HOW DO YOU FEEL FOLLOWING THE MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL'S AWARDS SUCCESS?
We were just not expecting that! I thought for some reason that my category [at the Emmys] was after I presented, so I was very calm until they started doing my category, and I was like, 'What the...?!'n It was totally overwhelming in the most wonderful way.
ARE YOU SURPRISED AT HOW WARMLY THE SHOW WAS RECEIVED?
Absolutely. We live in an age of peak television. There is so much good content out there, there's so many shows out there that I love. I imagine that anyone has to be pleasantly surprised when something breaks through.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR CHARACTER, MIDGE?
Midge is a woman who lives with joy, who lives with an innate sense of curiosity about the world and a desire to continue to improve herself within it. The show is also about her reinventing herself after she already thought she knew exactly who she was. She hasn't changed at the core but is finding out how to use her voice in a whole new way – that's something that feels particularly true of this time.
WHAT WAS THE NEW SERIES LIKE TO FILM?
We started the season in Paris, which was very strange because New York is so central to the show. It was brilliant, we spent three weeks there.
AND WHAT ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE OF SHOOTING ON THE STREETS OF NEW YORK?
It's so exciting... I can't believe that people let us do this. New Yorkers are not thrilled about it sometimes! You can tell from watching our show that [show creator Amy Sherman-Palladino's] vision is enormous, and she loves big single shots, walk and talks, moving through space.
WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES AMY SUCH A SPECIAL WRITER?
She's so smart. She so sharp. She's a real cinephile; Amy loves movies, she loves storytelling and she's well-studied. Part of what makes her writing so brilliant is that everything is on the page. You can picture the world so clearly from reading her writing, and then she brings it to life so clearly with her directing.
WOULD YOU SAY THERE ARE MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FEMALE WRITERS IN TV NOW?
TV is ahead of the curve, in terms of embracing new voices and taking risks. But we have a very long way to go... to make the kinds of stories we see in the media reflect the world we actually live in. So many stories have yet to be told.
ARE THINGS IMPROVING FOR FEMALE WRITERS IN HOLLYWOOD?
In the context of how lasting change is made, this moment is still young. I think it will be a minute before we start to see change activated. In looking for female directors to work on The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, we all came up with a lot of lists of amazing female directors, many of whom were booked out for the next year, which is amazing because they are working.
But there's a big gap between young women who are graduating from film school, wanting to direct or write or produce, and the ones who are actually able to cross that bridge. What we really have to figure out is how can we lift up these new and emerging voices, and give them the experience they need to be able to keep working on all different kinds of stories in the industry.
:: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is available on Amazon Prime Video from Wednesday, December 5.
