LOS ANGELES – Piper Kerman may be blonde and attractive like the woman (Taylor Schilling) who plays a fictionalized version of her on Netflix's “Orange is the New Black” – but as the author herself tells it, what you see on the show is wildly different from her own experience.
“They take [my] book ['Orange is the New Black'], and they put it in a blender with a lot of other ingredients, and they press liquefy,” said Kerman, who stopped by to chat with me at the Emmys on Sunday. And no, she never actually feels like she's watching herself.
“I always think of Piper Chapman as a creation of Jenji Kohan's writing and Taylor Schilling's acting,” she said. “So when I watch the show, I don't watch it and feel like, 'Oh, that's me! That's me!' I just think she's a fascinating and compelling character.”
After watching the full interview with Kerman, you can also check out my brief chat with Nick Sandow – the actor who plays prison official Joe Caputo on the Netflix series – below.