Tribeca TV Festival hosted a slew of different television shows, both old and new, across a host of networks and streaming platforms this past weekend. One of the shows included includes Dickinson from Apple’s new streaming service Apple TV+. Dickinson is a coming-of-age comedy that gives an inside look at the life of poet Emily Dickinson.
Dickinson created by Alena Smith, stars Hailee Steinfeld, Jane Krakowski, Toby Huss, Ella Hunt, Anna Baryshnikov, John Mulaney, and Wiz Khalifa. We spoke with Adrian Enscoe, who plays Emily’s older brother, Austin Dickinson about the show. Here’s what Adrian had to say:
The Knockturnal: Can you speak about collaborating with Alena?
Adrian Enscoe: Alena, wow. She is a mastermind. She’s like she’s a star. She’s been like the person to discover all the answers together. I can’t tell you the amount of times we were like, “What is this question about this character or this moment?” and we figured it out together. I was not expecting that from a writer who had such a specific vision, but I really think it’s a testament to how she writes and the kind of skill level that she’s on at this point.
The Knockturnal: What should we know about Austin, heading into the show?
Adrian Enscoe: Austin’s heart is in the right place…I think. Even when he’s doing shitty stuff. He’s dealing with his fragile, white, straight male ego.
The Knockturnal: What was your initial reaction to the script?
Adrian Enscoe: Oh my god. It was the kind of thing that I was waiting for. People have this glass between them and a period and what Alena’s been doing is breaking down the glass- the glass wall that exists between us and making everything in the time period relatable. Because you can really learn from what’s happened in the past if you’re able to relate to it?
The Knockturnal: Were you able to delve into the period?
Adrian Enscoe: Yeah. First day of rehearsal they said, “Hey, have you read the new changes to Scene One?” and I was like, “What?” and I looked and it turned out I was riding a horse and I was like “I don’t ride horses…” and they’re like “It’s okay. We’ll teach you.” So I took a bunch of horseback riding lessons and that’s a great way to get into the period. It’s like the most analog that there is. That was a really fun- I took like six or seven horseback riding lessons, came in, we shot the scene really quickly, and that was a dream. I took badminton classes. And also like getting into the period costumes is a great way to kind of delve into the character because it’s a different structure and a different way of thinking about masculinity, about your place in the world-it’s like aspirational. Really cool.
The Knockturnal: This piece is set in a time period obviously, but it deviates from that a lot from what the trailer hints at. What’s the funniest thing you guys did that’s out of character for that time? Or one that you had fun doing?
Adrian Enscoe: I don’t think I can say specifically certain moments of the show…
The Knockturnal: Because it’s going to be a spoiler?
Adrian Enscoe: Yeah…but there are some crazy visual effects that you will see that were kind of wild to film. I can tell you that.
Dickinson is available for streaming on Apple TV+ starting November 1st.
