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The following interview contains spoilers aboutThe Handmaids Taleseason four and its finale.
The stretch into directing turned out to be a natural one for Moss.
Ive always thought, in a way, that is actually the way a director thinks, she says.
I just never realized it.
Liz Garbus, our director, had a wonderful plan with Stuart Biddlecombe, the DP.
Everybody was game, everything was straightforward, and everybody knew what we were going to do.
I think he just did it really well you know, for a salvaging.
How do you think audiences will respond to that scene?
I think what Lawrence says about Its not enough is true.
I think its incredibly satisfying for these women.
It has to be.
Of course, its not everything, but its certainly a huge something.
I just get chills even talking about it.
I wish I couldve been with that audience because thats what we live for, you know?
We live for that.
We work so hard to generate that response from our fans and from the audience.
I totally get it, and I get the triumph of it and I get the satisfaction of it.
Of course, we do have another season, so its not going to solve all the problems.
You do that on more than one occasion during the season.
It felt like there was a lot of payoff.Oh, good.
But its sort of ambiguous as to what her plan is from there.
So its all mulling around with Bruce [Miller, series creator] in the writers room right now.
Lets talk about the directing you did this season.
So I thought at some point Id do it.
And then it became an idea in season two.
It was like,Maybe next year.
Then it didnt work for our schedule to do it in season three.
How do I make two people in a kitchen washing dishes interesting?
How do I make all these conversations between Fred and Serena interesting?
That definitely was a challenge I wanted to give myself.
That Ive done for the longest amount of time.
We all have a lot of respect for each other, and they really wanted me to do well.
They gave me everything they had.
Maybe itll be on a DVD extra or something.I wish we did more of those.
I do, honestly.
Is that fair?Very fair.
Or,The camera needs this,or whatever.
It is an extreme exercise in compartmentalization, but I do happen to be good at that.
I really enjoy having a lot to think about and a lot to do.
I think thats why people often ask the same question I just asked about directing yourself.
Yeah, I discovered after doing three episodes that I never realized how much I think like a director.
And thats a wonderful thing.
Ive always been a different kind of actor, who is aware of where the camera is.
I edit in my head while Im acting in a very clinical way.
I know when were going to use that shot.
Ive always thought, in a way, that is actually the way a director thinks.
I just never realized it.
We downsized it to two.
We were not actually going to do the fingernail [removal], obviously.
Not to say I dont write the show that we wont ever do anything so terrible again.
But I do think it was like,Lets go to the very bottom.
Unfortunately, torture at the hands of a government is not something that we invented; its the reality.
But there were things that we could have done.
We ended up scaling it back a little bit.
You see the prisoners on their knees as you pass by, but you never actually see anything happening.
Its just the impression of it.
Because that stuff is scary.
That ultimately is, obviously, Hannah.
Thats the story we needed to tell.
I asked the writers, Can you write the whole speech for me?
And if we dont use it, we dont use it.
If it doesnt work, it doesnt work.
Then we shot it.
I almost would love for the audience to watch both versions and see what I mean.
That got you way more than the other version.
But it ended up being just you felt something that you didnt feel if you cut away.
I wanted the audience to experience it the way that the courtroom would have.
I very much remember saying to Stu I said, I dont know if the actor can do it.
Yes, that is an example of extreme compartmentalization.
That was a very conscious choice that I also came up with with Stu in prep.
I didnt back myself up there and do a take where I didnt look down the barrel.
Because then you get to really do something completely your own.
I think you have to really visualize something as a director.
When I find that, thats what Ill do.
