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Q: I was just watching the Hugh Grant movie "The Rewrite," and I'm wondering who played Prof. Weldon. She looks so familiar.

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

The stern and serious professor, with whom Hugh Grant's less-serious character immediately clashes, is a pretty standard rom-com character. She's the kind of character who really could have been played by the usual capable but unremarkable actor that normally gets that sort of role. But instead they picked Allison Janney, and the film is much better for it.

Janney was, of course, C.J. on "The West Wing," the long-running TV role she'll always be remembered for. But she's also an Oscar-winning (for 2017's "I, Tonya") big-screen actress and a Tony-nominated Broadway star. Along with her Oscar-winning role, she's also appeared in a huge number of prestigious films, including 2002's "The Hours," 2011's "The Help" and 1999's "American Beauty," not to mention currently starring in the CBS sitcom "Mom."

Yet even with all that gravitas, she's always made time for lighter comedies, such as 2014's "The Rewrite."

That said, "The Rewrite" actually had a surprisingly stacked cast — two more of the actors are also Oscar winners (though, to be fair, only one of them had the statue prior to signing on for the film).

One of those winners is leading lady Marisa Tomei, who won her Oscar more than a decade earlier for 1992's "My Cousin Vinny."

The other is the always-busy J.K. Simmons, who, in the same year he appeared in "The Rewrite," also appeared in "Whiplash" (2014), winning an Oscar for it a few months later.

These strong casting choices paid off. The Chicago Tribune said the film "shows how sharp lines and strong supporting performances can elevate the ordinary to something you tell friends to add to the middle of their Netflix queue."

 

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