Schitt's Creek stars talk all about their 6th and final season

I'm happy to be here at the And with you, you'll be fine, we're happy to be. I don't think you need any introduction, do you? I mean, we can start as an introduction. This is Dan Levy, the creator of Shis Creek, so I. I'm happy to be here with you, but I'm also sad because this is probably the last time I'll be here with you because this is the end of the end of the race, it's the beginning of the rhythm. in the end, yeah, okay, yeah, that's a good way to look at each year, yeah, could you guys come back for episodes three and four and we're going to empty each episode, yeah, slowly, empty.

They have closed the doors because they can't. You're not leaving, so I know you've

talk

ed about this in an interview in the past, but I'm curious what the moment was when you took a step back and Eugene liked it and you said, you know what I think, I think we'll break up. after this

season

and it will be something difficult to achieve or what seemed natural to me was after the first

season

, but that was premature, too premature. I think we had discussed it. I originally thought we were going to end after five and then we had two seasons, we had the option to pick two seasons, so five and six, which would make 28 episodes, we had a conversation and I said I think that would give us enough runway. . to tell our story and you didn't resist when I said, I think this is where it ends and it makes sense to me, so yeah, I mean, I think you're working so closely with this show that it almost spoke to me.

I just felt it and it felt like it was the right time. I felt like we'd built enough to really land the plane, so to speak, with these last twenty-eight and I've always, even from day one, been aware that you stayed longer than expected, yeah. Yeah, which can happen on TV, so yeah, I mean, I'd rather leave people with a really happy idea of ​​what our show was and what it meant to them. I'd rather leave that in the fans' minds and then be the show you want. They're like, yeah, after seven, I left, well, what happened?

What does that mean for any of you? I mean, what does the program mean? What do you think is some kind of thesis? What's the shit

creek

been saying 'cause I'd say that? I've written a little bit about the show for work and I would say that it's actually about things, it's not just some kind of fun and silly game, well it's definitely like a show, but family, that's what the show is about. program. that you know if the family that loses everything, the fish out of water kind of scenario, is what the first season took up settling the roses into the shitty Greek and settling into

their

new surroundings and then, I think after that We were able to focus on the characters and the relationships and I mean, in a nutshell, I think these are really stories about you know who people are, not what they are, it's what you know, when you get down to it, I mean, these stories They are only about people.

It's love, love stories about people, it's just going back to the roses over and over again, it's just about family learning to become a family, which was always at the heart of what this show is about, it's about of a woman. I love what actors and doctors do. no matter how small your part is, it's about a woman it's not about a family, well eventually it's about a family, I'm sorry to contradict you sir. Honey, no, it's about four people becoming a family that were always meant to be, but we actually learned how to start a family, I'm not

talk

ing about them, we don't have as parents.

I'll speak for myself because you, Johnny, probably had more children, no. Not having an agenda about being a parent was like having kids because people do that and then you send them money and they take care of themselves and it was such a beautiful thing that I wish I could have with my two oldest kids. to be so close and so involved with

their

lives once again, to know what's going on with them every day, and in the case of these parents, to be able to learn how to be parents, yeah, I mean, in that sense, there's almost something Utopian at that. the show where these people are taken out of the traps of the materialists, superficial traps of life in the world that we know and put in this place that exists nowhere and exists everywhere, it's this kind of magical place, I mean to Alexis, for example, I mean, you know.

I think she's had a very interesting arc because of that and it's a great performance because she could just be a villain for six seasons and that would be fun but boring, so I'm curious, how did you approach the modulation? her as the years went by, you know well, I think when we met Alexis and sort of on paper, she's really like the bull, you know, pretty selfish and shallow, but it was interesting because when I got to The Breakdown of the audition itself described the character, but at the end it said socialite like blondes - lyova, but at the end it said like a young Goldie Hawn hmm and that changed things for me. because to me a young Goldie Hawn is like that effervescent bubbly light, you know, but she's also smart and solid and insightful in her own way, so it was very important for me to play Alexis as a fully developed human being because we all have a lot of different sides of ourselves and we act differently around different people and I think the writers did a really good job of allowing her to like grow as a human over the six seasons and I had a lot of fun playing it.

