The Reason Alex Lesman Didn’t Talk as Fast as Lorelai

Alex Lesman (Billy Burke) was one of Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham)’s boyfriends on Gilmore Girls. While it took four seasons for Lorelai and Luke (Scott Patterson) to finally date, Alex was the one man Patterson even liked for Lorelai. One thing that made Alex stand out is he didn’t speak in the rapid fire pace of Stars Hollow.

'Gilmore Girls' Alex Lesman actor Billy Burke smiles on a red carpet — Billy Burke | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Burke was a guest on Patterson’s I Am All In podcast on July 20. After Patterson praised Burke for slowing down the Gilmore Girls dialogue, Burke explained why.

Scott Patterson thought Alex Lesman brought ‘Gilmore Girls’ back to reality

There is clearly a heightened style to Gilmore Girls. The dense scripts Amy Sherman-Palladino wrote and the speed with which the cast delivered them created a unique world. With Burke’s pace, Alex brought that back to reality, Patterson said.

“You didn’t allow yourself to get caught up in their rhythm and their speed,” Patterson said on I Am All In. “You had your own. Yet it was so smooth and it didn’t throw anybody off. It just kept feeding it and feeding it and feeding it because they’re going a mile a minute. But you provided, not an escape from it, but it relaxed the scenes. They just seemed more real as a result.”

Billy Burke couldn’t play Alex Lesman like a Gilmore girl

Burke knew Graham previously from co-starring in the movie Dill Scallion with her. After Gilmore Girls, Burke would become Bella’s dad in the Twilight movies and star in the series Revolution, Zoo and current drama Fire Country. Burke just didn’t see a way to speed up to the Gilmore Girls pace.

“I’m confined to what’s on the page in terms of verbiage and sentiment and dynamic and all that kind of stuff,” Burke said. “But, I probably just didn’t know what else to do but settle into how I saw it. If I were going to reach beyond that and try to attain their tempo, it would’ve been a f***ing disaster.”

Billy Burke and Scott Patterson couldn’t compete with Lauren Graham

Burke also leaned on modesty. By the time he appeared on Gilmore Girls in season 3, Graham was a pro, as was Melissa McCarthy, Alexis Bledel and the rest of the cast.

“All those people were so effing good at it,” Burke said. “I include you on this too. You were on the show for a long time. Whatever everybody was doing was obviously working.”

Patterson wasn’t so sure. He admitted keeping up with his Gilmore Girls co-stars remained a challenge for all seven seasons of the show.

“That was my challenge too because Luke was a whole different vibe,” Patterson said. “But sometimes you couldn’t help but get caught up in the speed of what was going on. That’s exactly what I was trying to achieve is what you achieved. That’s how I saw Luke but they kept whipping me to go faster so I guess I went faster.”

The Reason Alex Lesman Didn’t Talk as Fast as Lorelai

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