Speaker 1: Unpacking the Toolboxes, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
Speaker 1: with Higheart, Radioshas and.
Speaker 2: Katie Hiji Hi kick.
Speaker 1: A curly Curly.
Speaker 3: My second grade teacher used to always missus kaylish.
Speaker 4: She was so mean, but she.
Speaker 3: Would always sing cocka cocade, My beautiful Katie. There's some
Speaker 3: fucking song, remember I know?
Speaker 5: To you?
Speaker 1: She would sing it to you.
Speaker 3: To me when I entered the classroom. Is there any
Speaker 3: childhood song where Guillermo is in Hell?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: Remember Romper Room? I mean you're you're much younger than
Speaker 1: I am. But there was no show called Room, and
Speaker 1: the host and the beginning would look into this magical
Speaker 1: mirror and be like, I see you Tommy and Katie
Speaker 1: and John and Barbara and Ted and.
Speaker 6: Never like how about in New York when you go
Speaker 6: into the trinket stores and it's like you can get
Speaker 6: a little license plate or a little pencil with like
Speaker 6: Katie's always on there, and and it's always in a
Speaker 6: variation of spellings.
Speaker 3: I might get k A T I E, which is
Speaker 3: how I spell it. There might be K A T
Speaker 3: y whatever. But you are just straight up funk.
Speaker 7: No.
Speaker 1: They would be like, well, get a William william Is.
Speaker 4: I'm like is William gear.
Speaker 1: Well William is like the English version of Ghirmo. So
Speaker 1: my friends, you know, teachers and and my my friends
Speaker 1: I couldn't pronounce, would call me Willie like Willie was
Speaker 1: my name in school, like for w I L L
Speaker 1: I E. Willy. Oh God, not Willy.
Speaker 4: I call you that from.
Speaker 1: Now, please. I like it. I actually like it. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get Willy tatted on me.
Speaker 8: I don't know if you can tell Willy Willy Willy
Speaker 8: William that I have a lot of extra kick and
Speaker 8: pep in my step today.
Speaker 6: Why Well, because we have the most exciting guest for
Speaker 6: our listeners today.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're obsessed with her.
Speaker 4: We're obsessed with her.
Speaker 1: I'm obsessed with us.
Speaker 3: I mean colearly, I mean, and there is no Scandal
Speaker 3: without this person, without this person's performance. And honestly, she
Speaker 3: changed my life in like every way, because well.
Speaker 4: That's just because that's the person she is.
Speaker 3: I don't think anyone who has been lucky enough to
Speaker 3: spend time with the one and only number one of
Speaker 3: Scandal could say that she hadn't changed their life, because
Speaker 3: that's just the magnitude of human that she is.
Speaker 4: Yes, she's fucking hilarious.
Speaker 3: That's the other thing, Like, Okay, she's an activist, she's
Speaker 3: the best actress ever. She's a director, she's a producer.
Speaker 3: She's been on Broadway, she's been in movies. She's led
Speaker 3: the Democratic National Convention. She's ridiculously the accolades and the.
Speaker 4: Respect and all of that, but girl is fucking Hirio.
Speaker 1: That's one of my favorite things about Carrie is remember
Speaker 1: laughing with her on set, Like laughing with her was
Speaker 1: so much fun, so so much fun. And look, I
Speaker 1: wear my shirt that says queen, because Carrie is the queen.
Speaker 3: She's our queen. She's our queen of Scandal. And she
Speaker 3: also was the best number one. Yes, I honestly think
Speaker 3: this business has ever seen.
Speaker 1: She spoiled. She spoiled all of other TV shows that
Speaker 1: I was a regular, which was like two others, But
Speaker 1: she spoiled that for because the amount of you know,
Speaker 1: class and and uh just a positiveness and respect that
Speaker 1: I expected from my number ones after Scandal was like
Speaker 1: beyond possible anything that I ever got.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was like you're no Kerry Washington, No, I
Speaker 1: mean she and.
Speaker 3: Also how I behaved on set like I truly think
Speaker 3: there was like speeches made. You know, obviously you guys
Speaker 3: have heard on the podcast that well, we knew that
Speaker 3: the end was coming our last season, so there were
Speaker 3: so many goodbyes. But they kept saying over and over
Speaker 3: again that everyone who was lucky enough to be on
Speaker 3: this set could go off into their other sets, of
Speaker 3: their other jobs, knowing that this type of family feel
Speaker 3: and behavior was even possible, and that you could strive
Speaker 3: for that and like exist, you should try to have
Speaker 3: your cast and crew feel like this. But my god,
Speaker 3: this woman, I mean she didn't. Every time she got
Speaker 3: nominated for an award, which was all lot, she would
Speaker 3: gather the entire crew.
Speaker 4: Do you remember this ship?
Speaker 3: Gather the entire crew and cast and just like make
Speaker 3: the most beautiful speech about mouth that it was about
Speaker 3: she did all the time, but how it was everyone
Speaker 3: like that, She was nothing without the rest of us
Speaker 3: and the crew and the grip. She knew everyone's names,
Speaker 3: everyone's significant others' names, who was expecting children, who were
Speaker 3: purchasing homes, who needed help like it was.
Speaker 1: And she would also, Katie, do you remember she would
Speaker 1: when we had background on set whenever we had background,
Speaker 1: she would take a moment, either before we started shooting
Speaker 1: or after, to say, Hey, I just want to take
Speaker 1: a minute to say thank you to you guys. Without you, guys,
Speaker 1: we cannot have you know, made scandal, So thank you
Speaker 1: background actors.
Speaker 4: You always did that.
Speaker 1: That's the first time I ever saw that on set.
Speaker 3: On a side, I've never seen that either. Remember the
Speaker 3: lawn Chair episode.
Speaker 1: With them, Oh my god, yeah.
Speaker 4: With uh Courtney b Vance.
Speaker 3: The background actors have to be screaming horrific racial slur
Speaker 3: because it's about us shooting all this and and Carrie
Speaker 3: is like saying, like, thank you so much for your performance.
Speaker 3: Like I know this is not easy. I know this
Speaker 3: is hard. This is taking so much energy and it's hard,
Speaker 3: ugly things to say. And like, the girl is a leader.
Speaker 3: I mean she's not going to run for president, but
Speaker 3: my good god, if I wish she would, we would
Speaker 3: be so lucky because it's.
Speaker 1: Not only you can't do yeah, And not only do
Speaker 1: we have Carrie Washington on this episode, we have a
Speaker 1: plethora of other amazing guest actors. One of my favorites
Speaker 1: is Matt Leshu, who plays Jimmy Chambers. Of course, George
Speaker 1: Newburn is in this episode. He plays Charlie Freaking Kate Burton,
Speaker 1: Dan Bucatinski.
Speaker 3: Oh Brendon Hines as Diddyon Wallace, although in this episode
Speaker 3: he does.
Speaker 1: She did in this episode.
Speaker 7: Yo.
Speaker 1: Bella me Young is listed as a guest star in
Speaker 1: this episode because she's not a regular yet on the show.
Speaker 3: Bellamy did not become a regular until we got picked
Speaker 3: up for a second season. And by the way, we're
Speaker 3: talking today about episode one oh seven called Grant for
Speaker 3: the People, which aired on May seventeenth in twenty twelve.
Speaker 4: It was written by the Shonda Rhimes, our other queen.
Speaker 3: There were two queens to make Scandal, Shan and Carry,
Speaker 3: and it was directed by Roxanne Dawson.
Speaker 4: But at the time that we shot this.
