- Please welcome the beautiful Taylor Schilling.
(audience applause)
My God, you look so beautiful and you are so beautiful.
And I'm so excited to talk about this show,
which is much more than a show to me.
There's historical references of pop culture
in a time that we remember so well,
the Pam and Tommy days.
But this show has such an interesting debate behind it.
Tell me about the show.
Why is it important to you?
What is the takeaway here?
- Well, for me, there was this kind of whisper
of an idea that Pam Anderson somehow was a participant
or was involved in some way
in this tape being out in the world.
And I was struck, in reading all of the scripts,
that she actually is the survivor of a crime
and we haven't treated...
We haven't treated her experience as such.
And we actually, I mean, there was a a court decision
that was made that because she had worn a bathing suit
and posed for Playboy, which is not the same thing
as being an adult entertainer.
- Nope.
- A judge almost made the decision
that her body kind of belonged to the collective,
and not to herself,
which is something that's kind of hard for us to...
It's hard for me to wrap...
Right?
It's really hard to wrap your head around.
It's hard for me to wrap my head around that.
- I think there is such rich conversation in this show
about where is consent in all of this?
- Yeah.
Well, and I love that you're bringing that up
because consent, you know, for me personally,
I think consent is the sun.
Like, everything revolves sort of around consent.
And as soon as it's a choice that someone's making,
God bless.
When it's not a choice and I'm not in control
of my own body and I'm not in control of my own experience,
I'm not in the seat of my own experience,
then it's not okay.
And so it really has nothing to do with the content.
It has to do with the idea that this was stolen from her
and this wasn't her choice.
And in that way, I think that Pam is a hero.
I mean, she's truly a hero.
(audience applause)
- I love it.
Now, okay, you were at the forefront of pioneering
literally streaming as we know it.
"Orange Is The New Black" kicked off a lifestyle
that we didn't know before.
And now it's the only one we know.
105 million views.
It's a global phenomenon.
What was that moment like for you
when you literally were a part of changing
how we live our lives?
- I had no idea.
I still don't.
It just was your producer that told me
it was 105 million views.
I mean, I know when I go to, you know, airports,
everyone's like, anywhere I go, Piper, you know,
Piper exists.
But I thought we were making...
I mean, we thought that that, and I am not being coy
or being hyperbolic with my like innocence,
but it felt like that was a...
We were making some kind of a web series
when we made that show.
- Your show is a testament to literally
the changing of our lives.
Weirdest segue ever.
But I find out something in your research
and I have to ask you.
Is it true that you babysat monkeys in middle school?
- Yes, I had, there were monkeys...
There were monkeys that lived down the street.
- [Drew] What, how?
What was it like babysitting a monkey?
- Yeah.
Well, it's weird that I did that, but I would...
I don't know why I was...
I don't remember how I found out
and I don't remember how it was allowed to,
but there were these monkeys, they were Capuchin monkeys,
but they were babies.
And these people down the street were like,
I don't know what to do with our monkey.
I don't, we need somebody to babysit the monkeys.
And I then would go and you know, like,
you make sure that the monkeys don't take the diapers off.
That's like the big deal.
- Were you like, Virgil, don't do that.
- I was like, look at me.
Don't do...
So yeah, I'd make sure I...
They would also like open the medicine cabinet, get Advil.
If you weren't watching, they'd like, get Advil,
lick the sugar off of it and then throw the pill
without the sugar all around the kitchen.
So that's, you had to make sure they kept the diapers on
and that they didn't go into the medicine cabinet.
- Okay.
- That's so weird.
I don't even know how we got here.
- I just had to ask and I'm so glad that I did
and I have so much visuals in my head right now.
Okay, it's design week on the show
and I hear you're quite the DIY gal.
What have you gotten into?
- Well, because I lived in very small apartments
in New York City for a very long time
so I can pretty much do anything with like a nail
and a hammer, or like sometimes I would use,
like, a three pound weight, as a hammer.
If I didn't have hammers a lot.
I mean, who has a hammer?
I think if you don't have a hammer, you can take,
you know, like a three pound weight and use it as a hammer.
- I love that tip.
Taylor Schilling, I have been such a fan of yours.
I'm so excited to talk with you about such a meaningful,
interesting, deep layered show like "Pam and Tommy",
which you are starring in and are so amazing in,
and it's streaming on Hulu now.
And thank you so much for coming here.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
(upbeat music)