Favorite crazy thing Alexis has done in the past because there's a weird, you know, half-reference story. I mean the one I remember most, I mean, being trapped like in a palace for an entire regime. It happened that they were being held hostage by David Geffen. yacht by pirate sailor very intriguing favorite guys I can't oh I just can't yeah it was my favorite thing to write Alexa I mean each character was a wonderful challenge in itself but the stories that undermine the stories that undermine mine are useless. celebrity gossip history database, right, I knew weekly enlightenment would come in handy at some point, Sean Penn reference on this.

They killed me in the episode. I was sitting there and I thought, well, it's funny because Dan, you and I are about. the same age and if everything is like that sweet spot of like two or thousands and you're like and that's why I think that's why it hit me so well. I was excited for us to find out about Sean Penn because all the stories we heard about you two growing up, yeah we didn't realize it all, that meant she would have mentioned it at a dinner, yeah she would have taken him to one time a party, anything, a Christmas party or something that we allowed, it was just a place on the chronological table yeah, well, Catherine, I mean, Moyer Rose has become this iconic figure in the last few years, you know, I'm curious and Maybe this is a dumb actor question, but I'm curious.

I'm a deaf actor, how? keep an updated icon. I mean, how do you make sure they can keep doing interesting things while still maintaining the Moyer eNOS that so many people love? I guess they don't consider themselves an icon in the first place, which is probably an icon. lawyer maybe actually I don't know originally I just wanted to try to create a character that I was interested in and had fun playing and I had no idea that anyone else would care, you know, I knew we had great scripts. and I knew I had the freedom to play with the vocabulary thank you and and you know I said I could wear different wigs all the time and they said yes, but then the stories are all, you know, they're all from Daniel and the writers and they kept giving me great opportunities to write a Christmas medley, you know, oh, you really had me be the performer, you know, another law, no, I don't want to do that, so it's a lot more fun to work with someone, thank God.

I met someone, the Christmas medley I guess we do better for asbestos. I guess you mentioned that you liked someone and that you liked an advertisement or something, and I was told that Katherine would like you to do the medley with her and I was like, Okay, and your dear father said that he has too much on his plate. It's true. We kept Gordon. He thought you had presented it so perfectly. I received a voice note. Oh, Katherine, with my share of harmony. He made up my hotel room well. I guess we are. you were going to do this, but Eugene you kept saying no, he doesn't have enough character, you can't put that on Eugene, it's just that once you went, you were going to have a 10 minute break between the zillion things you were doing and what you were doing.

I'm going to go to an office and yes, yes, yes, it worked, everything went well, all the beautiful girls, harmony and everything, and he's there waiting, we're all waiting and you, cheese, well, I don't know, Catherine, Don't force him to do it. We were much nicer to each other, you have to be a lady with Eugene, but please, give a lot, you know, and Daniel comes into the room, we touch him and he starts singing. All he needed was a song and I just learned it. I know it also helps to have kind of run the show and at the same time be an actor because what that did for me was put me in the shoes of someone who is actually doing the work that we were doing.

I realized how important it is. es and also having started out as someone who wanted to be an actor and then was really bad at auditions and never got any roles and then going back to being an actor, I think, and having friends who were actors that you keep hearing about from a lot of people who are in episodic television is that it becomes work, you show up for work, you're doing the same thing. I think, particularly in half-hour comedy, you can just get into that world of comedy where you're doing the same thing with iterations of the same thing and it was always important to me that each season the actors felt challenged and excited to come back to it. these roles, that's what's going to motivate people, that's what's going to make the cast feel excited and you know. and feverishly wanting to do more is constantly challenging and knowing that even the smallest part will have an arc that you'll have something to work with and that you'll have places to go because I think that's when things stabilize and you end up having to form a character. in just 13 episodes of the same thing that people watch and that's when you lose people and that's when people decide to do other projects, so for me it came from a desperate attempt to just keep everyone. together, but ultimately you know the honor of the quality of acting that was done on the show and when you have a cast of this quality, it would be a disgrace for them to not show up season after season with stories that were the caliber of the work that they were making, so what was the budget for the wig?