Speaker 3: Episode, we didn't know we were going to get a
Speaker 3: second No, we had never aired an episode like yeah,
Speaker 3: we shot it and no one had seen it. So
Speaker 3: we were still in this like perfect little bubble where
Speaker 3: we have no clue how the show was going to
Speaker 3: be received.
Speaker 1: Listen, what I love about our show and about our
Speaker 1: cast is not not one year of our seven seasons
Speaker 1: did I ever or any of us ever feel like
Speaker 1: ah cool, I'll see you guys next year. We're picked up.
Speaker 1: It was ever after every single season we were like,
Speaker 1: oh please God, I hope we were fortunate enough to
Speaker 1: get picked up. We never got cocky about this stuff.
Speaker 3: Never.
Speaker 1: We didn't take it for granted, no pun intended, but
Speaker 1: grant for the people. The name of this episode, grant
Speaker 1: taken for granted for the people. But yeah, we were
Speaker 1: always just super humble and just like so great.
Speaker 4: That's because shit rolls down hill and Garry Garry.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Never, yes, never took the show, the job or characters
Speaker 3: the writing for granted before she comes on, which were
Speaker 3: obviously tickled tickled. Let me just tell you fill in
Speaker 3: the rest, which is we we said Brendan Hines is
Speaker 3: on this episode, but this.
Speaker 4: Be it because he died.
Speaker 3: We have Brian Lesser, his Tom Troy Winbush's Morris Elcott,
Speaker 3: love him so much. Shannon Cochrane is the Attorney General Sawyer.
Speaker 3: Mark Harrolock is the Press secretary.
Speaker 1: Marvin Colgate, you're fired, Marvin. That's my favorite.
Speaker 4: By get the fuck out.
Speaker 1: The synopsis is Olivia and the team rally after Quinn
Speaker 1: finds Gideon Wallace dying in his apartment. Cyrus turns to
Speaker 1: Olivia with annnouncement that affects fits his presidency.
Speaker 3: And that's all we're giving you. It's a very short synopsis.
Speaker 3: What did you think of my acting in this episode?
Speaker 1: Katie? I love your acting, Katie, Katie, listen, can you
Speaker 1: look my first page of notes, says Katie's performance in
Speaker 1: the scene where she walks in on Gideon and with
Speaker 1: the team is electric. It's thutt, roll and raw. It's
Speaker 1: mesmerizing all the words like literally the stuff that I
Speaker 1: really what are you doing to.
Speaker 4: Me, Willy will Yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I love that. I told you my
Speaker 1: friends called me Willy like for eighteen years of my life.
Speaker 4: Oh to talk about you were so.
Speaker 1: So good in this episode, Katie, Like truly, I think
Speaker 1: I think you thrive on. I think I'm the same too.
Speaker 1: It was such a you had to play all this
Speaker 1: raw like tragedy like death, and I think you thrive
Speaker 1: and you just oh, you were just so real.
Speaker 3: Love a high steak moment, people, I love a high
Speaker 3: steak moment.
Speaker 1: And the shivering you were shivering through your lines. Oh
Speaker 1: my god. If you guys have not seen this episode,
Speaker 1: you gotta watch it.
Speaker 3: It's not just the finally episode of the first season,
Speaker 3: and Quinn walks in and sees that giddy She's like, oh,
Speaker 3: great bagel place down thing and like I got your
Speaker 3: coffee and we fucked last night and like woo hoo.
Speaker 4: And then it's like, oh no, and the coffee.
Speaker 3: Falls on the ground, which I remember being on a
Speaker 3: Friday night and they said, you can only do this once.
Speaker 3: I had to nail that coffee drop slip out of
Speaker 3: my hand that spoils everywhere one time.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 3: And then I see Giddey in just wow, scissors in
Speaker 3: his neck that Billy Chambers put in there because he
Speaker 3: was really close. So a couple of things I remember
Speaker 3: is A that I had to nail that coffee drop
Speaker 3: once and b I had to reshoot pulling the scissors
Speaker 3: out of his neck.
Speaker 1: No, do you remember.
Speaker 3: No, we shot the first season and I get a
Speaker 3: call like months later saying you have to come in.
Speaker 4: And first of all, I was like, I'm fired.
Speaker 1: Always every time we got that call, I'm fired.
Speaker 3: After not getting fired, they were like, you have to
Speaker 3: come back in and shoot reshoot the Billy Chamber death scene,
Speaker 3: and I was like, are you kidding? That was like
Speaker 3: the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life,
Speaker 3: like pulling the scissors out, screaming, crying, like trying to
Speaker 3: reach the phone and realizing he's dead. And because the
Speaker 3: first angle that they should the way they shot it
Speaker 3: the first time around, it looked like I killed him?
Speaker 1: Are you serious?
Speaker 4: This is my remembering of it.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: We will be back with more after the break. Okay, guys,
Speaker 3: without further a duty.
Speaker 1: Without further a duty, we would like to present.
Speaker 4: We're the stupidest. We would like to present the one,
Speaker 4: the only, the Queen, the i'm a, i'm a I'm getting.
Speaker 1: Top, I'm drawer. She's top drawer.
Speaker 3: She's top drawer, She's tops of everything. She is our friend,
Speaker 3: she is one of the loves of our lolliague.
Speaker 4: She is a colleague. She is well we would just
Speaker 4: for real go over a cliff for this person.
Speaker 1: Yes, and also the biggest goofball just like us.
Speaker 4: Yes. Here she is the one and only. Carry Hello,
Speaker 4: you look so beautiful. We're so happy trying.
Speaker 7: To put on some concealer for you. Guys.
Speaker 3: Pretty I mean, I mean I prefer the five am
Speaker 3: four thirty am Monday morning.
Speaker 4: In makeup trailer of.
Speaker 3: Kerrie Washington that I missings I do wake up and
Speaker 3: I'm like, those were pretty special, insane times.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I saw on social media you posted about being in
Speaker 5: hair and makeup with Garama by your side when you
Speaker 5: guys were doing some press.
Speaker 7: And it's true. It's just like you know what, I
Speaker 7: was worried.
Speaker 5: I was worried that when we didn't have the hair
Speaker 5: and makeup trailer, that we wouldn't all still be obsessed
Speaker 5: with each other and in love with each other, you know,
Speaker 5: because you like, we could just take for granted our
Speaker 5: friendships because they were scheduled, but the fact that we're
Speaker 5: all still so madly in love with each other, yes,
Speaker 5: it's everything.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But we were just saying before you came on
Speaker 3: that that comes from you, and I mean, look, we're
Speaker 3: all very special, yes, but you were How did you
Speaker 3: know how to be a number one like that?
Speaker 4: Like for real?
Speaker 3: Do you think it was like you had worked on
Speaker 3: so many things and had sort of always taken note
Speaker 3: of how to be a leader or it's just innately
Speaker 3: in you.
Speaker 5: So I'm having a little bit of a weird like
Speaker 5: I feel like it's like a proud mommy because I
Speaker 5: feel like when I met you, Katie Lose, you were
Speaker 5: always asking me questions like this. But it wasn't for
Speaker 5: like a national podcast. It wasn't for like right for
Speaker 5: the press. Wasn't you ask people questions.
Speaker 7: Not a little bit less like Barbara Walters to it
Speaker 7: and more just like I need to know number one?
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, but you're so it's so sweet because it's
Speaker 5: still the essence of you, like you have figured out
Speaker 5: a way to you know, stay, like you are just
Speaker 5: a naturally curious, you know, inquisitive, adventurous, ambitious person. So
Speaker 5: you have It's like, but it's no longer that five
Speaker 5: am version of like I do this. It's like now
Speaker 5: this very formal presentational version, which I.
