- 2 hours ago
'The Girlfriend' executive producer, director and actor Robin Wright and co-star Laurie Davidson sat down with THR's Beatrice Verhoeven for a discussion about the Prime Video series in a THR Q&A powered by Vision Media.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00Robin would be in the middle of a scene, crying her eyes out, like you're in it, you're like,
00:05oh my god, this is amazing, I'm doing this crazy scene with Robin, right, look at her,
00:09and then she just goes, and cut! You're like, what?
00:17Hello and welcome to tonight's THR Presents. My name is Beatrice Verhoeven, I'm the awards
00:22editor at The Hollywood Reporter. We're so pleased to have you all here. We hope you
00:27loved the episode that you just watched. And without further ado, I'd love to welcome
00:35to the stage two stars of the show, Robin Wright and Lori Davidson. Come on out!
00:45Hi, everybody. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being here. I'd love to start off right
00:52out of the bat, Robin. You not only star in a series, but you also executive produced and
00:57directed some episodes. It's a lot of hats. Including you just directed the episode we
01:03just saw. What came first in terms of your involvement with the show?
01:07Imaginarium Productions brought it to me. We hadn't sold it yet. It was adapted from a novel.
01:14And they said, do you just want to direct the pilot and create the vision of the show?
01:19And I said, yeah, I would love to. We couldn't sell it. Basically, everyone turned us down.
01:27And then Amazon greenlit us at the last minute when we were in that crunch window where we
01:32were going to lose cast and, you know, we'd have to shelve it. And so we went with Amazon
01:38and there you have it. And we couldn't get anyone to play Laura in that crunch window time.
01:47So the producers of Imaginarium said, why don't you just play her? You know her? You know her like
01:55the back of your hand? I was like, yeah, I kind of do. It's going to take more time to direct another
01:59actress because we had so little time. Yeah.
02:04Why do you think Everyone Passed? It's such a great story.
02:08They were working.
02:10They had other jobs. They were like, I'm happy on my series over here. I don't want to do a new one,
02:14which I understand, you know.
02:17And Laurie, how did you get involved? What struck you about the role of Daniel?
02:24Well, more just the show, like the two perspectives and, you know, maybe it's, I can't think of
02:33another show that does it like this. And the unique opportunity to play scenes twice often and get to
02:44tell the same event, but from a different side. And, you know, it's so interesting. Like,
02:54history is written by the victors. And that's such a part of our show. It's so easy to
03:00say that something didn't happen. You know, we're living in a time where you can just say,
03:06well, that's fake news. That didn't happen. And, you know, that's what's so interesting about this show
03:11is that it's so dependent on who you believe at any one moment. And what I liked about Daniel is he
03:18believes both of these women. And it's only throughout the series that that distrust starts
03:24to creep in. And he's left with a kind of impossible choice. And yeah, I was drawn to him
03:33and his big heart, really.
03:35Was that unique format a challenge to both in terms of directing and then also Robin in terms of
03:41directing? Sorry to say acting. In terms of acting. And then Robin also in terms of directing.
03:46I mean, in the prep period, it was all about when can I get my script supervisor? How soon can I
03:55hire her so we can make the graphs? You know, we did. It was like math class. We did lists of
04:03reactions with dialogue, without dialogue.
04:07Eyes onto Cherry. Cherry's eyes onto Laura. We would literally dissect the beats that we needed
04:18per perspective. And then in the editing room, it was so great because I could steal from the graph of
04:27Cherry and put it in Laura's perspective. So I had much to work with in that context, you know.
04:35So we had fun. I mean, we were so alive. It was a Greek tragedy. But we made it out alive.
04:44But we'd shoot those perspectives at the same time. So you had to be on your toes. There were
04:48definitely times where it'd be like, you know, set and camera rolling. And you'd be like, yeah,
04:53yeah, yeah. Wait, wait, whose perspective are we doing? Is this Laura's a cherry? Okay, cool,
04:58cool. I've got to be this. Okay. Because certainly for me, you could lean either way,
05:04whichever serves like mom's memory of the event or Cherry's memory of the event. And you get kind
05:11of flips like a pendulum. They're very different tellings of the same story. There were definitely
05:15times where, you know, because also POV and viewpoint were interchangeable. So I had some moments where I
05:23may have played the wrong one. But you could use it in the edit, you know.
05:30I'm curious how you both tapped into the psyche of your characters. You know, obviously, Laura is
05:41an overbearing mother, to put it lightly.
05:46There was such innocence.
05:48I know, you know.
05:49Is that fair to say?
05:50Yes.
05:51That's fair to say.
