The Direct was able to speak with the talented cast and creatives behind Peacock's new comedy, Laid, where they talked about what makes it truly special, how it differs from the original, and how it handles its wild concept.
Laid, which was first an Australian series of the same name that aired in 2011, follows Stephanie Hsu's Ruby, who starts to realize that all of the exes she's slept with are dying, in order, in mysterious and random ways.
The Direct's Russ Milheim spoke with Stephanie Hsu (Ruby), Zosia Mamet (AJ), Michael Angarano (Richie), Andre Hyland (Zack), and co-showrunners Nahnatchka Khan and Sally Bradford McKenna.
Laid Showrunners on Making Changes from the Original Series
"We Loved So Much About the Original..."
Co-showrunners Nahnatchla Khan and Sally Bradford explained how they approached adapting the original Australian series Laid, and what they wanted to retain and change for their own version:
Sally Bradford: Starting from the premise, we loved so much about the original, and we wanted to leave that as it was. I mean, it's so great as it is. And we just wanted to have it exist as that. We did steal from it. I think all the things we really loved about it, we would keep, especially the pilot. I think plot-wise, the pilot is very similar to the Australian, but we love the humor.
We love the awkward humor, and we wanted to bring that in and keep––and there are things that they did in that series that may have been done lightly, but we made the bigger deal of or vice versa. But there's so much of it we love that we just wanted to keep going and build off of it.
Nahnatchka Khan: And then amplify it for an American audience, you know. So it's like, have her be a little less self-aware of who she was, and the effect that she's had on people in her past she might not be aware of and is forced to go backward and confront some of herself, really, like her past behavior. That was also fun.
Stephanie Hsu & Zosia Mamet Reveal How They Connect Most With Their Character
Stephanie Hsu and Zosia Mamet lead the charge as Ruby and AJ, two best friends are working together to try and solve why Ruby's exes are dropping dead in random ways.
Both actresses shared what elements of their characters they connected to the most as they dug deeper into them:
Stephanie Hsu: I do love love. I do love it. And I think that is a thing that felt like a core that we shared. And I do think, sometimes, you know, it is a comedy, and like, I love playing characters and shifting them outside of myself, but every so often, Stephanie's silly will sort of plume out of different characters, so, sometimes you get a little burst of my own chaos.
Zosia Mamet: I think there's a lot about her that still really enjoys the wonder in the world, and I think I'm very similar to that, but I still like to kind of like, it's probably why I do this for a living, to makebelieve and to embrace the magic that still exists. And I feel like maybe that's part of her way of avoiding the fact that she doesn't love where she's ended up in life. But regardless, I definitely felt the similarity in that and found a lot of joy in embracing that part of her.
Throughout the show, characters are consistently telling Ruby how terrible of a person she is. But does Hsu think that's true?:
Hsu: Well, I think she's got flaws. I think she's very flawed, and I think she means well, and I had to figure out a way to love her. So I think that's probably my perspective on that. But I do think that the question she's asking is quite innocent, and she has a journey. She's lucky. She gets eight episodes to figure it out, and she does figure some out, for sure.
Stephanie Hsu and Michael Angarano on the Wonderful Cast of Laid
"They Were Really Able to Capture Out Voices..."
Actors Stephanie Hsu and Michael Angarano both took moments to praise how great the cast of Laid is and that everyone is perfect in their roles:
Stephanie Hsu: I think this cast is so amazing, and they're amazing because everybody's so funny, but also everybody's a really special actor. And I think that with something that is such a high concept, you have to have people who are also down to get grounded and find the depth within the story and make you care about these characters and not just have it feel like one big joke. So I think that was also what made it possible to just be like, this is this little world we're creating, and here's our little swing at it.
Michael Angarano: I think it they did a great job of casting the right people, because I think, for instance, like Stephanie [Hsu] is such a great voice for Nahnatchka [Khan] and Sally [Bradford's] writing, she they were such a good marriage of actor and writer... But it really felt, and I asked Stephanie, I was like, 'did they write this for you to star in?' And, you know, it's sort of like what came first, the chicken or the egg. Because they really were able, once they found us, they were really able to capture our voices too.
The Cast of Laid on Improvising on Set
"[They] Really Nailed So Perfectly the Musicality of the Comedy..."
Jokes are fired at audiences at nearly every chance possible as Laid plays out. The Direct asked each of the cast members about how much of that comedy was improv and how much wasn't, which led many to point out how great the script itself was:
Stephanie Hsu: Good writers, even when you shift a prepositional phrase, it sort of shifts the joke in a weird way. And I think pretty early on, we were like, 'Oh, this is our holy grail, yeah, and we'll find the pockets where we can play.' But we wanted to honor our incredible writers.
Zosia Mamet: I was talking to Nahnatchka at lunch... she and Sally, our two creators, were talking about how they loved letting us improv. And I was like, That's so interesting because we were talking about how much we like just to say your word. So it's interesting the two perspectives on that, but I think they definitely gave us space to improv and we did for sure.
But also something we've been talking about a lot during press is how Sally and Nahnatchka just really nailed so perfectly the musicality of the comedy and the plot and just the dimensions of these characters that you really didn't want to deviate too much from the script, because it was already just so perfect as is.
Michael Angarano: I think per person, it varies, but the scripts were so well written and so specifically written, sometimes it would sound wrong if you got a word or two off because it was so rhythmic that sometimes you just wanted to stick to the script. But there were also a lot of moments that you could, you know, insert your own, you know, your own, take your own, your own flavor, so to speak.
Andrew Hyland: Yeah, there were pockets of improvising, for sure, but then a lot of the writing was sort of like, I'll say it's like mathematics, but it was like this, plus this equals this, so you can't deviate over there, because then the equation will end up [correct].
Laid Cast on Favorite Thing About How the Show Handled Its Crazy Premise
The inherent concept of Laid is completely wild, but the cast believes the final product handles the zany ideas deftly.
When asked what their favorite elements of how the show handles the high-concept premise, each had their own response:
Zosia Mamet: The show really doesn't try to fit into any specific mold, and I think so much of that was in the confidence of match and Sally understanding that, and then obviously also the confidence of Peacock and all the executives allowing the space for it to just be its own thing.
And so I think, I would say that allowing it to live in the world that we created is the most special thing about it that it's really not trying to fit into any particular genre, like it has a piece of all of them in it, and it really is its own little magical monster.
Michael Angarano: What I really love about it is its wide spectrum of tone that, you know... has this natural inherent hook in it. You want to find out what's happening. And it's a mystery. And then it has this dark comedy.
It actually, in a lot of ways, reminded me of something from the 90s, like 'Jawbreakers' or something like that, or like, oh yeah, 'Drop Dead Gorgeous,' like these old dark comedies that really don't get made anymore. And so it felt, you know, the right amount of sincere, earnest can't be self-aware and also grounded in moments that some of the movies that I just mentioned are.
Andrew Hyland: I mean, I guess when I was reading and watching curious, like, once you know what's going on, you're like, Oh, how's that person going to get it?
The full interviews can be viewed below:
Laid is set to air on Peacock on December 19.