Speaker 4: Love, Thanks Carrie.
Speaker 5: So I have, I think the number one, number one
Speaker 5: in the whole history of number ones in the business.
Speaker 7: And do people know what it means to be a
Speaker 7: number one on the call sheet? Like do we have
Speaker 7: to explain that?
Speaker 4: Let's explain it.
Speaker 5: So every character is assigned a number on the call
Speaker 5: sheet based on how important that character is perceived to
Speaker 5: be on the show, and sometimes relative to the status
Speaker 5: of the actor playing them. And so if you're number
Speaker 5: one on the call sheet, you're like the most important
Speaker 5: character according to the writers and the producers. So I
Speaker 5: learned how to be a number one. I've had incredible
Speaker 5: number ones I've worked with through the year. Julia Styles
Speaker 5: is an amazing number one. Forrest Whitker is an incredible
Speaker 5: number one. But hands down, the award for number one
Speaker 5: number one goes to Jamie Fox.
Speaker 7: He's a beast. He is.
Speaker 5: He not only like does his homework, is fully prepared,
Speaker 5: is always happy to be there, really passionate and knows
Speaker 5: everybody's name.
Speaker 7: He takes care of the background.
Speaker 5: He's grateful, he's humble, he works really hard. He's all
Speaker 5: of those things. And you know, I worked with him
Speaker 5: on Ray and then ten years later on Jay Go,
Speaker 5: and so I got to see, like it really is
Speaker 5: who he is. He's just like Wow, He's a leader.
Speaker 5: He's a true leader and a generous leader. And he
Speaker 5: loves his job, like he really he loves He gets
Speaker 5: that we're lucky to do what we do, and he
Speaker 5: never let a day go by without us all feeling that.
Speaker 5: And so I think, really, I just spent all those
Speaker 5: seasons on Scandal pretending to be Jamie Fox.
Speaker 1: We love it. We were talking earlier Carrie about how you,
Speaker 1: either before we shot a scene or after, you would
Speaker 1: take a moment to address the background actors and just
Speaker 1: be like, thank you guys so much for being here.
Speaker 1: We could not have done this scene without you, guys,
Speaker 1: just the respect you showed background actors. And for someone
Speaker 1: who started in background work, I did a ton of
Speaker 1: background works. Oh my god, I didn't know that I
Speaker 1: was in Green Card, I was, I was at I
Speaker 1: did background work on student films, even hard and then little.
Speaker 1: But but you know, it's rare that the lead actor
Speaker 1: or even producers or directors, you know, unfortunately, treat background
Speaker 1: actors with any sort of you know, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: the sure, yes, yes.
Speaker 4: But you are so important scenes.
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, can you imagine if we didn't have
Speaker 5: those background actors in the White House, we're just like
Speaker 5: a bunch of idiots in hallways, like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not so dumb. It's like you're making such
Speaker 3: for ten yes, And how.
Speaker 5: Many times have you watched something where the background totally
Speaker 5: ruins the scene?
Speaker 7: Oh my god, I don't believe any of those people
Speaker 7: are at a party. I don't believe any of those
Speaker 7: people are, you know.
Speaker 5: Walking like background, looking at the camera background, they're so vital.
Speaker 7: To the Yeah, very similitude.
Speaker 1: Yes, and you could tell on our show, you can
Speaker 1: tell invested in what they're doing today.
Speaker 3: Just to jog your memories about episode one oh seven,
Speaker 3: which is like who is Quinn Perkins? Quinn pulls the
Speaker 3: night scissors out of Gideon's throat and I there's the
Speaker 3: scene where I don't remember deciding yeah, I'll jog your memory.
Speaker 3: I'll jog your memory. Everyone's like, do we don't they
Speaker 3: clean it up?
Speaker 4: Do we don't? Right?
Speaker 3: And you're like, we clean it up. But it was
Speaker 3: the example of an oh pa. It wasn't so much
Speaker 3: about character development. Maybe it was for other people, but
Speaker 3: not for me as much as it was like an
Speaker 3: ensemble theater piece of like do not drop your line,
Speaker 3: especially this is a peace This is like everyone has
Speaker 3: got one line, two lines, like and.
Speaker 5: It's keeping the ball where we got together on the
Speaker 5: weekend to rehearse.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes, see what is the one I'm talking about?
Speaker 5: Because because it was a play play, we all thought
Speaker 5: it was a one act play.
Speaker 7: And I remember.
Speaker 5: Betsy Beers being like, you guys did what our producer like, yeah,
Speaker 5: we've never heard of that that's bananas.
Speaker 7: But we just it was a play.
Speaker 5: It was a one act play, and we were a
Speaker 5: bunch of theater kids who had been lucky enough to
Speaker 5: find ourselves on some screens, and so we got up
Speaker 5: together on our own to rehearse.
Speaker 7: I think back to that.
Speaker 5: And just think we were so lucky that none of
Speaker 5: us had done a ton of prime time at work
Speaker 5: television show to know that we weren't supposed to do that.
Speaker 7: But we're so lucky what we didn't know because and
Speaker 7: I think, but.
Speaker 5: Before Scandal, the job I'd had before Scandal was a movie,
Speaker 5: but the but right before it was a movie.
Speaker 7: But right before that.
Speaker 4: You were the star before Scandal. I wanted to ask
Speaker 4: you that why TVs.
Speaker 5: I originated a role in David Mannett's play Race, and
Speaker 5: to this day, I feel like one of the reasons
Speaker 5: why God put me in that play was to figure
Speaker 5: out how to do that mammot thing, like how to afrythm,
Speaker 5: how to say the word as written no matter what,
Speaker 5: how to get out of the way of the language.
Speaker 5: Because I felt like I brought so much of that
Speaker 5: with me to Scandal.
Speaker 3: The work ethic that you had on Scandal was to
Speaker 3: me and I'm not one, but was like like being
Speaker 3: an Olympic athlete, which is what you are when you
Speaker 3: do Broadway, like when you do a race or you
Speaker 3: do a Scandal and you're a number one, like you
Speaker 3: are a machine. You can't get sick, you can't not
Speaker 3: know your life like it's so everyone is, it's.
Speaker 7: You're there, Yeah, there's Harry.
Speaker 1: Me and Katie were talking about earlier and in other
Speaker 1: episodes that we've done, how you know we'd see you
Speaker 1: in the hair makeup trailer. You'd be on set, but
Speaker 1: you were always running lines, and Katie brought up you
Speaker 1: were running lines sometimes for the next scene. They weren't
Speaker 1: just mind hey, yeah next, they were like monologues. You'd
Speaker 1: be like, let's go to the next scene, Let's go
Speaker 1: to tomorrow scene. Like it was like you had to
Speaker 1: do that shit non stop.
Speaker 5: I know everyone saw since Scandal when somebody up comes
Speaker 5: up to me on a set and says like, I'm
Speaker 5: really sorry.
Speaker 7: I know it's a lot today, like this is nothing, yeah.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, a lot. When you got the Scandal script,
Speaker 3: why television? Why this script? Why this part? And how
Speaker 3: did you get it?
Speaker 5: So everybody knew about this script, Like every black woman
Speaker 5: in Hollywood between the ages of like nine to ninety
Speaker 5: nine audition.
Speaker 7: Everybody wanted it.
Speaker 5: We knew it was like a historic, once in a
Speaker 5: lifetime kind of opportunity. I heard about it through the grapevine.
Speaker 5: My manager, who you both know, Kathy, call me. She
Speaker 5: was like, there's this new Shonda Rhyme show. It stars
Speaker 5: a black woman.
