Original-Cin Q&A: Palm Royale's Josh Lucas on Superstar Coworkers and Oscar Dreams
By Bonnie Laufer
Palm Royale is ready for take-off. Headed by Kristen Wiig, the star-studded new series also features Carol Burnett, Allison Janney, Laura Dern, Bruce Dern, Josh Lucas, and Ricky Martin.
Wiig shines as Maxine, an outsider who desperately wants to be included into the inner circle of Palm Beach, Florida circa 1969. She scratches and claws her way up the social ladder, sneaking over the wall to get into an exclusive country club with grand plans up her sleeves.
She is married to a pilot (Lucas) whose wealthy Aunt (Burnett) is in a coma. Together they hope to inherit all her riches. Bonnie Laufer spoke with Josh Lucas about working with comedic veterans, bashing Carol Burnett into walls, and what club he would like to be a part of.
The first three episodes of Palm Royale premiere on Apple TV+ March 20, followed by new episodes every Wednesday through May 8. Be sure to read our review of Palm Royale.
ORIGINAL-CIN: This series is so much fun. It must have been a joy for you on set every single day.
JOSH LUCAS: I can't overstate how much of a joy it was. We all just keep talking about it even now, we were blown away daily by who was showing up. It was insane! It was this embarrassment of riches. But the thing that was the most interesting about it was as joyful as that was, there was also kind of an intimidation factor that went along with it because everybody was playing such hard ball.
I always relate acting to tennis, like when you see Roger Federer play against Andre Agassi. They're hitting the ball so hard at each other, and I feel like that's what we had every single day, every single scene, whether it's me against Kristen or Kristen against Ricky. I will say it's not competitive, but it’s kind of is because everyone was bringing so much passion, so much commitment to the work and to the script and their preparation every night.
You're learning from Carol Burnett, you're learning from Laura Dern and in my case, particularly from Kristen who I think is one of the greatest comedians of all time. She's a deeply nuanced actor. Underneath the comedy gold is a heartbreaking, kind of like pathos that she has that makes her work just sublime.
O-C: You look dapper in the pilot’s outfit and the 70s sideburns. I am sure that helped you get into character.
JL: I absolutely loved my wardrobe and look. I really hope there's a season two where Douglas has long hair and a beard and kind of becomes a hippie, that would be a blast. Purely coincidentally, my sister-in-law (Alix Friedberg) is the costume designer of this show and the level of detail that went into the costumes was unreal. My uniform is an actual TWA pilot’s uniform from 1969. She was that precise. It's horrible to wear because it's basically just polyester.
You can't even imagine being on an international flight with that thing, it would be so uncomfortable. I love that look back in the day when pilots, flight attendants and flyers would go sit in those lounges before their flights, when flying still at that point had this real magic to it. People would get all dressed up for a flight.
The work that my sister-in-law did was remarkable because if they couldn't find the exact piece of vintage costume that they were looking for, they would actually find vintage fabric from the late 1960s and they would recreate the exact costume out of that vintage fabric. So, everything that you're seeing in the show has a level of authenticity.
O-C: I want to go back and ask about working with these comedic veterans. Watching Kristen Wiig and Carol Burnett do their scenes together while Carol spends most of the series in a semi-coma? How do you keep a straight face?
JL: It was hard but the weird thing that was challenging for me was working with Carol because to me she is an icon. But to Douglas (my character) she's his annoying Aunt who's in a coma and he doesn’t care about her at all. She's basically a dead body. So, I had to treat her that way. I had to basically say to Carol, ‘Listen, do you mind if I bang you around a little bit?’ And she's like, ‘Not at all.’
She wanted me to really go for it and so I did it and Kristen didn't know what I was going to do. The first time I bashed her bed into the wall when I was wheeling her into the living room Kristen was horrified. She was so scared and upset that I had just been somehow disrespectful to Carol Burnett. But the reality was Carol was 100 percent game and ready to play. But I also felt it was completely true because Douglas, I think, just sees her as the annoying Aunt who needs to die so that he can have her money and estate he's got to act like that.
O-C: The premise focuses on Kristen’s character wanting to get into high society in Palm Beach to be with and accepted by these snobby women, something that I would never aspire to.
JL: (laughs) Me neither!
O-C: Have you ever tried to get in somewhere where you just couldn't?
JL: OK, I’ll just go there! Every time I watch the Oscars, I'm like, ‘Why am I not in that group?’ I mean that in a good way and in a bad way because it's aspirational, right? I really believe Palm Royale in a weird way is the equivalent of the Oscars to these people. Anybody in this business can lie and say they don't care about awards and all that. But the true high watermark of the Oscars and the glamour of the Oscars is something we all yearn for, whether you will admit it or not.
I think that's why people have such an emotional reaction when they win is because it's been so hard to do. Most people feel like an outsider when they come into this business, and you spend your whole time wanting the next good big job so when we get to do something like Palm Royale is the payoff.
The joy of being around this group of people and going out to dinner with Carol Burnett and listening to her stories is beyond beautiful, beyond magical.
Want more Palm Royale? Check out these interviews with Amber Chardae Robinson, who plays Virginia on the show, and showrunner/director/executive producer Abe Sylvia and exec-producer Katie O’Connell Marsh.