I mean, now that you're done, can you say it because it's real? It's a beautiful variety that we saw in the first episode where they almost burned. It was a backwards wig. it looked like SIA, yes, if you had it on correctly, but turn it around, there's a little Bruce Vilanch in there too. I thought yeah, yeah, it's shocking, it wasn't a huge budget, well, it was all of them, you just have them, yeah, Canadian TV show. It's a surprise to you that we don't have money, yeah, which I guess I mean, it's like you're using a very cliché analogy.

Diamonds form under extreme pressure and I think, Oh, not having money, oh, shut up, give me a damn second. it's good, it just blew me away, but I say you have some penetrating work that happens when you're pushed to the limit, yeah, and I think if we'd had Maysles' budget, we probably wouldn't be following it. I love the show, it's a great show. You can tell it's very expensive, but I think in our case not having money really helped because, like in everything, you're forced to be creative, you're forced to find ways to put the little money you have on the screen so that it distribute in all sectors of the screen.

In the process of making the show you have to think about how to maximize this budget and I think that's where a lot of the more creative parts of the show ended up coming in and we had incredibly creative people in exactly every department and everyone was so In this too, everyone should make it work, very happy and encouraged to do the best they can and, you know, hair and makeup, onions, luck, amazing things, yes, a wardrobe, oh my God, yes, so Eugene B is on stage from time to time from time to time and and and as you approach the end of the squeak thinking about when you know that you and your son came up with this idea for a show or your son brings you an idea.

I don't know the exact staircase, but what does it look like now? In retrospect and how does that compare to what you thought it might be, you know, many years ago, well, I mean, you know this from the beginning, it was a great thing to do with your son, this is something that was like the first time it happened that he came to me to find out if it had anything to do with his no, because he was very conscious of doing things on his own and doing things on his own, even when he was in school and I don't need help when I offer it to you, even no, no, no, everything is fine, so we started this and honestly, it was a big project, you know, for me, although I was very conscious.I'm sorry if I feel like you.

I can not understand it? I have one more play on the cheetah house here, but uh, yeah, yeah, I just wanted to make sure that you knew that we were going to take this as far as possible, that you know that this idea, let us know that I'm there. Did I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure that we could actually get this going and off the ground and make it something real instead of just being a nice project that I'm doing, you know, with my son? So we ended up putting it on the air in Canada like on a real network and putting it on the air and I thought, well, if this is cool, my job is done, now we have this idea. and it's a real tv show cut five years later, a big thank you to danielle who really guided this to a brilliant conclusion.

I think it's hard to believe the show gutted you. I know to receive the acclaim that it has received in the fan support and the passion that our fans have for the show that it really was and again in the beginning it was what we had, you know, Daniel wanted, I think the essence of the type of character. work that we had, that Chris chose and that I had in our films, I think that's what you had in mind when you came to me, but the idea is that the characters are real and everything is grounded and you know, keep everything sincere and never you try it and laugh without ironic things, let's keep it clear, if you can do that, then you create characters that the audience cares about, if you can reach that level where the audience loves the characters and buys them. so you can take them into a lot of great emotional and comedic stories Lee, so here we are starting the sixth season and it's the last season, but I think it's a beautiful conclusion to the series this year, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I agree on something. What I think is so surprising about the show as it evolved from the pilot to where we are now is that it really places its emotional component in the plural, I mean, in, in, everyone's character has had moments of crisis in the that you know one or more people. I'm kind of coming to support them, so I'm curious, stand up and anyone who wants, who has any thoughts on this, like when, what's your approach to balancing it because you don't want to wobble and get maudlin, you know? especially in a

final

season where shows have done it and you want to make a right point, so I'm a little curious about the process of deciding that balance.

