Felicity Huffman Back On Stage As A Lesbian For David Mamet's 'November'

On the eve of Felicity Huffman’s return to the stage in David Mamet’s November — where she plays a lesbian speechwriter for the president — the Los Angeles Times caught up with the actress, who had some interesting admissions.

“I’m a lemming,” Huffman told writer Deborah Vankin about her political leanings. “I have the backbone of a chocolate éclair.”

While she’s pro-choice and made an impassioned plea for transgender rights after winning a Golden Globe for Transamerica, Huffman says she often looks to others to shape her political ideals. Vankin wasn’t entirely convinced, saying, “Come on. You're a strong woman with strong opinions.” Self-deprecating Huffman disagreed with that sentiment.

What is clear is that Huffman is a great actress and her role as a gay speechwriter facing not only her boss’s likely loss in the presidential election, but a nasty cold, is highly anticipated by theater watchers and Huffman fans. The star tells Vankin that Huffman’s mother, trained as an actress before starting a family in her early twenties, never embraced her work on Desperate Housewives, instead heralding her theater roles, which began with her replacing Madonna in Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow (she credits Mamet with launching her stellar career).

“This is the first play I’ve ever done that my mom will not be coming to,” she says. But Huffman, a busy working girl who runs a blog for working moms, doesn’t have time for nostalgia or self-pity. It’s hard not to look up to this lemming as a rare Hollywood role model.

November opens Sunday at Los Angeles’s Mark Taper Forum. Click here for info and tickets.

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