Marin Hinkle has played Rose Weissman on four seasons of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ."- Insider recently spoke with the actress about her role as the Weissman family matriarch.
If you told Marin Hinkle back in 2017 that Rose Weissman was going to perform stand-up on "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," she probably would have been hard-pressed to believe you — and justifiably so.
When Hinkle ("Once and Again," "Two and a Half Men") met the Riverside Drive dame on season one of the Emmy-winning series, the character's universe revolved around being proper, pretty, and perfect. Or, at the very least, being perceived as such.
But on season four, which premiered on Prime Video in February, it's clear Rose has come a long way since then.
She's made peace with her daughter Miriam "Midge" Maisel's divorce, taken a solo jaunt to Paris, relocated to Queens and back, and launched a matchmaking business so successful that her tri-state competitors have threatened war.
So when series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino told Hinkle that this Rose was going to perform stand-up on the seventh episode of season four, the actress was still surprised, but slightly less than she would've been five years ago.
"When I got the news that I was doing it, I think for two nights — I only had the script a couple nights before — I'm not sure I slept because I was way too nervous," the actress, 55, told Insider during a recent phone interview.
Below, Hinkle discusses her penultimate season as Rose, reflecting on her full-circle matchmaking career, the stand-up routine that took more than two days to capture, and the anticipatory heartbreak she's nursing ahead of the show's fifth and final season.
We kick off season four in 1960, a brand new decade. What excited you about entering this new era as Rose?
All of us never were aware until we actually were given the scripts, whether or not we were going to jump time quite a bit.
But seeing that it was supposedly half a night later from when we said goodbye to Miriam [on season three], it wasn't a huge mindset change. It's funny because we're like: "1960! We're a new person now!"
One thing I did think that they let Rose get influenced in is her clothing. Her clothing shifted a little bit and I love that she's so on top of that. That's a mirror of who she's becoming within her work life.
I have a mom who became a lawyer later in her life. She was always wearing dresses. This was in the '70s, so it was a bit later. She let herself, once she became a lawyer, start wearing pants and it changed her whole sense of self and strength. I tried to incorporate that into Rose.
Once you saw her in pants, she was like, "I'm taking charge in a new way, and I've got a job. I'm going to make the money, and I'm more of a breadwinner than I've ever been. I'm not taking money from my family anymore, and my husband's not working. Or, if he's working, he's making about two cents at the Village Voice!"
Her matchmaking business is so much fun to watch. It's one of my favorite parts of this season.
Isn't it funny that it's not a profession that's died? If anything, it's only grown and grown in the years that we've used the internet to be able to do matchmaking.
You told Entertainment Weekly that you used to do some matchmaking yourself. Can you tell me about that? Did Amy Sherman-Palladino know that before writing the script?
Amy and Dan [Palladino] didn't know that about my life. I've always been a person who loves incorporating different parts of my life with one another. I get such joy out of seeing one faction, whether it's college or elementary school, merge with my graduate school and merge with my professional life and my family. I had a number of people, particularly when I was in my 20s, who were like, "Isn't there someone?"
There's a really extraordinary Broadway director I was working with at the time. He was bemoaning when I was auditioning for him. He was like, "Can't you set me up with a nice Jewish doctor?" I looked at him and was like, "I know one," and he was like, "Well, what are you waiting for?"
I actually don't remember if I got the job, but that doesn't matter because I got out of the audition and called my great friend who was a nice, extraordinary Jewish doctor. Kind of like Benjamin was in our show!
I matched him up with this really prominent theater director. They called one another pretty quickly and have been together ever since.
Wow! What a track record.
It's Michael Mayer, the Broadway director who's directing "Funny Girl." He was the one who brought it up, and then his now-husband is someone I knew from Brown. I've done that for a couple friends.
At one point this season, Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) tries to do some matchmaking for Susie Myerson (Alex Borstein), just like Rose. Do you think Midge and Rose are more alike than they seem?
Ever since that first year, when they showed that she mirrors me when it comes to how she gets ready every night for the next day, I was like, "Look at that! Like mother, like daughter."
That was a stylistic choice, but when you think of how they both care about the artistry of the visual and how they enter a space in the most beautiful clothing and the most beautiful hats, it's not an accident. They also have a wit and an edge about them.
I do think that she has so much of her father too, this intelligence and her father's goodness of spirit. But her mom has this way of running the show that Midge has too.
Season four is at a time when they keep finding themselves in a rotation. Without even noticing it, the two of them are walking the same path.
It's been a journey watching all the characters grow throughout the seasons. I'm wondering, is there any improvisation between the actors on set?