I mean, you know, I think inherently the structure of the show was that you know if we were given the luxury of being able to have multiple seasons, the premise lent itself to season after season of these characters learning more and more about themselves and revealing the layers of who they are, what they mean to each other, and what their relationship is. to new characters coming into play, so I think the emotionality of the show is something that was really built in from day one and it just took a while to get to it because you never want to jump the shark a little bit in terms of like it's a one-liner now. sorry everyone I made a glass of wine imagine if that occurred to you well no I jumped uh and then I said shark and I hoped for the best and then I got scared because they were all silent and I was like I said the right thing you cut a shark .

I don't know, I don't even know what it means if that's something I would actually write it in, so the funds jumped the shark, he literally jumped the shark. Honestly, I'm sorry guys, that's something we'd jump right into. I think we've done that on the show before, where you said something and I like a saying and I wonder what it meant and you didn't have an answer for it now that you do. You never know, I think with the growth of these characters you were able to realistically add a layer of sentimentality, but that had to be earned and that took time and I think, fortunately, again it's not about talking about upper caste, but when you have the caliber of actors when you have an ensemble as extraordinary as the one we've managed to put together, you can really hand things to them and trust that things will be handled with delicacy, consideration and care and that sensitivity will never come into play. equation because sensitivity exists when an actor can't achieve the mm-hmm line, not to say that it also requires a good line, but yes, you know, I think we were always aware of the line between excessive sentimentality and hand Hard and The Truth and that was always something that our brilliant team of writers and I always thought about when we were dealing with the most difficult moments.

Is this true or is it just so maudlin? Are we being honest and real right now or are we pushing it too hard? So far and that's what I mean, those were some of the most important conversations we had because you never wanted to turn the audience away by being a little cheesy, unfortunately you know what we landed on and then the scenes that we ended up writing were handled very well. . that I just trusted it once we put pen to paper. I didn't help because the dynamic between the family members was so new to each of us, so we were like aliens having normal family interactions for other families, normal parent families. but it was brand new, so if we had a moment where a normal family member could be aware of the intensity we had, no, there's not seven of us, it was like, what is this?

I feel good, so there was no You know we're touching now This isn't her You know no, someone had to explain to you that your boobs were missing and someone had to explain to me that I felt motherly, yeah, yeah, the fact that everything It was new. yeah, I was going to remember a scene that I don't actually remember enough, right, we hope to remember what I expected and that's what I mean, that was also a great thing in terms of writing it, I think that's the kindest thing. The first and biggest sentimental moment in the show's timeline happens at the end of season 2 when we're in the barn and we say I love you to each other and I remember reading tweets from people saying, "I'm sobbing and I think we just said I love you." , that's a very normal thing, but it's contact and it wasn't normal for them and I think that's what made it such a fun and fun time, something fun for them plays, yeah, well that's a jump even. in a year, since David help me with the door now I just got out of the shower he helped me with the door I'm drawing my hair help me with the door it's air drawing David help him with the door you help him with the door that's the end of the first season and we got to I love you at the end of season two there was a big sort of transition in season two and then I just really sailed away after that I'm embarrassed to say this because I had met you before and I should have been watching your show since. the beginning, but yeah, it was in Toronto, yeah, but what I remember reading your tweet was like one night, yeah, and you wrote something really good about the show and I sent you a DM and I was like, "um, but that moment wasn't "It was just the best, it was...

I think you know, it's a beautiful example of what everyone is talking about." What this kind of scene is about is David realizing that it's okay to be in love publicly and Moira realizing that it's okay to support her son and not be ashamed of other artists, you know, small town, jealous, you know, and I believe that. That's a lovely moment, but there's a lot of music in the show and you were talking a little bit about this medley, Alexis, do you know what that moment was like for you? I want to say that? and they gave you that, what were you like?

I'm really excited or was it scary, yeah, well we were at a table reading and just in the script it said that Alexis acts a little bit, Alexis and I was like, I think it was inspired, jealous that Noah did just the best thing this season. former. and I was like, well, if no one can do it, I can do it without realizing that I'm NOT a musician and Noah is like a deeply talented musician that you wrote, you wrote a hit in Sudan and I was like, can I please try? this and he said yes so I got two of my best friends who are actually musicians and I wrote the lyrics and they liked the technical part of the musician and then I sent them his dance and the cool music thank you yeah and we I like all three.

