Executive Producers Abe Sylvia and Tate Taylor, along with stars Kristen Wiig and Josh Lucas sat down with THR's Mikey O'Connell to talk all about the season finale of their Apple TV+ show 'Palm Royale' in this Closer Look.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - I'm Mikey O'Connell with The Hollywood Reporter
00:06 and we are here with select cast and crew
00:09 of Apple TV+'s Palme Royale
00:11 to talk about that season finale.
00:15 Obviously, the pilot starts with a bang.
00:19 We don't know who's holding the gun,
00:22 we don't know who's on the wrong end of it.
00:25 Did you know at the beginning
00:26 or is that something that you found along the way?
00:29 - We knew, yeah.
00:30 I think when you're driving towards something like that,
00:31 you don't quite know exactly what the journey's going to be,
00:35 but yes, we knew that's how we wanted it to land.
00:39 - What other elements of the episode
00:41 were you adamant about from the very beginning
00:44 when you sort of came up with the idea of this adaptation
00:47 and which ones did you sort of like find along the way
00:50 in the writers' room?
00:51 - Kristen's breakdown at the demise of her marriage
00:54 in a musical sequence was always what we were going to do.
00:56 It was one of the things we talked about very early on,
00:59 that that's where we were heading,
01:00 where all of this woman's delusions,
01:02 as much as we've invested in her delusions,
01:05 her love of her husband, her desire to be queen
01:09 of this place, it comes at a cost.
01:12 And that kind of delusion,
01:14 when reality hits you in the face
01:16 and you're brought down to earth,
01:18 to have a character that you've been following,
01:21 dreams and illusions and delusions,
01:24 to suddenly be brought to earth all in one moment
01:27 and to do it musically,
01:29 that was like a really exciting choice.
01:32 - And that it happens right when she gets what she wants
01:36 and it's in front of all the people
01:39 that she's been trying to impress.
01:41 Just those two things coming together,
01:43 I think made it even more like, I don't know, special.
01:49 - So much of the finale is about this attempted assassination
01:53 on Nixon that goes awry.
01:55 But the most important scene is that time of you
02:00 just on that stage.
02:02 Like how did you approach that?
02:03 What were your conversations?
02:04 - Well, she and I worked together about,
02:06 we did it in pieces.
02:07 Pieces that we thought would be more challenging
02:11 and less challenging.
02:12 And we just, you and I, we kind of drew up a diagram
02:15 of how we were gonna shoot each one
02:17 and when and in which order,
02:18 just to protect her performance, her energy,
02:21 and all the other things going around it.
02:25 - And actually doing that in front of an actual crowd
02:30 of people, we had to kind of figure out like,
02:32 okay, when should we do that wide?
02:35 When am I gonna have this sort of breakdown?
02:39 - When that was the scene,
02:40 we didn't want to have 88 takes.
02:42 She would be dehydrated.
02:43 - Josh, you were comic relief for so much of this season,
02:50 playing a sort of like less than bright character,
02:55 frequently carrying a golf club.
02:57 And then the sort of like realization
03:00 that he's a bit of a cad.
03:02 And then in your final scenes,
03:04 you just have this like heartbroken look on your face
03:06 and you're not even speaking.
03:07 And it's so different from the work that you did
03:10 throughout the season.
03:12 How was that for you?
03:13 How was the finale?
03:14 What was your approach?
03:15 - I think so much of it is actually
03:16 what I think about the show as well,
03:17 is that in reality is that there's so much love there
03:21 that actually, then he says to Laura Dern's character
03:23 at one point, "I've been married for 20 years."
03:25 And I took it that Douglas genuinely, deeply loved her
03:29 and vice versa.
03:30 And that they're both nefarious characters in a way.
03:34 They're both lying and scheming and all of it,
03:36 but they're a perfect team.
03:39 They're kind of a Bonnie and Clyde in a weird way.
03:41 I think men make terrible, women too,
03:44 but more men make terrible mistakes
03:46 in relationships with women that they really love.