Speaker 7: We feel like you're really right for it. But Shonda,
Speaker 7: I think Shonda.
Speaker 5: Said I was too young because the character was written
Speaker 5: to be in their forties, which I'm in my forties now,
Speaker 5: so at the time, it was like I might be
Speaker 5: too young for it. But it felt when I read it,
Speaker 5: I literally did that thing which sounds so cliche, but
Speaker 5: I did that thing where I threw it across the
Speaker 5: room at some point because I was like this, like
Speaker 5: this was written for me, like nobody else to be
Speaker 5: playing this role, agreed, But I also knew that like
Speaker 5: there were forty other actresses who felt exactly the same whatever,
Speaker 5: and like really amazing actresses who I admire and love
Speaker 5: and peers of mind and people I looked up to,
Speaker 5: and we all just read We all just you know,
Speaker 5: read and at first I met with Shonda. Actually, because
Speaker 5: I was a I had done a bunch of movies
Speaker 5: and so my team had negotiated a meeting first. So
Speaker 5: I went in and I remember getting off the elevator
Speaker 5: and seeing this huge sign that said Shonda Land.
Speaker 7: And I was like, Oh, I don't know how this
Speaker 7: is going to go.
Speaker 4: Like this seems a lot.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I was like, give up my citizenship and move
Speaker 5: to somebody's land.
Speaker 7: And I was nervous. I was like, gosh, I don't know.
Speaker 5: I had done a couple arcs on television, but I'd
Speaker 5: obviously never been in a series. I've done two other
Speaker 5: pilots that I got fired from. Really, yes, but so
Speaker 5: I met with Shanda.
Speaker 3: For all the actors listening, my god, is that like
Speaker 3: a hopeful Yeah.
Speaker 7: The two other pilots I did before Skindle, I was
Speaker 7: fired and both.
Speaker 4: Shows why because you were too talented or too beautiful?
Speaker 7: No, both shows wet, but they replaced me.
Speaker 3: You know why, probably because they knew you were a
Speaker 3: star and you were stealing in from the rest.
Speaker 5: No, it was a little bit and Garmoy no will
Speaker 5: identify with this. One of them was like they they
Speaker 5: wanted it to be a more like Girl from the
Speaker 5: Hood version of the character. And I was like, I
Speaker 5: just don't see it that way, and they were like,
Speaker 5: well then you.
Speaker 7: Don't ask me want Yeah, wow exactly. But the other one,
Speaker 7: I'm not really sure what happened, but yeah.
Speaker 5: So I so I met with Shanda. I sat down
Speaker 5: and I loved her immediately. I just loved her immediately.
Speaker 5: I was like, oh, she's so lovely, and Betsy was
Speaker 5: so lovely, and she said to me, you know, if
Speaker 5: this goes well, this could be like a seven year commitment,
Speaker 5: and I was like, yeah, sure.
Speaker 1: I just thought, no way that's gonna happen.
Speaker 7: She's barely getting out the air as a lead. Like,
Speaker 7: let's let's take it one day to go down. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5: But I fell in love with her, and then of
Speaker 5: course I was like, I'll read. I'll read a hundred
Speaker 5: times if you want me to. And then I did
Speaker 5: read about one hundred times. My friend Colleen Bassis was
Speaker 5: my acting coach for the audition, but she's still an
Speaker 5: acting coach, so people seek her out if you're looking.
Speaker 7: And so I got to the fine screen tests. I
Speaker 7: think it was down to me and two other actresses.
Speaker 7: Two or three other actresses.
Speaker 5: But I remember like the intensity around it because we
Speaker 5: all knew these opportunities were few and far between, And
Speaker 5: when I got the call that it was mine, I
Speaker 5: just was just be I couldn't. I felt like the
Speaker 5: luckiest human being on the planet, just so blessed I was,
Speaker 5: you know, I felt so lucky.
Speaker 4: You know what, I knew it was going to be well,
Speaker 4: I never knew.
Speaker 3: I didn't know it was going to be a hit
Speaker 3: until the middle of second season when we were out
Speaker 3: in public and all of a sudden, women were throwing
Speaker 3: themselves at Tony Goldwin and I was like, what the
Speaker 3: fuck is happening. But before that, your dad, Earl said
Speaker 3: something like I know when I'm making this up in
Speaker 3: my head, but it was something like I said, say,
Speaker 3: the Last Dance was going to be the biggest thing ever,
Speaker 3: and I'm saying it right here, right now, Scandal is
Speaker 3: going to be huge.
Speaker 4: Like Earl's got the crystal he knows.
Speaker 7: And by the way, like.
Speaker 5: You know, my dad, it's so funny because my dad
Speaker 5: is such a dreamer. He's like he really sees beyond
Speaker 5: the possibilities of what's real and so like that.
Speaker 1: You know, he He.
Speaker 7: Gave me permission to dream big in my life.
Speaker 5: You know, I always feel like my mother is the
Speaker 5: one who taught me how to be practical and work ethic,
Speaker 5: But my dad gave me that ability to be the
Speaker 5: big dreamer. And he really he saw the potential of.
Speaker 7: This show from the beginning, which I'm so great, but.
Speaker 1: He and he would whenever we would encounter your parents,
Speaker 1: they were the biggest fans of the show. They were
Speaker 1: the biggest I mean, I'll stay right here with you guys.
Speaker 1: Your dad was like and your mom were like, we
Speaker 1: love Huck and give me so much love. And I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god. But it was sincere and honest.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like, you know, like, oh, it's Carrie's parents saying, yeah,
Speaker 1: we love the show, you were great on it. They
Speaker 1: were truly like, no, sit down for a second with me,
Speaker 1: and let's talk about hook.
Speaker 4: Because around with their scandal like raincoats. Yes, they wear
Speaker 4: their set jacket.
Speaker 7: They still wear them. You know, my dad has a
Speaker 7: bit of an obsession with Scott Pully. I think I
Speaker 7: told you he's in love. My father's in love it.
Speaker 5: One day we were in the car, my parents were
Speaker 5: visiting set as always, and and I was driving them
Speaker 5: home from set and my little green Prius and.
Speaker 4: I remember you in that prich.
Speaker 7: And my dad super quiet on the ride, and all
Speaker 7: of a sudden he says.
Speaker 5: You know what, I think that it was Scott Foley's
Speaker 5: nose that Michael Jackson was going for.
Speaker 1: How random. I love it.
Speaker 5: My dad thinks about that, Yeah, like that heat that
Speaker 5: like Scott Pully has the epitome of a gorgeous.
Speaker 7: Anglican male Mys.
Speaker 5: The richest, you know, talented pop star in the world.
Speaker 7: Was like, I could pick any nose in the world,
Speaker 7: it would.
Speaker 5: Be Scott fully And I was like, Dad, you're obsessing
Speaker 5: about Scott Poley's nose on the way home.
Speaker 7: So funny.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back, guys.
Speaker 7: Wait.
Speaker 3: In one oh seven is the episode where Carrie found
Speaker 3: out that gear Moo Diaz liked boys. Yes, episode, I'll
Speaker 3: never forget it because she went the whole first season
Speaker 3: not knowing.
Speaker 1: I hate that. I hate that because I don't want
Speaker 1: you to have one moment of feeling like, well, why
Speaker 1: don't you tell me?
Speaker 7: You know?
Speaker 5: No, I'm just such you know what it is, because
Speaker 5: I you know, I put my head in the sand
Speaker 5: with the work. I'm just like so in the work,
Speaker 5: and I wasn't as into the gossip, which I also
Speaker 5: was a little strategic because I was like, I don't
Speaker 5: want to be in the gossip.