We really knew it had to be a little bit creepy and fun, but all of us really wanted to make it a big hit, so yeah, Dan was kind enough to let me try it and it's a big hit, yeah. What you in Divisions far exceeded anything I had imagined and I think that's what's beautiful and magical about this cast and I think with any cast of ours that touches and affects people it's like when you have the right pieces. instead, I mean, obviously, it takes blood, sweat and tears, but it's inherently enhanced when everyone's playing the right role and when you have the luxury of having actors who are also so excited about the job they're doing that they want to. writing those songs and they want to write those medleys is a joy and it's something that I felt a lot of pride in saying, yes, run, bring it because the worst is worse than the gun we have and in my mind I thought the worst comes to the worst .

I have to say we'll appreciate it let's try something we could try but we'll try but luckily I mean that's what we're dealing with and this is a perfect example of I like how multifaceted and how incredibly talented these are people like you. You don't often have the luxury of saying something to an actor: Can I write a pop song and then ask them to bring you some Lexus as if that just doesn't happen? which is the same with Noah it's like him I went to him and said do you want to try this? I knew he was a musician and in my mind I knew he could do it.

I didn't know what he would bring. Me and he was like yeah let me try it and then he sent it to me in the middle of the night and I cried haha ​​alone in the dark and you know I think we've been talking about this a lot now that We're talking about the end of the show but without sounding maudlin , there was a collective sense of excitement. I think with our cast and crew there were actors appearing in scenes that weren't just there to see, I mean. I think the cabaret was a perfect example of that too.

I mean, there were actors that we didn't even perform that day that showed up just to see what the other actors were doing and that's wonderful, it's really good, it's absolutely I thought I wanted to see that whole production, yeah, well, yeah, and I think It was one of the most important conversations we had when we were hosting, I mean, because from the writers' room we had to think and and script the whole show and plot it out and the most important conversation we had when it came to cabaret was how Moira was good and the decision that was made was that she is really good, yes, and that this was the first time we had seen her. an artistic moment from Moira, we have heard so many stories from Laura, what an incredibly wonderful gift to give Moira the success of her first kind of solo artistic expression, may it be as good as it was and I chose Stevie very well so far.

Yeah, yeah, and you know it's also fun to go back to a little bit of Lexus because it was actually just for a second, it was part of the original character description. He mentioned this the other night, it was a notebook somewhere at home. yes, it was part of the original bible for the show, the character description was that Alexis had done her own reality series called a little bit long before the show was even a show, a little bit of Alexis was on a piece of paper somewhere. so coming full circle like this is pretty magical, it really makes a big difference when you have people encouraging you to do your best work, there are so many great artists that work with the directors and producers that are just spirit crushers, yeah yeah , I've worked with some where you prove no, we'll tell you what's funny, can you imagine?

No, it's just that way for so many people, it's so stupid that they hire great people and then just crush them well first. They're spirits, it's not like that, it wasn't, I know, but when you have a cast like this, I mean, honestly, you listen to someone, this is the cat, honestly, it's the most talented group of actors I've ever worked with. . I'm sorry to contradict you, but what was it? I'm just grateful for the opportunity. Sorry, talking about music. I would be remiss if I didn't ask you a technical question, Catherine, what is it and I was texting Dan about this.

How do you choose which syllable is descending? amazing, I don't know if I do it honestly to God, I don't plan, it's just in the moment in the moment, it's just done in the editing suite too and because I think that's what she does with the voice it's so spontaneous too, that It really is from an editing perspective, when we're in the editing suite, you're panning for gold because every take is different and to be more specific, the line in the second episode where you were talking about jazz. girls and you really hit the girls very hard with a depth.

I'm not going to do it without God, it was like a sting and I remember saying, yeah, that's going to go in, so you take that and I don't care what angle. We're in it makes the editing process a lot of fun because you never know what you're going to get. My favorite was, do you know withthey found, yes, simply by being. my parents were a bit AAA, okay, unfortunately I don't have time for all this. I don't think I want to know. Michelle and Nicole from Connecticut want to know what everyone's favorite Mara wig is, what I'm talking about.

