Latest news with #PaulWDowns
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Fans distraught as future of hit HBO series is revealed
The future of HBO 's hit comedy series Hacks as in jeopardy as the showrunner has doubled down on plans to end the show after its fifth season. Paul W. Downs, who co-created Hacks and serves as showrunner, opened up about the future of the critically-acclaimed series in an interview with Deadline. He confirmed that the plan from the beginning of Hacks was always to end it after its fifth season. However, he tellingly avoided stating if they would go through with the plan or not. 'Knowing that we're coming to a close in the universe of Hacks, we do want to serve all the characters in the ensemble and give them a proper farewell,' he said. 'So I don't know how many episodes that takes, but we do know where we're headed. We've always known the last scene of the last episode and we're still headed there,' he added. Fans are already distraught about the hit series ending and many weren't afraid to sound off about it on social media. 'Noooo this is my comfort show,' wailed one, while another begged, 'Please don't end Hacks! It's too good!' 'If this show ever ends, we are rioting in the streets,' raged another. 'I never want to think of Hacks ending,' cried a fourth, while a fifth fan added, 'Best show ever.' Hacks wrapped up its fourth season in May and a fifth season was then confirmed. Starring Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, Hacks follows the ups and downs of the relationship between a legendary comedian in her '70s and an up-and-coming writer who works for her. Last year, Smart received a standing ovation after she took home the award for Best Lead Actress at the 2024 Primetime Emmy Awards. After receiving the gong for her role in Hacks, the beloved star said that she was thrilled for the win and jokingly added, 'I just don't get enough attention.' She was nominated in the same category that also included The Bear's Ayo Edebiri, Palm Royale's Kristen Wiig, Loot's Maya Rudolph, Abbott Elementary's Quinta Brunson and Only Murders in the Building's Selena Gomez. After clinching the honor, she received a rapturous applause and gave an engaging speech. 'Thank you. Thank you so, so much,' she began. 'It's very humbling. It really is.' Evoking laughter from the audience, she joked: 'And I appreciate this, because I just don't get enough attention. I'm serious!' During her speech, she recalled how she felt when she first read the script for the Max series. 'When I read the script, I said, "This is everything I could possibly want for my next job.' She also quipped about the streaming service's name change during her acceptance speech. 'Casey and everybody at HBO... Max... No, I'm sorry. Just what we needed, another network,' as the audience roared with laughter. At the 2021 and 2022 Emmys, Smart also for her role as comedian Deborah Vance on Hacks.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How ‘Hacks' Found Comedy in Every Prop, Light, and Gesture
'I never actually made tooth-to-Emmy-winner contact. I did not bite.' That's co-creator and actor Paul W. Downs denying — to the best of his recollection — ever clamping down on Emmy-winner Julianne Nicholson's hand while lunging to bite her during their 'frantic' scene in 'Hacks' Season 4. More from IndieWire The Creators of 'Hacks' Want To Know Which TV You Own The Cinematography of 'Hacks' Outdoes Itself in Season 4 Finale and Makes Deborah Vance the Queen of the World 'I think that's the only take where you pretended to [bite her], actually,' co-creator Lucia Aniello said. 'She would've been fine with it. She's so game, if Paul bit her hand, she would've gone with it. She would not have stopped the scene.' 'She was really holding onto that bag,' Downs said. 'She was very committed.' The scene in question, which you can see in the full video interview above, is from Episode 9, 'A Slippery Slope,' which was written by Downs, Aniello, and co-creator Jen Statsky. They were joined by cinematographer Adam Bricker and production designer Rob Tokarz, for a virtual panel discussion as part of Universal Studio Group's USG University. Let's break it down: Jimmy (Downs) and Kayla (Megan Stalter) are helping a sleepy, hungover Dance Mom (Nicholson) into her dressing room, where they have to revitalize the TikTok star so she can perform on Deborah's (Jean Smart) late-night show. The premise is simple enough. But it's the details — the performances and props, the lighting and the wallpaper, the cinematography and the blocking — that elevate a funny scene to hysterical heights. 'There were some nicks and cuts. There were some injuries,' Downs said. 'That was a very physical scene. She threw herself into a bar cart. There was blood.' That being said, production designer Rob Tokarz and his team helped to protect the actors as best they could. When Dance Mom first enters the room, yes, she stumbles into a bar cart, which looks and sounds dangerous enough to get a laugh — even though it was perfectly safe. 'We had to make sure the bar cart is something safe for her to bump into multiple times, so we had to replace all the glassware with something that was not going to break apart,' Tokarz said. 'I think we replaced the glass on the bar cart itself with tempered glass so if it were to crack it would be safe.' Another astute touch by Tokarz was making sure any prop used in the scene for comic effect would also be something that would logically be found in a late-night dressing room — like the big metal bucket first glimpsed when the characters enter, when it's filled with bottles of water, and later seen in close-up as Dance Mom's getting dunked. 'We had options on what the ice bucket would actually be and what would look best cinematically,' Tokarz said. 'Then we kind of back it up and have it make sense to the room. It all has to tie together to be realistic, so it's not like something that suddenly appeared on the coffee table. It was holding the water bottles at one point, and then they used it for something else.' 'So we take all these elements and just make sure nobody's going to get hurt, [while giving the actors] the flexibility to do what they did.' 'We definitely scripted a lot of the physical comedy because it was such a frantic scene,' Downs said. 