This evening, Drop Dead Diva returns for its third season, and star Brooke Elliott joined us for a conference call to chat about what’s in store for Jane Bingum this year.
Why do you think audiences have become so attached to Jane and this series?
I think that they watch because we are talking about identity. We’re talking about who are you and what do you want and what happens when your life is different than you thought it was going to be. There magic in that, and I think people can really relate to that as a universal topic.
Will Jane find romance this season now that Grayson may be off the market?
I love that’s happening with Jane this season – she’s a little flirtier, a little sexier, definitely more comfortable in her life, and she’s going to date some. What I love underneath all of that is there’s this turmoil about whether she really belongs with Grayson or whether her life is supposed to take her somewhere else. You know, if you change your circumstances you change your fate, and I love that concept. She’s starting for the first time to maybe really question that where in past seasons, it’s been her attempt to get that old life back in whatever way she can. I love the fact that she’s growing a bit, really having to question things and that we just don’t know what’s going to happen even though she loves him with everything in her.
Do you think Jane and Grayson are soul mates, and that they should eventually end up together?
Yes. I believe that Jane and Grayson should end up together. I’m such a romantic at heart. But I believe that Grayson has to fall in love with Jane, who she is and not because he knows Deb is in that body. I feel like that’s cheating. He has to fall in love with her for who she is. I do believe in soul mates, but I don’t necessarily believe that there’s just one soul mate for a person.
Can you tell us about any of the upcoming musical numbers?
Actually in our first episode I get to sing “Don’t Leave Me This Way”, and it turns into this full blown musical number that Tyce Diorio choreographed. It’s really, really fun. And then we sing a couple more times this season.
Although you do get to be part of some fun musical numbers on the series, do you miss being on Broadway?
You know, I do miss Broadway. I miss the energy and the audience and there’s a whole relationship that happens with the audience and the performers. And there’s such an adrenaline rush that you get from doing a story from beginning to end. I love that and I miss that.
However, I love TV for such different reasons. I love that you can work on a moment until you think that it’s exactly what you wanted to portray in that moment. I love that you could put different pictures together and tell a story, and if you change the picture you change the story. Those little minute details are so fun for me that I love TV too.
Brooke Elliott returns as Jane Bingum in Drop Dead Diva tonight at 9/8c on Lifetime in the US. A Canadian start date has not been announced as of yet.
Photo Courtesy of Lifetime
