Emmy
Award winner Jenji Kohan (Weeds) in an interview to Collider, talked about her
new show Orange is the New Black, starring Laura Prepon, Jasoin Biggs, Kate
Mulgrew, Natasha Lyonne, Pablo Schreiber, Danielle Brooks, Matt McGorry,
Laverne Cox and Taryn Manning.
(excerpt)
“Question: Coming from Showtime, where you didn’t have any
network restrictions, what made you decide to go to Netflix with this series?
JENJI KOHAN: Well, I spent a lot of time at the networks before
Showtime. I want to be there first. It’s the next frontier.
It’s how my kids watch TV, and it’s how I’m watching TV more. I remember
one of my writers on Weeds got a new apartment and didn’t get cable or a dish. He just hooked
his computer up to the TV. I was like, “This is it. This is how
it’s happening.” To be able to be there first, I love the pioneer
thing. It’s exciting to me. And they pay full rate, they’re really
nice, they support the work, and they said yes. What could be bad?
It’s the Wild West. You can do what you want. On the other hand, we
worked a year on this and some people are going to watch it in a night and go,
“We want more!” And there is something I miss about the longing and the
anticipation for the next episode. But, how many times can you get
exactly what you want, when you want it? Not very often. So, why
not have it with entertainment? That’s what it’s fun. It’s
fun! I find that’s how I’m watching, more and more. My kids go on
binges, and I get sucked in. And then, it’s the middle of the night and
they’re late for school, the next day.
…
Why did the book appeal to you?
KOHAN: I fell
in love with the story and I fell in love with the people she talked about in
the book. Also, women in prison has always been a trope and an appealing
thing. It was like, “Why hasn’t this been done yet? This should be
out there.”
How did you originally come across the book?
KOHAN: A friend
of mine sent me the book. She knew Piper and she knows me, and she was
like, “You’ll really like this.” And then, I went after it and had to
talk Piper into letting me do it. But, I screwed up the interview. She
came in and I was supposed to sell myself on why I should do this.
Instead, the entire time, I was like, “Well, what happened to this
character? Do you still know her? What are the toilets like?”
Apparently, because I had all these questions and I was enthusiastic, that’s what
made her say yes to me. Other people were like, “I’ve done this, and I’ve
done that,” but I didn’t even get to that part ‘cause I was mostly interested
in the narrative. We just got along. It’s an amazing story.
It’s a way in, where we can follow Piper, and then expand the world and tell
all these different stories.
…
What has most surprised you about the prison experience, that you
didn’t know before you started this project?
KOHAN: The
oppression of it, the sense of helplessness, and really being part of a system
and a bureaucracy that is arbitrary. I never thought of the depth of
losing your freedom and what that meant. And I was surprised and
delighted by ways people maintain their humanity and try to survive.
What went into your decision to make the guards a lot nicer on the
show than they are in the memoir?
KOHAN: You want
everyone to be a full character. No one is just evil, or very few people
are, hopefully. They’re characters, so you want to flush them out.
You’ve got to show all sides of them. There is definitely an antagonistic
relationship between guards and prisoners, and I do think it flares up.
It’s something we may address more in Season 2. With Season 1, I was
really more concerned about having full characters, as opposed to just
villains.
…
Were there any actors that came in for a role that weren’t right
for that role, but you wrote them something else?
KOHAN: Laura
Prepon. She set the bar, when she auditioned for Piper. She’s such
a great actress, but ultimately, I thought, “Laura Prepon in prison? I
don’t worry about her.” There’s a toughness and a presence to her that
wasn’t right for the character. But, she was so kick-ass that it was
like, “Where are we gonna put Laura Prepon? Let’s figure it out.”
And she became Alex. A lot of the other characters came out of
auditions. Abigail Savage, who plays Gina, in the kitchen, auditioned for
Alex. And then, Alysia Reiner, who plays Fig, the assistant warden,
auditioned for everything. When the warden part came up, she didn’t even
audition because I was like, “The one with the face. Just put her in
it.” You remember performances, and there was some mixing and matching
from the auditions. This wealth of talent that we were able to tap into,
just be virtue of the fact that they’re so under-utilized, we can really
excited about and wanted to create more parts for different people that we fell
in love with, in casting.
…
How many seasons can you realistically stretch this story out for?
KOHAN: Oh, my
god, I can stretch this shit out for years! There’s no question. We
looked at the first season, and I think we covered four months. I can
keep going. I can go off with other characters. I have no problem
with that. We could go for 10 seasons on this, if need be. As long
as there are still interesting stories and still interesting people that we
want to meet, I can keep it going. But, we all have to be invested.
If the room starts getting bored or I start getting restless, then we’ll either
have to change something in the show or maybe end it. But, I like the
challenge of, “How can we stretch this out? Where can we go with
it?” It’s an open road, especially at Netflix. You can take it
anywhere you want.
Beyond this show, what are you looking to do next?
KOHAN: I have a
pilot at HBO, right now, and I’m developing some other shows that I’m not quite
ready to talk about. I keep busy. You’ve gotta make hay while the
sun shines. There’s an expiration date on all of this stuff, so it’s
like, “All right, let’s see what I can get going.” But at some point, I
need to rest a little bit. I just don’t know when that’s going to be.
…”
Orange is the New Black Official Synopsis:
Created and executive produced by Jenji Kohan (“Weeds”) and
based on the U.S. best-selling memoir of the same name by Piper Kerman, the comedic drama
starring Taylor Schilling follows
engaged-Brooklynite Piper Chapman (Schilling) whose decade-old relationship
with drug-runner Alex (Laura Prepon)
results in her arrest and year-long detention in a federal penitentiary. To pay
her debt to society, Piper must trade her comfortable New York life
with fiancé Larry (Jason
Biggs) for an orange jumpsuit and a baffling prison culture
where she is forced to question everything she believes and form unexpected new
alliances with a group of eccentric and outspoken inmates. The series also
stars Kate Mulgrew,Natasha Lyonne, Pablo Schreiber, Danielle Brooks, Matt McGorry, Laverne Cox and Taryn Manning.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment