If you ask the cast and creator (and fans) of Widow’s Bay, there should be no questioning why Apple TV‘s hottest new show is in the comedy genre at this year’s Emmys — and why it raked in a whopping 19 nominations for its freshman season.
During Saturday’s Televerse panel, creator Katie Dippold made the case. “There’s a lot of talk about how [the cast] approached it and really just played it as a drama. But I don’t think that’s true. I also don’t think that you can plop any dramatic actor in a comedy. I think these are all also comedians with pitch-perfect comedic timing. They all understand what’s funny about the scene and how to do it. Timing is everything and they’re all brilliant at it.”
Matthew Rhys, whose Emmy-winning résumé is built on prestige dramas like The Americans and Perry Mason, admitted the tonal swing genuinely scared him going in. “Yeah, enormously so,” he said of taking on his first major comedic role. “I’d never read anything like it and certainly never been in anything close to being like it. It was a departure for me, and that made me nervous — but that’s everything you always want, the new challenge of it. I knew immediately I wanted to be in it, and that overrode any nerves. I wanted to know how it ended; I was a genuine fan. I was like, ‘How does this end? By being in it, I’ll find out.'”
“There were several moments throughout the season that made me very nervous before going on set, but it challenged me and made me laugh in the same vein. So it’s the best of everything you ever want.”
Dale Dickey, a first-time Emmy nominee this year for playing Rosemary, said her comedic footing started at the audition, with a line reading she still can’t get over: “Apparently there’s no age limit to syphilis.” Rhys said watching her deliver it live on set was “a masterclass in comedy.”
Stephen Root, also a first-time nominee for his performance as Wyck, highlighted another co-star, describing just how far the cast will go to keep a bit alive. Recalling a boat scene with guest star Hamish Linklater, Root said Linklater ate “thousands” of Vienna sausages entirely in character, without ever breaking.
“And he had false teeth in and a wig,” Rhys added. “So he was kind of swallowing the wig as he ate. It was an hour of eating Vienna sausages and he was like, ‘I don’t think I can eat anymore.’ The props department got string cheese and painted them — cut them and painted them to look like Vienna sausage.”
Kate O’Flynn, nominated for playing Patricia, recounts a cocktail party dance number. “Sam Donovan, who directed the episode, said to me, ‘We’ve got a choreographer on — we’re going to have a workshop with her,'” O’Flynn recalled. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God, what are we going to come up with?'” A late-night conversation on set didn’t help settle her nerves, either. “Katie came up to me during a night shoot and said, ‘I just want to check — I know it’s some actors’ worst nightmare to dance.’ And I was like, ‘No, I love dancing, I’m really, really up for it.’ But actually I was thinking, ‘My God, what is it going to be?'” In the end, prep won out over panic: “We just looked at loads of music videos from across time and different styles of music, picked out a few choice moves, and then I just busted it out on the dance floor on the day.”
Jeff Hiller, meanwhile, pitched his own idea for where his character, Dale, could go in Season 2: “I think it’d be fun if you go back to Dale’s house… I just had a twin in my basement in a wheelchair and I’m feeding him dead birds and stuff. But we don’t solve it. You just know it’s there.” Dippold’s response: “Absolutely.”
