Or, you know, Selina could just smack Jonah.
She makes Jonah an offer he can’t refuse, so… he does.
“Shut up, you gum-recessed face-anus!
You harelipped diarrhea golem!!!”
yells Jonah’s power-playing uncle Jeff (Peter MacNicol).
You shut up!"
Jonah snaps back at Jeff.
“I’m not going to let anyone talk to me like that!”
It’s a rare display of spine and a fleeting one.
Selina slaps Jonah across the head and joins Jeff in brutally berating him in surround sound.
“You cless cockroach!
You brainless taint-stain!”
Selina shouts, while Jeff simultaneously roars, “You pile of failure shaped like a rapist!”
Jonah wheels around, futilely trying to deflect insults (“What the !”
“I’m not shaped like a rapist!").
(“I got hit with spit from both sides,” Simons notes good-naturedly after the scene.
“Just taking it from all directions.")
Louis-Dreyfus approaches this riotously toxic scene like any other with meticulous precision and obsessive care.
“It’s an audition, Tony,” she deadpans.
“We’ll see if it’s possible for you to make it work.
After one take, she and Mandel rework her entrance.
After another pass, she self-reports: “I fed up the last take!
I turned my head away from camera.”
Is one hand better for camera?
Does anyone have an opinion?”
Right or left, whichever way Selina leans, brace for maximum comedic impact.
Along the way, Louis-Dreyfus carved a spot for herself on the Mt.
Now Selina hits the campaign trail once more, with renewed contempt for the American people.
And she’ll go to alarmingly great lengths to rock the vote.
“It’s a sort of soul-searching without even realizing she’s doing it.”
Is Jonah a legitimate contender for commander-in-chief?
Did Louis-Dreyfus think that she’d be able to film a final season after her breast cancer diagnosis?
WillVeepburnish its unimpeachable record with a satisfying send-off?
(Cut to Kent, running all the scenarios.)
And canVeepdistract us from our real-life unrelenting political horror show?
Oh, and whatdidhappen on Labor Day?
No, it’s not his fault thatVeepis signing off.
Well, it’s not solely Donald Trump’s fault.
But as he delved in deeper, he realized:This is it.
“The storytelling dictated the end of the show,” she sums up.
“It felt right.”
And sure, the devolving, reality-is-crazier-than-fiction state of politics factored in, too.
“It got hard.
And don’t forget about creative burnout.
“It gets to a point of, ‘Have we already called Jonah ‘Godzilla’s taint?’
(As you saw above, they had a few good ones in reserve.)
While many cast members imagined thatVeepwould run for eight seasons, they supported the decision.
It just took a moment.
perpetually fired, always-arrogant Dan.
This the right thing to do.
We’ve created something so beautiful.
Don’t cheapen it.”
Deep down, though, uncertainty reigned.
The day after the Emmys, Louis-Dreyfus was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“Then we won, and that was very nice.
But everything changed the next day.
And that’s the truth.
I mean, it was hilarious.
But then we were in the trenches, and it was warfare.
It was like, game on.”
“I remember her voice, how it was breaking,” he says.
“It was a voice from her I’ve never quite heard before.
We just were like, “Can somebody just leave this woman alone?”
At first, she proposed filming during her treatment.
We’ll figure it out.’
I had that idea, which is, of course, absurd.
But I didn’t think of it as such until reality came crashing in.”
But to all that know her, absolutely not surprising.”
Louis-Dreyfus was grateful for the show, and the show of support.
I couldn’t hug anybody or touch anybody.
That was a very strange feeling because I’m a hugger, I’m a toucher….
I mean, in a good sense, not the bad sense.”
She successfully finished treatment in early 2018, and as she regained strength,Veepremained on hiatus.
Well, now we have a president talking that way during a press conference.”
(Prepare to see Jonah court the anti-vax vote, which takes on new relevance given recent outbreaks.)
“It is quite uncanny how the story line unfolds,” says Louis-Dreyfus.
“I mean,quiteuncanny.”
“It’s sort of like, [in macho voice] ‘Yeah, no, I’m fine.
I’m gonna go move a truck.’…
It hit all of us.
Did it affect her?'