05:52This one came in. He was the last one to read.
05:55And I was in England for quite some time doing the prep. And I am really close with my son. And I was
06:04like, he's so like my son. He's so hopper. I was like, oh. And I said, let's go off script. We read
06:12the scene together, the sauna scene that you saw in this episode, which was differently written at the
06:19time. And we added things like, when he says, oh, she reminds me of you. And we ended the scene with,
06:29or I remind you of her. So we were finding those things together. And he did it in the
06:36audition, where I said, let's throw the script away. And let's just riff as mom and son. And we just,
06:44we had this great banter. And I was like, he's, he's Daniel. He's, I could totally see traveling
06:51the world with him. How weird is that? A gap year. But you know, I could see that happening.
06:56What do you mean? I did that with my mom. Did you kiss her on the lips though?
07:06Yeah.
07:06That wasn't scripted as well. We added that.
07:14Here's a fun question for you. And I don't want to speak for everyone in the audience,
07:17but for me as a viewer, you know, I'm like, okay, who do I side with? You know,
07:21there are certain times where I'm like, all right, I could see this side. I could see this side. I'm
07:26curious what your position is. Who, who, who will you, who would you side with?
07:32Me? Yeah. And Robin. Oh, gosh. Ah, I don't know. I don't know if it's split generationally or
07:42I think, oh gosh, I don't know. I've stumped him. You know? Yeah. I mean,
07:49let me tell you something. Go on. A sexy young girlfriend is going to win over mom. Just call
07:55a spade a spade. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. You're probably right. Yeah. And Robin, you're not new
08:05to the psychological thriller genre. I'm curious, do you ever feel the need to decompress after a
08:12scene or even a whole project? And what's kind of your come down method? I've never experienced this.
08:20um, the amount of time and the grind that the, you know, it's been four years from beginning to end
08:30and this is the end. So I'm going to take some time off for a minute. It was so much fun to make.
08:40I mean, I had an incredible team could not have done it without them. The best crew, the best.
08:46And when you have the same visionaries in your camp, you know, you're like, that's, that's a
08:55birthday and Christmas present all wrapped up in one. Thank you so much for having a team and these
09:02pro actors. Cause I was like, guys, we don't have time to do three takes. We just don't,
09:08we got to move on. We have to get this coverage on this day. Um,
09:14and they were like sponges. You could throw a little story out to Lori, Olivia, Waleed,
09:22all of them, Shalom, Kanya. We were, we were a team. It felt like a family. And
09:30I think because I'm an actor also, there's a, there's a trust there with the other actors.
09:40They know, I know what they have to do to get there. And I just felt like we built this fortress
09:48around us with this amazing team that helped us build this series. I mean, we really, we worked at
09:58we worked at the writing. We were part of infusing our characters. Like maybe my character would say
10:06this line, don't you think? You know, and pass that to the writers and yeah, we all really
10:12collaborated well together. I mean, sorry to embarrass you, but you are such a collaborator.
10:18Like people talk about it, but Robin will like anyone. And it's not just like, obviously the cast,
10:24but you, Robin really respects the creative inputs of everyone on a set. And there are no like silly
10:30ideas or anything. She will just, if you have something that you want to try or talk about,
10:36Robin will put it in and try it. That's just so open with that. And the other thing you're talking
10:41about decompressing after a scene, just Robin would be in the middle of a scene, crying our eyes out.
10:49Like you're in it. You're like, Oh my God, this is amazing. I'm doing this crazy team with Robin,
10:53right? Look at, look at that. And then she just goes, I can't. You're like, what?
10:58So I don't know about decompress, but it was just a switch would flip. And suddenly it was direct
11:03to hat was on and they were like, there was no like, like warm cool down. It was straight in.
11:09And then she's off with the DOP going like, we can just work on that, work on that. And I'm
11:13saying they're going like, what? Yeah. Pretty impressive woman.
11:19So what did you do after, after, you know, you wrapped?
11:22I needed to decompress after Robin. Yeah. Sorry.
11:26No, I'm also curious, you know, when you say you guys didn't have a lot of time,
11:29does that also mean you didn't have a lot of rehearsal time or did that mean you had
11:33more rehearsal time? Cause you had less takes.
11:38Well, I built in the rehearsal time that was not on the schedule
11:42and the kids, as I called them, or the kids willing to come on a Sunday.
