Julia Louis-Dreyfus Told Sean Evans About The Problems She Faced Because Of Seinfeld's "Small Set"

Summary

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus discussed challenges of working on Seinfeld's "small set" and having to find creative ways to keep scenes interesting.
• Cast members like Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Alexander had to come up with their own movements and actions on minimal Seinfeld sets.
• Improvisation played a big role in creating iconic moments on the show, with actors having to figure out ways to interact in limited spaces.

Seinfeld was incredibly popular, and is still finding new fans. The series first aired in 1989 and lasted nine seasons until it concluded in 1998. The "show about nothing" starred Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards, who all earned huge profits from the series, especially Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, who came up with the iconic sitcom.

Since the series ended, the cast has spoken about the show, including what they really think of Seinfeld's finale. They've also revealed some details even the biggest fans didn't know. During one interview, Julia Louis-Dreyfus told Sean Evans about the problems she faced during filming because of Seinfeld's "small set".

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Told Sean Evans About The Problems She Faced Working On 'Seinfeld's' "Small Set"

When Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine Benes on Seinfeld, appeared on Hot Ones, host Sean Evans asked the Seinfeld actor about the show's "small set," and wanted to know if she faced any difficulties due to working in the smaller space.

Evans brought up the point that another Seinfeld actor, Jason Alexander (who played George Costanza), had called the set "tiny."

"So I was once reading an interview with Jason Alexander where he remarked about how tiny the Seinfeld set was, saying, 'If we knew that we were doing a series for nine years we would never build that set.' Elaine Benes is obviously a very physical character. Do you have any memory of being challenged by the square footage, the dimensions on set?"

The Veep actor recalled, "What we were always challenged by was, as soon as you walk into the apartment, what are you supposed to do? What business am I gonna find to do in this apartment? You cannot, you're just not gonna come in and sit on the couch every time."

Louis-Dreyfus Explained The Cast Wasn't Able To Do Much Due To Space Issues

Several shows and films feature characters with unrealistically large apartments, but it seems this serves the purpose of giving actors more space to move around and do different things, especially if several scenes are filmed on those sets. One of the problems the cast of Seinfeld faced was coming up with different things to do in Jerry Seinfeld's apartment.

During their interview, Julia Louis-Dreyfus explained to Sean Evans that the cast had few options, due to space issues, and had to overcome those limits to make the scenes in Seinfeld's apartment seem interesting.

"You had the couch, you had the kitchen, and then you had that, the sort of, the sweet spot, we kind of - I think we called the alleyway, which was sort of between the counter and the couch. And that was where a lot of stuff happened. It felt like you could hold court there, in a way," she told Evans.

The actor also remarked that she and the other cast members had to find something to do while in Seinfeld's apartment, and Louis-Dreyfus mentioned she usually kept herself busy with Jerry Seinfeld's refrigerator.

"But you also had to figure out what you were gonna do, which is why I often would go to the refrigerator, and just find things. Or even just go and look in the refrigerator, and not do anything."

"We were limited, but we had to be creative about it," Louis-Dreyfus added.

Jason Alexander Said The Cast Wasn't Always Given Directions

During Jason Alexander's interview with Archive of American Television, he also discussed the problems the cast needed to overcome because of the "minimal" sets on Seinfeld.

His comments led to Hot Ones host Sean Evans' question about what "challenges" Julia Louis-Dreyfus might have faced on the sitcom. Apparently, the actors weren't given directions about what to do with their physical movements or props.

Alexander said, "What was interesting about our process was - and this is not to diminish the contributions of any of our directors 'cause they were considerable - but our directors didn't stage the show. They didn't come up with business, which was really interesting."

Some of the memorable moments from the show that took place in star Jerry Seinfeld's apartment were improvised. Fans didn't realize Julia Louis-Dreyfus' classic move on Seinfeld was completely unscripted.

According to Jason Alexander, the cast had to figure out their own movements on the set.

"For the most part, there was no behavior indicated on the page, just dialogue, and we'd go, 'Okay, what are we doing? What's going on? We can't just stand and talk. What are we doing?' And it was very challenging because the sets were minimal. His (Seinfeld's) apartment set...first of all it was tiny. There was nothing there."

The Shallow Hal actor said there wasn't much the cast could do at the apartment, and had to come up with reasons for being there.

"There was nothing there, nothing to make you go, 'I'm gonna go over there and do this, I'm gonna go over here and play with this, I'm gonna move here. I'm gonna sit here...' So we would actually have to concoct reasons to be there, and things to do. And the four of us would get up there, and we'd start reading lines to each other, and we'd go, 'Well we can't just stand here, what are we gonna do?'"

Alexander added that working this way helped improve their chemistry as a cast. "In trying to figure out as a unit how we were going to make this thing live and breathe, like people, instead of a radio play, that ensemble energy formed."