Speaker 7: I kind of want to be Switzerland when it comes
Speaker 7: to the castle.
Speaker 5: So but I remember turning to you and saying like, so, Gearmo,
Speaker 5: do you have a girlfriend?
Speaker 1: And I was like, kind of, I don't remember.
Speaker 5: He's so sexy and he's so funny and he's so
Speaker 5: smart and I'm taken, but boy, like I.
Speaker 7: Set him up if he's up with somebody, he's so hot.
Speaker 4: Oh you know what?
Speaker 3: Also, you you were more quiet for season. I mean
Speaker 3: it's not only like Carrie was not, you know, strategic.
Speaker 3: That was a great plan, but Germo also wasn't. Like
Speaker 3: the only reason I knew was because I was like,
Speaker 3: where do you live? And he was like close to
Speaker 3: the parade and I was like what parade are you
Speaker 3: talking about?
Speaker 7: Patrick?
Speaker 4: Oh, I'll never forget.
Speaker 7: It was that war seeky way of coming out.
Speaker 3: Do you think, well, Santa Monica, like, you know, it's great,
Speaker 3: Like that's like I he either said him right by
Speaker 3: the crators.
Speaker 4: So I go to the parate and I was like
Speaker 4: what parade are we talking?
Speaker 1: But also you guys got to remember I was born
Speaker 1: in the eighties, Like I was, you know, a teenager
Speaker 1: in my twenties during a time where this ship wasn't
Speaker 1: like people were like all great, last time you and
Speaker 1: your boyfriend over, Like I was still very like guarded
Speaker 1: and like, I don't know if this is going to change.
Speaker 7: Perceptions, play all the roles.
Speaker 1: If people know yes, yes, yes, it was.
Speaker 7: Such a trailblazer, and that such a trailblazer, so much.
Speaker 5: Like being out letting people not and also like just saying, actually,
Speaker 5: now that I think about it, I think that you
Speaker 5: were really inspiring for me in terms of like when
Speaker 5: I got to a place where I was like, Okay,
Speaker 5: I'm not going to deny my personal.
Speaker 7: Life, but I also don't need to plaster.
Speaker 5: It everywhere like you were. Just I'm living my life
Speaker 5: for me. I'm in my truth for me. I'm not
Speaker 5: going to hide who I am, and I'm still going
Speaker 5: to play all the roles like I'm.
Speaker 7: Gonna I'm gonna be with women, I'm gonna be with men.
Speaker 5: I'm going to be all of who I am and
Speaker 5: as an artist and also be in my truth as
Speaker 5: a human so that means oh.
Speaker 3: I remember running home and being like, oh, is he
Speaker 3: out publicly? Because even at the beginning of Scandal, I
Speaker 3: feel like actors, I think even a lot has changed
Speaker 3: in the last ten years.
Speaker 4: Like one, and I hope it continues to do so.
Speaker 3: But I can remember in the beginning of Scandal me
Speaker 3: being like, I don't know if he's like out publicly,
Speaker 3: because I think that that's like a choice that actors
Speaker 3: make and whether or not they do talk about it
Speaker 3: or don't, and it's like a whole fucking thing. And
Speaker 3: I remember going home and being like, Oh, no, he's
Speaker 3: like really like out publicly. He's been in like gay
Speaker 3: magazines and like all this.
Speaker 1: I remember the time I had done a movie called
Speaker 1: Stonewall about the Stonewall Riots in sixty nine, and I
Speaker 1: was the lead. I was a drag queen in it,
Speaker 1: and I remember my managers saying, you have to make
Speaker 1: a choice. Are you you're gonna be doing a lot
Speaker 1: of press. Are you gonna say you're gay? We think
Speaker 1: you shouldn't say you're gay, Or are you gonna say
Speaker 1: you're you're straight? You know what I mean? And I
Speaker 1: had to make it and I was like, there's no
Speaker 1: way I'm freaking lying. And from that point on, I
Speaker 1: was like, I don't care, Like this is who I am.
Speaker 1: If people don't want to work with me, then fine,
Speaker 1: then I don't want to work with them either. But
Speaker 1: I was like, I cannot be that person who's.
Speaker 7: Like living a lie.
Speaker 1: Oh, there's no way. I'm too anxious for that shit.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my.
Speaker 3: Gosh, when I'm going back and watching these episodes, which honestly, Carrie,
Speaker 3: you like not being my friend and one of the
Speaker 3: great loves of my life, I cannot believe the acting
Speaker 3: you did in this part. Do you remember, like before
Speaker 3: the pilot, building all these things like her walk and
Speaker 3: her like neck tilt of like and I just can't
Speaker 3: believe the person you built in your preparation for her?
Speaker 3: Did you coach? Was someone build her from the outside in?
Speaker 3: Was it you're fitting with Lynn Paolo?
Speaker 7: Like?
Speaker 4: How? Or did she? Was it a slow burn?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 4: I like, how did she come to be?
Speaker 7: No? It was actually really interesting. I remember I remember.
Speaker 5: Working with Colleen on the audition, and I felt like,
Speaker 5: you know a lot of times when you are just
Speaker 5: meeting material for me, the first work for that first
Speaker 5: hour was like, what do I know about this?
Speaker 7: Where do I connect with her? How do I reveal
Speaker 7: myself in this? Right?
Speaker 5: Like how do I find the places where she and
Speaker 5: I meet? And then let the rest of it kind
Speaker 5: of fall away. So it was a lot of bringing
Speaker 5: myself to it. But also that point in my career
Speaker 5: I had developed sort of red carpet Carrie who was
Speaker 5: a version of me, but it was like the version
Speaker 5: of me that I was learning to cultivate that or
Speaker 5: fancy outfits and could go to all these premieres of
Speaker 5: all these movies I was in, and so she was
Speaker 5: like a larger than life version of me who stood
Speaker 5: differently and walked differently, and in a lot of ways,
Speaker 5: Olivia Pope was like her presentation of self in the
Speaker 5: world was a little bit red carpet carry and then
Speaker 5: her her inner messy emotional life was more my inner,
Speaker 5: messy emotional life. So that was kind of the job
Speaker 5: in the pilot. But then I remember meeting with Susan
Speaker 5: Batson again. I trained with with Susan Batson and with
Speaker 5: Colleen Barry. Barry at the time maybe no basis to
Speaker 5: her married name is basis, but training with both of
Speaker 5: them for the audition, and I remember saying to Susan
Speaker 5: after I got it, how do I do this for
Speaker 5: all these episodes now? Because I don't want to just
Speaker 5: be myself on TV, Like I have to figure out
Speaker 5: how to be specific about where she ends, and I
Speaker 5: begin I felt like I didn't have to be that
Speaker 5: specific in the pilot. I was willing to be really
Speaker 5: messy about that, but I was like, if I don't
Speaker 5: start to have some delineation about where.
Speaker 7: She ends ten months of the year, being like, when
Speaker 7: I go back to myself, you know, how do I
Speaker 7: return to who I am? So the clothes helped a lot.
Speaker 5: The shoes, like, I don't know if you guys remember,
Speaker 5: but I would roll up I set at crew call
Speaker 5: and be in sweatpants, but I always had to have
Speaker 5: my foot on your Earharal, Yeah, yeah, I remember you.
Speaker 4: Never ever ever. First of all, opposite, I'm a hack.
Speaker 3: I didn't wear my shoes as long as humanly possible,
Speaker 3: which actually, you know what, no fuck that, I'm not
Speaker 3: a hack. I've heard that Viola Davis does all of
Speaker 3: her Bessie barefoot or in ugs, because.
