Exclusive Video Interview: Kevin Pollak & Caroline Aaron Talk The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

The Marvelous Mrs. MaiselThe Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is sadly coming to an end, but the memories will live on forever, especially for the cast. Each and every one of them has had amazing moments on the show, both on and off camera. 

“There is no favorite singular moment for me,” Kevin Pollak said in a recent interview with SciFi Vision. “[There are] too many, from being on the phone call with Amy and Dan in the very beginning and them explaining what they thought their show [was] going to be and what it might mean to me to be a part of it, to reading the first script, to being on the set with these actors for the first time, to seeing Bill's production design and Donna's wardrobe and David Mullen’s cinematography and Jim McConkey with his incredible Steadicam work, and every department head is insanely talented. These actors are ridiculous and also beautiful people. So, [if there’s] one moment you're looking for, it’s been six years of heaven, and damnit if some people think it's over. I don’t.” 

Caroline Aaron echoes his sentiments but adds that a certain drive through the Catskills will always remain on her mind. 

In addition to their memories, the two of them formed a special friendship throughout the series, which is another thing that will live on forever, especially if they get their wish for a Maisel movie!

Watch the interview and read the full transcript below.



***edited for length and clarity***

The Marvelous Mrs. MaiselSCIFI VISION:  Congratulations on such successful series. I want each of you to tell me your favorite moment in the series.

KEVIN POLLAK:  
There is no favorite singular moment for me, unfortunately. [There are] too many, from being on the phone call with Amy and Dan in the very beginning and them explaining what they thought their show [was] going to be and what it might mean to me to be a part of it, to reading the first script, to being on the set with these actors for the first time, to seeing Bill's production design and Donna's wardrobe and David Mullen’s cinematography and Jim McConkey with his incredible Steadicam work, and every department head is insanely talented. These actors are ridiculous and also beautiful people. So, [if there’s] one moment you're looking for, it’s been six years of heaven, and damnit, if some people think it's over. I don't.

CAROLINE AARON:  
Kevin says it's not, and I'm going with that.

KEVIN POLLAK:  
I'll see you back here in 4.3 years when we do the Maisel movie.

SCIFI VISION: 
I love it. What about you, Caroline? Do you have any special moments that you're never going to forget?

CAROLINE AARON: 
Yes, I mean, it is really hard to narrow it down to one, but it was being driven by Kevin into the Catskills. He was driving so fast and turning through the woods, and we had a lot of dialogue when we arrived, and I didn't even know if I was going to be able to speak I was so terrified.

KEVIN POLLAK:   
Did I ever tell you the only thought that was going through my head as I was driving a car from the 40s with no power steering, twisting and turning through those woods? Did I ever tell you my single thought?

CAROLINE AARON: 
No.

KEVIN POLLAK:   Don't kill Caroline.

CAROLINE AARON:  
Oh, isn't that nice? And he didn't, because I thought you were going to. It was so scary, but it was so fun. That was a very special moment was arriving within the fiction of that scene in a mink coat in August, which I would not take off no matter what. Then, spending all that time shooting those scenes in the Catskills. They found this location. It was exactly as you saw it. They tricked out the main room, obviously, to be period, but they said it had a bowling alley. So, they wrote a bowling scene. In so many ways they took what was in front of them…I could not believe that place. It was for sale. We had such a good time there. It was many generations. It was like down -

KEVIN POLLAK:  
The Steiner family resort.

CAROLINE AARON:  
Yeah, to the great great grandchildren, and none of them lived nearby, and none of them wanted to be there. It had millions of cabins and gazebos and that extraordinary lake [that was] beautiful.

KEVIN POLLAK:  
The whole cast and crew were on this road trip together while shooting those three episodes.

CAROLINE AARON:  
Yeah, and it was really very special. So, I would say that was a very special time, but if you named anything, I would say it was great.

KEVIN POLLAK:  
Remember when the show went to Paris?

CAROLINE AARON: 
Oh, that was really fun.

KEVIN POLLAK:  
And we didin't.

CAROLINE AARON:  
And we didn't we didn't. Exactly. We are also bitter. [laughs] We're very bitter about that. There were a few things we can be bitter about that we weren't included in.

KEVIN POLLAK:   
And it went to Vegas and Queens.

