WEBVTT - 317: Flesh and Blood w/ Debbie Allen 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:03.080 Unpacking the Toolbox is a production of Shondaland Audio in 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:42.400 partnership with Higheartradios. 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:27.600 And Katie. 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:36.120 Gee. Do you remember being at the table read and 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:38.440 reading for the first time ever that Quinn and Hawk 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:39.920 were gonna bone down? 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:45.120 Oh? Yeah, Oh absolutely. I was so excited. 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:50.200 Because you wanted to make out with me so bad. Yeah, duh. 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:52.320 You were ready to take our friendship to the next level. 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:56.920 All of you fans that think Germo Diaz is the hottest. 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:00.240 He is a fucking awesome kiss. 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.600 So is Katie. So are you please? 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:04.880 Thank you? I take pride in my kissing skills. 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:06.679 I'm not gonna be a good kisser if the other 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.840 person isn't a good kisser too, you know true. 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:12.680 I was thinking about it today. I was like, my god, 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:15.800 welcome to married life. I haven't had a great makeout 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:18.720 session a hot minute. Someone call Adam Shapiro. 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:20.600 Yo. 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:22.959 Have you ever had to train somebody to try to 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.280 train them as you're making out to be a good kisser. 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:30.560 Oh? I have not found yet somebody who was like 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:34.200 a bad kisser that I trained like successfully? Have you 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:34.679 me either? 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:35.000 No? 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.399 I've tried, but it's never It never results in a 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:40.840 you know in a positive outcome. 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.040 I feel the same way. It's like, yeah, you know, 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:46.360 it might take if someone's got like a different maybe 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:48.800 kind of style, and you like keep going and like 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:51.520 you figure out where you're in sync and where you're not. 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:53.880 G and I were in sync. 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:58.440 We were in sing baby, it's kinna a May, It's 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:02.040 a kinna a May. We were so insane. We were 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:04.560 backstreet boys, we were new kids on the block, and 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:06.880 we were in sanktch. 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.280 I was nervous when I read it. I was like, 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:13.520 you're having sex on guys. This is episode three seventeen. 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:16.959 We're talking about today, but it's Gee and it's Hock 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:18.640 and Quinn having sex on the top of the car. 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:22.680 He rips these fishnet stockings. I slapped the shit out 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:25.040 of his face. He spits on my neck and then 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:27.720 he licks it off. Oh I'm getting all hot and 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:29.119 bothered talking about it. 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.840 Some of that stuff was improvy, at least the spitting. 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:34.320 I don't think that was in the script. I think 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:36.799 that just happened. I remember afterwards, I was like, oh 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:38.519 my god, I'm so sorry. Is that okay? K? 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.160 You were like, yeah, we had no safe word. I 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:44.720 feel like we were so close by the time we 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.720 got this that it was like, I think that's what 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:49.600 made it so good. It was like, you know a 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:51.119 lot of people when you're going to be a love 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:54.920 interest with someone you meet pretty early on and you 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:58.400 start hooking up pretty early on and you become friends after, right, 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.480 But us it was the opposite. We were already friends 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:03.400 and then we were like. 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:06.320 Oh shit, we had no idea. We had no idea 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.080 this was going to go down. Oh my god, it's great. 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.200 But you were saying earlier about the an intimacy person 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:16.080 being on set. How what's that. I haven't worked with one. 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:18.960 I haven't either. Want we shot this, you guys, this 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:23.440 was before the Me Too movement. This scene was shot before. 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:27.200 Now all of these amazing protocols have been put in 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.440 place to help actors. There's a whole new job called 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:34.720 an intimacy coordinator of someone who's on the set choreographing 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.800 love scenes, sex scenes, any touching scene as if you 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:41.000 would a stunt or. It's a stunt person on set 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:44.800 choreographing a fight. Now you have an intimacy coordinator choreographing 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:48.480 making out scenes and love scenes. Yeah, you put your 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:51.160 hand on her here and you spin her around here 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:52.920 and you lay down on this line, and then you're 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.080 going to switch places and he's on top. Now she's 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.800 on top, and it's mapped out. We didn't have that. 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:01.400 No, all, Where do you have to go to get 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:02.720 to be an intimacy expert? 