[This story includes The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel main Spoiler) series finale, “four minutes.]
Miriam “Midge” Maisel is officially “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” The series finale is titled “Four Minutes”.
The The final episode of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel sees Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) risking her career BIGGEST RISK, FINALLY CHANCE TO APPEAR ON The Gordon Ford Show — against Gordon Ford’s (Reed Scott) wishes.
When Gordon’s wife Hedy (Nina Arianda) forces the talk show host to let Midge appear on his show, he reluctantly agrees and breaks the rule that no staff can appear as a guest on the show. But instead of a comedian, he introduced her as the show’s “resident female writer,” while the two sat on stools rather than the couches his guests usually sit on.
With four minutes left in the broadcast, Gordon cuts to a commercial, much to the dismay of Michael Carr (Jason Ralph). To pass the time, he insists on “dracula” for the final few minutes. Midge quickly pulls Susie (Alex Borstein) aside and tells her she’s thinking about doing something that could end up hurting both of their careers.
“Something reckless could be very bad for both of us. It can ruin us. Definitely me, but it extends to you,” she told her manager, before glancing at the microphone standing on stage. Loads of crap that no one wants you to say. So cheer up,” Susie replied, in their signature tribute for the last time in the series.
Encouraged by her manager, Midge told Gordon, She’s never been good at following. Before she picks up the mic and puts on a four-minute pep talk, she dictates the rules, with her parents Abe (Tony Shalhoub) and Rose (Marin Hinkle) and ex-husband Joel (Michael Zegen) Cheering her on from the audience.
Brosnahan said no one could have seen the series end like this, but at the same time, she felt it was the only way it could end While everyone was nervous about how the cast and crew would “land this plane,” the actress explained that she never doubted that co-creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Paladino Dino will find the perfect way to say goodbye.
“It felt like this particular scene contained many different themes, ideas and ideas that Mickey has been grappling with throughout the series.” problem,” Brosnahan said of the Hollywood Reporter’s four-minute spot that propelled Midge to superstardom. “What it means to be a woman; what it means to be a mother; what it means to be like her Having said that, what does it mean to have big ambitions when people disapprove? What does it mean to be bold and brave? what it means to be alone; and what it means to have love and support. ”
In conversation with THR, the Emmy-winning actress opens up about Legacy of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel , Mickey and Lenny Bruce’s final scene , the cast and crew’s last day on set, etc.
There was so much heartache and warmth in the finale Heart scene. What was the most impressive scene for you after packaging?
There are two. Probably Alec The last “Tits Up” scene because it was such a full circle moment for us, we could barely look each other in the eye while filming. Alex can be a brick wall. She’s not Giving way too much, kind of like Suzy in that regard. So when Alex was the first one to start crying on the last day of filming, we knew we were all screwed. Then there was the couch scene with Gordon, The first time he called her “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” That was the last scene we shot, and my coverage of that scene was the last shot of the series. So, that moment is forever burned in my mind.
So excited, everyone was there. I looked at the audience of our cast and our crew as the camera was on me. So everyone stood In a semicircle – Marin, Tony, Michael, and Joel Johnstone, who plays Archie, Bailey De Young, who plays Imogene, Alex and our Steadicam operator, all of our Amazon execs, Amy and Dan, and our screenwriter With our focusers and all of our cast and crew. It feels like the only way this series can end is with all of us together. A small country made this show and to be able to end it with everyone is really special .
Extended scene with Midge sitting on Gordon’s couch, at the end What was it like to hear the words “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and why was being from Gordon so important to them?
Message from Gordon, this is a question for Amy [Sherman-Palladino] and Dan [Palladino]. I read the script and that’s where it came from, so that was the moment I responded, but that was the moment that stuck with me the most in the form reading. It brings back memories of the first time I heard the title of the show, when none of us knew what it was, and when I was pretty sure I didn’t want to do anything, it was a script in my inbox to watch TV a little longer. Being a part of this show and embodying this man for the last six years of my life has changed me in countless ways and never said it out loud on the show. So just hearing it openly with everyone in the room resonated in my stomach, my heart, and my brain, and when we heard it at the dinner table, I instantly burst into tears. So when Amy gave me the chance to choose the last moment we were going to shoot, I felt like it was a no-brainer. It’s great that it’s coming from someone like Gordon, because it means we, as people who’ve been involved with the show longer than that character, have to hear it together and experience it together.
When we shot that scene, you were shooting in two directions. So, we actually filmed the audience coverage first. So, the first time I heard it on set was in the reports from Tony, Marlin, and Caroline [Aaron, who plays Shirley Maisel]. I’m so glad, in the end, we did because I immediately started sobbing and they had to redo all my makeup. So, when we turned it around, it was still a very real reaction, but it felt more appropriate for that moment in the story.