'They were essentially going to be dragging an unconscious woman into her dressing room and trying to revive her. There was a lot of opportunity for us to mine moments for physical comedy. […] Megan Stalter, Julianne Nicholson, and myself all had a lot of fun doing it, and I think we're all people who are open to improvisation and ad-libbing, but that was one that we kind of had to choreograph pretty specifically. There's so many props, and there's so much matching, continuity-wise. […] There was the clearing of the cocaine, which is a very common phrase in film and theater.' Aniello, who also directed the episode, said they don't often get to 'do a lot of rehearsal — some might say none' — but they make the time for more physical scenes like this one. It helps maximize the humor already written into the scripts while identifying unforeseen avenues for additional wit. 'When we reveal she's on all fours, that's written into the script,' Aniello said. 'They wrestle over the bag, she runs into the bar cart, all those beats are definitely there. In terms of 'they're sitting down and this is where they stand up,' that's the kind of thing that we work out.' 'It's a delicate dance of being very direct in the script and then also when we rehearse so we can match continuity and stuff,' Statsky said. 'But also, like Paul's saying — and credit to him — he and Meg and Julianne are so present and such incredible comedians that, in the moment, you also want to give space for them to make choices. One of the funniest moments in the scene to me is when Paul goes over to the door and throws the purse over his shoulder. That was not in the script. That was just something Paul found in the moment — or maybe Lucia, you told him — but it was found on the day, in the moment.' Then, of course, there's the act of actually capturing everything written down, designed, and performed. 'What I love about this scene from a camera perspective is just how reactive the camera is,' Adam Bricker, the cinematographer, said. 'We have incredible camera operators who are really in the scene, living in the moment. There's a great energy to the scene, and I think they strike the right tonal balance of not trying to introduce that energy with the camera, but sort of reacting to the performances in a way that keeps it really grounded and real.' 'Then from a lighting perspective, we wanted to keep it naturalistic but also make it feel a little scary, like something bad might happen in here.' Something bad did happen in that dressing room, but at least no one left with teeth marks — or so they say. 'Hacks' is available on Max. IndieWire partnered with Universal Studio Group for USG University, a series of virtual panels celebrating the best in television art from the 2024-2025 TV season across NBC Universal's portfolio of shows. USG University (a Universal Studio Group program) is presented in partnership with Roybal Film & TV Magnet and IndieWire's Future of Filmmaking. Catch up on the latest USG University videos here or directly at the USG University site. 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CNN
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
‘Hacks' star and co-creator Paul W. Downs talks Season 4's ‘surreal' cameos
As the fourth season of 'Hacks' came to a wild end this week, one thing that really stood out was the show's impressive list of public personalities appearing as themselves over the season. From Jimmy Kimmel to Kristen Bell and Seth Rogen, the only other current comedy to rival the collection of cameos on HBO Max's 'Hacks' is Rogen's 'The Studio,' Apple TV's similarly industry-centric satirical show that features Hollywood heavyweights like Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard playing themselves in hilarious turns. 'Hacks' co-creator Paul W. Downs – who also figures in the regular cast as frazzled agent Jimmy LuSaque – focused in on one particular appearance from this season, that of Carol Burnett, calling it 'surreal' in a recent interview via email with CNN. 'When we conceived of 'Hacks' it was to tell the story of female comedians who had paved the way for the generations that followed them,' Downs said of his show, which follows fictional comedian Deborah Vance (played by Jean Smart) and her writer/protégée Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) as Vance vies to become to the first female host of a network late-night show. 'Carol is that for all of us,' he added. 'And we shot at Television City (in Los Angeles) steps away from the sound stage where 'The Carol Burnett Show' was filmed. It was such a full circle moment for all of us.' Downs – who counts 'Broad City,' which featured some fantastic cameos (here's looking at you, Kelly Ripa), among his earlier credits – pointed to surprise appearances in shows from years past as inspiration, like Harpo Marx in 'I Love Lucy.' 'With Deborah Vance finally getting her late night show, actors and musicians would inevitably be a part of that journey, but we tried to be selective and only employ them when the story demanded it,' he said. 'Like when Deborah experiences stage fright for the first time in her long career it was an opportunity for her to get some wisdom from someone she would look up to, and there was no one better than Carol Burnett,' Downs explained. 'And featuring Rosie O'Donnell at a moment when Deborah needed some perspective on what life would be like after her show was very special for us.' Downs said securing the cameos took some effort, such as Randy Newman, who appeared as himself in Episode 4 as one of Vance's first musical guests. '(He) doesn't play as much as he once did and 'I Love LA' is one of his more demanding songs to play, but we're so glad he got on board,' he said. Rogen, who co-created and stars in 'The Studio,' also referenced the inherent challenges of getting major stars to play themselves on his show, even briefly. 'It was a combination of (calling in) favors and people that we've never met before that I'm amazed came and did this, honestly,' he said on a recent episode of the Hollywood-focused podcast 'The Town' – whose host, Matt Belloni, funnily enough, also made a cameo as himself on the show. 'One of the hardest things was just conceptually, making these people understand what we were trying to do, and to sign onto it,' Rogen said on the podcast. He and his producing partner Evan Goldberg discussed how several of the stars they courted to appear as versions themselves on 'The Studio' – Zoë Kravitz, Charlize Theron and Zac Efron, to name only a few – wanted to know 'what their joke was,' and if it was something they found funny, they agreed to do it. In a very meta-moment, the creators and stars of 'Hacks' also made cameos this season on 'The Studio.' Both shows have been renewed for new seasons. Rogen's future cameo wishlist includes Steven Spielberg, Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis. Season 1 of 'The Studio' is now streaming on Apple TV+. Seasons 1 through 4 of 'Hacks' stream on HBO Max, which like CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.