Speaker 1: There's no way, so do I. You got either, Harry.
Speaker 3: And Olivia Pope was like, I never saw you in
Speaker 3: rehearsal without your shoes on.
Speaker 5: No, I felt like they were really important for how
Speaker 5: to stand and how to walk.
Speaker 7: And then I figured out how to be her barefoot
Speaker 7: in my apartment. But but I always had to come.
Speaker 5: If I was going to be in shoes in the scene,
Speaker 5: I had to be in her shoes, otherwise I wouldn't
Speaker 5: know where in the room I would be. I just
Speaker 5: think that was sort of a real way into her
Speaker 5: and seems we're a huge part of it, Lynn Poolow, because.
Speaker 7: I felt like that was her armor.
Speaker 5: The way you know her her expertise was storytelling and
Speaker 5: narrative and how people present in the world. So I
Speaker 5: knew that how she presented in the world had to
Speaker 5: be really specific, really on point, elegant, smart. So yeah,
Speaker 5: all that stuff really really really really helped. And then
Speaker 5: giving over to the language, you know, in that like
Speaker 5: David Mammott way and that Shanna Reim's way, like just
Speaker 5: giving over to the language. She was there. She was
Speaker 5: in the words. I don't speak like that, but she
Speaker 5: she's in the words.
Speaker 1: And when something is written really well, it flows out
Speaker 1: of your mouth so easily. It's so satisfying. It's like
Speaker 1: delicious to say the words.
Speaker 3: Right, this chemistry between you and Tony Goldwyn is the
Speaker 3: stupidest shit I've ever seen in my life. Like, I'm
Speaker 3: so wildly uncomfortable. I can't believe how good it is.
Speaker 3: I can't believe I'll steamy it is. I love you
Speaker 3: both as people and individuals. I can't even believe what
Speaker 3: was happening. Yeah, and I'm curious, Like in the pilot,
Speaker 3: you guys make out in the corner beneath like a
Speaker 3: curtain and then in to get away from the cameras,
Speaker 3: and then in this episode the finale, again you look
Speaker 3: up and you have a kiss, and he says to
Speaker 3: jog your memory, Like, if I resign, or if I
Speaker 3: get arrested, you know whatever, for sleeping with Amanda Tann
Speaker 3: or whatever, at least I can be a normal person.
Speaker 4: I can be with you and you like kiss.
Speaker 3: But oh we've I also in season two, which German
Speaker 3: and I are were ahead, you know, because we're such
Speaker 3: prepared people and.
Speaker 4: Learning beast number one. We just watched the episode.
Speaker 3: I also just watched the episode where you and he
Speaker 3: were like screwing in the break room that has all
Speaker 3: the core the flights.
Speaker 5: I remember that I was wearing a green yes, yeah, Christening.
Speaker 3: It was your Christening outfit. It was sort of like
Speaker 3: nineteen sixties.
Speaker 7: It was a very beautiful Jackie, oh joh, exactly.
Speaker 3: What tell me about this chemistry thing? Tell me about
Speaker 3: you and Tony? Did you ever talk about it or
Speaker 3: were you just like it's bigger than both of us
Speaker 3: and thank god because it made everyone want to watch
Speaker 3: the show.
Speaker 7: It's such a good question.
Speaker 5: I don't think we talked about it because I don't
Speaker 5: think we knew until audiences were watching it. We were
Speaker 5: just like two actors doing our job. It wasn't like
Speaker 5: the first test, no, you know what the maybe I
Speaker 5: need to be honest. That is how we felt on set.
Speaker 7: But when we camera tested, when we did hair and
Speaker 7: makeup tests.
Speaker 4: For the show camera testing.
Speaker 7: We did hair and makeup.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we all did.
Speaker 4: I remember that. I remember that. I remember that.
Speaker 7: I remember like doing the thing you walk on camera.
Speaker 5: You're in the clothes and with the hair, and then
Speaker 5: Tony comes in and we're walking together, and I remember
Speaker 5: Shanda and Betsy freaking out at the monitors and I
Speaker 5: was like, what's happening? And they were like, you guys
Speaker 5: are just magic together, and we were like, okay, So
Speaker 5: we had this sense, but I knew Tony. So Tony
Speaker 5: and I had both done a lot of work with
Speaker 5: this organization called the Creative Coalition, which is a political
Speaker 5: advocacy organization ironically, and he was co president at the time,
Speaker 5: and so my I hadn't ever worked with Tony as
Speaker 5: an actor, but our interactions as human beings had been
Speaker 5: walking up and down the halls of Congress and at
Speaker 5: the White House talking to people about arts funding and
Speaker 5: arts for the humanity and funding for the humanities, and
Speaker 5: so had we had this like weirdly DC context for
Speaker 5: each other, and we had a great deal of respect
Speaker 5: for each other as like thinking human beings and as
Speaker 5: politically minded individuals, and so you know, I remember saying
Speaker 5: to Shonda like, who's going to be the president?
Speaker 7: On the show? Like who's going to be the president?
Speaker 7: And I learned at some like CIA.
Speaker 5: It was either at their Oscar party or their any party,
Speaker 5: and Tony's manager was there and he came up to
Speaker 5: me and he was like, Tony's doing it.
Speaker 7: And I was like yes, just because I knew how
Speaker 7: smart he.
Speaker 5: Was and he felt, and Shanda said to me she
Speaker 5: felt like he was the right person because he had
Speaker 5: directed at Gray's early on.
Speaker 7: And she knew that whoever was going to play the
Speaker 7: president was somebody.
Speaker 5: Who had to have executive like, somebody who felt like
Speaker 5: they could tell people what to do, like they could
Speaker 5: boss people around and have like, you know, real intelligence
Speaker 5: and leadership. And she had seen that in him as
Speaker 5: a director. So I had a lot of respect for him.
Speaker 5: I loved him already as a person, and we just
Speaker 5: hoped it worked. We just we hoped it worked.
Speaker 1: And you can't really plan that stuff, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: you can't plan that your chemistry is going to work
Speaker 1: on camera. Really, no, necessarily, right.
Speaker 5: I will say for me I and this is I'm
Speaker 5: a little bit of a chemistry slut, like I am. I.
Speaker 4: I don't want to say it, but you're good at it.
Speaker 5: I never worry about having chemistry with the only time
Speaker 5: I can't have chemistry with an actor is if that
Speaker 5: actor has decided that they don't want.
Speaker 7: To have chemistry with me.
Speaker 5: And I've been in those situations, like walking into an
Speaker 5: audition where it's like down to me and I one
Speaker 5: other girl and the lead actor has clearly wants the
Speaker 5: other girl, and I'm.
Speaker 1: Like, well, like yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: Here's when I don't have chemistry if they if I
Speaker 3: don't like their smell. Like I'm just such a pheromone person.
Speaker 3: And I have been teamed up. I've been like, I've
Speaker 3: had so many love interests on different things, and sometimes
Speaker 3: I'm just like ew, like I don't know this, like
Speaker 3: and I am acting, and I'm just like acting so
Speaker 3: much because I have what I call the ick for
Speaker 3: like the person, like I just like have this like
Speaker 3: I don't want to.
Speaker 4: But then I'm like, okay, it's a paycheck, it's a peck,
Speaker 4: like let's do this.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's so so there. Here's the other thing that
Speaker 7: and you we would have to.
Speaker 4: Sorry you say chemistry, slunt, What does that mean?
