Costar Can Exhale With Her Show, 'Weeds,' Renewed

By: Gail Shister

Elizabeth Perkins, costar of a comedy about suburbanites and marijuana, says red wine is her drug of choice.

"I haven't really smoked dope in years," says Perkins, nominated yesterday for a Golden Globe for her performance in Showtime's Weeds. "It always made me kind of paranoid and sweaty and self-conscious."

Perkins' character, Celia, doesn't smoke, either. Her friend, Nancy (Globe-nominated star Mary-Louise Parker), sells weed to support her family after her husband's unexpected death in their mythical, cookie-cutter town of Agrestic, Calif. The acclaimed Weeds, on the bubble for most of its rookie season, was renewed yesterday for 12 episodes, starting this summer.

"I was holding my breath," says Perkins, whose credits include Must Love Dogs and Finding Nemo. "But after being in the business 20 years, I don't worry as much as I used to. I just assumed they'd be crazy not to."

Still, networks "will take shows off at the drop of a hat. Even if a show's been nominated for 10 Emmys, there's no guarantee." (See Development, Arrested.) Playing the uptight, weight-obsessed, alcoholic Celia is a blast, Perkins, 45, says. "In your 20s and 30s, you're trying to establish yourself. You want meaty roles. Once you hit 40, you just want to have a good time."

Perkins compares Weeds to "a stoned Desperate Housewives." Weeds has "real women in an unreal world"; Housewives has "unreal women in a real world." Speaking of unreal, it's weird for Perkins when Celia constantly criticizes her young daughter about her weight.

"My whole family has a really healthy take on body image. We don't buy into that whole thing. I have a young daughter [Hannah, 14]. She's a dancer. She's not starving herself."

At 5-foot-8 and 140 pounds, Perkins is "a big woman," she says, especially in a town where actresses are expected to wear doll-size clothing. "For Celia to harp on her daughter when she's not a thin, pristine woman makes it that much more horrible. I'm not practicing what I preach."

Perkins was clearly out of practice when the phone rang at 5:45 a.m. yesterday with news of her Globe nomination. "I had no idea they were being announced. I've been busy cleaning my garage the last couple of days." .

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