“I by no means truly made tooth-to-Emmy-winner contact. I didn’t chunk.”
That’s co-creator and actor Paul W. Downs denying — to one of the best of his recollection — ever clamping down on Emmy-winner Julianne Nicholson’s hand whereas lunging to chunk her throughout their “frantic” scene in “Hacks” Season 4.
“I believe that’s the one take the place you pretended to [bite her], truly,” co-creator Lucia Aniello stated. “She would’ve been fantastic with it. She’s so sport, if Paul bit her hand, she would’ve gone with it. She wouldn’t have stopped the scene.”
“She was actually holding onto that bag,” Downs stated. “She was very dedicated.”
The scene in query, which you’ll be able to see within the full video interview above, is from Episode 9, “A Slippery Slope,” which was written by Downs, Aniello, and co-creator Jen Statsky. They had been joined by cinematographer Adam Bricker and manufacturing designer Rob Tokarz, for a digital panel dialogue as a part of Common Studio Group’s USG College.
Watch the complete video above.
Let’s break it down: Jimmy (Downs) and Kayla (Megan Stalter) are serving to a sleepy, hungover Dance Mother (Nicholson) into her dressing room, the place they need to revitalize the TikTok star so she will carry out on Deborah’s (Jean Good) late-night present. The premise is straightforward sufficient. However it’s the main points — the performances and props, the lighting and the wallpaper, the cinematography and the blocking — that elevate a humorous scene to hysterical heights.
“There have been some nicks and cuts. There have been some accidents,” Downs stated. “That was a really bodily scene. She threw herself right into a bar cart. There was blood.”
That being stated, manufacturing designer Rob Tokarz and his staff helped to guard the actors as greatest they might. When Dance Mother first enters the room, sure, she stumbles right into a bar cart, which appears and sounds harmful sufficient to get amusing — regardless that it was completely secure.
“We had to ensure the bar cart is one thing secure for her to stumble upon a number of occasions, so we needed to exchange all of the glassware with one thing that was not going to interrupt aside,” Tokarz stated. “I believe we changed the glass on the bar cart itself with tempered glass so if it had been to crack it could be secure.”
One other astute contact by Tokarz was ensuring any prop used within the scene for comedian impact would even be one thing that will logically be present in a late-night dressing room — like the large steel bucket first glimpsed when the characters enter, when it’s full of bottles of water, and later seen in close-up as Dance Mother’s getting dunked.
“We had choices on what the ice bucket would truly be and what would look greatest cinematically,” Tokarz stated. “Then we form of again it up and have it make sense to the room. All of it has to tie collectively to be reasonable, so it’s not like one thing that out of the blue appeared on the espresso desk. It was holding the water bottles at one level, after which they used it for one thing else.”
“So we take all these parts and simply ensure no person’s going to get damage, [while giving the actors] the pliability to do what they did.”
“We undoubtedly scripted a number of the bodily comedy as a result of it was such a frantic scene,” Downs stated. “They had been basically going to be dragging an unconscious girl into her dressing room and making an attempt to revive her. There was a number of alternative for us to mine moments for bodily comedy. […] Megan Stalter, Julianne Nicholson, and myself all had a number of enjoyable doing it, and I believe we’re all people who find themselves open to improvisation and ad-libbing, however that was one which we form of needed to choreograph fairly particularly. There’s so many props, and there’s a lot matching, continuity-wise. […] There was the clearing of the cocaine, which is a quite common phrase in movie and theater.”
Aniello, who additionally directed the episode, stated they don’t usually get to “do a number of rehearsal — some would possibly say none” — however they make the time for extra bodily scenes like this one. It helps maximize the humor already written into the scripts whereas figuring out unexpected avenues for added wit.
“Once we reveal she’s on all fours, that’s written into the script,” Aniello stated. “They wrestle over the bag, she runs into the bar cart, all these beats are undoubtedly there. When it comes to ‘they’re sitting down and that is the place they rise up,’ that’s the form of factor that we work out.”
“It’s a fragile dance of being very direct within the script after which additionally after we rehearse so we are able to match continuity and stuff,” Statsky stated. “But additionally, like Paul’s saying — and credit score to him — he and Meg and Julianne are so current and such unbelievable comedians that, within the second, you additionally wish to give area for them to make selections. One of many funniest moments within the scene to me is when Paul goes over to the door and throws the purse over his shoulder. That was not within the script. That was simply one thing Paul discovered within the second — or possibly Lucia, you informed him — however it was discovered on the day, within the second.”
Then, after all, there’s the act of truly capturing the whole lot written down, designed, and carried out.
“What I like about this scene from a digital camera perspective is simply how reactive the digital camera is,” Adam Bricker, the cinematographer, stated. “Now we have unbelievable digital camera operators who’re actually within the scene, dwelling within the second. There’s an excellent power to the scene, and I believe they strike the appropriate tonal steadiness of not making an attempt to introduce that power with the digital camera, however form of reacting to the performances in a method that retains it actually grounded and actual.”
“Then from a lighting perspective, we wished to maintain it naturalistic but in addition make it really feel just a little scary, like one thing dangerous would possibly occur in right here.”
One thing dangerous did occur in that dressing room, however no less than nobody left with enamel marks — or so they are saying.
“Hacks” is offered on Max.
IndieWire partnered with Common Studio Group for USG College, a collection of digital panels celebrating one of the best in tv artwork from the 2024-2025 TV season throughout NBC Common’s portfolio of reveals. USG College (a Common Studio Group program) is offered in partnership with Roybal Movie & TV Magnet and IndieWire’s Way forward for Filmmaking. Compensate for the newest USG College movies right here or straight on the USG College website.