Kelsey Grammer comes from the golden age of sitcoms. He wants to stick to making sure the audience is enjoying the process. It is a live play. Let’s get it as best we can all week with rehearsals, and then we put it on in front of an audience and get to see the energy.
I just sit there in awe, I just receive it. I don’t even go on set, I’m in the studio, but I don’t like to tread on set and kind of spoil my vision of what they’re giving me. I can respond to only what I’m receiving and I think I’m the first audience member for the film.
It always existed as 90 minutes. The challenge was that you were moving at a certain speed with a certain tempo and you also wanted to give each character their moments and to allow the audience to settle into something. The delicate balance of pacing and rhythm and restructuring little moments of the script or what was shot to keep you on this roller coaster.
“I told her, ‘It’s incredible how you’re drawing us in, and then repelling us all, showing us how dark Martha is, but you still feel for her.'”
“A lot of it was therapy for us.”