Throughout the show, Joel, Abe, and Ross have said they don’t want to be Mickey’s laughing stock, but here they are all rooting for her and Laugh together. What was it like for you to see their character grow?
Catharsis is the word that always comes to mind. It feels like Midge has pushed a button on his journey with all these different characters over the past five seasons. It brings them together and keeps them coming together to support her as someone in the story, but hopefully also very satisfying for viewers watching at home. I absolutely love each of these personal relationships. I love how uneven the relationship between Midge and Joel is and how honest it feels like one moment they’re totally on the same page, the next they can’t be apart, and then they find it back to each other Over and over again – sometimes as friends, sometimes as lovers, sometimes as soul mates.
I like the relationship between Midge and Abe . They feel like the ones who have grown the most. When we first meet the characters, Midge is very close to her mother, and her dream, her biggest goal, is to be like Rose. She wanted to dress well and be thin, just to climb a few floors in their building and follow the example of her mother, whom she respected and admired. But over the course of the show, she realizes that she’s more like Abe than she thought, and he realizes that he’s more like her — or wants to be more like her — than he thinks, and growing their relationship is so touching.
I realized while doing the last set that I never actually acted, or that I hadn’t done a set for these roles in years. But I’ve never done it together in front of everyone, and to be able to do that and feel the support not only from the characters but from the actors behind them is something really special.
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Marin Hinkle as Rose Weissman and Tony Shalhoub as Abe Weissman in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
How does it feel to be on the Gordon Ford Show onstage, taking such a risk for Midge and Susie, that eventually led to Midge’s career finally taking off?
Even though we’ll never get to see it exactly like this, it feels like this is the only way the show will end. Obviously, we’re all nervous about how we’re going to land this plane. I never doubted that Amy and Dan would figure out a way to do it. It felt like this particular scene contained many different themes, ideas, and questions that Midge had been grappling with throughout the course of the series: What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to be a mother, what does it mean to have big ambitions? What does it mean to be bold and brave? what it means to be alone; and what it means to have love and support. I just love it, I love every second of doing it.
Like I’ve been talking about, I’m still struggling with the last few days and the end of this series. I probably won’t say the smart thing for a long time, but it just feels so complete, and having filmed a lot of this speech, you can see it. The camera is actually circling around Midge and me, bringing us back to a light reminiscent of gaslighting from earlier seasons. It felt like we were both in the moment and back every set that Midge did one at a time.
In the last scene of the series, we see that Midge and Susie are still friends years after the show started. Why do you think this was the perfect way to end the series and what it says about their friendship?
It’s forever. It’s the two of them against the world until finally, they walk out laughing. That’s the only way the two of them will ever go, no matter how far apart they are, no matter what they’ve been through together and apart, no matter how much they’ve fought and laughed and cried, they’ll always have each other, they’re soul mates. They are the love story at the center of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Throughout the finale we see two very emotional scenes between Mickey and Lenny scene. What was it like photographing them?
This feels like an important nod to the real way the real Lenny Bruce’s story ended, and at the same time to Lenny’s own A celebration of people who have attended our show and Mickey. Obviously, in the beginning, we get to see some of the beginning of the Lenny Bruce ending, and I think both Midge and Susie can see the writing on the wall, and it’s a really dark and difficult time for both of them. Then, we end Midge and Lenny with a flashback, taking them back to the moment after when their relationship changed and didn’t change at all. Lenny has always been this mythical figure on this show. He is Mickey’s fairy godfather. He was her intellectual, the person she admired the most, the person she wanted to emulate, maybe someone other than Suzie, the person she trusted the most, who she felt saw and understood her in a way few others could. Do. I love Lenny, predicting Midge’s future as always. He was the closest thing she had to a crystal ball.
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Rachel Brosnahan As Midge, Luke Kirby as Lenny Bruce The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 Courtesy of Amazon Studios
Final episode featured thanks to Lenny Bruce’s daughter Kitty for the closing card. How much of a role does she play in the way Lenny’s story is portrayed?
I know she had some conversations with Amy and Dan and she came to one of our early We got a chance to meet her this season, and she’s absolutely adorable and very supportive of the show. I don’t know if I’ve spoken to her about the series finale, but her blessing means a lot to all of us. We’re just her dad and her huge admirers. I can’t thank her enough for making Lenny such a big part of our show.
You touched a bit on your last day on set, but can you break it down a little more? What was it like to say goodbye in this way?
Oh, the whole day is surreal. We feel like we’re all grounded, and also like we’re somewhere in the clouds looking down on this chapter coming to an end. I think we were crying — everyone — from the moment we arrived on set that day. In a very beautiful and somewhat poetic way, we feel the gravity and the weight of the end of this huge chapter, and it also feels every other day in the best possible way. We have a lot of work to do. So, we enjoy every moment and also need to finish the day at some point, so we come in and get ready for the last. Put on hair, put on makeup, put on thousands of layers of underwear, I actually wear this outfit all week. We shot all the Gordon Ford stuff last week, so I put that dress back on.
