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It’s late fall 2022 and the cast ofThe Marvelous Mrs. Maiselis filming episode 509.
Getty Images; Amazon Studios/Prime Video
Although Brosnahan is filming this last episode as Midge Maisel, she’s also doing scenes for episode 505.
Brosnahan wouldn’t have it any other way.
The final script is 102 pages long, as of the last draft.
The final season ofThe Marvelous Mrs. Maiselbegins streaming on Friday, April 14, with three episodes, and will conclude on Friday, May 26.
It takes place in Myerson’s office, with Midge falling asleep on a nearby chair.
There’s been no time to sleep, no taking her foot off the pedal.
While it hasn’t been the healthiest or easiest lifestyle to sustain, Brosnahan is thankful.
The Catskills in season two
I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.
We know that this is lightning in a bottle.
Glamour: What have you learned about yourself over these last six years?
Brosnahan and Borstein in season three
Rachel Brosnahan: It’s just reinforced that I fucking love this.
I love what I get to do for a job, and I want to do it forever.
I can’t see myself ever retiring.
Emmy-winning costume designer Donna Zakowska with Brosnahan
I’ll do it until I’m dead.
They’re going to have to drag me off of center stage.
Such a big part of loving this profession is loving the people.
From left: Alex Borstein, director Daniel Palladino, Marin Hinkle, director Amy Sherman-Palladino, Rachel Brosnahan, and Michael Zegen at the first-season premiere ofThe Marvelous Mrs. Maiselin New York on November 13, 2017.
And that can sometimes be really complicated, but it’s been incredible.
Has it also made you more confident in what youre capable of?
The dialogue is so fast, and you have to be word-perfect.
“The horse”
It’s definitely taught me I can do things that I didn’t know I could.
It was sink or swim, so I felt the pressure to do well and not let anyone down.
Amy and Dan took a huge chance on me.
The Weissman apartment
And you were so sick the day of your audition.
I was so sick.
I don’t know what the fuck they were thinking.
Midge’s closet in her bedroom
But yeah, it’s definitely taught me to be less afraid.
For many years I thought fear was a strength if you could be motivated by it.
I’m less afraid of not being afraid.
The costume “closet” at Steiner Studios, whereMaiselis filmed
It can become easy to feel like the only way to be a good actor is to torture yourself.
And there’s plenty of torture involved without trying very hard.
I began to feel like fear was a superpower.
Brosnahan at the Emmys in 2018
Thats a perfect answer.
Had to borrow a bit from Midge.
That’s what I’ve taken from her.
When you look back over the five seasons, what episodes or scenes or moments flash into your mind?
The show did a lot of traveling both inside and out of New York.
There were so many iconic locations between Carnegie Hall and Coney Island.
I think about 19th Street a lot.
I have this really distinct memory of the first time we shot there.
We were in the middle of a road on 19th Street time traveling to the 1960s.
And where else did we go?
The Catskills in season two
Did you go to Vegas or was that a stand-in?
No, that was in Queens.
Those first couple sets where she did stand-up were so chaotic.
I remember those early sets very, very clearly.
And being in the Gaslight with Alex, who was always such an important part.
There is no one quite like Alex Borstein.
You guys will always be one of the greatest onscreen duos.
Brosnahan and Borstein in season three
Midge and Susie say tits up before Midge performs.
In my brain, I’m going, Walk the plank.
And sort of relinquish control, I suppose.
Midge is always so put together, which in many ways gives her confidence.
How has her style inspired you?
Midge loves clothes, and Donna Zakowska, who designs all of Midge’s gorgeous clothes, loves clothes.
I’ve enjoyed that process in my own life more too.
I’m going back to black.
I’m a New Yorker, man.
I’ve got to put some black nail polish on or nothing.
I should probably let my nails recover from this.
I don’t even know what’s underneath anymore.
Do you remember the first time somebody called you Midge outside of work?
When you realized, Oh, people are associating me with this character?
I bought a sandwich, and as I left, a girl called after me and went, Midge.
I didn’t know whether I should turn around or not.