CAROLINE AARON:  
It did, but we went there. It's like, “Fade in, Queens. Caroline, Kevin, you will definitely be included in that. Not ‘Fade-in Paris.’”

KEVIN POLLAK:  
When did we do House Arrest? What year was that?

CAROLINE AARON: 
I don't know. That was a long time ago. We did a really fun movie.

KEVIN POLLAK:  
Mid 90s?

CAROLINE AARON:  
Many years ago, in Los Angeles called House Arrest. And little did I know when I went for my costume fitting, they would not tell me who was playing my husband. Because I don't think you'd finalized your deal or something, and I said, “I promise I won't tell anyone.”

KEVIN POLLAK:   On Maisel?

CAROLINE AARON:  Yes. Because I had my costume fitting, I think, before you were locked down. So, they're putting clothes on me. So, “Who's my husband?” “Well, we're not at liberty to say,” and I'm going, “Oh, come on, just tell me,” and they said “Kevin.”

SCIFI VISION:  In which ways do you think each of your characters evolved since the beginning of the show to the very end?…How do you think they've grown since beginning to the end of the series?

CAROLINE AARON:  I don't think Shirley has.

KEVIN POLLAK:   Yeah, there's not a lot of evolution in our characters.

CAROLINE AARON:  I think when you're this authentic - you know, I think she's authentically herself, and she stays that way. I mean, there are certainly ways in which we adjust to what's happening around us in terms of our relationships, but I don't think Shirley's really grown.

KEVIN POLLAK:   All the other characters go through extraordinary journeys, and it isn't until the end of season four when this couple has an intense health scare in the form of Moishe’s heart attack, driving us into season five. That's really the first time that there's an evolution, because now fear based reaction from each of them is quite different on how to proceed after this health scare.

CAROLINE AARON:  I just remembered - do you remember that my mother was in the show? Did you remember that?

KEVIN POLLAK:   What are you talking about?

CAROLINE AARON:  My mother was in the show, the story of my mother.

KEVIN POLLAK:   Oh, the story of your character's mother?

CAROLINE AARON:  Yes. Shirley's mom was there and we had to tie her to a chair.

KEVIN POLLAK:   That’s right. [laughs]

CAROLINE AARON:  You forgot about that. I forgot about that too.

KEVIN POLLAK:   From season one, you mean.

CAROLINE AARON:  Yeah. And because you were just talking about that and I thought -

KEVIN POLLAK:   The dinner. One of the first family dinners, not the first one, but [an early one].

CAROLINE AARON:  When I say that she hasn't grown, I think [there are] things that are the tent poles of her existence -

KEVIN POLLAK:   Some people don't change, and that's the beauty of, of Amy and Dan's work. They have these great character arcs and journeys and evolutions for a lot of the characters, but there're some people that are just constant, and we got to be those people. It was a joy.

CAROLINE AARON:  Yes, exactly. I think that things that were important to us and that we believed in stayed the same, all the way through.

SCIFI VISION:
 When you come back for the movie in 4.3 years, how do you want them to be your characters to be?

CAROLINE AARON:  That's interesting.

KEVIN POLLAK:   Living la vida loca, I mean, in Boca, la loca, just way too happy. You know, Shirley has settled Moishe into retirement.

CAROLINE AARON:  [He’s] taken to it.

KEVIN POLLAK:   Yeah, just for the first time they're both living - both of them - in total freedom of action.

CAROLINE AARON:  Right.

KEVIN POLLAK:   They both had incredible responsibilities for their entire lives.

CAROLINE AARON:  For everybody around them, yeah.

KEVIN POLLAK:   Shirley hiding money in the walls.

CAROLINE AARON:  And I'm a gambler. I am a gambler and I think -

KEVIN POLLAK:   Mahjong queen. But this is the first time they're both in a brave new world of celebrating every day like lunatics.

CAROLINE AARON:  And I think that I become politically active. I think I'm on the condo board.

KEVIN POLLAK:   Ooh, that sounds good.

CAROLINE AARON:  I might be on the condo board.

KEVIN POLLAK:   Moishe has got a hairpiece.

CAROLINE AARON:  Yes, exactly.

KEVIN POLLAK:  A different hairpiece that he's trying every week.

CAROLINE AARON:  Yes, exactly. I think we give to the community –

KEVIN POLLAK:   Stark white, the whole hair, bright white.

CAROLINE AARON:  There might be an award or two.

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