SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoliers for the series finale of Hacks.
Paul W. Downs joins me for this week’s edition of my Deadline video series The Actor’s Side to talk about saying goodbye to Hacks.
For the HBO Max show’s fifth and final season, it has received 24 Emmy nominations, a record-breaking amount that eclipsed the past two years’ records of 23 established by The Studio and The Bear. Pretty remarkable, and Downs talks about the trajectory of the show and the rather risky and dark pitch for the series that he and co-creators Jen Statsky and Lucia Aniello made to HBO to sell it in the first place. They pitched the finale, how it would end with a “right to die” storyline for key character Deborah Vance, not knowing if they would ever get to that point.
True to that pitch, the show ends with their comedy star deciding to end her life in Switzerland, not exactly the stuff of your average television comedy series, but as it has always done, Hacks brilliantly juggles laughs and drama finding just the right tone which is what has made it such a hit. Downs also talks about the nightmare logistics of actually shooting some of that finale in Paris at the Louvre and how the production kept seesawing until the last minute between backup Versailles and the world’s most famous art museum, but one that at that moment had also been the victim of a massive heist.
Downs has won three Emmy Awards for the series as writer and producer, and is nominated for three more this year as co-writer of the finale, Outstanding Comedy Series, and again nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a comedy series as Jimmy, the ever faithful manager of Vance. He talks about his acting journey starting with winning his first showbiz award playing Shakespeare in his 8th grade drama class, and going on to much success with the Upright Citizens Brigade improv group and co-starring role as the trainer in Broad City, where he also was a force behind the scenes as well.
To watch our conversation and to get the ‘actor’s side’ of things from Paul W. Downs just click on the link above.
Join me every Wednesday this season for a new edition of The Actor’s Side.
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