A Vice President that has to overcome horrendous (yet hilarious) moments every day with her team and just so happens to have an episode where she does some business in her dress because of some yogurt and virus going around? A Vice President that has a pregnancy scare and openly dries her armpit sweat with a fan? I'm in. Watch it live, set the DVR and repeat the HBO series throughout the week because nothing can get better than some Veep watching every Sunday night. For a person who isn't that all into politics, this is the perfect political comedy to get extremely addicted to.
With eight episodes under her senator belt, Selina Meyer and the rest of her crew sadly say goodbye to its first season tonight as the finale "Tears" premieres on HBO. Luckily for us though, season two is a go and there's sure to be more of their antics in the future to look forward to. After all, that's what her players like Amy, Dan, Gary and Mike do. They try to redeem themselves week after week from the catastrophes they've created themselves. I mean, really. Can't the Vice President just be given lines for who she's about to speak with and silently mouth off to a photographer to never read her lips across the field ever again in peace?
In any case, Selina may have a lot to deal with but its Sue Wilson, her executive assistant, that's the one that's on standby watching all of this nonsense happen. Can you imagine? She's the one that has to deal with "White House" Jonah when everyone else is gone and she also has to gently (or not so gently) tell Selina every episode that no, the president has not called yet. Played by Sufe Bradshaw, I got to chat with the actress about the character and the second season pickup. Bubbly and definitely not like sarcastic Sue, its obvious that Sufe loves the rest of her cast just as much as we do!
So, what did the cast do when they heard the great news and what’s it really like to work with Seinfeld alum Julia Louis-Dreyfus? And most importantly, will the president ever make an appearance? Let alone, call? Sufe lets us in on all the details!
OLOGY: Veep is a must watch on Sunday and its already renewed for a second season! How does it feel?
SUFE BRADSHAW: We worked so hard on putting that season together! We worked our butts off. That pilot was shot over a year ago. We shot it in Baltimore and the seven episodes that followed were all done last year so to see the show on air, first off, was amazing because it had been shot so long ago and being renewed reassured us that the shows got legs and people are interested in watching political shows with a comedy edge. So it was really exciting to get the news. The majority of cast members on the west coast with the exception of Anna Chlumsky, she lives in New York City, we all got together because there is a building sized poster of Veep on Sunset Boulevard. We each have a picture. It’s been floating around on Twitter. So we all got together. Julia decided to get us all together and take a picture of all of us in front of that, a poster that takes up half of a building.
That’s so funny. So you all drove over there?
We totally drove over there and got in front. [Laughs] But we had just gotten the news! So it was a celebration for the first season but also for the second season.
A political comedy is very unique for television. Is that concept what drew you in?
Yeah! I think that it’s really an important piece right now. I think last year was really important especially in politics. That happened to be a pretty heavy issue. Especially right now in our administration. But, yeah I think that I was really excited to do a comedy about politics because I think it’s really important for people to laugh right now about that issue.
It definitely seems like it would be exciting to be a part of such a show during the current political race. Is there talk on set that the writers actually use real events for material?
That’s a great question. I haven’t really noticed it. There hasn’t been too much talk about current politics but one thing that we all agreed on – that the writers said and the cast agreed on – is that we weren’t going to pick an administration. This certainly isn’t a mirror to our current administration. To be safe placed in somewhere else, in a parallel universe. It’s not really modern day politics, which is nice because we’re not really taking sides. There hasn’t been much talk about politics on set, which is interesting. It’s really more about character.
Absolutely! What do you think about your role Sue? Are there any similarities or differences between you two?
I think Sue Wilson is a woman all about business. While the rest of her team are kind of reacting in a big way they’re sort of putting out fires in for the majority of the episode. Sue is the stable one. I think she was very much written like the straight person, the one who's actually getting the job done, which I thought was such a funny contrast. Sue has fashion. She’s a very fashionable girl and so am I so we have that in common. Her character works in Washington…I don’t think I could even have a job like that, like a day in and day out job. I would have to do eight hours a day, five hours a day. I’m a lot more adventurous.
There are constant mishaps in the administration. Anything you'd personally like to see play out come next season?
Yeah, I’d love to hear what happens to Sue’s character. That's a great question. You know what’s so funny? I don’t think that her character is really concerned about the office politics. [Maybe] to see her have to get a whole bunch of responsibility [Laughs] and see how she would have to handle that.
I think that would be a great story line.
Yeah and how she handles that, I think that would be very funny.
Any inside jokes between the cast?
You know why it’s so funny? We all had to go to Baltimore, Maryland for the shooting of the show. So the joke is, "‘oh, how do you like Baltimore?' ‘Well, it’s not far from Washington."
How do you feel shooting there, compared to shooting back in LA?
Oh, it’s so different. I mean I’m from Chicago so I’m no stranger to the East. But it’s really interesting. A lot of shows have been shot there including The Wire. You know that show from HBO. And the movie Game Change was also just shot there as well with Ed Harris and Julianne Moore.
Oh, okay.
Our show was able to bring jobs, which is something I’m really big on—to help boost the economy in that sense for them. Also it’s beautiful. I would have never pictured there as a place to live, but I fell in love with it. There’s an interesting charm to it.
All of you have such great chemistry and timing.
My cast mates, they’re so funny. They're such funny people. So even outside of acting I love being around them. Like Matt [Walsh] is one of my most favorite people in the world. And Tim [Simons] is amazing. And Julia is hysterical. We all have a really good time.
What's it like working with Julia? This is definitely a different role compared to Seinfeld and The New Adventures of Old Christine for her.
If I had to look at her career I would say she picks pretty amazing jobs. I think Julia is the kind of person—I think she picks shows that have substance instead of picking shows for shows sake. I don’t take her as the kind of person that does work just to do work. I feel like she does jobs that she really believes in. Like Seinfeld, which I always thought was amazing. And then the New Adventures of Old Christine, which was really funny. And then she picked Veep as another vehicle. Julia’s really great to learn from. From being on set, she’s really a hard working lady. She’s always the first one there and the last one gone. She’s so hysterical and she’s always trying to find ways to make the scenes funnier. …She really digs in there. She gets in there and digs to find the funniest outcome. She makes the show that much better.
Seeing Anna's familiar face too after My Girl all those years ago is great. She's fantastic.
Anna’a great. She’s such a good girl. She’s really funny. She was a child actor for a while and then went away and went to college and then she came back and kicked some butt. She’s such a smart girl.
Are there any guest stars that you would really like to have on the show?
Any of the guys from Entourage would be awesome to have on our show. How cool would it be for Jeremy Piven to be on it?
Instead of arguing everyone can hug it out! Lastly, its hilarious to have that staple question every episode on if the President has called her. Will the president ever make an appearance or finally call?
That’s a great question! I’m actually waiting to hear that! [Laughs] It’s the writers you know. They’ll come up with that stuff. They’re so brilliant. Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche are the head writers and they’re just fantastic. So yeah, I’m waiting to see because I’m always saying that he never calls my character!
--
Veep's season one finale airs tonight at 10 p.m. on HBO.
Follow Stephanie Webber on Twitter: @rosewebber
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment!