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The Schmooze

Julianna Margulies Can Really Lay on The ‘Jew Guilt’

What to do when a key player on your hit series has one foot out the door? Invoke your bubbe at her most manipulative. At least that’s the route “The Good Wife” star Julianna Margulies took when trying to convince co-star and friend Josh Charles to stay on the show, Entertainment Weekly reports.

Last night at a Charlie Rose-moderated panel discussion, the conversation turned to Charles and his ”Good Wife” contract, which expired at the end of the fourth season. Charles was feeling “fried” and ready for something new. Well, that didn’t exactly sit well with Margulies.

“I called Josh, and I gave him terrible Jew guilt,” the Jewish actress said. “I knew he was about to get married and I said, ‘Josh, how about this? Fifteen episodes? Think about it. Money in the bank for 15 episodes. You’re about to get married. Do you know how expensive it is to have a baby in New York?’ I went right to the kid thing.”

And the school thing: “We were looking at kindergarten for our son at the time, and I was like, ‘Do you know how much private school is in New York?’ I went on this whole thing about kids and family, and he was like, ‘Well, 15? Let me think about that.’ And I said, ‘And two directing slots!’

It worked. Now Margulies can start pressuring her friends to make that baby.

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