When Allison Janney drove to work to start filming her CBS comedy “Mom,” she felt like Norma Desmond in “Sunset Boulevard” in the scene where Desmond returns to the studio after decades away from the camera, and the guards pay homage.
The security guard on the Warner. Bros lot paid homage to Janney, too. “he said, ‘Miss Janney, it’s good to have you back.’ I wanted to put a turban on my head,” Janney jokes.
For seven seasons (1999-2006), Janney, 53, filmed “The West Wing” here and became part of television history. Since then, she has worked constantly in feature films (“The Help,” “The Way, Way Back”), but reveals her disappointment over her television career.
“When I left ‘The West Wing,’ I thought I should be on another hit show right away. I started out in first class; I didn’t want to be in coach,” she says. “But [the pilot] ‘Friday Night Dinner’ didn’t work out. ‘Mr. Sunshine,’ that didn’t go.”
Now, she’s trying again with “Mom.” Even though the show premiered to modest ratings, “Mom” comes from the Chuck Lorre hit factory (“The Big Bang Theory,” “Two and a Half Men”) and one imagines CBS will give it time to build an audience.
On “Mom,” Janney plays recovering addict Bonnie, whose daughter, Christy (Anna Faris), is also in a 12-step program—where she runs into her estranged mother. The plot sees the women making their way back to each other.
Janney says she drew inspiration for the character from her aunt Sippie, at whose feet she would sit listening to stories of her “gallivanting around Baltimore. She would take martini shakers to the beach. She was always falling in love with the wrong men,” she says. “My aunt was a tamer version of Bonnie.”
“Mom” is not the usual Lorre show, which are usually male- and geek-centric; the chemistry between Janney and Faris was key. As early as January 2012, Lorre summoned Janney to his office on the Warner Bros. lot to see how it would go between the two actresses. Janney knew they would click going in.
“We are similarly kooky,” she says. “She understands comedy and we genuinely like each other. Chuck saw us and said, ‘Let’s do this thing.’”
Janney says, “This is the kind of job I’ve been looking for. It incorporates a live audience so it’s like the theater, and there are three days of rehearsal time. It’s a very fluid process.”
After losing two relationships because of the 15-to-18 hour days she put in on “The West Wing,” “Mom” offers a bonus. “I get to have a life outside of work,” she says.
Right now, that life is solitary, except for her pets. “I’d like to have three dogs and a man,” she says. Engaged three times but never married, the actress admits, “I’m a bad picker. I don’t go out a lot. I take risks in my acting, I’ve got to take risks in my personal life.”
When it comes to her roles, Janney seldom misses. Her work as C.J. Cregg brought her “an amazing respect,” she says. “ I felt really proud of getting letters from girls who changed their careers because of C.J. The show put a really great face on public servants.”
Still, the actress admits, “I desperately want people to embrace me in other roles.” She’s also excited about Showtime’s “Masters of Sex,” where she plays the wife of the provost (Beau Bridges) of the university where Dr. Masters (Michael Sheen) wants to do his research.
“My scenes with Beau, heartbreaking stuff,” she says.
Janney will have another chance to step out of C.J.’s shadow next summer. She plays “Mike&Molly” star Melissa McCarthy’s mother in the road-trip comedy “Tammy.” Janney says the casting is hysterical, with Susan Sarandon playing her mother. The atmosphere on the set was heavy on improv.
“We had the best time,” Janney says. “You never want to leave Melissa’s side because of the stuff that flies out of her mouth.”