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.360 I don't know, but it's I'm currently working on a 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:08.240 show that has a lot of steamy sex. Oh really, 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.360 maybe this is a spoiler, whatever, but thank god I 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.040 am not involved or not. You're like, well, no, now 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:18.720 that we've spent all this time talking about hooking up 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:20.839 and that G and I are the best kissers we've 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:23.720 each other ever had, we have to tell you that 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:27.120 we are bringing to you live one of the most 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.200 talented individuals to ever be born on the face of 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:29.640 the planet. 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.279 An icon, I would say, an icon. 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:37.520 Icon allegend, truly a diva, not in the sense of behavior, 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:42.680 but in the sense of just killing it and being 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:46.080 at the top of her game in so many arenas 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:47.880 it's bananas. 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:48.239 For decades now. 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:52.000 She's prolific. Yes, and we are so lucky to have 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.719 her on this show, and we were so lucky to 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:59.400 have her on this episode. She's the greatest of all time. 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:03.039 We had do some difficult stuff, some intimate stuff and 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:05.400 some riskue stuff. And I don't know about you, but 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.919 I felt super safe knowing that she was at the 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.760 helm guiding us. And with this woman, it's always it 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.080 was always so much fun being on set with her. 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:18.160 She does this really funny thing after you're done with 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:19.960 a take, What does she say here? 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:22.720 And she likes if she feels like she got the 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:24.920 take that she likes, and like, this is the one 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:27.080 we're gonna use in the edit, It'll be like and 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:28.160 cut Hello. 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:32.280 Yeah, that's what she says hello, And I think it's 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:36.800 basically her asking everyone the camera the sound everyone, Hey, 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:38.159 is everything good with you guys? Hello? 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:40.760 Because if it's good, I love it. Let's move on. 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.000 Yes, let's move on. Is everyone approved? Did it get 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.200 through on sound? Then let's move on. 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:48.360 I love it. I love it. I love it. 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:52.280 We're talking about episode three seventeen, titled Flesh and Blood, 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:54.840 which aired on April tenth in twenty fourteen. 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:59.400 And it was written by Severiano Canalez and Miguel Noya Severano. 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:01.480 But we call him, yeah, that's. 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.599 It's amazing, the name Severiano. I've never called him that. 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.000 Game there, we just call him Seve and it was 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:10.240 directed by the Legend the Icon The Woman. 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:16.400 Our Guest de Bi Ellen, and it was guest starring 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:19.359 Keith sellin Wright as Garrett Cole, Harry S. Murphy as Mayor, 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:23.640 Johnny Cross Coostrey as A, Petro Candy Alexander as Maya. 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:28.279 Lewis Nazanine Boniatti as Adnan Salif, Sebastian Rochets, Dominic Bell 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:33.599 Brian Lesher's Tom Larson, and Carlo Prota as Ivan Yushkin. 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:38.280 And to just jog y'all's memory, this is what happens 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:40.560 in the episode. In order for the OPA team to 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:42.680 track down Maya, Pope and the bomb, they must bring 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:45.920 in some questionable new team members, and when Dominic doesn't 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:48.120 give up Maya or the location, we get to learn 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:50.760 more about the Pope family's true colors. 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:54.040 But things take a dark turn with Maya. When Maya 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:56.560 shows up at OPA, while some key members of the 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:00.640 team are a little distracted, I think she means I 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:02.400 think that means quinnin. 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:08.160 Hockey, Debbie, you are so gorgeous and so special and 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:11.840 we wanted to ask when you get a scene and 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:14.680 you think that you've got it, like the take that 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:17.520 you just took and you say hello. Is that your 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:21.480 way of making sure that every department also agrees and 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:22.360 now we can move on. 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.600 Yeah, that's something that came into being when I was 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.840 doing Fame, when I first started directing. Oh, and I 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:30.880 will get something and I get a tick that I 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:34.560 like and I go hello, And that means everybody talk 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:36.800 to me quick, because I'm going to move on. 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.960 I'm not waiting to tell me about sound or light. 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:43.239 You better be watching while we're doing it. So hello 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:45.640 means I'm ready. Are you good? If I don't get nothing, 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:46.320 were moving on? 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:50.800 Yeah, Oh, Debbie, it's the best. It's stuck with us 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:52.200 and we talk about it all the time. 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:53.720 It's so special. 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:56.400 Yes, you mentioned Fame, but you did the film first. 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.440 You did Fame the film first, right in the early eighties. 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.800 He was like nineteen eighty right, Yeah, it was when 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:03.440 it was released. 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:07.960 Yeah, Irenkara, I was actually cast to be her nemesis. 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:11.520 I'm a senior student that was going to give her 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:14.080 let her know she was not miss thing that. 