Speaker 5: It means like that when it comes to finding ways
Speaker 5: to love a character, for my for me to feel
Speaker 5: like my character really loves or likes another character, I
Speaker 5: don't find that hard. And I don't know if that's
Speaker 5: the Aquarius in me that like, I just really like
Speaker 5: people and I see the good in people.
Speaker 7: And I like it. I like a lot of different
Speaker 7: kinds of people, and so I don't I don't usually
Speaker 7: have a hard time.
Speaker 5: In the history of Skittle, there's maybe been one actor
Speaker 5: where I was like, oh shit, let's.
Speaker 4: Not I have guesses.
Speaker 5: Yes, most of the love interests are like, you know,
Speaker 5: there are guys that I get along with, and so
Speaker 5: you're like.
Speaker 7: I can figure this out.
Speaker 5: Like it's sort of this idea of like there's somebody
Speaker 5: for everybody. Everybody's lovable in some way. Can you look
Speaker 5: for the thing that's like that person's not for me, right, Like,
Speaker 5: not everybody's for me, am I really, but for their.
Speaker 3: Character you can fall in love with something in them
Speaker 3: that you can get to.
Speaker 1: And also, your chemistry was not only great with love
Speaker 1: interest people, but it was also great with like Quinn
Speaker 1: and with Huck and.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, Abby this friendship.
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, and also Scott Foley right like that it
Speaker 5: was sod are you team fits or you.
Speaker 4: Know, like that O Lake or Olan.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's very I think that that also both of
Speaker 5: those guys, by the way, are I'm so lucky to
Speaker 5: have been able to have those two guys just because
Speaker 5: they're both.
Speaker 4: They're the best, dude.
Speaker 5: But that's such a great example, right because they're also
Speaker 5: so different, like Scotty and Tony Goldwyn.
Speaker 1: You could not find completely different different But.
Speaker 5: I was like, I'll figure this out with these guys
Speaker 5: and their characters. I will say, and we should ask
Speaker 5: Tony's permission before we if whether they should stay in
Speaker 5: or not. But one of the amazing things that happened though,
Speaker 5: was I think it was during season two Tony said
Speaker 5: something we were in like one of our canoodling bedroom
Speaker 5: scenes in Olivia Pope's.
Speaker 7: Bed, and he said something we were talking.
Speaker 5: About like life and love and marriage, just like talking,
Speaker 5: and he said something that I said, Oh, that's so
Speaker 5: interesting because my therapist said something like that to me
Speaker 5: last week. And he looked at me and he said,
Speaker 5: who's your therapist That we had the same street.
Speaker 7: Oh my god for years?
Speaker 4: Oh my god, the odds of.
Speaker 5: That he wasn't currently seeing this person I still was.
Speaker 1: And did you mention it to the therapist?
Speaker 7: My therapist was like yeah, I know, Like he was like,
Speaker 7: this is not.
Speaker 4: A surprise to me, but of course he will last,
Speaker 4: will last.
Speaker 7: He couldn't have told me yeah, but isn't that great?
Speaker 5: And it also so much because I had I felt like,
Speaker 5: you know, Tony and I had such great boundaries, boundaries
Speaker 5: with each other, Like we were able to be in
Speaker 5: this like incredibly romantic space, but our boundaries as adult,
Speaker 5: as like responsible human beings were very clear.
Speaker 7: I have the ultimate respect for his wife. He's the
Speaker 7: ultimate respect for my husband.
Speaker 5: Like, yes, we there was never any despite the tabloids,
Speaker 5: there was never any messy between he and I. We
Speaker 5: were like really responsible, accountable grown ups, you know, respectful
Speaker 5: of each other and each other's lives while still like
Speaker 5: taking those deep risks as actors.
Speaker 4: And also what a scary thing to be.
Speaker 3: Like most people, if you get paired up as a
Speaker 3: love interest in a movie or something like the thing
Speaker 3: is over in three months or whatever. But for you
Speaker 3: to have a love interest that's seven years long, Yeah,
Speaker 3: that's insane.
Speaker 4: I guess like that.
Speaker 5: In sat my husband Tony Goldwan is the person in
Speaker 5: my life who I've made out the longest because.
Speaker 7: The boyfriend I was with seven years, four or five years. Yeah,
Speaker 7: Tony after gold is the guy that I, you know, kissed.
Speaker 5: It's so weird, so weird, whyl weird, so weird.
Speaker 3: This is the last episode in this season and the
Speaker 3: last episode I guess of season one of Unpacking the toolbox.
Speaker 5: This podcast Untagging the tool Box so cute because of
Speaker 5: you guys in your tool.
Speaker 3: So there's this, like I think the winning scene of
Speaker 3: this episode is so we had mentioned you and fits
Speaker 3: sort of kiss and you're like you look up and
Speaker 3: you're like cameras and he's like, I don't give a
Speaker 3: ship and you guys kiss anyway romantic because guess what
Speaker 3: if I go to jail or I resign, I can
Speaker 3: be whoever I want to be and I can marry you.
Speaker 3: And then you see Olivia sort of make the decision like,
Speaker 3: oh hell no, this isn't gonna happen. So you go
Speaker 3: to Melly and you two have Bellamy's like first big scene.
Speaker 3: At this time, Bellamy is not.
Speaker 1: A serious.
Speaker 4: And the scene is like, you didn't do your job,
Speaker 4: girl get in you.
Speaker 3: Let that girl, Amanda Tanner get in his pants. I'm
Speaker 3: doing I'm working my fucking ass. Off is the face
Speaker 3: and the wife and this that and the other thing,
Speaker 3: and you fucked up. You stopped being his mistress and
Speaker 3: you let him get away and this is all your
Speaker 3: fault that he wants to resign. And this is really
Speaker 3: where we see Bellamy step into Melly and from that scene,
Speaker 3: you go and arrange a with with the Fits, not
Speaker 3: even having a say in it. You arrange a interview
Speaker 3: on national television where she says that was me on
Speaker 3: the sex stright and so I'm so embarrassed. This is
Speaker 3: how Olivia and her planned together, working together to spin it,
Speaker 3: which we're seeing the beginning of how we ended the
Speaker 3: series with you and Melo together here.
Speaker 5: Anything that you're doing this it's so crazy.
Speaker 3: So you two start working together and be this political animal,
Speaker 3: or you decide that Fitz is not resigning. It was
Speaker 3: you on the sex tape, but we're going to lie
Speaker 3: and say it was Mellie in the fifth and then
Speaker 3: she's going to fake being pregnant. So by the end
Speaker 3: of this series, the two of them have to go
Speaker 3: off quickly and like have sex and.
Speaker 4: Make a baby. But it's the beginning of the Melli
Speaker 4: Olivia like when they work together, it's like, holy shit.
Speaker 1: And we learned that Olivia is like, oh hell no,
Speaker 1: I don't want to settle down and be normal. I mean,
Speaker 1: one of your memorable lines is being normal is overrated.
Speaker 1: In this episode, it's the first time you see Olivia
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh wow, she and Another memorable line
Speaker 1: in this episode is when Cyrus says, some men aren't
Speaker 1: meant to be happy, They're meant to be great. And
Speaker 1: I think that sort of connected to Olivia as well,
Speaker 1: because I think she felt that way too, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, she says, don't go be the man I
Speaker 3: voted for, Yes, but all of us are like, you
Speaker 3: mean the man that you the election for it, Okay,
Speaker 3: I voted for him, But the.
Speaker 1: Fact that you that you chose not to settle down
Speaker 1: with fits that Olivia chose not to go that route. So,
Speaker 1: I mean speaks volumes to who Olivia was right, she
Speaker 1: knew her life was beyond that, Like she didn't want that.
