Kaitlin Olson on Hacks

hi I'm Mara Webster with in Creative company and today I'm so excited to be joined By the Fantastic Caitlyn Olson to talk all about hacks and in starting off and talking about when you first took on the role of DJ um I loved how you kind of like immediately saw her as an angsty teenager in a grown woman's body and that's so much of the embodiment that you've brought into her over these few seasons and I was interested in kind of when you started to view that on the page earlier and kind of like how you thought about the way in which you felt like that would portray itself in DJ as a character uh I mean that's the first thing that that popped into my mind really when Mike Sher called and was discussing this character with me and was saying you know he works this with these wonderful creators and writers Paul and Jen and Luchia and they have this incredible story they've been thinking about and working on for a long time I believe years um and they they wanted to write this character and they had me in mind for it and they kind of described it in a similar way and as soon as I read it it kind of just became very clear um what this relationship was and I just am so fascinated by that because that desperate longing for um someone's attention and the way you get it by being bratty and like getting a NE negative attention is better than no attention um it's just so funny to me because uh it's typical in a but in a 40 something year old woman is just delightful I love the way that it it zigs and zags back in force so much because there's constant things of like look I'm doing this really grownup thing and I want you to see me as an adult and as a peer and then her mom can be like sit up straight don't sit like that and it just like regresses to Childhood instantly so do you find that that kind of gives a lot of push and pull to the character to play in as well oh yeah it's yes absolutely it's so much fun and Jean is just so wonderful to work with because just like pull you in and then cut you off and then pull you in and cut you off and um yeah I mean it's just I got very lucky with this character she's just incredible how how much of that Dynamic was really solidified for you once it was you and Jean kind of playing off of each other together on set um it really happened so quickly and mean I had an idea about uh way that I could make the character fun and funny um ridiculous and then the second that we were in a scene together she just brought so much I mean it's just I think it goes without saying but having a really incredible scene partner just elevates you and she is so talented and um so funny but so emotional and so real and um she's so giving in every scene that it allows for so much playing around and finding new Dynamics and um yeah I just I loved how narcissistic she was playing it but also very maternal but very maternal in a sort of she's playing her character is playing maternal because she just it doesn't come naturally to her and to like find that Nuance is so exciting and not easy to do so it's just it's just delightful to watch her I've heard I've also heard you talk about in in working with Jean that when you film scenes together that even if you know Deborah is kind of exiting the scene that she'll she'll often go the monitors and kind of keep watching everybody else's work and I was interested if that was something that you noticed kind of very early on in scenes together so I noticed that primarily in the uh DJ's Birthday Episode um I can't remember exactly what scene it was but it was actually Paul and Jen and Luchia who took me aside and told me they were like she leaves the scene but then she runs around and watches the monitors and she just sits there smiling at what you're doing and I was like first of all how lovely to tell me that didn't need to tell me that it makes me feel so good and how incredible of her to do you don't like to to be um it's just a very giving thing to do you know what I mean she's not leaving the scene and then like going and grabbing a snack she's like really invested in what I'm doing and she's just such a giver you know it's it not it's surprisingly rare not everybody um does that and it it means so much because it's her set you know it's her and Hannah's is set and um you feel like you're a guest at someone else's party and you feel like everybody knows each other and you're new there and it's just really lovely to have that um admiration from her and such like beautiful positive feedback it just it makes it fun I feel like you you get the validation and affection that DJ wishes that she could get from Deborah that's right I know I'm an actor I need to constantly be told you're proud of what I'm doing I myself am a grown child needs that and she get G gives it to me I also wanted to talk about the the the humor and The Comedy of the show particularly for a character like DJ because what makes the comedy so great is she's not trying to tell a joke the the majority of the time but the stakes are so real and so intense for her and that's what makes it land so I was just curious about how you went went about finding that specific styling for her as a character I just think there's something so funny about uh something uh so small being incredibly important to someone so um just really digging your heels in and being