According to Michaela Watkins, season 2 is like a Paul McCartney concert
Casual?
Credit the cast for playing their parts in various states of emotional, mental, and physical undress.
Theyre game for anything and thats without booze!
Credit: CHRIS McPHERSON for EW
Whats different about working on a streaming series?
MICHAELA WATKINS:There are fewer cooks in the kitchen.
TOMMY DEWEY:Hulu is just getting into the scripted game, and theyre really gung-ho about it.
Its Saw the dailies!
and not Weve been doing this for 70 years, lets do 15 pilots and kill most of them.
TARA LYNNE BARR:They feel like fans.
WATKINS:Their notes are to make the show better, not to protect their brand.
Their brand is: Whatever it is theyre doing, theyre doing it really well.
Its not like, when they color correct, they hit one button, and its the Hulu Sheen.
Everything is so distinct.
Do you feel like people found your show in season 1?
WATKINS:My dad couldnt, even with help.
My stepmother tried, and she couldnt find it.
They got their neighbors involved.
Listen, I was not in a hurry for him to see it.
I have sex scenes.
BARR:I think theres a word-of-mouth quality.
DEWEY:Theres something about putting a denser library out there.
Now well have a second season.
People will think, Okay!
Casualis the first Hulu show nominated for a Golden Globe.
Was that a validation?
Literally thats where our stages are.
WATKINS:Right next to an incinerator.
DEWEY:Theres a car-crushing gadget.
BARR:It smelled like ripe garbage, almost at all times.
DEWEY:[In a British accent]The winds blowing south today, guvnor!
WATKINS:[Also British]Carry on, then!
Keep destroying evidence from that five-car pileup!
DEWEY:Were gonna have to shoot that orgasm again, there was a car crash!
WATKINS:Therewasa fire.
Sometimes they betray one another.
How did you build your chemistry?
DEWEY:This is where [executive producer] Jason Reitmans genius comes into play.
BARR:A fun little science experiment!
WATKINS:Nobody was a nitwit, twit, diva, or overly earnest.
What was the most intense scene to film from season 1?
WATKINS:The Thanksgiving one.
BARR:That was an emotional marathon.
DEWEY:I felt like you were at a nine on mine.
WATKINS:I dont think you could handle an 11.
DEWEY:If you look into my eyes with 11, I combust!
WATKINS:I felt crazy.
I mostly do comedy.
Tommy and me, we come from comedy backgrounds.
[To Tara] You do both.
WATKINS:And now I see why dramatic actors are cuckoo!
[Laughs] It starts to permeate your mental state a little bit.
Theres a lot of sex on the show.
Whats the preparation like for those scenes?
DEWEY:This show is really honest.
Theres a metaphor there, being laid bare.
BARR:Its never exploitative.
DEWEY:We have this really wonderful, respectful crew.
WATKINS:They all face the wall when you change between takes.
BARR:Youre like,you’re free to look if you want!
WATKINS:Porn is a slippery slope.
You start out in pasties, and after a while youre free-nippin it.
WATKINS:Weve been doing a lot of women directors.
Marielle Heller, who didDiary of a Teenage Girl.
The biggest name in our show is probably Vincent Kartheiser.
BARR:This season, we go from each others cheerleaders to each others mentors to each others detractors.
DEWEY:Theres a sliver of optimism in following strivers.
And despite their suicide attempts and stuff, they wake up seeking their joy.
They may be completely depressed, but theyre moving in a direction often a wrong direction!
but theyre trying to find fulfillment.
None of these characters is a defeatist.
No ones given up.
WATKINS:I saw Paul McCartney in concert one time.
I thought, Ugh, I bet hes gonna play all Wings, and all that crap.
There were a few tickets and I went.
Im going somewhere with this!
The acrobat, the juggler.
They were moving across the stage.
The orchestral music was becoming a little more esoteric, stranger.
And then the images started getting crazier, the music started building.
At that point, youre just like, Wow, this is a very long intro.
I dont know what fing song this is gonna be, but Im in!Im in!
DEWEY:Mr. McCartney has pneumonia.
WATKINS:And then this sheet fell.
And the lights go bright.
And then you hear, HELP!
Cut to me screaming, throwing my panties at the fing stage, going AHHHHH!
And thats what I feel like season 2 is.
Its a slow, quiet, gentle thing.
Could season 2 be the end for these characters?
WATKINS:It ties a lot up in an interesting way.
And it leaves a lot open.
I got depressed when I read the last episode.
DEWEY:I got upset too.
BARR:I also got upset.
DEWEY:No you didnt, Tara!
WATKINS:Tara didnt care.