Yeah, yeah, which I'm dying to hear if you have answers to that, but maybe we'll save that for last, but in the meantime, I mean, everyone's fine, no, it's fine. I'm going. I'm going to combine two questions okay, so Blair B wants to know what you hope the legacy of the show is and what people have taken away from it that surprised you and to that end, does anyone else want to know I'm getting married, Ella wants to know What was the last day on set like? Maybe that's something combined because you're thinking about the legacy of the show on your last day of the show, big last day of the show first or what did you do, yeah, what were your feelings about everything when the day ended, well, to be honest, I think that when we got to the last day, which was a long day and we were filming well into the night, we had the whole last week, it was really a build up to an ending where we started to realize that things were coming to an end. and every time we extorted the reading at the table where we did the

final

read-through of the last two episodes and there weren't enough Kleenex in the room. it was like it was really cool because the idea that this was really coming to an end was hitting everyone and then everyone except Annie who didn't cry.

I cried in the privacy of my own shower so many times, but it drove Danny. Incredibly, a mess, Dan was a mess and wouldn't she make that noise that was like his face was imploding on itself and he'd written it? You know, when you're in a movie theater and you're really watching something. sad and you know that if you open your mouth you will do something like that, instead you like to hold out until the end of the movie and then be like I was trying to do that, yeah, you know, the result was the euphoria of my feelings. in like it was a gutter, it was a very different sound, you could read your old records that you had written for David, it's true, a couple of us had to try to read the lines because otherwise we'll know because the reading- The full read-through is on our lunch break while we're filming, we would never have finished the read-through if everyone just couldn't, you know, get through a line, so that's how it went and then every time we rap, we end a set like the last scene in the office from the motel or the last scene at the motel the last scene at the cafe I remember walking in and he had just finished the scene with Twyla, yeah, and I walked in and they were going into more detail about it. together it's true a motel and everything else our house so yeah when we got to the last day I think we got through the last day and then you know it was just having a glass of champagne no that's absolutely further from the truth .

Finally I got what you wanted I got what I wanted because we sat down to rehearse what would be the last scene that we would all film together that we were in and then we were and Annie and I ended up together our last scene was our last scene together and in rehearsal it was the last scene that you two were in together, it was the two of us and it was actually the final scene that we had been in together, wait who is it, but I, well, oh, you were. anyone is the last, yes, the end, yes, we were together once, yes, it was how many other people were with you, I was, I in your dream, yes, so let's rehearse this scene where we were together and he It is lost like floodgates. open yeah, now she's crying and we have to rehearse it, we're not even filming it right now and I'm crying too because she's crying and I've cried every day since I left and before and after and and then there comes a point in the that I think to myself, as a producer, that she has to cry because maybe she doesn't have tears when we need them.

But I said you would text me the night before, a very serious text that said, Will there be? I will be paramedic on set tomorrow in case she cries herself to death or needs some kind of IV to feed my body in a very sadistic way when she started crying. I thought that would be your goal all along. to make her cry and you understood in the end exactly there is something terrible, terrible to want from someone and yet, yeah, well, I think that's it in terms of time, it's been an hour. I'm Sam, does anyone have a favorite wig?

They want to throw it away, but before we leave or find a wig that I can put around my neck like a scarf, yes, yes, I will say this: there is a wig in this season, obviously the last season of the show as far as our characters, you wanted the outfits to be unlocked, you wanted to make sure the hair was right, that was one of the few opportunities we had to give the fans what they wanted and aside from, hopefully, good storytelling, but you I know it was a man, I thought we had to get the best clothes, we have to do the hair right.

There's a look for Moira that is my all-time favorite Moira look that we've done and the fact that it happens in our final season is everything I could have asked for, so when it comes to wigs, my favorite wig still has not been seen. It is a wonderful advance. I want to thank Jean Catherine Annie and Jane. Thank you so much.