Lesli Linka Glatter<\/a> directed the first episode. What is it like to work with her<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: It was so exciting. I\u2019d never worked with her before. Lizzie had, either on The West Wing<\/em>, Mad Men<\/em> or both. As a producer, to get to hire the head of the DGA at the time\u2026she\u2019s such a legend and somebody I\u2019d wanted to work with for a long time. When she said yes, it was really exciting for us. I think we all felt like, \u2018OK, now we really have a show.\u2019 I feel like I learned so much working with Lesli, the care that she takes and the clarity that she fights for. She\u2019s an extraordinary inspiration \u2014 and also so resilient. The fires had just happened right before we started filming, and she lost everything. Lesli lost her house. I remember she had a meeting with Annie, and she called Annie and said, \u201cI want to meet with you, but all of my notes burned in the fire, so I\u2019m going to need another day.\u201d Just one day. And they rescheduled for one day later. And she came and directed despite having just been through that.<\/p>\n\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tL-R: Elisabeth Moss, Kerry Washington and Kate Mara in \u2018Imperfect Women\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tApple TV<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\tDEADLINE: There is a sense that female-led productions are now more common. In actuality, how unique is it to have a production like yours, with three female protagonists who are all on equal footing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: I feel like you think<\/em> it is. We still get asked about it a lot, so I don\u2019t think it\u2019s as common as you think it is. Even the fact that we\u2019re having this conversation means it\u2019s not unnoticeable still. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s as outrageous as it was, even when Reese [Witherspoon] first started her production company or when Drew Barrymore first started Flower Films. We\u2019re definitely living in a different landscape of actor-producers and female actor-producers creating work for themselves and other people. But I don\u2019t think by any means we\u2019re in a place of equitable production.<\/p>\n\n\tDEADLINE: Also, a complex female character used to be someone who was not purely in service of a male character, but it would also be one of extremes. With these characters, complex means something far more nuanced.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: Yeah. It\u2019s funny, I was saying to Kate and Lizzie that all three of us have had long, abundant careers, and the three of us have all played strong, complicated women. But, like you said, often those women were up against these larger-than-life forces, whether it was the entire state of journalism or the White House and the entire government, or the entire advertising industry. We\u2019ve been up against these huge, big bads that are these external forces. And on the show, the big bad is really on the inside of all of us. What we\u2019re grappling with is our own denial, our own fear of admitting who we are and what we want and who we love. It\u2019s a much more intimate complexity, a quieter complexity. For us, it was exciting to make sure that the stakes were still as high when the force that you\u2019re up against is your own jealousy, envy, or desire, as opposed to the White House or Gilead.<\/p>\n\n\tDEADLINE: Is it as an acting challenge more nuanced, more interesting or more difficult, when it\u2019s something more interior?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: It\u2019s just different. I think for me, I have to mine my own emotional landscape with more diligence.<\/p>\n\n[Ben Affleck] was a director that I really admire, whose work I think has been spectacular throughout the years. The writing was great. The whole cast is great. And also as a producer, the opportunity to work with Artists Equity and to really be under the hood over there and see what they\u2019re doing, what they\u2019re creating.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n\tDEADLINE: Was there a scene that you felt opened her up to you, where she was most authentically Eleanor?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: I think the scene where she admits to her brother that she\u2019s loved Robert (Joel Kinnaman) for as long as she has. Because that is the truth that she\u2019s been suppressing for decades. And I think Donovan (Leslie Odom Jr.) becomes the first person that Eleanor risks being honest with to see if she\u2019ll survive it. That leap into truth was very edifying for me.<\/p>\n\n\tDEADLINE: As an acting challenge, is it more nuanced, more interesting or more difficult when it\u2019s something more interior?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: It\u2019s just different. I think, for me, I have to mine my own emotional landscape with more diligence.<\/p>\n\n\tDEADLINE: Was there a scene that you felt really opened her up to you, where she was the most authentic Eleanor?