willing to die on a cross of um something as insane as I mean I don't even know anything that DJ gets worked up about the how much she loves this jewelry the de jewelry and the way she describes it and like why it's special and she um uh tumbles her own Gems or whatever it was oh my God like I get out the writing is just so good but like to find those tiny little details that I mean my children have a rock tumbler so for her to be like super stoked and very serious about the fact that she tumbles her own rocks the writing is just so incredible I'm not honestly I'm not doing a lot as an actor to make that work that just works on the page I'm just digging into it but it's hard to find a tone listen tone is the hardest thing to explain um and the these creators had such a specific vision of what they wanted and they executed it so beautifully um that there's a reason that you don't see a lot of shows be both dramatic and funny it's really hard to do and if you don't establish that tone from the very beginning you can't try and cram in Emotion later um so making DJ from the beginning uh this broad ridiculous character but grounding her in some reality from the beginning um was so great because once you establish is just a silly funny character you can't come back later and have her have an emotional conversation with her mom it doesn't work so um that's just a yeah tribute to the writing it is and it's it's part of the beauty of the character too and I think also even just the way that everything that she feels she feels so deeply and so it's like the love that she has for her mom and that desperation and that vulnerability is just as strong as you know the frustrations that she has or you know the more extreme kind of comedic sides of her and so do you find that that it's a character that whatever Choice you're making in a scene that there's kind of a necessity to just make sure you're making a really specific and bold choice and throwing yourself into it as much as she would yes if she's upset about something she's very upset and I'm delighted when the thing that she's upset about is the tiniest thing but she's really really mad about it or so excited about something that's ridiculous um and but that that works for me because it's this it's this dynamic between a a child and her mom and really all she wants is her validation and for her to um to love her and give her some attention and take some attention away from this um very materialistic world that she lives in and just and that's so it's so both funny but it's so sad to be begging so much for your own Mother's Love I mean it's like she's it's it's like she's in a in a an abusive not abusive but like a great relationship like um I don't know I just find that so fascinating that she's sort of treating Deborah like a like um a lover that is not no longer that she might lose or that's no longer interested her because she's picking her career over her daughter in her in her mind it also feels like she's probably struggled with a lot of her relationships and friendships and interactions in the world because you know we see like in the episode this season where Deborah finally comes to one of her NA meetings after years of begging her to come that all of a sudden it becomes the Deborah Vance show and she's invisible even to her own therapist and so do you think that every single interaction that she ever has she always has to kind of have that wall and that guard of are you interested in me or are you just interested in a pathway to my mom definitely and I think that's also why she finds herself putting on um like pretending to be um anybody so like pretending the the whole jewelry design which I keep coming back to because I'm obsessed with it because the jewelry is the best name for a jewelry line ever um but I don't think she really cares that much about jewelry she just she thinks maybe this will be the thing that people care about that like and this is like a serious business even though it's wires and rocks and so um yeah I think that yes I think her mom has definitely screwed up her life her relationships I mean I have to dig into that because I'm the one playing that character but um you know it it's helpful to lean into judging Deborah's parenting so that I can validate my character's Brokenness I mean it's insane to um you know bring your baby to your comedy shows and have her sleep in the green room and then like be exposed to drugs and alcohol at as a child so I love that I think it's I think it's insane and I think DJ is very valid her I validate DJ for feeling that she knows about her mom I have to I mean even with all of that she's a character that like wants to work on her herself and kind of like make herself a better version of who she is and it's so interesting to watch how that plays out in terms of who is she going to be as a mom herself never having been given the footprint but she knows what she wishes she'd had and so how did that kind of change and level the character a little bit differently for you this season yeah I mean that's that whole breaking the cycle thing she did not have a a rental role model um not a healthy one so I I loved that episode not just because I thought it was hilarious but I think it's so great to look how DJ has a big win and that episode and the win is really for me not that her standup routine