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:14.840 I will know. 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:18.400 But by the time Alan Parker got to where he 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.360 was going to shoot my number said, Debbie, I love you, 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:23.120 but the movie's already ten hours long. 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.880 I'm going to have to cut the number. I said, really, 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:29.680 I said, can I keep the dress? Such the dress? 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:35.360 And so my whole character translated as a student teacher 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:36.280 or young teacher. 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:37.760 That's how that's what happened. 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:39.720 Yes, Lydia, what was Lydia's last name? 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:41.920 Do you remember, miss Lydia Grant? 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:45.120 Yes, Oh my god, my goodness. I as a young 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:47.000 person who knew they wanted to be an actor, that 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:49.440 show was just such a beacon of light, and it 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:53.400 was so inspiring and so exciting to see the school 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:56.760 that existed where people could just express themselves and be artists. 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.600 And oh, it was just it's such a special show 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.240 to me and and to so many people. And you're 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:05.079 so wonderful in it. And your famous line, which I'm 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.080 sure you're sick of people asking you to say. 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:11.240 Yes, want fame cost costs? Right here right he is 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:13.200 in sweat. 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:16.960 Yes, thank you, thank you, thank you. 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:21.400 Life art imitates life. And so now I really do 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.240 have that school, the Debbieon Dance Academy. Yes, I do 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.920 Art Center, and we're teaching everything. We have a middle school, sixth, 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.880 seventh and eighth grade. I have a Rise musical theater program. 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:34.480 I have a son's daughter boys program. 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:36.560 Oh, I can have a Fair to Be. 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:40.440 Class that is a class of art and art class 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:44.240 for transgender youth and feel comfortable in the room in 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:44.800 this space. 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:50.560 So, my gosh, Debbie, the legacy you are creating and 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:54.720 already have been for decades and it's just unbelievable. You 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.480 guys have such an amazing relationship, you and Shonda Rhymes. 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:00.559 How did you end up in shan on the land 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:04.520 and directing and come to be? And that we got 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:05.520 lucky enough to get you on. 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:08.520 You know, I was a big fan of Gray's Anatomy 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.160 first of all, and the show had been on for 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:14.800 several years, and I looked up and Shonda Rhymes was 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:16.000 one of my parents. 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:17.719 She brought her daughter. 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:20.240 Dancing there and so. 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:24.760 I actually intentionally didn't talk to her for almost the 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:27.320 first year. I really would just say hello, keep moving, 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.480 because I felt like she deserved the anonymity of any 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:32.840 parent to be there for her child. And that's what 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:36.520 it was. And I actually developed quite a wonderful relationship 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.199 with her older daughter, Harper. She was the first one 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:42.320 to come. The other two came as well. Harper was 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:45.480 very creative, and I was tough on her and trying 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:48.760 to really respect that, and I think she just started 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:51.360 paying attention to what I was doing. And the next 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:53.720 thing I knew, I was asked to direct Gray's Anatomy. 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:54.800 I Sai Child, let's about time. 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:58.440 Let me get over there, and then I just started 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:00.600 doing Scandal, and Scandal was my favorite show. 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:01.120 Oh my god. 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:04.560 We were going to ask you, oh yeah, because you 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:09.080 won't remember this because this was early on. And there 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.920 was a panel. You know how they have the Academy 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.400 panels where the whole cast comes, you're up for an 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:16.880 Emmy Award, and the audience gets to ask a question. 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:20.199 I stood up and asked a question, and I wanted 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:23.160 to know when did she know so and so was 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:24.720 going to kill get killed? 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.280 Did she know it in the beginning? Has she planned it? 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:28.960 She said? Do you want the truth? And you want 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:30.880 I said, I want the truth? She said, don't. We 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:32.560 figured it out just before we did it. 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:36.000 And she talked about being so spontaneous in terms of 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.600 really paying attention to dailies, seeing what chemistry was. 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:42.880 Working, where things seen that would be rich to go to. 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:48.080 And I started directing Gray's anatomy and they really enjoyed 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:50.000 me over there. I had so much fun, and then 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:51.560 I got invited to direct. 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:56.000 You're a huge dog over there acting. You're the producing director. 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:58.160 I feel like you run all of Gray's. I'm like, 0:11:58.200 --> 0:11:58.840 that's Debbie. 