11:48It was that kind of thing. Can they just, we'll have croissants and tea and coffee. And
11:53we had a room in the production office or the hotel when we were in Spain and we taped
12:00the shape of the room. This is the butcher block. This is the chairs for the kitchen
12:07table. This is, so they got a sense of the room because they had never seen the
12:11location. I had seen the location for four weeks prior. And I think that helped us
12:16just to feel us in the space in the kitchen, um, and telling them during our rehearsal while
12:24everybody was, it's like therapy, you know, it's like, tell me what was, what would your
12:29character do here? Why? And we would openly talk about it, the six of us around the table.
12:36And then I would say to them, this is how I'm going to shoot this scene in this perspective.
12:42So they had a sense when they showed up on set. Oh, okay, good.
12:47Camera's going to be behind us and it's going to be more focused on Laura for Laura's POV.
12:52And I said, we're going to shoot them back to back, but let's knock one out. And now,
12:59you know, we're going to be pulling you forward
13:01in Cherry's perspective. So Cherry can hear what Tanya's saying. Um, I wanted to fill them
13:11in on, on all of that, all the machinations and the, you know, engineering, and this is how
13:16we're going to do it so that when you get there, you're not in the dark. You're just like, oh yeah,
13:23this is the room. It was tape on the floor and now we're in the room. And they know what camera
13:29angle and lens I'm going to use and just make them feel safe, you know?
13:36And especially for building the family dynamics, it's with, with Cherry coming into a new,
13:41she's meeting them, the, she's meeting, uh, Laura and, and Howard for the first time.
13:47But for us as a family to get just even those little morsels of time spending, spent with each
13:52other, rehearsing to build those relationships. So they, they do have a life before you get on
13:57camera is so invaluable. I mean, even if it's just a couple days, you, that, that, that ease with each
14:04other that you build the language and the physical language that you build with each other is,
14:08is so helpful. Uh, if you don't have that for those, like those established relationships,
14:13it can be really, really tough. Yeah. That was going to be my next question. You know,
14:18how you build rapport with, I mean, it's clear from, you know, just sitting here with you guys,
14:22you, you clearly built rapport with each other, but with Olivia cook, you know, especially with those,
14:27um, those more intense scenes with Cherry, um, you know, building that trust and building that,
14:34um, yeah, trust with her before those scenes. I was curious how that kind of came together.
14:40Well, um, Olivia broke my trust the first time we ever met. She, uh, I met her, Olivia in a, um,
14:47in a karaoke bar in Gran Canaria, uh, which is a, it's an island, Spanish Island off the coast of West
14:53Africa. And, uh, we were pitched together to sing a karaoke song and she, she chose Celine Dion's
15:01all coming back to me now. That's my song too. Great song. I didn't know it. Uh, if you can
15:08believe that. And I said to Olivia, I don't know this song. And she was like, of course you do.
15:13We're going to do it. So then she's getting ready. I'm outside the karaoke bar with like my phone
15:18going, trying to learn this song. She absolutely crushed it. I butchered it. And, uh, yeah, so the
15:26trust is broken, but we, we, we, we amended after that. Yeah. You came around, we came around,
15:31uh, but they were like brother and sister and so sensual on screen. Right. I was like,
15:40Oh, that's amazing. They're so sexy together. And then I'd call cut and they'd be like, Oh God,
15:47look at this thing on Instagram. They were like little kids having a sleepover, but not touching.
15:52But when that camera rolled, they were touching and kissing. Oh yeah.
16:00Robin, I'm curious about, you know, how you prepped for those scenes with Olivia.
16:06Well, you know, now we have the intimacy coordinator
16:10that you have to go through, um, to talk about what you want from scene. And then they have to
16:18translate that to the actor. And then the actor says, fuck no, or maybe a version of, and then
16:26you get sent that message. Then I have to say to the intimacy coordinator, can I please speak to him
16:33or her and tell them how I'm going to shoot it. And maybe there'll be more comfortable
16:39being topless, whatever it is. That took a lot of time is all I'm saying. It wasted a lot of time.
16:50If I could have just gone to them and said, if you're not comfortable, tell me, let me show you
16:55how I'm going to shoot it. If you're still not comfortable, we'll amend. Um, but you know,
17:02we have all these rules and regulations now and restrictions and which is great. Don't get me
17:08wrong. It is great to protect those that aren't protected, but I wanted more. And you know,
17:16what's so interesting is there was more in episode one. Um, is that the spoon?
17:26Yeah, I have a story about the spoon as well, but you go first.
17:29Tell the story about the spoon.
17:30So the spoon, I don't even know if it's in the final cut. The spoon goes down into her underwear.
