By Judy Shields
Hollywood, California (The Hollywood Times) 04/4/2023
On Tuesday, April 4, 2022, PaleyFest celebrated with the cast and creatives from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The evening included: Amy Sherman-Palladino, Creator, Writer, Director & Executive Producer, Daniel Palladino, Writer, Director & Executive Producer, Rachel Brosnahan, “Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel”, Alex Borstein, “Susie Myerson”, Tony Shalhoub, “Abe Weissman”, Michael Zegen, “Joel Maisel” and Caroline Aaron, “Shirley Maisel”. The Hollywood Reporter’s Stacey Wilson Hunt moderated the panel. The fifth and final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel premieres on April 14th on Prime Video. They will all be missed!
I read where Alex will be staring in her first Amazon original comedy special, titled Alex Borstein: Corsets & Clown Suits. It will be out on April 18th, a few days after The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel debuts its fifth and final season. The show was filmed at The Wolford Theatre, the fictional burlesque club from Maisel‘s fourth season, and relied on the award-winning crafts team from the show. Way cool.
It could not have been a better show to close out this years PaleyFest. The cast of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” celebrated their final season on the closing night of PaleyFest’s 40th anniversary on Tuesday night. The media was gearing up for photos and interviews and were chatting about how much they were looking forward to seeing the stars that play the characters they have grown to love. We saw all those flashes going off and knew the stars had arrived. We could see Rachel Brosnahan take her place on the red carpet for all those photos and the photographers yelling out her name “RACHEL” over here Rachel. It never gets old! All of us reporters were eagerly waiting to see who will be the first one to make it down our way. Most of the time they will get close and our heart races and they are pulled away to go take group photos, which that happened last night. They all looked amazing. Here are some photos taken by The Hollywood Times:
I have to say, this red carpet was full of interviews. The entire cast made it down to talk to us all and that was so awesome. Here are my interviews. I have to apologize, this was the first time I held my cellphone in my hand to shot video instead of just a voice interview, so I had to adjust the screen to put the cast in full view. I need a tripod! Enjoy:
Here are some photos from the red carpet courtesy of The Paley Center:
Its a Wrap! Off to go inside the Dolby Theatre to enjoy the panel. We were privileged to view clips from all four seasons and even scenes from the upcoming fifth Season, which had the audience cheering and applauding of the beloved Prime Video show. The Hollywood Reporter’s Stacey Wilson Hunt, moderator for the panel, introduced the five members of the cast and the creative duo behind the comedy came out on stage one by one to thunderous applause as they took there seats. Stacey Hunt also said the names of the two cast members not in attendance, which were Marin Hinkle aka Rose Weissman and Kevin Pollak aka Moishe Maisel. Daniel Palladino made a comment to Stacey Hunt’s statement when he said “Kevin Costner” as one of the missing cast members. There was an uproar of laughter and some wows and boos from the audience and the others on the stage. Daniel went on to say “I have a theory that they all went for ‘Yellowjackets’ and couldn’t turn back,” more laughter and cheers. We all understand where that came from, lets move on! It was time for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Q&A.
Stacey Wilson Hunt said that she had binge-watched all four seasons again and had the opportunity to watch Season 5 and she didn’t want to give away anything about Season 5. She asked Amy how difficult these past months have been and Amy replied “Horrible!” and went on to say: “I have never been more devastated in my entire life, I need therapy and prozac to get me out of bed in the morning. everything is staged and there is candles and Kleenex and weeping, then the alarm goes off.” Huge laughter erupts. Next Stacey asked Daniel how about him. He responded: “The thing about the TV world is that you wrap and we spend months looking at footage of them and they come in a record lines, so there is not that sudden cutoff, it’s has just been the last three weeks that we realize this press tour that we are doing today and over the next few weeks is the last time the gang will get together, for this project.” Stacey replies with “for this project, right, before it goes to Broadway, which we will talk about for sure.”
Amy talked about the character Midge, and she wanted her to be someone who got up in the morning, opened the door and walked out. She didn’t want her to be the women who went to bed crying and wanted her to be the person who said “F” that, that BS and I deserve this! She thought this drove everything for the show.
Daniel Palladino said they learned a lot and probably made a couple of mistakes along the way. Stacey said, “what mistakes did you make”? Daniel responded with “not me, I was talking about…laughter, “I made none and she made two.” Stacey stating that she just recently rewatched the entire four seasons because she couldn’t help herself asked about the switchboard sequence at the department store, just that into itself was an incredible scene. Daniel said that Amy directed that one and they had these incredible camera operators, Jim and Larry McConkey and they are New York legends. They are inventors and created this camera that basically hangs off a stick and they would carry it in way so the camera could go between the switchboard cables and people and that steady camera or cranes could not do that because you would be hitting everyone in the head and it took a lot of rehearsal. They had a crew that was always inventing things. Great story indeed.
Stacey said to Rachel that it was almost impossible to come up with a question for her about her work on the show because it is truly one of the most incredible performances in the history of television, which got a huge round of applause. Stacey asked what had she learned playing this character? Rachel said “To be a little braver. Literally walks into walls with a passion and then takes a look at the bumps and bruises and goes, well shit, I better try something else.”
Alex Borstein said: “we shoot for six months and this last season was 10 months and then you have a hiatus, then you start, and we are going to be going again to see the people again. I don’t know if I have actually processed that it is over yet. I think in a month or two I will be naked in my bed alone eating ice cream and crying. Susie has made a huge difference professionally and personally.”
Stacey made a comment “I know that Pedro Pascal was here a few days ago but I have to say this guy is really like the number one.” Great applause and referring to Tony Shalhoub. She went on to say that Abe is adorable and we love him but he is a little crabby and ask Tony at the top of the final season, what do you think Abe is most struggling to reconcile in this life? Tony responds with “In my diluted shadowy mind that maybe Abe was the audiences way into this household. There is so much chaos even with Rose and he is like I am normal, I know where I am, I know what I have done, I’ve made all the steps to get to where I am, well positioned.” Lots of laughter during his talk.
Michael Zegen talks about his character. He said a lot of people ask him how he is similar to Joel and he is he is not and he doesn’t think he is that similar. He grew up knowing exactly what he wanted, he wanted to be an actor since he was three years old. “Joel is somebody who is a lost soul and I feel like he didn’t know what his purpose was. Everything happened in the first episode when he breaks up with her, he became the catalyst for each character found their purpose and he has grown up. I was getting a lot of fans.” Laughter! Stacy said “only because you were so good at your job.” Michael said “right, I’m just that good of an actor.” (applause) Michael says, “nobody’s path is that straight or clear and it took him awhile to find out what his purpose was, what he was good at and I think this club and being the owner of it was his purpose.”
It was a great panel and there were a few great questions from the audience as well and after that Stacey said we have to say goodnight and the creative team and cast rose to their feet and hugs and conversation was had.
Another great PaleyFest. See you next year 2024!
Here are a few photos taken by The Hollywood Times:
Photos of the panel courtesy of The Paley Center:
PaleyFest, now in its 40th year, is the nation’s original and longest-running festival celebrating creative in television. Produced by The Paley Center for Media, this year’s festival takes place March 31 – April 4 at the DOLBY Theatre in Hollywood. This year’s celebration features today’s hottest tv shows with a special screening picked for the audience followed by a panel and audience Q&A with the stars and creators of the series. PaleyFest is open to the public and tickets are currently on sale at PaleyFest.org.
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