LIFEBOAT HACKS MOVIE
LIFEBOAT HACKS SERIES
LIFEBOAT HACKS FREE

The producers and everyone were all in the dark, and it was just Jean and me. Which, you could say, we were.Įinbinder: It was bizarre.

LIFEBOAT HACKS MOVIE

It was like we were doing a spy movie and we were about to get tortured. Smart: Yeah, there was like one bare light bulb on the set. I don’t know if this is standard, but it took place on a completely empty, dark soundstage on the lot-I mean, a cavernous space, totally pitch-black aside from. Two months later I had a callback over Zoom, and then about a month after that, Jean and I met in person, and it was actually really wild. From my perspective, I got the wide casting call, and I did my audition, then almost right afterwards, the world changed. Hannah Einbinder: When I entered the casting process, Jean was already attached, and I knew she would be Deborah Vance. Did you have that right from the get-go during the casting process? To go back to the beginning a little bit, the show really hinges on the chemistry between the two of you. But it was so great to be back with the cast, so the actual work was a total pleasure. That was always kind of in the back of my mind, which is not good when you’re working.

LIFEBOAT HACKS FREE

Unfortunately, I had just lost my husband when we started filming, so it didn’t always feel so free and easy because I was constantly worried about what was going on at home and making sure everything was being taken care of. I don’t know, what do you think, Hannah? It kind of felt like a completely different animal to me. Smart: I think it felt a little freer and looser. Was your process of preparing for it different this time around, now that you were more settled into the characters? I dare you!” But I feel like it’s been welcomed with open arms, which is really, really gratifying. It’s like they’re all saying, “Okay, go ahead, make me laugh. When a show is really popular and successful the first season, you kind of feel like the critics are gunning for you and people are waiting to see if that was just a fluke or a one-hit wonder. Jean Smart: Oh, for me, without question. (A particularly hysterical highlight comes in the fourth episode, when the Joan Rivers–esque Deborah gets booked on a gay cruise and is excited to finally have a receptive audience for her old-school-diva brand of comedy-only to find out upon arrival that it is exclusively for lesbians, who she is adamant “aren’t her crowd.” After her comedy set goes south, Deborah flees on a lifeboat.)

To keep the laughs rolling, this time the odd couple heads out on the road to try out Deborah’s new material, with a range of brilliantly unexpected set pieces and supporting performances along the way-from Laurie Metcalf’s hilariously brusque roadie named Weed who runs their tour bus like the navy to the scene-stealing return of Meg Stalter as the chaotic, catastrophic Gen Z assistant to Deborah and Ava’s agent. “No pressure, right?” Einbinder says, laughing, of the show’s return earlier this month for a second season.

Clearly, the critics thought so too: Debuting to effusive reviews, the show went on to pick up three Emmys and the Golden Globe for best television series, musical or comedy.

LIFEBOAT HACKS SERIES

The deliciously vicious series follows legendary comedienne Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), who has lost her residency on the Las Vegas strip and is forced to collaborate with the recently canceled millennial writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) in order to spice up her act the riveting clash of personalities that ensues offered just the right balance of escapism and subversive humor. When Hacks premiered on HBO Max last summer, in the middle of the pandemic, it felt like a perfectly timed comedic treat for the moment.

Lifeboat hacks