Speaker 1: She was like, oh wait a minute, wait wait, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm good being the most powerful woman in
Speaker 1: DC right now. Yeah, so good.
Speaker 7: So wild.
Speaker 3: The show figured out what it was while it was happening, Like,
Speaker 3: it wasn't predestined that Melly would be Melly, you know, so,
Speaker 3: can you talk to us quickly about like when you
Speaker 3: realize that so much of this show was going to
Speaker 3: be relationships between you and Jake and fits, and that
Speaker 3: Melly was going to be like a very big part
Speaker 3: of that.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I don't. It's so hard. I don't remember having
Speaker 7: a lot of perspective about what the show is about
Speaker 7: while we were doing it.
Speaker 5: It was so lame a moment, like we were just
Speaker 5: on this I mean, we were on this rocket ship.
Speaker 5: I remember Josh Molina seeing the second episode during lunch,
Speaker 5: the second or third episode during lunch while we were
Speaker 5: filming in that room. We would sometimes get upstairs where
Speaker 5: we had table reads, and he turned to me and
Speaker 5: he was like, you can carry a show. And like
Speaker 5: coming from Josh Molena who was like I watched all
Speaker 5: through college on West Wing and was like obsessed with.
Speaker 4: You were so political that the show.
Speaker 7: Yes, it was the show I had both Colleen and
Speaker 7: our friend Jody.
Speaker 5: We used to get together and cook recipes from the Moose,
Speaker 5: would cook book and watch West Wing every week. But
Speaker 5: we like so when he said that, I was like,
Speaker 5: I just remember being like, oh my god, oh my god,
Speaker 5: oh my god.
Speaker 7: I hope he's right.
Speaker 5: And then I remember you also because I didn't know
Speaker 5: I had mostly done movies, but I remember sitting in
Speaker 5: the hair makeup tail and Katie you were like episode
Speaker 5: three and I was like, what about it? And you
Speaker 5: were like the script is really good, and I was like, okay.
Speaker 5: You're like, well, that's when you know if you have
Speaker 5: a show or not.
Speaker 7: And I was like, oh really, oh.
Speaker 1: Goshi Katie out take you out kidding?
Speaker 4: Well, it's easy to make too.
Speaker 7: You were like things fall apart at episode three.
Speaker 5: Yeah, You're like episode three is when you really have
Speaker 5: to know whether you can make a show. And I
Speaker 5: was like, oh, that's exciting because I think this episode's
Speaker 5: pretty good. I just was so green, you guys, I
Speaker 5: didn't know anything.
Speaker 7: I didn't know anything.
Speaker 3: You're calling us to do backstories like I don't think
Speaker 3: anyone does that, but what.
Speaker 5: I mean they do in movies, the business of it,
Speaker 5: the business of it, I was so green about, and
Speaker 5: like the TV of it I was so green about.
Speaker 7: So I wasn't green as a as an actor. Like
Speaker 7: as an.
Speaker 5: Actor, I was so invested and felt like I was
Speaker 5: just like you know, hog and mud like so doing
Speaker 5: everything I wanted to be doing. But I didn't know
Speaker 5: what it meant. I didn't know what the marketing meant.
Speaker 5: I didn't I just you know, I just g was
Speaker 5: the moment to moment.
Speaker 7: I just wanted to be a.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it speaks it's it's like, it's about the work, right.
Speaker 1: It sounds like sort of corny and cliche, but it's
Speaker 1: it's about the work. If the work is good, everything
Speaker 1: else that we have no control over, right, that that'll
Speaker 1: either fall into Blazer or it won't.
Speaker 5: And it did, scandal, and yes, yes, yes, And what
Speaker 5: I what I'm really proud of sitting here right now
Speaker 5: in this moment is also that it was about the
Speaker 5: process and the people. Because I remember so much more
Speaker 5: about your first house that you bought, Katie. I remember
Speaker 5: so much more about your conversations about going back home
Speaker 5: in New York and what that was like, and like
Speaker 5: are the reveal of the clothing and the sax windows
Speaker 5: and your parents waving at us through the window.
Speaker 4: I'll never forget it.
Speaker 7: I'll never forget.
Speaker 5: That these little details I remember more than any episode
Speaker 5: of the show we ever shot, because I am.
Speaker 7: So invested in you as people.
Speaker 5: I was invested in our like we were on this
Speaker 5: rocket ship and we couldn't control like Mars and the
Speaker 5: comets and the stars, and like we didn't, but on ship,
Speaker 5: we had each other.
Speaker 7: And I'm really proud of how we did that.
Speaker 3: It really all stems from you, Carrie, I'm serious. And
Speaker 3: the other thing about all of this pressure and everything
Speaker 3: about being the first black woman in forty years to
Speaker 3: be on a show, I remember for one second, like
Speaker 3: I don't know if you ever felt this, or maybe
Speaker 3: I put this in my head that you said this,
Speaker 3: and I remember you being like, this has to succeed,
Speaker 3: Like what would have happened had it not?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I knew, I knew we failed. It would be
Speaker 7: another forty years.
Speaker 5: But instead, because we didn't fail, we got to have
Speaker 5: How to get Away, and we got to.
Speaker 7: Have Brianka Chopra and her show.
Speaker 5: We got to have all these women of color leading
Speaker 5: network shows Station nineteen, Like, we got to have this
Speaker 5: world where women of color were number ones on the
Speaker 5: clus sheet and it was no longer.
Speaker 7: A big quote unquote risk risk.
Speaker 5: Anyway, I love you guys so much.
Speaker 3: I can't tell you how fun this first season of
Speaker 3: Unpacking the Toolboxes.
Speaker 1: Uh, such a freaking blast.
Speaker 4: It's been such a blast.
Speaker 1: I hope I hope we get to do like listen,
Speaker 1: like every single season. I hope we do all seven seasons.
Speaker 3: And that's up to you alls, Like, yeah, you guys
Speaker 3: like it tell your friends, and we'll give you more life.
Speaker 3: We'll bring you more behind the scenes hot goss from
Speaker 3: We're going to bring all the guests more superstars.
Speaker 7: That's right.
Speaker 1: Peace.
Speaker 3: Hopefully the next episode up is two to oh one,
Speaker 3: White Hats Off, the premiere of the second season. But
Speaker 3: come on, you guys, give me a fucking break. The
Speaker 3: first season, we brought to you Shonda Rhymes. We brought
Speaker 3: to you Tony Golden, We brought to you Lives of Wheel.
Speaker 3: We brought you carry Wash, carry.
Speaker 4: Washing, So stick with us.
Speaker 3: Please tell your friends this is and also because as
Speaker 3: per usual, I just want to hang out.
Speaker 4: We Willy Willy Diaz.
Speaker 1: All, Oh my god, I love you so much. Hi everyone,
Speaker 1: this is Willy Dia sign off.
Speaker 4: Goodbye Gladiator, Bye Gladiators. We's on the albies.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys for joining us on Unpacking the Toolbox.
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe, share with your friends, rate,
Speaker 1: or leave us a review.
Speaker 3: Scandal is executive produced by Sandy Bailey, alex Alcea, Lauren Homan,
Speaker 3: Tyler Klang, and Gabrielle Collins. Our producer and editor is
Speaker 3: Vince de Johnny, with music by Chad Fisher.
Speaker 1: Scandal is a production of ABC Signature, and you can
Speaker 1: follow along by rewatching Scandal on Hulu.
Speaker 3: Unpacking the Toolbox is a production of Shondaland Audio in
Speaker 3: partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit
Speaker 3: the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you subscribe to your favorite shows.