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:01.800 I'm like, and I've become the villain on the show 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:06.760 down too. Yeah, I'm really a good villain. It is 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:08.960 something I really like playing. It's fun. 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:11.920 So was it your idea? Did you say I want 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:12.800 to direct a scandal? 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:15.080 Or did I want to direct Scandal? 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:15.320 God? 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.880 Yeah, show, but I want to come over there. 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:21.160 She invited me to come and I was so excited 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.360 and I going in as a director. 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.480 Every director, when you're coming into a new show, you 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:31.439 they you deserve to study the DNA. 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:33.320 Of that show. Every show has its own DNA. That 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.920 means what is the style of the cinematography. There was 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.960 a scandal pace, the way you all talked, there was 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:44.400 a whole thing, and that DNA was different from Gray's, 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.120 different from How to Get Away. I did all of those, 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:51.800 but Scandal was just it was everything. It was hot, 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:55.160 it was sexy, it was political, it was pushing the 0:12:55.320 --> 0:13:00.000 envelope on race relations in America and the President child, 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:02.160 I'm locked up in a closet, I said, I got 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:03.240 to come over there, Sean, And. 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:06.199 It so hot. 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:09.640 That scene is so hot. I thought the same way. 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:11.480 I was like, oh my god. When we were watching 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.200 it back, I'm like, no wonder. I didn't realize when 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.480 we were shooting it, But now that we're watching it 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.240 back for this podcast, when that scene happened in the closet, 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:21.760 I was like, I get it. 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:28.160 This is the hottest in America. We were all and 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:31.280 when I was directed Tony Goldman, I would call him 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:35.240 mister President. I had the biggest crush on him, mister President, 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.520 you're thinking, and he were just laughing at me. Jill 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:42.720 Morten had been my brother on Broadway and raising so 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:46.720 now his little sister tell him what to do. And 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:50.920 then Maya had been on a different world. She came 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:52.800 out of the dance world. Do you know that she 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:53.880 came out of the dance. 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:55.319 Was a dancer. 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:59.360 Candy Alexander was a dancer, fierce dancer. 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:04.520 Debbie didn't she choreograph a bunch of Whitney Houston's world tours? 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:05.719 She may have. 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:08.720 I don't know, yeh. 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:11.440 Candy is as we say, she's the ship. 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:18.200 Yeah, she's amazing, she's so talented. So only she, honey, 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:20.640 with those legs, and were not had jug up against 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:21.520 that plaw honey. 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:24.000 Weeks to talk about that. 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:25.120 We have to talk. 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:27.160 We'll be right back, guys. 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:37.320 This episode, this was the first time that Quinn hunkot 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:41.120 sex and I was I will never forget g and 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:43.040 I were just saying before you came on that we 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.840 were so lucky that it was you because we felt 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:50.440 so comfortable, so safe, and I'll never forget it. I'm 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:53.720 a woman in Hollywood, and so everyone has things they 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:56.200 wish they could change, but mine happens to be in 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.480 front of millions of people and I'm about to have 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:02.320 a sex scene with Guermo, and you just made me 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:03.920 feel I remember you coming up to me and you 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:05.800 looked up and down like your dancer. You look at 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.120 people's bodies, they're dancers, they're movers, and you looked at 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.280 me and you were like you're hot, like something like that, 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:15.560 and it was all I needed to feel like, yeah, 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:20.120 Quinn's hot, Quin's got this, we can dominate this scene. 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.680 And I don't know, you really just empowered me to 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:26.560 feel like I could do it. I was scared. 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:31.320 I know that is the job of a really, I don't. 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:33.520 I'm not trying to pat myself a good director. 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.560 You are, You're one of our all time paperites died. 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:40.040 You so that you can find the reality of the 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:43.040 moments that you're playing in the relationships and let it 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.920 be truthful and be free of worn about what the 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:46.960 camera is looking at. 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.120 That you trust, you trust. I'm not going to show 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.360 anything that we don't want to see or that you 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:54.000 might not want to see. That I know how to 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:57.200 shoot it and keep you beautiful, sexy and go yes. 0:15:57.240 --> 0:15:59.560 And then I went up to Canaday Alexander's legs. 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:02.960 Yes, Oh that was the best. 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:05.680 You see those heels and those legs walk past us 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:07.440 like having this like croz. 