“I would kill to have a manager like Susie,” says Alex Borstein

A success story on the screen as in the city! Landed on tiptoe in 2017 on Amazon Prime Video, The Marvelous Mrs Maiselseries by Amy Sherman Palladino​ (Gilmore Girls), has since won tons of awards and the hearts of the public. The beginning of this sparkling comedy tells how Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), a Jewish mother cheated on by her husband, launched into stand-up in the late 1950s with the help of her agent, the debutant Susie Myerson ( Alex Borstein). The fifth and final season, streaming every Friday until May 26 on Jeff Bezos’ platform, lifts the veil – thanks to ingenious leaps into the future – on how these two corrosive women ended up breaking through and becoming heavyweights. in the American entertainment industry. The results of five seasons of bursts of dialogue, scathing humor and colorful and twirling staging with Alex Borstein, as affable in life as his character is acrimonious on screen, as 20 minutes met at Cannes Series, where the team of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel bid farewell to the public at a memorable closing night.

Are you satisfied with the end reserved for your character, Susie Myerson?

Amy is a wonderful screenwriter, I like what she came up with for the ending. Is this what I thought or what I wanted? No, but it’s in a way that satisfies me. I was really surprised to still be able to be surprised by my own character. Susie will eventually open up, at the start of the series, she was really hermetic. In this season, she’s really going to let Midge into her life…

Episode 6 of this new season is dedicated to your character, did that affect you?

This raised lots of questions. How do you play with the fact that your body changes as you age and evolve? And when you go up the ladder of success, everything changes in you too… I think Susie can finally relax and settle down. It was an honor to have a dedicated episode and it was really awesome to see how much Amy thought about Susie Myerson and her trajectory.

In the end, how would you define the relationship between Midge and Susie?

In Season 5, it’s a roller coaster. There are ups and downs. It’s like a marriage, really, it’s a love story, they fight like lovers and reconcile like lovers. I think they are ultimately each the greatest love in each other’s life.

How would you describe the tone of this last season?

There are a lot of abruptness, but also heart. It’s sentimental without being tearful. I think you can’t help but feel a lot of things… It’s a season where everything moves a lot, that’s how Amy creates series, and she created this last season.

What was the atmosphere like during the last days of filming?

Amy is very clever, she did the ending scenes where we were all together for the last four days of filming, so that everyone was together on set. It was really very hard. I had a lump in my throat the whole time. I started crying during rehearsals. There were a lot of tears and emotion. As the journey of our characters reached its peak, on set, our friendship too, we were like a family. It’s a bit like when one of your children gets married, you know that you’re going to have them in your life, but you also know that you’re not going to be under the same roof anymore. It was very moving !

When you received the pilot script, did you foresee that the series would be so successful?

When you read a script, you know if it’s good or not. Sometimes, even if the project is not perfect, you know there is something really interesting. I knew I couldn’t refuse the role of Susie. I had just moved to Barcelona, ​​but I couldn’t say ‘no’ to Susie. I knew the screenplay was good, of high quality… But that doesn’t always mean it will find an audience, as it’s a matter of timing and chemistry. We won the golden ticket with the public. Amy is such a brilliant director. Our director of photography, David Mullen, too… The production, the actors, the technical team, the costumers… The whole team works very hard in order to achieve perfection. Everyone sees others working hard, and everyone wants to live up to it…

The show is about what it’s like to be an actor and how the industry works, is that what got you interested in acting?

Yes… Even if it doesn’t work exactly like before. If it was still the case, I would kill to have a manager like Susie. I have never been able to find one who commits body and soul like her to the career of another person. It was extraordinary to do a series on actors, feminine strength and women who want to accomplish something in this world.

What did the character of Susie bring to you as a person?

I was already a badass, but she made me stronger, more resilient and less inclined to accept the word “no”. Susie also taught me a lot about vulnerability and having to let people in. It will be difficult to get rid of this character… Maybe once in a while, once a month, I will put on the costume to remember her…

Did you keep any memories from the shoot other than her costume?

Yes, I kept my necklace. My keys that are around Susie’s neck. It was very important to me. I also have a hat, a leather coat, and two framed photos that were at Gaslight, the club where Susie worked.

During these five seasons, what were the most surprising fan reactions?

Remember, one of the seasons took us to the Catskills and Susie was posing as a plumber, and she had a sucker who became her best friend, who she called Pamela. At some of my appearances, I saw people bringing it! This surprised me a lot! In fact, I’m also surprised to be sitting here at Cannes Series and talking to you, as I was in front of Indian or Israeli journalists. I’m amazed at the scope of this series, which is about a Jewish family in New York. There are so many people who recognized themselves… people of all different traditions, cultures and nationalities who say to me: “it reminds me of my mother and me or my father and me”. That it affects so many different people, it surprised me.

Can you tell us about your future projects?

I have a musical that just launched on Amazon Prime Video called “Alex Borstein: Corsets and Clown Costumes”. I worked on this project while I was making The Fabulous Mrs. Maisel. I’ve also written a feature film that we’re going to start working on.

What if Amy Sherman-Palladino offers you a spin-off around Susie?

I will do whatever Amy wants me to do! She’s been part of my life for twenty years, I’m used to working with her. Daniel Palladino ran the Griffin writing room that I worked on. Then I met Amy and we worked on Gilmore Girls…I’ll follow her to hell if she wants!

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