Another shocking season of the Netflix show The Diplomat has been released and fans of the Debora Cahn series, starring Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell, are still processing another shocking ending. Season 2 of the show brought on Allison Janney as U.S. Vice President Grace Penn, who is particularly honest with Russell’s Kate Wyler about how her physical appearance will impact her run for the vice president spot, calling her a “sloppy hussy.” Russell spoke to Yahoo Canada about filming that moment with Janney, and Cahn explained how real those conversations are in the political landscape, particularly for women.
Video Transcript
Obviously, Alison is joining the cast with some incredibly shocking and amazing episodes when we get near the end.
Um and one scene in particular where she kind of is giving Kate feedback on how maybe she could be more VP appropriate.
What was it like to kind of play out some of those scenes with her?
Because I think they’re so great to see.
First of all, you know, Deborah Cohen who writes the show.
I mean, just, it’s a, it is so fun to be on this show.
I mean, you read those scripts and they are just so fun.
I love this character so much and it’s so great to be so messy and that people think, I mean, what does she call her?
She calls her, like basically calls her slutty and that she looks like messy, hussy, something like that.
I think that’s the phrase, it’s so fun to play in that world and to be criticized on to such a level by this person who she respects, oh my God.
And Janie is just a dream boat.
I mean, she is equally as fun, funny, smart.
She’s a total pro she shows up and that stuff is just easy to her.
Um, I mean, she was just a total asset to have, uh, and good fun too.
We had fun all over London together.
You know, she’s just great in every possible way those conversations happen and I, I know people who work in those worlds and, you know, the idea that somebody is going to tell you that you’ve got to get a different kind of bra because this one is not cutting, it is so horrifying but so true to the situation.
And we put people under that kind of lens, right?
Like we want them to run the world, we want them to understand sort of the tradeoffs between nuclear power and nuclear uh weaponry and renewables.
But we also want them to be able to be like camera ready in every moment and relatable and that’s impossible.
I mean, that’s just totally impossible.
And how do you kind of bridge that divide?
Uh And it’s like, it’s, it’s very, very human, it’s very personal, it’s very intimate and like to hear that and, or to be the person who has to say it, the person who has to be like, you know, you think that your hair is OK. And I’m just so sorry to say it isn’t and it isn’t on any level and it can never look like that again.
Like that’s, those are tough moments.