hi how are you doing hi sarah how's it going yeah very good how are you doing
doing all right good good um congratulations on such an incredible show i've bled through
pretty much all of it nearing the end from the instant i was hooked so um
brilliant show um what do you to the role well i think any project with sean penn and julia roberts
attached is pretty attractive um and uh you know beyond that i was like oh it's about watergate
great um you know um based on the podcast uh slow burn um which uh my wife and i really really
enjoyed just an extraordinary re-examination of uh you know a moment in american global media
history um but you know we think we know you know the bare bones of what it's about um you know very
much used to hearing it from the woodward and bernstein journalistic side of things and um
yeah this you know really gets behind the scenes you know some of the characters that were actually
involved in the in the scandal in the cover-up um and uh you know most notably the women behind some
of those men uh martha mitchell uh wife of john mitchell the attorney general played by sean penn
uh martha mitchell played by julie roberts um you know a very very uh charismatic outspoken
conservative media personality of the day uh who was really one of the first to speak the truth
about the situation who was then horribly silenced by the administration um you've got uh modine the
wife of john dean who i play uh played by betty gilpin who you know again massively instrumental
in in how uh you know in the decisions i think that john dean uh chose to make you know coming
out of being involved in the scandal um frank wills the guard who blew the thing wide open you
know so many of these characters that we're not used to hearing about uh in relation to
watergate and um you know they really get a chance uh you know to have a light shone on their story
absolutely um as you mentioned uh most people know watergate through the the reporters and
through nixon so hearing about all these other people who are involved is quite interesting um
how did you get to grips of john dean himself because he's he's
somewhat smart he's somewhat a bit of a sleaze he's uh ambitious very ambitious
um so what goes into playing a character a real life character like john dean yeah well ambition
is key i mean the title of his autobiography is blind ambition so that helps um you know he
really is a portrait in in uh in the the ills of uh you know pandering to your ambition too much um
and yeah his book's very fascinating modine's book uh i think it's called a woman's view of watergate
uh you know pretty fascinating uh angle then you've got you know gordon liddy's book will
uh not a big fan of john dean you know a very interesting take there um there was a
fascinating book published just as we were going into production i think uh called king richard
uh booked by michael dobbs which is a really really brilliant um very thick tome about uh
about watergate and um actually if you listen to the audiobook of uh king richard you get
in between the chapters they play the relevant sections of the nixon tapes so you get to hear you
know albeit very poor sound quality but you know john dean you know uh you know in sort of muffled
tones talking about you know this cancer on the presidency and uh you know it's pretty chilling
stuff when you hear that you know the real life voices and then you know go into a chapter you
know sort of deep diving about you know exactly what happened and so there's a wealth of material
there's also hundreds of hours of footage of the hearings some of them very very boring but you
know great for character study and um and of course john dean is still alive and regularly
wheeled out on cnn as their sort of resident corruption expert so he's had a busy few years
absolutely um and i find it really fascinating that this this show almost treats them like a
slapstick act i guess and there's a real comedy yeah and there's a there's a great absurdity to
the whole situation and and if it didn't have such you know devastating real world consequences it
would be you know total slapstick comedy some of it is ridiculous and and and i loved that matt
ross really encouraged certainly in the way he cast it you know comedic leaning actors actors who
have a facility for you know playing a bit fast and loose with the texts improvising you know just
really bringing out the the idiocy of some of the situations um as well as you know some obviously
some more serious and dramatic and and tragic situations you know it really it runs the gamut
absolutely there's a wonderful line that the fbi agents say which is what if they were all
morons what if they're not all masterminds they're all just morons yeah yeah and many of them were
absolutely and what i find fascinating about john dean is his constant approval for richard
nixon because mix never appears he's always like a shadowy background figure in our in our telling
which i kind of love you know it's uh yeah he's a sort of an offstage character they're sort
of waiting for nixon uh kind of thing um but uh yeah i mean he's just a huge figure you know his