ended up working the audience loved it her mom was proud of her for me the win is that DJ was proud of herself and was like I did it and I I she won because she got this realization that it's not her fault her mom has an addiction um to the audience and I just think that's so great and I I at least that's how I chose to play it and that she kind of thinks I mean I doubt this true for but I don't need you anymore and I don't need to keep chasing after you now I got to shift my attention and raise my child in a completely opposite way um because you're broken and we're all broken but you don't recognize it and I do it's such a great Point too as well because she also recognizes you're chasing something that you can never get I can at least try to heal myself in in these ways and so did that kind of like huge realization and turning point change the way that you went into scenes the rest of the season knowing that she's kind of had a little bit of growth in that Journey with her yeah for sure I wanted to definitely let go of a lot of the um a lot of the need for Deborah's attention because I think that she her Focus has just shifted and now it's her family um I don't want that to go away forever because I think it's so funny and they're I mean it's such a deeply rooted thing that I think it's more now she'll use this as I don't need you but like actively I don't need you which is clearly I do need you I just don't want to um but the whole thing is just so layered and I just love I love that there's a shift in their relationship she's pregnant so she has to have a shift in her attention there is the addition of Aunt Cathy who is like a very loving uh maternal figure in her life I love that Aunt Cathy got her the crib before um Deborah did uh just there's someone in her life we know as an audience that is able ble to at least step in and fill a little bit of that for her and like you know be like a role model for a loving parental figure I know and it feels like it even changed those moments because there are these instances where Deborah kind of uses her her as a prop of like look I'm a great parent I'm GNA do this one thing and the Christmas episode when she's like oh like come sit on my lap like you always do and I'm not playing this game I haven't done that since I was eight years old so do you think it also changed the way that she receives moments oh yeah definitely and I and I hope that it um it shifts the dynamic a little bit so that I mean my I don't know if this is like what they're meaning to do or what they me but like but in from my perspective I wanted to like really have it be like oh now Deborah's trying to get DJ's attention Deborah but I think ultimately Deborah is so focused on her own stuff that she's not even really able to put that aside in order to try and have like an authentic repair but I just love that she was like come sit in my lap with these Christmas photos it's so ridiculous the whole thing is so stupid and I love it it's it's the beauty of it is the Ridiculousness and and in talking a little bit more as well about the roast of Deborah Vance you know I I love that we have that scene with Ava where you know we start to see the material that she's working on and it really doesn't seem like it's going to land and so the the delivery of it very different when she's up on stage in front of other other people and so how did you said about thinking if this is a space that isn't natural to DJ but a space that she's been raised in and she's very familiar with how would she walk out into that stage and deliver the material that she's written that's really personal and vitriolic towards her mom I mean I think the whole thing was just going to be an act of pretending that she's comfortable in this space um but I I just love the fact that she gets torn down seconds before she's called up there I mean she just again is the butt of all of these jokes when the roast is supposed to be on Deborah and then they turn on DJ and like all these jokes are about her and I think she's just gutted but I love that she is gutted and gets up there and does it anyway and does not feel comfortable and does it anyway and then gets feedback um just that validation and the fact that she had an opportunity to um bail on her own material take Ava's advice have mom help her she turned all of that down and did it herself um I just thought that was really I just thought it was a really good a cool Dynamic and a fun thing to play it was a big turn there right like the the insecurity and the trying not to cry and the feeling like everyone hates me and I think she truly thought for a second like I'm gonna fail but I'm going to do it anyway just to prove that I'm not going to take what you wanted me to do but the fact that it ended up working was just like just so such a win for her and she obviously has the most brilliant catchphrase for all of her material you just keep saying what a how did how did you want to make sure that that landed in kind of like a different comedic way each time she delivers it yeah it wasn't gonna be funny if said it the same way every single time so I tried to make it different it's such a stupid thing to say and it's just so so blue and so dumb and childish and I love that she doubled down on it and then I love the audience was like yeah what a cut um yeah I don't I don't