meet Martha & Garret, you have to submit an awkward family photo. You can get more info at: FOX.
Thanks to Martha for taking the time to speak to everyone. Tune in to new episodes of Raising Hope every Tuesday on FOX at 8/7c.