Before we got dressed, we went into the set for some rehearsals. Like I said, Alex and I couldn’t even look at each other. Amy and I couldn’t look each other straight in the eye either. So, everybody just looks everywhere instead of looking at each other and say those words out loud and stand where we should stand so everybody can light the scene and figure out what the camera is going to do and then Start filming.
I don’t remember the exact order in which we filmed everything, but I do remember the last scene we shot was a report on me and Gordon Ford on the couch. We did one or two shots, and it wasn’t the hardest scene to shoot, especially compared to some of the other stuff we shot that week, and it was by design.
Amy keeps asking for another shot. She went on, “Okay, one more.” At first, she’d come in and take little notes, then she wouldn’t come in, and we’d just hear, “Okay, one more.” And I went on, “Okay , what does she need? Am I doing something horrible that I didn’t realize?” Then we both realized Amy wasn’t ready to call it the final cut. We finally did it. I think we all just sat there in shock for a moment. No one moved, then they popped confetti, which was shocking. There’s pink confetti everywhere, and a video. I mean, we all kind of walked up to each other and started crying. No dry eye in the house. All our rough camera guys, gaffers, handles and electronics, everyone was crying. We all did a little toast, and then around two in the morning, we all went home.
I see earlier on your Instagram video .
We don’t know what to do. The nice thing about the way TV works is we end the day, and then they do post-production, and then we start getting back together again to start promoting the season. We had a finale event recently, so at least the cast, we won’t be getting rid of each other anytime soon, but we miss our crew. We miss this group. Everyone on this show is at the top of their game and just continues to raise their bar season after season. I think that says a lot about the culture that was created in this scene, where a lot of our crew members were there from season one to the end. This is a family. You spend half as much time with these people as you do with your real family. So yes, we miss each other. But if I am in 50 – I’ve been doing this for years and it’s almost never goodbye. It really is “see you later”. We all find ways to travel through time and time again.
Do you have any say in the ending?
I’m not interested in Midge or any of these characters in [five] seasons. But it’s also a real talent to be able to just be there as an actor and you have a job and say these amazing words and wear these beautiful clothes and live in these gorgeous sets and be lit and filmed Beautifully David Mullen and the entire crew. But Amy has a clear vision of what the show is and who the character is from minute one. The show jumped off the pages of the pilot, and I vividly remember our first camera test where she had an image in her head and we were all just doing test after test, trying to bring it to life. She knew exactly what she wanted Midge’s signature hair, makeup and attire to look like, and she knew exactly what she wanted her to sound like. So, for six years, trying to realize Amy’s vision for the character on this show has been a really beautiful challenge.
Have Amy and Dan talked to you guys about ending the series now instead of in another year?
Surprisingly, we finally ended up after five seasons. I’ve heard some talk about a sixth season. There’s a big machine at work, and I don’t always know the dialogue in it, but I think ultimately, once it’s decided that season five is going to be the last, everyone has to work hard to make sure this season does justice to the story, and these characters that we set up. Knowing ahead of time that this will be the final season is a rare gift, because that’s not always the case. We’ve all been on shows — I certainly have — where you say “see you later” at the end of the season, then find out you’re not coming back, and the story unceremoniously ends in an email or a phone call. So, we had the opportunity to land this plane together.
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Alex Borstein in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Philippe Antonello/Prime Video
Has a possible spin-off been discussed?
(laughs.) I mean, Everyone has an idea for a spinoff. Over the past few weeks and months, our intermediaries have made many proposals. I know Michael Zegen is in the running for a Marvelous Mr. Maisel spinoff. Alex Borstein promoted the musical. Jason pitched Marvelous Mike Carr, so if Amy and Dan decide they want to do a spinoff, the opportunities are endless.
Maisel With Your Popular Emmy Award Winning Series Helped put Amazon on the map. As you look back at where it started and look at how Amazon and streaming have evolved, what surprises you the most about where things started and where they are now?
Well, a big question. One of the things I’m most grateful for is when we started this journey with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel I really never saw anything like Midge or like the silver screen Such a friendship as Midge and Susie on . Since the show came out, there have been more people looking at all different types of women, groups of women, women’s friendships and bringing them to the forefront in a really exciting way. I hope this show is part of a new wave of stories about women that shows us women in unexpected lights and centers them in stories that aren’t usually about them. This is one of them.
Men tell men’s history for men, and I hope this is the start of a wave of stories about women, by women, for women and men and everyone else. So, that’s one of the things that I’m most excited about because of the sheer volume of projects that are being made, so it feels like a streamer and there’s more stories being told that haven’t been given the space before.
Interview edited for length and clarity.
All five seasons of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel are now available Stream it on Prime Video.
