Now I can finally write it down on paper: I am a great admirer of Rachel Brosnahan, for her masterful interpretation in and of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” by which I was completely shocked and enchanted, for the talent and audacity of her stories, and for all her acting choices, so precise and courageous. Just like the one of her new character Rachel in “Dead For A Dollar”, presented out of competition at the 79th Venice Film Festival.
Ten minutes before the interview with her, I felt catapulted into a positive energy spiral because I was about to meet her aura of kindness and determination. Two minutes after greeting her, that energy, which could have also matched some kind of anxiety, immediately transformed, simply making me feel good. With her precise and passionate way of talking about films, stories to tell, and new frontiers of cinema, we also discussed how important it is to look for small acts of rebellion in the everyday life and how being here in Venice to present a new movie is simply crazy cool.

How is it going in Venice in these days?

It’s been the coolest thing. I’ve never been to Venice, so being here for the first time, premiering a film… I’m not sure if anything can top this!

You character in the film “Dead for a Dollar” might feel different from traditional westerns, but it actually is a character that’s always been there and that now has the space to be. What was your first reaction after reading the script and the first questions you asked Walter Hill [the director] about Rachel?

When I read the script, I was immediately intrigued. It’s a beautiful piece of writing and then Walter is Walter, he’s a legend. So, there weren’t a lot of immediate questions for him, but he gave me a call on the phone, he wanted to talk to me a bit more about the role and what he had been thinking about when he wrote it and also what his intentions were for the film.

He talked about being a great lover of and having a lot of respect for the Western genre of which he’s a really important contributor, too, and said that he wanted to use this film to be a part of continuing its evolution, he wanted to add this film to the canon of great westerns and imagined that a big part of doing so was creating space within the genre for characters like Rachel, Elijah and Poe, who historically have not been included at all or left on the fringes, underdeveloped, underexplored.

That was really exciting.
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The star opens up about Midge’s future with Lenny Bruce and other surprising finale reveals while looking ahead to the Amazon comedy’s fifth and final season: “I appreciate this portrait of an incredibly flawed woman chasing her ambition as hard as she knows how.”

This story contains major spoilers for season four of Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Fans of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel got a glimpse at a Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) in season four that they haven’t seen since season one: a Midge on the edge.

“We met her when she’d hit rock bottom, drunk and half-naked in the comedy club in the middle of the night,” Rachel Brosnahan tells The Hollywood Reporter of the series’ pilot episode. “In some ways, it was fun to return to a version of Midge that is furious and is wearing every emotion she has on her sleeve all at once.”

The 1960s-set fourth season picks up right where season three left off. Midge has been dropped from Shy Baldwin’s (LeRoy McClain) tour after accidentally outing his sexuality during a comedy set at the Apollo. She’s out of a job, beats up a taxi cab with a palm leaf and stumbles upon an illegal strip club, where she decides to start working as an emcee.

Over the course of the season, Midge stands her ground and is open to new gigs but refuses to take on any jobs opening for other acts. Her manager, Susie Myerson (Alex Borstein), spends the majority of the eight episodes trying to convince Midge to not be so stubborn and reconsider her stance, to no avail.

It isn’t until the finale that Midge has the sense knocked into her by none other than Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby), who, shortly after they finally have sex, criticizes her decision to turn down a high-profile gig opening for Tony Bennett at the Copacabana and accuses her of committing intentional career sabotage.

“Ninety percent of this game is how they see you. They see you hanging with Tony Bennett, they think you deserve to be there. They see you hauled off to jail for saying ‘fuck’ at a strip club, they think you deserve that also,” Bruce tells Midge after his iconic Carnegie Hall act. “If you blow this, Midge,” he concludes, fighting back tears. “You will break my fucking heart.”
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Rachel Brosnahan has seen a lot in her 13 years in New York. But it wasn’t until recently that she considered herself a real
New Yorker.

A week before Christmas, Brosnahan, 31, received a call from a friend who had swung by her apartment and discovered an unexpected guest in her bathroom: a deceased, water-logged rat who had climbed up her pipes and drowned in her toilet. Traumatized, Brosnahan and her husband, actor Jason Ralph, rushed home to assess the situation. “We felt like the Ghostbusters walking into that apartment,” Brosnahan says over a Zoom call weeks later. Brosnahan, who decided she would be the one to fish out the rat, went into crisis mode: She put back on her black KN95 mask, slapped on some blue surgical gloves, fashioned a pair of “rat chopsticks” from two wooden sticks and got down to business, as her husband recorded the whole operation for TikTok. Of course, it went viral. “People were so mad at me for not showing the rat,” says Brosnahan, who put a GIF from Pixar’s “Ratatouille” over the real dead rat. “What? It was traumatizing. Nobody wants to see that, and I’m not about to put that on anyone’s For You page.”