portrait looms large in many scenes you know and he's a constant presence and everyone's jostling
you know uh i was thinking just now of you know the show's succession where you know everyone's
jostling for power trying to be the next in line you know and and just the games that people play
the shenanigans the [ __ ] skull doggery that goes on to try and you know get you know get closer to
nixon get that seat next to him at the conference get that seat on air force one it's it's pathetic
really absolutely and he's constantly rebuffed but rebuffed in a kind way like he sent on a honeymoon
and stuff like that yeah absolutely fooled by yeah yeah i kind of liked the idea that he you know he
didn't fully understand what he was getting into but by the time he did it was sort of too late and
you know um i don't think many of the people involved really thought they were out now bad guys
you know but um but they definitely were prepared to compromise a huge amount uh you know ethically
and morally to to you know hold their their place in in the sort of you know nixon firmament
absolutely um and i i would be remiss about mentioning what you said on the one show yesterday
and there is a likeness to today's governments not just in the uk but in america as well yeah
i mean it doesn't take a genius to spot the the parallels really um and you know i was just very
happy to have the opportunity especially this week um you know is extraordinary uh how you know
desperately uh certain individuals are clinging to power um and uh yeah unfortunately it's you
know it's a common thread in in almost any administration in the world um you
know this this idea that you know corruption can be sort of swept under the carpet and an
entire population would be sort of gas-lit it's like oh actually there's a war on so let's not
worry about that it's like well maybe we should absolutely well congratulations are in order
because that's all everyone's talking about right now it's it's all over loads of people
have been like tell him congratulations he's the man of the moment very much
um the other thing i love about your character um is the relationship that john dean has with
mo dean who's he's a democrat and very liberal um and they come to heads a lot but they also develop
this beautiful like loving relationship how is that working with betty on on this fantastic i
mean what a gifted funny brilliant actress and uh yeah very very lucky to have her as my my partner
in crime for this one and um it's you know the show is you know very much a portrait of two
marriages you've got john and martha mitchell played by sean penn and julia roberts but then
the deans as well and and a marriage that survived that situation in a way that the mitchells didn't
um you know they're married to this day they're still alive uh john modine and um
you know both of their books uh recount how much this you know potentially devastating uh
moment really strengthened their marriage and you know they went from a a place of
secrecy to great openness and transparency and that you know strength of communication is
you know real testament to their marriage so yeah it was you know i couldn't have i couldn't
have done it without betty really and just sort of exploring what that marriage meant to both
of them and what it what it was what it became um yeah really fascinating fascinating insight
absolutely i do think one of my favorite scenes is when you bring it to the the republican party
and she's just under her breath just commenting on all the people oh yeah you have blood on your
hands that was an improvisation uh on betty's part i'm thrilled that they kept me yeah there
was a lot of that going on it was great really really good um and also uh like we mentioned
before that matt ross does bring the comedy and the drama elements to it what's it like working
with him as a director on this show yeah i love working with actor directors you know there's
often a shorthand there there's a you know there's a real sort of mutual respect i think and and
he cast it with a lot of people that he knew and loved which is always lovely you know you
know people he he vouches for and uh so you know you're in good hands but he also cast it
with people who are comedic leaning can do you know drama and comedy uh who have a facility for
improvisation and playing a bit fast and loose with the text and and just sort of yeah bringing
out the wit and the absurdity and and uh i think that yeah comes across amazing and like you said
there's so many different actors um and characters here but i am the biggest legion fan um so so
seeing you get reunited with hamish link later was i kind of did like a little squeal how was
that reunion absolutely delightful i love hamer she's so brilliant and uh and so funny in this
uh as he was in legion as well um i think he's a brilliant actor and uh yeah any opportunity to
work with him is is great absolutely amazing well thank you so much for talking to me today i can't
wait for you to see it's honestly an incredible show and performance thank you very much ladies
and gentlemen you're watching hey you guys hey you guys how are you guys is that from the goonies yes