Jesse Williams On The Beauty Of The Amalfi Coast, Producing Television, And ‘Hotel Costiera’

essencemagazine

The Prime Video series blends the genres of action, comedy, and drama all into one, making one of the year’s most anticipated shows. Caption: “As a producer, you always have to scan the field and think about the end result.” - Jesse Williams

Transcript

00:00We give thanks every day, literally we give thanks every day on the way into work

00:03and when that sun would set.

00:08It leaks into every element, maybe except for the acting.

00:11That might be the only part that's spared and has to be pure

00:15and committed to what's true for the character.

00:18I'm on set when I'm not shooting. I'm watching everything.

00:20I'm looking at dailies, the playback of the day, what we shot today,

00:25giving notes, doing story notes for tomorrow,

00:28talking about wardrobe for the characters who I participated in casting,

00:32you know, all the actors and working together with this incredible team.

00:35Our leader, Adam Bernstein, the director who's got, you know,

00:38one of his resumes in television from Breaking Bad to Fargo to 30 Rock,

00:45is a real master of tone and, you know, because we're comedy,

00:48but we're also an action show, but we're also like an adventure show.

00:52We're also like a family drama.

00:54There's a lot of different things at play and all of them are truly occurring.

00:57So we're kind of genre bending in that way.

01:00But that producer observation had is always, those gears are always grinding.

01:04I mean, this is such a collaborative medium.

01:07The actor always gets a lot of the credit, but, you know,

01:10I like to say like 40 different people need to do their jobs exceptionally well

01:13at the same time.

01:14Probably the comedy.

01:21You know, I think my lifestyle and what I've dedicated my life to is often so serious and important.

01:29And I like comedy at heart.

01:32I'm a joyful person, I like to think.

01:34And there's such an art and craft to comedy, to pulling it off,

01:39to the timing, to the detail, to the physicality of it,

01:42all these little nuanced moments.

01:44That was really fun to explore and kind of relax into and show,

01:48because I don't get to do it very often.

01:50We give thanks every day.

01:51Literally we give thanks every day on the way into work and when that sun would set.

01:55It is spectacularly beautiful.

01:57I'm an ocean guy.

01:58I love being by the sea.

01:59It makes me feel just closer to God and it's such a powerful marvel.

02:04It's humbling.

02:05So that really does give me energy.

02:07It's hard to be mad on the ocean, like by the ocean, by a beautiful view.

02:11There's a peacefulness to that.

02:13It also practically, in terms of knocking out the work there,

02:18it's actually a very, there's only one road in and one road out.

02:21We only have two weeks to shoot everything that we need to shoot there.

02:24So you kind of have this figurative kind of gun to your head, like,

02:27yeah, it's beautiful and all, but you got to go.

02:29You got to get this done today, because you don't have it tomorrow.

02:32You got to move to this other spot tomorrow.

02:34So you're chasing.

02:35And we're also shooting all the scenes for that hotel.

02:38We're shooting them all in two weeks.

02:40So I'm shooting a dramatic reaction scene from episode two,

02:44before I've even met the actors who are in that scene from episode three,

02:48and out of order, everything is out of order,

02:50and that's like a different mathematical version of acting.

02:53So it came with all these kind of stress points, even though you're in heaven.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended