For Imperfect Women star and executive producer Elisabeth Moss, the most important part of adapting the psychological thriller novel for TV was the cast.
“I knew that it lived and died on the cast,” the Emmy-winning actress told Gold Derby at a For Your Consideration event for the Apple TV limited series in Culver City, Calif., on Saturday night.
“We all knew that it was really, really important that we had just the top-notch Avengers team of actors. And we got them,” she added. “Every single person that we asked was the first person that we asked, and they said yes, which is rare.”
Moss joined fellow actress and executive producer Kerry Washington, actress Kate Mara, and showrunner Annie Weisman on a panel to discuss the eight-episode series, which premiered March 18. The show follows three women who are all affected by the murder of one of them, and must confront issues in their decades-long friendship in the process. The finale airs April 29.
With Washington getting awards buzz for her role as Eleanor, who is juggling complications in her relationships as well as her friendships, the Emmy winner said that she’s honored to be in the mix.
“As an actor, as a producer, you dream of making something that activates people, that gets people thinking and feeling and on the wild ride with us. So I’m just so excited that that’s happening,” she told Gold Derby. “I’m really proud of my work as a producer, and really proud of my work as an actor.”
Washington said that she and Moss are “very similar” as producers. “We’re just very, very involved. Not controlling, not micromanaging, but supportive and involved,” the Scandal star said.
Mara talked to Gold Derby about the impact of her pivotal role of Nancy, whose murder becomes the central mystery in the series, had on her as an actress.
“So much about her is so very different from my life, which is why I wanted to play her, because it is challenging and exciting to play someone who’s so layered, who’s hiding so much,” she said.
The series is based on the novel of the same name by U.K. author Araminta Hall. Moss famously picked up the book at an airport in 2019 and brought it to Apple in 2020.
Part of adapting the novel for TV included moving the action from London to Los Angeles and Pasadena, something SoCal native Weisman credited Washington with advocating for (Weisman had first suggested New England) and was curious to explore.
“As someone from Southern California, I like telling dark stories in sunny places, and I like dark characters from sunny places,” she told Gold Derby.
Not only that, but she wanted to show parts of L.A. that “weren’t as cliché or familiar.”
“You don’t think of it as a city with history, but it really has history,” Weisman said. “We liked seeing Pasadena, some of the more sort of landmark-y architectural and cultural monuments like the Music Center downtown, and the Ace Theater and the Academy Museum. We worked with the real L.A. Ballet Company.”
On the panel, moderated by Glamour senior editor Jessica Radloff, Moss reiterated the need to have strong actors in the roles of the three women.
“Because we knew that we had to rely on Eleanor to carry the show, and then Nancy to carry the show for a while, it wasn’t a matter of a one, two, three,” said Moss, who plays Mary, a mother of three. “It was a matter of there were three number ones. And then we had to give them incredible people to work with as well. And incredible males to work with.”
The show’s male actors includes Corey Stoll, Joel Kinnaman, and Keith Carradine. Leslie Odom Jr. plays Eleanor’s brother, Donovan, something Washington said was unique to her experience as an only child.
“When I reached out to him,” Washington said, “I sent him that meme from [Mufasa: The Lion King]: ‘I always wanted a brother.’”
Mara touched on the trio’s bond as mothers and how that influenced her on-set experience.
“The things that were most valuable for me were the stuff that is not necessarily about acting on camera. It’s the other stuff,” she said. “You know, being moms in this business is really specific, and I haven’t worked with a lot of other actresses who are moms as well.”
Washington agreed. “I think it’s very special also to be part of a team that has so many women, so many moms, but to witness everyone advocate for themselves,” she said. “I really loved being part of an Avengers team where everyone takes responsibility for their superpower.”
Weisman noted the power in the book and on screen of a book based on female friendships.
“There are a lot of female thrillers out there. This one really located the thriller within female friendship,” she said, “and centered female friendship and elevated it to the level that it really deserves in our lives. You know, friendships, I think for a lot of us, have just as much status as other relationships.”
Washington shared two producing pet peeves that she refused to allow into the show.
“One is when an actor is on a phone in a scene, and you know nobody’s on the phone,” she said. “The other, I was going to say, which we definitely don’t do on this show, is when people are driving and they’re staring at the [other] person in the car.”
Moss credited director Lesli Linka Glatter with fighting for the actors to be able to really drive in the series, something that’s integral to L.A. culture.
“People who work in this industry will understand that that’s a big deal. Especially now, it’s very easy to go to a stage and do that, and it’s cheaper,” Moss said. “But she really fought for that reality, especially in L.A., which is such a driving city.”
In addition to the change from London to L.A., Washington also noted that her character is not written as a Black woman in the novel. She expressed gratitude that the change for streaming came with meaningful rewrites and a writers’ room that included more than one Black writer.
“I’m really grateful that in the process of making that decision, that we had the commitment and courage to not just color her in with a brown crayon, but to actually ask ourselves what it means to have this woman be a woman of color. What does it mean to be the only Black woman in the friend group?” she said.
With the series’ finale arriving next week, what can audiences expect?
“Whatever you think is going to happen, you’re wrong,” Washington said. “You’re not ready, and also enjoy.”
