BETTY: Wow. "The Business of Strangers" is an intense movie. And what's with this 24 days to shoot? Was that so you could work with your schedule on "West Wing?"
STOCKARD: We shot it about a year and a half ago and that was the first season of the show when I wasn't on as much… so I had the time.

BETTY: Much of your new movie is set in the odd environment of an airport hotel. Have you personally spent much time in them?
STOCKARD: We did making the movie. We were able to check out various rooms and flip on the TV.

BETTY: Probably the most difficult scene to watch is when you completely lose it with a Sharpie marker. Was it the most difficult to make?
STOCKARD: I'd say that would be it - or getting into a bathing suit on camera. I don't know which was filled with more dread. But I knew what I was signed on for so I was just curious to see if I could pull it off.

Stockard Channing as Rizzo in Grease
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pics.

BETTY: You've had so many fabulous roles since Rizzo, but most people identify you with that character - even today. Are you aware of how much that movie resonated with kids back then?
STOCKARD: It resonated with a lot of kids, but it didn't really resonate that much in my life. People always ask me if I can remember a particular part of the movie - and I don't remember that much about it. It was a summer job and almost a side trip to me. It just didn't have the same effect on me as it did for so many other people.

BETTY: Your character in this film is truly a dynamic woman, but I wouldn't want to be against her in a hostile corporate takeover. Do you personally know women like her?
STOCKARD: I don't really know the answer to that question. She's a woman who is terribly capable, but you discover that she's about to crack up. I don't think this is her average day and she's very good at what she does - but there's something else that's operating in her. I think she's interesting. She's also recognizable to a lot of people who have given up certain things in life for a goal - and when they achieve it - it doesn't mean that much to them. She just goes postal. And I think that can happen too.

BETTY: Especially since women have to work so hard to get up the corporate ladder in the first place. The CEO just wants to have lunch with her and she's thinking she's going to be fired. She's always defending her position in life.
STOCKARD: I think it's irrational but recognizable - all those behaviors. And that's what I love about this movie. I actually saw the film with a large group at Sundance and I felt that they were intrigued by it. It's just not formulaic. A studio would never do this movie.

Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles in The Business of Strangers
Photo courtesy of i5 Films

BETTY: On choosing you, the director (Patrick Stettner) said, "There's always a sense that she's a little bit ahead of you." What do you think he means by that?
STOCKARD: I don't know. I have a pretty quick mind but I hope I'm not rude to people like my character is.

BETTY: Meg Ryan once told me that due to the lack of quality roles for older women she decided to form her own production company. Are you still getting good scripts and do you feel positive about future projects for strong female stories?
STOCKARD: Sometimes I do films that are "okay" and I do them for the money - to make a living - and that's because I'm a working actress. You never can predict the end result. I just do the best job with what I take on. I've been working a lot over the past few years. That's because there are a lot of stories that exist today that didn't exist in my mother's generation. There's no guarantee. You just do your job.

BETTY: Well then you deserve a raise! Congratulations on this movie.
STOCKARD: Thank you.