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: I think perhaps the scene where she admits to her brother that she\u2019s loved Robert (Joel Kinnaman) for as long as she has. Because that is the truth that she\u2019s been suppressing for decades. And I think Donovan (Leslie Odom Jr.) becomes the first person that Eleanor risks being honest with to see if she\u2019ll survive it. Taking that leap into truth was very edifying for me.<\/p>\n\n\tDEADLINE: On the show, she makes a terrible friend decision with Robert, but it\u2019s one of the juiciest parts of the writing. How do you come to it, when you know it\u2019s a horrible thing for a person to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: It\u2019s so funny, we used to argue about this all the time, because I\u2019d be like, \u201cOh, it\u2019s such a horrible thing she does.\u201d And Kate Mara was like, \u201cBut she\u2019s dead, who gives a sh*t.\u201d It\u2019s so funny, it depends on who you ask.<\/p>\n\n\tDEADLINE: Do you try to ground it in something or are you just like, look, the writing\u2019s the writing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: No, every choice has to be grounded. You have to understand why the character does what they do. Because people don\u2019t do bad things to be bad, people make difficult choices because they feel like they don\u2019t have other options. Whether that\u2019s fact or not, it\u2019s how people feel. I always have to understand where the decision comes from, especially the bad decisions. I have to unpack, \u201cWhat broken place is this decision coming from? What longing am I trying to feed or what wound am I trying to heal?\u201d Because that\u2019s why people make questionable choices.<\/p>\n\n\tIt\u2019s that old expression: \u201cHurt people hurt people.\u201d So, I have to really understand, with a high level of compassion. If I\u2019m judging my character, that means I\u2019m outside of my character looking down on her. So, it\u2019s not to say that I excuse all the behavior a character makes, but I have to at least understand it with a level of compassion and empathy.<\/p>\n
\n\tDEADLINE: I love that Kate Mara was like, \u201cShe\u2019s dead, you\u2019re not cheating on anyone.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: [Laughing.] Yeah, she\u2019s like, \u201cWho cares, she\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tDEADLINE: What\u2019s next? What was the draw to Ben Affleck\u2019s Animals<\/em>?<\/strong>\n\tDEADLINE: Did it offer you a challenge that you haven\u2019t encountered before?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: Lots. It was one of the most emotionally rigorous jobs I\u2019ve had, but also just the group of artists was so fun to work with.<\/p>\n\n\tDEADLINE: And then 24-7<\/em> with Eva, that\u2019s a thing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: That\u2019s not a thing, at the moment.<\/p>\n\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tRead the digital edition of Deadline\u2019s Emmy Preview magazine here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\tDEADLINE: And Netflix\u2019s An Innocent Girl<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: That\u2019s where I\u2019m on my way to right now. I\u2019m filming right now in New Jersey. And then this summer, Simpson Street is producing The Whoopi Monologues<\/em> at Lincoln Center. We\u2019re re-staging Whoopi Goldberg\u2019s one-woman show from decades ago, but we\u2019re doing it with a cast of five actresses to honor Whoopi\u2019s legacy and that groundbreaking material.<\/p>\n\n\tDEADLINE: In terms of professional accomplishments, what does it mean to be able to do that<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\tWASHINGTON<\/strong>: For Simpson Street, we really love cultivating work in the theater space. It\u2019s such an important narrative space to create work and to support artists. But also I\u2019ve met so many actresses through the years who will tell you that they would not be doing what they\u2019re doing if it were not for this one-woman show that Whoopi Goldberg created. From Tracee Ellis Ross, to Robin Thede, to Anika Noni Rose. I actually recently heard an interview with an actor\u2026 It was Pedro Pascal, quoting Whoopi\u2019s one-woman show and the impact that it had on him as a child. So many of us can still quote you the show verbatim. I feel really excited to be able to honor Whoopi in this way. And to bring this material, a lot of it which is sadly still resonant and relevant, but to bring it to new audiences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Imperfect Women star and executive producer Kerry Washington knows how rare it is to have a dream project greenlit in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_animmysite_disable_animation":false,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Imperfect-Women-02.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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