Will you still go out in public with zit cream on?
No, that I can’t do anymore.
Those days when you’re like, Nah, I didn’t wake up feeling cute this morning.
It’s only then or when I’m leaving the gym when people are like, Midge Maisel?
And I’m like, Ugh, no.
She’s back there.
What do you wish you could go back and tell 2016 Rachel?
I would tell her that it’s okay to sleep.
That your brain could hold a lot of words at once.
Yeah, walk the plank, girl.
It’ll be okay.
How nervous were you opening up the finalMaiselscript?
Did you get it at the table read or did you have it the night before?
We got it that morning.
So I kind of read it really quickly in the car.
I already knew how it ended.
Amy told me on the first day of season five what the last scene would be.
Did you want her to tell you?
She told me because she thought it would help inform the scene we were shooting.
It was really interesting, and I’m sure it did help inform that first scene.
Amy wrote the last one.
Excited and sad, yes.
It was crazy to think that this would be the last one.
Now you’re going to make me cry.
We have work to do.
I can’t cry yet.
We’ll have excuses to hang out.
A lot of us are here in New York.
Marin’s coming out to New York.
Amy and Dan are here.
How was it doing that final table read for the last script?
Even though you already knew what was coming.
There was just certain points in the script that got us all differently.
Alex, who never cracks, turned to me at some point and was kind of teary.
That got me, and I was teary from there to the end.
Tony got it at some point, and Marin was sobbing basically from the minute we started reading.
Have you asked for anything that youre going to take with you?
They asked about what happened to all this stuff when the show was over.
My dad sent me a picture of it later.
So that’ll be their holiday present.
The horse
What are you going to take for yourself?
I’m not going to leave nothing.
Amy and I are fighting over a painting in Midge’s apartment.
She’s going to take that one, and I’m going to take a different one.
Michael and I stole poker chips from the Vegas set that had the fake hotel’s name on them.
We stole paddle boards from the Steiner Resort in the Catskills.
I didn’t even notice it was there.
I’ve been in this house for six years.
Never noticed the horse.
So they’ll have a piece of the Maisel-Weissman household in their house forever.
Meanwhile, I’m going to Sarah Jessica Parker these clothes.
I think it’s when I first got sent the pilot script before I auditioned for the show.
I was in Vancouver with [my husband] Jason [Ralph] while he was working onThe Magicians.
It rained every day, and I was in the house with nothing to do.
I watched all ofNurse Jackiestarring Edie Falco.
The show was incredible.
I remember thinking, This is tonally so interesting, this show.
It’s really funny, but it’s fucking dark.
When I read the pilot forMaisel, I was like, I love this.
I think it’s just likeNurse Jackie.
Because it’s not a laugh-out-loud comedy.
It doesn’t need to be ha-ha funny because I’m not a comedic actress.
So I was like, I think this I could do.
I was fully approaching this like Shakespeare.
I was like, Oh no, no, no.
There’s a reason why the doctors onGrey’s Anatomydon’t perform surgery in preparation.
And she was like, But what if I write it?
I was like, I will be so traumatized.
I will have to quit.
I will never be able to shoot this show.
So she let me out of it.
At some point Amy comes in.
I just want you to remember this is a comedy.
When I tell you I went home and sat on my bathroom floor and cried…
Oh no.
I was like, Who let me do this?
Why am I here?
Am I ending my career before it’s begun?
So did you approach that scene differently then?
And the thing is, it was a dramatic moment in the story.
But I went home and had a complete heart attack.
I remember calling a friend and saying, Oh God, who thought this was a good idea?
Why would they give me this part?
How the fuck am I going to become a stand-up comedian on TV?
But you did it.
But we did it.
I was told I wasn’t funny for so many years.
But I’ve learned a lot.
That Emmy of yours will remind you that you are funny.
Brosnahan at the Emmys in 2018
Well, on that note, were done.
Now lets go eat.
I should say one more thing.
You’re my first.
You are the first person I’ve tried to talk to about the end.
So I think the real takeaway is just pride and gratitude.
You should be so proud of yourself.
I can do it.
