Jennifer Garner and Judy Greer Reflect on 20 Years of ‘13 Going on 30’

I read that and wanted to ask how true it was—did he actually threaten to quit over having to dance?

Garner: His face was pretty grim. We were having so much fun and he was enduring it, but by the end of the day he did not look happy. Which is funny because, JG, wasn’t that one of the best rehearsal processes you’ve ever had?

Greer: It’s one of the only ones I’ve ever had, but yes.

Garner: I would shoot Alias all week then go to rehearsals for 13 Going on 30 on weekends. That was when Gary really dug in—we would loosely stage the scenes in a hotel room with a writer, and talk about what the scene is trying to do and where it falls short. Then this writer would take what we came up with and turn it around that night so we could rehearse new pages the next day.

Greer: Gary was tireless about making the script as good as it could possibly be. It was so unusual—and still is—to have rehearsal time before a shoot. Most people meet for the first time on set, right before they say action. One of the things you get out of a rehearsal process is writing to the actors’ strengths. That’s one reason this film feels so intimate.

Garner: I remember working on some of my early scenes with JG and my scenes with Mark where we’re walking around the city talking. Mark comes from a stage background, so he was totally down to play dramaturg and say, “This doesn’t track with how Matty would react,” or, “This doesn’t make sense.” We would just toss things around.

Judy, aside from Jawbreaker, this was the first time you got to play a character with a mean streak. Do you enjoy working in that mode?

Greer: A lot. It’s really, really fun. I think people on set are slightly more nervous around you than when you’re playing a happy dumb-dumb. People on the crew would walk up to me after a take and go, “You’re such a bitch!”

Garner: Well JG, you were not always the nicest to me…

Greer: I had to be pretty mean to Jen in rehearsals. I totally got into this headspace of, Ugh, everybody loves Jen and wants to be her. I can’t complain about anything until she does and she never will, so I guess I’ll just never get a Diet Coke!