03:49 And that the cost of it can be so devastating
03:53 that on both sides, obviously,
03:55 even though he's the one that caused it.
03:56 So that's what I really wanted to portray.
03:59 Like even with the character who's not bright,
04:00 who's not all of it, that there are these moments
04:03 where you see the depth and love there.
04:04 You see the incredible pain
04:07 of not being able to have children.
04:08 You see, and that's where I always found this show,
04:12 as much as it's so light and such a confection
04:15 and so bubbly, that underneath it are just a lot
04:20 of weirdly, deeply painful, realistic moments
04:23 that hopefully is what the cataclysmic end is about
04:27 for her and for everybody.
04:29 And that my hope was that people go,
04:33 oh my God, as much as Douglas caused it,
04:37 I hope he's someone you think, oh, this is--
04:39 - I think anybody who's been in a long relationship,
04:41 a long marriage, things happen in a marriage.
04:44 If you make compromises along the way,
04:46 you wanna keep investing in the dream of your partner,
04:48 even if indications are telling you that you shouldn't.
04:52 But Maxine just keeps doubling down.
04:55 And I think that was just so true,
04:56 particularly of relationships in the mid-century,
04:59 that I do think that that's something isn't,
05:03 that we weren't picking a moralistic lane
05:05 regarding Douglas.
05:06 This is, we understand why we don't like
05:09 that this thing has happened,
05:11 but we now see the compromises that Maxine has made
05:14 along the way, that he's made along the way,
05:16 the secrets that they've kept just to keep this thing
05:19 that is their marriage going.
05:21 - Kristen, where do you wanna see things go
05:23 for Maxine from here?
05:25 - Oh, I hope she gets some friends.
05:27 [laughing]
05:29 I don't know.
05:31 There are many places she could go
05:34 and many people she could team up with from this crew.
05:39 I don't know.
05:40 I don't know.
05:41 I don't know if we wanna keep seeing her struggle
05:45 or if we want to see her get a break.
05:47 - Well, she's also kind of wrecked the system.
05:50 - Yeah. - In the finale.
05:51 That's gonna be fun to see.
05:51 - And you have to see her consequences.
05:53 - To see the consequences, not only for you, but for them.
05:55 - Yeah, I don't know.
05:57 - She lets it all out.
05:58 - She had a lot of words for a lot of people.
06:00 - Yes, she did.
06:01 - Yeah, sausage fingers really got me.
06:03 [laughing]
06:05 What real life inspiration was there
06:07 for this coconuts sequence?
06:10 - There are, oh, the coconuts are a group of men
06:13 in Palm Beach that through the mid-century,
06:15 they may still exist today,
06:16 they put on coconut bras and do kick lines.
06:18 It's a real thing.
06:20 - Oh my gosh.
06:21 [laughing]
06:23 - They're fantastic.
06:25 - They're fantastic.
06:26 - Yeah, and Greyman, come on.
06:28 He has a coconut.
06:28 How did that happen?
06:29 - This is a question for all of you
06:31 before we wrap things up.
06:32 What two characters would you like to see
06:36 get more time with one another?
06:38 Should you do a second season?
06:40 - We're not allowed to say that.
06:43 - I can't get enough of Evelyn and Maxine.
06:44 I can't get enough of Allison Janney with Kristen Wiig.
06:48 I can't get enough of Carol Burnett with Kristen Wiig.
06:50 I can't get enough of Josh Lucas with Ricky Martin.
06:52 - Yeah.
06:53 - Mickey Coleman with anybody.
06:55 Laura Dern with anybody.
06:56 - Yeah, and Kaya.
06:57 - And Kaya Gerber with anybody.
06:58 So it's, I don't know.
07:00 That's a very hard question to answer.
07:02 - I enjoyed watching the show and I loved the finale.
07:05 Thank you so much for talking about it.
07:07 - Thank you, Mikey.
07:08 - Thank you.
07:09 - Thanks.
07:10 (upbeat music)
07:12 (dramatic music)