I'm not sure Rose has ever been able to say one word that isn't what Amy and Dan had exquisitely come up with. They have not just one, but two script supervisors on set; One who's matching what we do with our physical lives, and the other who's matching the exactitude — like, if the word is "there's," I can't say "there is."
There's this panic when you're on set, like, "Oh my god, I have to make sure I do this completely right." There's also a sense of musicality, like a music note that's exactly what you have to play.
I have never been able to improv on the show, because what they do is too perfect.
You're also dealing with a different time period. There are a lot of nuances that have to be accurate.
What's so great about Amy's stuff is the crispness, even in the way we move. When she has us walk down the street, they sometimes put music behind us. It gives you a sense as if you're in a musical, even though they'll pull the music later.
Do you have a go-to song to put on when you walk?
No, Dan is so versed and skilled in music, as is Amy. They come from a background of deep appreciation for musicals. I have nothing that touches the level of their expertise on that stuff.
In fact, often they put something on, and afterward, I'm like, "Who sings that?" They'll be like, "Barbra Streisand" or "Sutton Foster," who they love. It's like, "Oh my god, I've got to go buy that."
"The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" is coming to an end after five seasons. How did you react when you heard the news?
I've been a very lucky performer in that I've been on a number of shows that have lasted a bit.
This one is heart-wrenching for me because the family is truly like a second family. Maybe that's partially because of COVID. It was a time when people's appreciation for connection was so large. We did a lot of Zooming with one another.
I have that ache that happens if you contemplate death. That's a little dramatic.
No, I understand!
I'm going to have to hold onto Amy and Dan's hands and be like, "You have to promise, even if it's a lie, that we'll do something in five years!"
I don't know how I'm going to walk away from these people. I'm just going to imagine that it isn't the end, even though they told us it is.
We'll have to cross our fingers for a reunion.
Yeah, I think that's it. I do.
There's an episode coming up where Rose has this crazy magical moment where real-life magic happens. My character ends up getting hypnotized and doing a stand-up act like my daughter.
They brought us to a theater — and I've done a lot of theater, but I've never done anything that connects to what Rachel or Alex do in real life. I had to memorize something that was a version of what Midge would have done in one of her stand-up acts.
I have to channel a little bit. They didn't want me to sound like her or be exactly like her, because it's obviously Rose in a hypnotic state. In the moment I asked the great Rachel Brosnahan, "Can you come on set?" She was there in the audience, but I was like, "Can you come up to the stage and hold my hand?"
It was almost like she was a dance choreographer in that moment. It was very moving for me to try and connect to her.
We were at the Cherry Lane Theatre, and I had to get on the stage in front of people they wonderfully hired and paid to laugh at me, even though I wasn't always necessarily funny. Hopefully, I was funny enough to make them laugh.
I'm sure it was great. So you wanted to mirror small parts of Midge's act without mimicking her?
That's what the storyline was. When I got the news that I was doing it, I think for two nights — I only had the script a couple nights before — I'm not sure I slept because I was way too nervous.
When people perform and then forget about an audience, it's a beautiful way to be on stage. But if you're looking out at an audience, the fear factor is so great.
How long did it take you to capture that scene?
Maybe I should be embarrassed by this, but they gave me a lot of time because they knew it was going to take a lot of time.
That's so great.
It took two and a half days, which is a long time to shoot one little scene. It was so much fun, and I was sweating profusely.
I went up to Rachel afterward, who I love like a daughter, and I said: "Oh my god, I've been in awe of you since the day we started shooting, but my awe levels just surpassed anything I ever thought because that is the scariest thing, to do standup in front of people."
Absolutely, and she does such a fantastic job. I'm just excited to see Abe Weissman's face.
Abe's face! I make fun of things the way Midge would, and Abe's face is so priceless.
When I come out of my state of hypnosis, I have no memory of any of it. Not Marin, Marin remembers! Rose never has a reality check where she knows what she did.
Poor Rose! Everybody else knows.
If there had been iPhones, I'm sure it would be the most humiliating thing. If she heard what she did, she would be hospitalized.
That sounds like such a joy to watch. Is there anything you'd like to add?
Each year there's different kinds of movement emotionally. There were these times that Rose was making big strides in who she was as more of a feminist. Then she went through days where she was seemingly going backward. Sometimes it's interesting where people are championing her. Like, "Come on, go forth in a way that's like your daughter."
It's also amazing that Amy knows that people have grown up in a way — my mother and father are like this, too — where you could push them into the new generation, but there are parts of them that are like, "For a long time, I've been this other way, so let me take a beat."
Sometimes I almost want to have a contemporary approach to her where I'm like, "Come on, Rose! Pretend that you can be more liberated and you can accept your daughter." Then you realize that people, if they've been a certain way for this many years, they might be a little stuck.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.