17:36No, it's not. It's not. It's not. Okay. So that was the original scene. And he's
17:42when we did the first screening public screening for, you know, everybody to fill out the cards and
17:51say what they hated and liked. And it was a body of 27 to 37 year olds, mostly
18:01and some elderly like myself, the 27 to 37 year olds. They said, it's too much sex.
18:14We don't like it. We don't want to look at it. It's too much kissing. It's too. So I was obligated
18:19in the edit to cut that stuff, truncated. Okay. What's your spoon story?
18:28Oh, my, my spoon story, it's very short. It's very short, but there was a funny moment when
18:34we were doing that spoon thing. And, uh, Robin, I think was telling me that the action,
18:40it was like, if you can imagine the spoon is, I'm stood behind a cherry and that my spoon is going
18:46down out of shot. You can't see, but what you can see is my arm. And I think you were saying like,
18:51and I was doing whatever I was doing. And Robin came over and very politely was like,
18:55well, Laurie, it's like up and down motion. And I like Robin directed, but also my mom in the
19:02thing. I'd be like, yes, mom, I know how to do that. I'm actually making circles, which some women
19:10prefer. And that was, there were a lot of embarrassing moments like that conversations. You don't want to
19:16have with your mother or your director or your onscreen mother, but that's very Laura,
19:21very Laura, very method. Yeah.
19:28I don't even know how to continue after that.
19:32Um, I know we're running out of time, but I'd love to know what was your most challenging scene?
19:40Laying in the hospital bed, not talking for six days. What do you think about that?
19:45Yeah. Yeah. That was, uh, yeah, my, you guys only saw episode one tonight. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So we won't. Yeah.
19:54But it's also been out for a month.
19:58Yeah. Do you have one? I like, we'll talk around it. Can you think your most challenging scene?
20:04Um, I'm trying to think it, the finale. Yeah. Yeah. That was because the pool was so cold.
20:15The pool was freezing in that house. Um, I, that was, that was the most challenging was being cold and
20:23trying to act in a cold pool while trying to kill someone and be, you know, I mean, it's like
20:30spoiler alert. It was, it was a lot. I, and it was splits.
20:38So we're, you know, shooting until two in the morning because we needed the dark,
20:42the real dark coming through the slider window that was in the pool.
20:45Splits are a nightmare. You almost want to do nights when we used to do nights. Remember that
20:54go to work at five and get off at four 30 and splits are harder on the body. I think
21:01my last question for you. And can I just jump in? I've remembered. Suddenly light bulb has come.
21:10Absolutely. My most challenging scene or, but it was actually more challenging for you, Robin
21:14was the sauna scene because the, yeah, we, we, we had this sauna and which you guys have seen.
21:22That's the sauna scene. Yeah. So it was a real sauna in this house and it'd been on,
21:27uh, and the rig had gone up and then it was turned off and wood swells when, and so the lighting rig
21:34was up. We're doing a scene and I don't know if it was during the take or something, but the lighting
21:39rig fell and hit you in the head and Robin we had was like, it was like a big impact and you, you know,
21:48it was blood and, and like you had like concussion and it was, and you wanted to carry on. And we were
21:55like, no, Robin, it's like, it had like four people have to convince you that like, it wasn't
22:01because it was, you know, absolute trooper, but that was scary. I was, I was, I was scared and
22:06trying to, you were looking at me like, am I okay? And I was like, oh, like, come on, Laurie, use your
22:11acting. Uh, but yeah, that was, that was a tough day. Yeah. So yeah, that was a tough day.
22:17Wow. Yeah. I understand that. Um, and just my last question, um, without talking about
22:24specifics of the finale, cause clearly some of you haven't seen it, I understand how it
22:29ends was your idea. Can we somehow talk around it? I mean, building the arc. Yes, we had a
22:42foundation of a novel, but in the series, as we all know, you have to have a hook at the
22:48end of every episode, you got to have something to keep the people watching. And I just kept
22:58seeing it in the prep period, you know, with a number of writers and writers got replaced
23:04and it was just mayhem. Um, I said, let's just make it a Greek tragedy because it really
23:13is. And so to make the end the way I chose to make it, it says Greek tragedy in bold letters,
23:24you know, because normally you would say he's going or she's going, but how beautifully dark
23:34that it was this way and, but it's also left up to you guys as the viewer.
23:48Absolutely. What, what happened after? Okay. But you know, but it's, it's open, right? It's,
23:58it's still open to where it's like, he's a doctor. He could have resuscitated her.
24:05Her. There's two hers. There's two hers. I don't know.
24:09Now everyone's going to go home and watch the entire season. Amazing. Well, thank you guys so
24:18much for being here. Thank you guys. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming out.
Be the first to comment