LOS ANGELES — It’s a steamy afternoon in a sun-soaked loft in Los Angeles and Allison Janney is in full clown makeup preparing for her dance solo.
“Should we not even address it?” Janney joked of her dramatically painted eyes and bright red nose.
“Let’s just talk like we’re absolutely serious,” she said while settling in for an interview on the set of Rachael Yamagata’s new music video.
The seven-time Emmy winner and “Mom” star had no qualms with the physical transformation for Yamagata’s “Let Me Be Your Girl.”
“I’ve always loved her music and I’ve never done a music video. And I thought, ‘What the hell?’ Definitely I’m all about doing things I haven’t done before and I’m having fun,” Janney said.
The video, directed by actor-filmmaker Josh Radnor of “How I Met Your Mother,” premiered Tuesday.
The unlikely trio took a quick break between takes to chat about the project, Yamagata’s newfound optimism and her latest album, “Tightrope Walker,” released last week.
How did you get Allison Janney to agree to this?
Yamagata: There was a lot of money involved.
Radnor: You’ve got to pay to play with Janney.
Yamagata: No, I was very fortunate. We have a mutual friend, Emily Wachtel, who is a champion of my music and talked to Allison about my song and just convinced her to do it.
Janney: No convincing at all! I knew of Rachael way before my friend Emily asked me to do this because I use music a lot to prepare for when I act. And there are several songs of hers that would make me feel things and I love her music. And then Josh and I went to (the same) college. He directed me in “Liberal Arts.”
What’s your vision for the video?
Radnor: I started listening to the song and for some reason I just had this image of Allison putting on like funky kind of clown makeup and then just dancing. I was like, “I would really love to see Allison dance to this song in a clown outfit.” And that’s how the whole thing started.
Janney: Probably one of my favorite things to do is dance. I do a lot of dancing by myself in mirrors and it gives me a lot of joy. I think I’m not alone. I think a lot of people are private dancers.
What was your inspiration for “Let Me Be Your Girl”?
Yamagata: This is one of those like put your windows down, drive, songs of joy. … My sort of calling card in music has always been these troubadour of heartbreak, get-your-soul, emotional breakup songs. … This new record is a different side. I finally think I figured out how to express the optimism that I feel in life into art.
How would you describe the new album?
Yamagata: Almost like Tom Waits and Nick Cave meet Roberta Flack. There’s beautiful cinematic songs. There’s saxophones and banjos and drumming on ladders in the middle of the woods and French spoken word. It’s a smorgasbord of sound. I keep describing it as if you’re thinking of quitting anything then this might be the record for you. Call me Pollyanna. I’m changing my tune.