Her recovery was indeed swift and impressive, yet also on-brand for the actress.
“The show is all in her lap.
It was pretty incredible watching her make the changes that they threw at her.”
And yet, that may not be her biggest feat.
“Somehow she managed to play arguably the most unlikable person on television, and you feel for her.
And Istillroot for Selina.”
There is a “New.
Selina may pay Jonah no mind always a mistake but he pays her plenty.
No, I’m chasing after the half-melted face guy!'”
“And as the seasons grew, I was like,‘Whoa.This is real sickness.’
“It’s chilling,” hints Hale.
“It was nothing I expected.
As for Catherine, she’s navigating the pitfalls of motherhood.
But denial only may work for so long.
“That was really gratifying to play with Reid.”
And Richard (Sam Richardson) is diligently dividing his time between Jonah’s and Selina’s campaigns.
Yep, Splett is split.
“He legitimately feels that both of them would make amazing leaders,” says Richardson.
Richard is in over his head, because he’s trying to be two people at once.”
Plus, more of Jonah’s family!
“Jonah’s family tree is a complicated one,” warns Mandel.
And while recalibrating for the times, the series and its decidedly un-PC jokes did not go PG-13.
“I think they even played it up more,” says Dunn.
I hate to use the word wacky, but it’s more absurdist than our other seasons.
“There was enormous pressure,” says Louis-Dreyfus.
“Everyone felt it.
We had to stick this landing on every level.
Mandel stressed his way to the finish line, problem-solving through sleep that didn’t begin until 2 a.m. (“Impossible task, remarkable job,” sums up Walsh.)
And Mandel believes that this time-spanning finale will satisfy.
“It’s sad in places.
But it’s also very happy in places.
And it’s fitting.”
“It is the perfect bookend to the series,” agrees Louis-Dreyfus.
“It makes sense on so many levels for every single character.
A lot of tender loving care was put in.
But it’s incredibly dark.”
And how will viewers react as the credits roll?
Simons has a prediction: “It will probably fit into that thing of, ‘This really made laugh.
I loved spending time all those people.
Andholy s, they are the worst group of people that I’ve ever seen.'”
“You here for the tsunami of emotion?”
is how Tony Hale greets you on the final day of filming.
Wistful dread has been building for two weeks.
On the plus side, there’s lobster and filet mignon for lunch today.
Hugs are swapped, gifts are exchanged.
After he finishes the scene the series!
he tightly, tearfully clutches Gary’s bag, his extra appendage for all these years.
Simons tries to wrest it from him while quipping, “Can I take that from you?”
“Even touching the leather, it’s like a sense-memory thing.
I remember the many times he just clung to that like Linus’ blanket.
It’s finally time for Louis-Dreyfus' last scene, which requires a nuanced moment of introspection.
After several takes, Mandel coaches: “Take it right to the edge.
Start to fall apart.”
“That’ll be fun,” she deadpans.
When all camera angles are covered, Mandel has no choice but to call “Cut.”
“You sure you don’t want to do another one?”
Louis-Dreyfus asks, clinging to her final seconds as Selina.
“Another 10?”
She reaches into Selina’s desk drawer for an emergency Kleenex.
“It was like, One last hug, one last kiss before you go.”
After 40 seconds of applause, Louis-Dreyfus addresses the crowd.
Cake and champagne are wheeled into the room, and memories are popped open.
“I actually poured one out for Amy, and it was really therapeutic,” shares Chlumsky.
Louis-Dreyfus sits on a nearby couch with Mandel to decompress and process.
We were exhausted, physically and emotionally spent, but incredibly happy.
It was a happy depletion and… letting go.”
“It’s a pinnaclethus far, shall we say.”
She’ll miss blaming Selina’s mistakes on her staff.
She’ll miss hurling abuse northerly at Simons.
We can make hay with that, pointing up at him.'
“I had an immediate sense of simpatico with him that was undeniable,” she says.
“It was kind of love at first sight.
We got ready in the mornings together in the hair-and-makeup trailer.
And we used that time [to] go over material.
She’s not ready yet to entertain the idea of revisiting this bunch of caustic goofs someday.
“It’s too fresh,” she says.
But is she open to returning to television?
“Why, you got a script?”
