Julia Louis-Dreyfus played the quirky, yet lovable, Elaine Benes on Seinfeld for nine years, and the show wouldn’t have been the same without her.
Louis-Dreyfus embodied the girl-next-door look to a tee, but for years, she’s wondered if Elaine should have been sexier.
During an appearance on “Good Hang with Amy Poehler” on December 9, the two “Saturday Night Live” alums reflected on Elaine’s signature look, which often included a baggy blazer and a loose-fitting dress.
Meanwhile, other ’90s shows such as “Friends” had characters who dressed in more form-fitting clothes.
“All those girls were so sexy. And I remember thinking like, ‘Ah, [expletive]. I should have been sexy,” Louis-Dreyfus said.
She continued, “This was such a missed opportunity … Like, a midriff. Anything!”
Amy Poehler reassured the “Veep” star, “But that’s why we love Elaine. We love her because of that, because she feels like us.”
Elaine Wasn’t Written For ‘Seinfeld’ With Her Gender in Mind
Louis-Dreyfus has had countless hilarious moments as Elaine Benes, and she revealed how her character was shaped in the early days.
“I never really approached it from the perspective of my gender, per se. I wanted to just play ball with everybody,” she told Variety in 2023.
The mom of two shared that she had to fight for more screen time, and finally, the show’s creators, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, made her character more prominent.
“But you see, they didn’t write for me as a woman. They just wrote for me, for this character, as opposed to this gender, which I think is instructive in a lot of ways from a writing point of view,” Louis-Dreyfus explained.
Writing Elaine as One of the Guys Made ‘Seinfeld’ Work
“Seinfeld” writer and producer Larry Charles confirmed Louis-Dreyfus’ story about not getting enough scenes on the show in an interview with CBC Mornings.
He recalled David suggesting they give Louis-Dreyfus a storyline made for George Costanza, which worked. “That exploded Elaine, because we had never written women before,” Charles said.
“And so now we had a way to write a woman that was kind of like the guys. She was dark, as untrustworthy, as vain as the guys were, and that made her fun to write for,” he continued.
Charles added, “That was unprecedented on television at that time. Most characters have honor, they have morals, they learn a lesson at the end.”
However, he described the characters in “Seinfeld” as being the opposite of that, adding, “And Julia was part of that ultimately. And she embraced it!”
