The star-studded cast of Golden Globe and Emmy winning show, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” walked down the hot pink carpet at the season two premiere on Thursday night.
The premiere was hosted by Amazon at The Paris Theatre on 58th street. We were joined by writers, Dan and Amy Sherman-Palladino, Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Borstein, Tony Shalhoub, Marin Hinkle, Michael Zegen, Kevin Pollak, Caroline Aaron, Bill Groom, and Donna Zakowska.
We got a chance to speak with a few of the stars about the success of the first season and some insight about the upcoming season:
The Knockturnal: You say that writing is one of your biggest passions. Does it help reading a script as both a writer and actor?
Alex Borstein: I think it does because I’m aware of what they’re after or what they’re trying to do with the scene. So normally a note that you might have as an actor – you’re just thinking about yourself and your own character and not what has to sustain this whole script. So sometimes it helps make sense of things. You don’t feel it’s right for Suzie but you see why this pushes the story forward. Every scene has to push the story forward. If you just have a scene for the sake of talking, it’s a waste of time and people feel it. So sometimes it might not be pleasing or satisfying to the actor but you see the whole story it is.
The Knockturnal: Would you like to write for yourself or for others?
Alex Borstein: I like both. Usually the things I write – it’s something that I’m going to be in or work on. Right now I’m working on a play and a weird book.
The Knockturnal: What has been most exciting about this process for you?
Caroline Aaron: Because my background, I suppose, started in theatre – the play’s the thing. It always has been, it always will be. So the most exciting thing is the writing. If you have good writing, everything else is good. I’ve done a lot of things where you have to make a mountain out of a molehill. This time you get to climb the mountain.
The Knockturnal: It’s word for word, right?
Caroline Aaron: Word for word. Sometimes I am so not polite to the person who keeps you in check because you’ll be doing these really long takes – a couple pages of dialogue and I see her walking over and I’m just like “What? What? What did I say wrong?” And then she’ll tell me. But it’s worth it.
The Knockturnal: Speaking of the theatre – do you have any passion to go back?
Caroline Aaron: You betcha. Always will.
The Knockturnal: Any dream plays? Dream women to play?
Caroline Aaron: Lots of dream plays, dream women plays. I’m also writing plays. For women. Because you know what happens? You start looking around and go “Where’s that part?” And I go it’s not there – I guess I have to write it. And I that’s why Amy did the same thing. Believe me, I worship at her altar.
The Knockturnal: This whole production is so detailed, so meticulous. What was the biggest challenge for you, working on this production?
Bill Groom: Well you mentioned the word detail and that’s it. To keep all of that in mind with every choice that we make. Making sure that it’s true to the period and true to the lives and personalities of the characters as well.
The Knockturnal: You say that your job is not so scientific as it is artistic –
Bill Groom: I like to say that – and art is messy. There’s not really science to it. A lot of it is intuition, is a lot of collaboration with other departments and other people and that’s sort of the fun of it.
The Knockturnal: Is it ever surprising when you step back and you watch the footage?
Bill Groom: Sometimes. Sometimes things happen with meaning to the show that you don’t really expect and you’re just making a choice and moving forward and then you see it. And also after you’ve done a whole season of something like this – it’s true of movies as well – you come to a premiere, you sit there and you look at it, having been away from it for a while and you just think “how did we do all of that?” But it’s one step at a time – we start, keep our heads down and do the work and hope that we’re successful.
The Knockturnal: As an accomplished actor, what keeps you motivated – aside from the new storylines – in between projects?
Kevin Pollak: I created a mantra about ten years ago which is if you’re not creating you’re waiting. As an actor, you wait for the phone to ring. Either your agent telling you about an opportunity or someone – like in the case of the Palladino’s who called and said do you want to do this show. So I just got tired ten years ago, waiting, and I realized I had been creating already. So I’m now focused more on the creating and not depend on the waiting. And I think it’s true in life as well – instead of waiting for life to happen, why not create some life.
Season two premieres this Wednesday, December 5th!