While Brosnahan considers exterminating a drowned rat from her toilet as her rite of passage as a New Yorker, many would consider her role as Midge in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”— Amazon’s Emmy-winning comedy series about a fast-talking, uproarious housewife-turned-stand-up-comedian from Manhattan’s Upper West Side—as her official New York badge of pride. “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which premieres its fourth season on February 18, follows Midge’s career, from her first off-the-cuff standup routine at the Gaslight Cafe in season one to her big break as the opening act for one of America’s most beloved Motown singers (and the fallout that comes next) in season three. While Brosnahan sees some similarities between her and Midge’s careers (“Midge and I both learn by doing”), she admits it took her a lot longer than a couple seasons to become the award-winning actor she is today. “Midge may have had a slightly more overnight success,” she says.
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From finally slowing down to learning to set boundaries, the star of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel shares how she takes care of herself.

As Midge Maisel, Rachel Brosnahan plays a fast-talking New Yorker who has jokes for days. In real life, the actress is equally engaging—just in a slightly different way. Where Midge talks a mile a minute and commands the room with her brazenness, Rachel speaks thoughtfully and with purpose. She’s the type of person who makes you want to lean in closer so you don’t miss a word.

When Health catches up with her, saying goodbye to 2021 is top of mind for the 31-year-old actor. That’s because she is in the middle of production as an executive producer on Yearly Departed, an Amazon Prime special in which female comedians look back at the past year and eulogize it (season 2 airs in December).

So, what’s Rachel excited to leave behind? “I am ready to say goodbye to Zoom and see people in person and hug again,” she says. And while she knows just how tough the past months have been for so many, she acknowledges a silver lining. For her, it has allowed her to slow down.

“I’ve been so fortunate—traveling all over the world, working on this incredible show, starting a production company, and having adventures with my friends. But I was tired,” she says. “I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to catch my breath and grow closer to even my closest friends, who became family during this time.” Here, Rachel reveals more moments of self-discovery.

Season 4 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is coming soon. What continues to excite you about the role?

This job has been one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever been given. It sounds corny, but I mean it. It’s been fun to watch people continue to develop these characters over time. I am excited by the fact that I’m still terrified. Every time I get a new script, every time I show up on set, I’m petrified. And that’s a rare gift four seasons into something.
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The ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ star talks to The Hollywood Reporter about Night of Covenant House Stars, how the organization has been impacted during COVID-19 and the new play she’s producing alongside husband Jason Ralph.

Rachel Brosnahan has a date Monday night with Covenant House as one of the many celebrity participants for the virtual fundraiser Night of Covenant House Stars. The actress and producer serves as a board member for the organization — an international nonprofit that provides housing, food and health care to children and youth who are facing homelessness in 31 cities across six countries — and has been a champion of the cause since she took part in a Sleep Out event in New York.

Brosnahan has called it a life-changing experience and since then, she’s used her platform on behalf of Covenant House like so many high-profile stars of the stage and screen. Meryl Streep, Dolly Parton, Ryan Reynolds, Stephen Colbert, Jon Hamm, Morgan Freeman, Sara Bareilles, Vanessa Williams, Laurie Metcalf, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jon Bon Jovi, Ben Platt, Zach Braff, Marlon Wayans, Tony Shalhoub and Chita Rivera are just a few of the boldfaced names who will appear during the Kia-sponsored concert. Tony Award winner Audra McDonald and 60 Minutes correspondent John Dickerson — both members of the Covenant House board of directors — are teaming to co-host with a theme of “Stand Up, Stand Strong.”

Ahead of the event, The Hollywood Reporter caught up with the Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award-winner on why so many stars continue to show up for Covenant House, what the needs are right now and how she’s navigated filming The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel with COVID-19 protocols with a new accessory — a HEPA-filter umbrella lovingly dubbed “COBRELLA.”

How has Covenant House been impacted during the pandemic?

The beginning of the pandemic was particularly challenging because we were all being encouraged to shelter at home, but how can you shelter at home if you don’t have one? There was also massive job loss among Covenant House residents which was not only emotionally challenging but also meant that the sites needing additional resources to accommodate the increase in residents at the houses full time. But thanks to the outpouring of support throughout this difficult time, Covenant House was not only able to provide the same continuum of care they always have but also implement necessary increased safety measures to protect both residents and staff.
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