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:08.840 My god, it's right. 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:11.440 She walks past us having sex. And then that's how 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.560 she gets into Opa. And then she like slices Joe 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.760 Morton's she screws him up. I don't know what she says, 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:20.200 she'sa she does something terrible. 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:23.720 Was was this the first episode you directed of Scandal, Debbie, 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:25.720 or when you already directed. 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:28.280 Some No, I just I started before this. 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:31.360 I think I think one of my first I can't remember, 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:34.600 but I just remember Carrie was pregnant at the time, 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.200 and she was carrying a lot of things, and that 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:40.360 you all were. You were all in the office, all 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.720 of you, and they were like eight of you. And 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:44.760 I said, Okay, you're gonna go here and walk here. 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.200 When she says this, could you enter here? And then 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:49.680 could you go and find something over here to read? 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:53.080 I remember when I finished doing what I call broad 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:59.000 strokes of blocking. Karen Washing said, choreogphy, choreophy, chourreophy. I said, 0:16:59.880 --> 0:17:05.440 I think being an actor and coming out of the 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.960 dance world really gives me another critical I as a 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:12.240 director in terms of what is the actor playing. I 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:15.320 really try to play everybody's part, so I know what 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:18.120 I'm thinking your subtext is and how you feel about 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:20.040 what's happening, and then you all. 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.000 Add all that you bring to it. You all brought 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:23.880 it though, Honey, let's just say it out loud. 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:26.480 You are the best. I mean. The other thing I 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:30.440 remember so well from this episode is at the end 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:35.280 we've found Dominic whoever his last name is, I don't 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:38.600 know his last name, but this guy who maya pope 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:40.639 was like always in love with and turns out we 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:42.920 find out in this episode that Maya Pope was sleeping 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:44.879 with this guy the whole time she was married to 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.159 Eli Pope, and Eli Pope hates this guy because he 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.080 has her heart and he never had it. And he 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.280 runs into Huck's office where the guy is bound and 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:57.760 gagged and has a Russian roulette game, and we think 0:17:57.800 --> 0:17:59.840 it's just a scare tactic at first, and he's not 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:02.879 shoot him, and then I remember so well, it's crazy 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:05.359 in the episode, but he ends up get everyone out 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:07.720 of the room, and Olivia Pope is screaming like no, no, no, no, 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:09.080 I don't want to murder your run in my office. 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.199 I don't want to murder anyone, and we're all holding 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:14.240 her back and boom bang the gun goes off and 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:18.040 he murders him right there, and Carrie's so pregnant at 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.760 this time and it's awful. She's gutturally screaming at her 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:24.280 dad not to as we're physically holding her back, and 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:27.359 then I remember you saying cut hello, and then we 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:29.239 would all go down to her belly and be like, 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:35.160 it's just pretend this is real. You're safe, nothing's really wrong. 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:38.480 We didn't want to be doing like actual trauma. 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:42.800 I remember this scene. I remember being in Huck's office. 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:47.080 I remember, yeah, you at your computer. I remember Engles. 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:50.880 It was really yeah, that was That's really something because 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:55.800 people don't realize that sometimes they really are leaving you 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:58.760 vicariously totally as this actor. They never think of you 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:02.000 as somebody else as they should. That's because you're doing 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.320 your job. But people are pregnant or going through all. 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:07.400 Kinds of oh yeah, sad stuff, breakup. 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:10.639 Yeah you want to get you said, I remember you 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:12.239 were pregnant. I choreographed you. 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:15.200 Oh my god, It's one of the greatest pictures I've 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:19.119 ever taken in my whole life. I had a baby. 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.280 I had my first and six weeks later I went 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:24.679 back to work and I was so grateful that it 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:27.840 was an episode being directed by Kerry Washington. I had 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:31.080 to dance to Britney Spears with me and Joe Morton 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.360 and a baby. I'm holding a baby and they call 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:39.320 in miss Debbie Allen Icon to just give us four 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:42.439 bars a short little choreography, and I remember, I'm carrying 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:45.520 my baby. I'm breastfeeding him under like a little rap. 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:47.320 I mean, he's so little, and I'm dancing with the 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.560 one and only Joe Morton as Debbie Allen is giving 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:52.760 us choreography, and this is my first day back at work, 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:55.199 and I'm like, I have a picture because it was 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:57.560 such a pinch me moment. 0:19:57.960 --> 0:19:59.760 Yes it was. 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:04.480 But you all are so wonderful. That show stands the 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:06.280