I don't know I just tried to I want to look like she had it very practiced and staged and so but in the beginning it was just the line was delivered the way she was in uh in front of her mirror at home but then the more she relaxed and started getting into it and having like a A vibe with the audience she and started playing around with it a little bit more and um had to talk myself into like it became authentically funny like the way that she was saying it was funny really matter what the words were started off really like stunted and you know robotic and forced and just became something as she as she relaxed into it and believed in it it became hopefully more fun and you're bringing up before that point of you know part of it just to prove a point to prove that she can do it and I feel like she does that in a lot of different ways in her life and um you know particularly when she first was in her relationship with Aiden that part of it felt like see look I can be in a completely healthy and stable relationship I'm going to prove you wrong but it feels like they actually have like a really sweet connectivity with each other at this point and so how did you want that to grow and change as she kind of starts to settle it in into it as this is a relationship for me this actually isn't for anyone else um I don't know I think I've been wondering about that and I don't know that I don't know that Aiden is is her like lifelong person I just at least how I've been playing it and I haven't had this discussion with Paul and Jen and Luchia not really sure where they plan on going with it but I think it would be fun if it was just this long game of I'm gonna prove you wrong it might be great if it was a horrible relationship and she stuck with it just to like prove Deborah wrong um who knows what'll happen when the baby's born babies typically make marriages more challenging um so I think it'd be interest to go either way I mean I'm I'm not in the writer's room but I definitely feel like I'm in amazing hand so I'm looking forward to seeing how that plays out either way would be funny it's it's such a great point and and also in in terms of DJ's interactions with people that work for her mom it's you know I love that moment where she walks in and Ava's on the bathroom with the door open and in the room that she's staying in and that doesn't phase her because that's you're like oh this has happened to her before there's always there's always new people you know she's aa's first DJ but Ava is like one in a dozen for her um and so how did that space of the interactions with the people that she works with kind of influence you um yeah there's just I mean there's a childish sense of entitlement which I really love I mean this is my mom's house so it's my house so like whatever keep peeing who cares that lack of like boundaries and understanding personal space again it's just such a childlike Behavior anything anything childlike in a grown woman personality is just so fun to me insisting that she just like keep peeing or like keep listening while she talks is was so great I love um the Marcus relationship how she is like jealous of him like a like a like a you know Marcus is a um like a big brother like a son that Deborah likes more than she likes her daughter um I just yeah just DJ interjecting herself in this life and being enti but also being jealous um I just think that it's she's so conflicted and stunted in her growth up there that that um it just makes it just such a fun character to play and and the showrunners on this it sounds like from the very GetGo that they've given you a lot of creative freedom in in how you approach the character and how you've interpreted her and what sort of kind of space does that set up for you creatively to dive into a character where you know no matter what the scene is that you have important input and you have the opportunity to kind of play around and try different things constantly yeah I mean there's a lot of trust there goes both ways I think it only works because I actually find them incredibly intelligent and Incredibly uh hilarious and um they're just such great writers Luchia has directed most of the episodes that I've done um I just trust them so much that um it just it feels like a safe place to play around I trust that I can just do whatever and they're going to either reain me back in or uh pick and choose in the editing room and you're like great just it just gives you the freedom to just loosen up and try a bunch of different things and see what happens and see what comes out and it feels really good that they trust me to play around and just um try different things tweak the dialogue a little bit here and there but I do have to as I say that it's important that I tell you that like on the page it's already very well written and so much fun and um a very fleshed out character so um I mean I'm tweaking it and bringing stuff to it and playing with it but um the work was was done before I signed on they've done such an incredible job with all of the characters on the show it's it's great and I feel like every single scene is so intentional with so much in terms of her as a character so it's always fantastic to watch your scenes in the show and especially this season so thank you so much Caitlyn thank you so much that's so nice it was nice to talk to you