Category: Interviews

Yesterday’s (June 7) episode of Fargo was the craziest one yet and Mary Elizabeth Winstead spoke to several outlets to talk about it. There’s spoilers in every single one of these interviews, so only read if you’ve seen the ep. I will just post some highlights, but click on the links to read them in full:

The Wrap:

TheWrap: What was the toughest part about shooting the episode?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: How ambitious it was, combined with the time constraints of shooting television — even when I read it, I just thought, “How are we going to do this?” If this was a movie, we would spend two months just on this. When you [watch the episode], it all moves so quickly that maybe it doesn’t seem as [difficult] as what we really had to shoot. It was at night and freezing cold. And just to be chained together and not be able to communicate in the way that you normally do, I don’t think I’ve ever been in quite a unique situation like that before.

It’s interesting to see Nikki become the hero of the show. How will fans react to where the rest of the season takes her?
She’s evolved so much — I don’t think I ever would have imagined that she ends up in the places that she goes to in the second half of the season when I started. Noah had told me that when I signed on, that she would be the heart of the season. I think [fans will] be continually surprised — I know I was in reading it. Every turn, I felt something was happening that I didn’t expect and that I was totally shocked and excited by. Nikki continues to stir things up in a way that you hope she would. She doesn’t give up because that would be totally out of character for her. She keeps fighting the good fight.

Continue reading Mary Reveals Details on Latest Fargo Episode

Yesterday in New York, Mary stopped by New York Live to discuss season 3 of Fargo and to talk about her music, revealing that someday she’d like to put something out on her own. Watch that interview below:

Later that day, she stopped by Facebook to take some viewer questions to talk about the show. You can watch that on their page here.

Yesterday in Los Angeles, Mary was joined by Abigail Spencer, Jonathan Banks and Underground’s Aisha Hinds to talk about their shows for The Wrap‘s Emmys Drama Actor panel. While there, Mary talked about the women who inspired her growing up and her love for the new Wonder Woman film starring Gal Gadot and directed by Patty Jenkins:

On Wonder Woman:

“It was like a real great popcorn action movie. There was nothing sappy or [the stereotypes] people attribute to more feminine kinds of films that they find to be negative in some way. It was just good, and there’s no reason why it wouldn’t be.”

On growing up being inspired by women in TV:

“It was all stories about women.That was just normal. It was always about women… That’s all I ever wanted to watch.”

You can watch the full panel here:

The Wrap sat down with Mary Elizabeth Winstead to discuss her new show, Fargo and why her character doesn’t have the typical “Fargo” accent (she’s actually from Chicago) and if her character really loves Ray (played by Ewan McGregor).

In another part of the interview, she talks about one of the worst auditions she’s ever had.

Time.com interviewed Mary about playing the role of Nikki Swango on this season of FX’s Fargo. Click the link to read the full Q&A:

Did Noah Hawley have a particular vision for Nikki?

The main question that I had for him in order to really know her was whether or not her love for Ray was real. He immediately, without having to think about it at all, said, “Yes. It’s completely genuine. They’re completely in love and it’s a true, real relationship.”

Then it all kind of clicked in for me because that was the only thing that, to me, could have turned the performance one direction or another. So once I knew that their love was real, then I was able to really move forward with this sort of sweet, bubbly, optimistic version of a femme fatale.

Did you actually learn or know how to play bridge?

I had no idea how to play bridge, and I still have no idea how to play bridge. I took a couple lessons and Ewan and I went and watched a bridge tournament together right before we started shooting here in Calgary, which was very eye-opening. I mean, I will never understand this game. But when we went and watched people play, then we could go okay, yeah, that’s right, we’re actors. We can pretend we know what we’re doing.

A lot of people have theorized that the two female characters, Nikki and Gloria, represent that kind of light side and dark side in this season. Do you think that that’s an accurate portrayal of those two characters?

I think it is. I think in some ways throughout the season they’re sort of on these parallel trajectories. We don’t get that much stuff together, but the characters are connected in some way as the season goes on. I think it’s interesting because they do sort of represent the light and the dark, but it’s interchangeable.

In some ways, Gloria’s the light because she’s the moral center. She’s the one who’s not doing bad things like everybody else on the show is. But in other ways, Nikki’s the light because she’s quite a bit more optimistic and gutsy and full of spirit, whereas Gloria is going through a dark period of her life. She’s a bit more cynical and her worldview maybe isn’t as bright as Nikki’s. So I think it’s really interesting that they both kind of represent the light and the dark for different reasons.