A stolen scarf, full-body exercise rompers and TV dinners were a few topics of conversation this weekend at Vulture Festival, a two-day pop culture festival held at the Hollywood Roosevelt. This year, Her Campus at UCLA had the opportunity to sit in on a panel with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Tony Shalhoub (Abe Weissman) and Marin Hinkle (Rose Weissman) to learn about their insights into the lovable Weissman couple.
Jackson McHenry, Vulture writer and panel moderator, started off the conversation discussing Shalhoub and Hinkle’s relationship before Maisel. “I was kind of madly obsessed with [Tony],” Hinkle admits. Shalhoub agrees, saying “I had never met her, but I did take out a restraining order.” All jokes aside, though, the two actors’ respect and admiration for each other is clear and lends itself well to building the complex relationship on screen. While the Weissman family starts off fairly traditional, by the end of season three, they have all taken huge leaps of faith by choosing passion over comfort, with Abe experimenting with theater critique and Rose with matchmaking.
The massive shift we see all begins when Rose pulls off a “prison break,” as Shalhoub calls it, by escaping to Paris, feeling trapped by her fraying relationships with Abe and her daughter, Midge. Rose’s stunt comes as a huge shock to both Abe and Midge. It “wakes Abe up and the ground under his feet begins to shift and open up,” says Shalhoub. After years of going through the motions, he is suddenly forced to realize that he has lost control of his life and his marriage. The couple is eventually reunited with a touching dance scene along the Seine, which Shalhoub and Hinkle graciously recreated for the audience during the panel.
This idea of abandoning one’s old life and completely reinventing oneself often seems unrealistic and out of reach. However, Hinkle emphasizes that “it isn’t just a young person that can make such a hard right or left.” No matter what age you are or how far along in your career you’re at, it is never too late to reevaluate your life and take risks to pursue happiness.
Shalhoub partially credits Abe and Rose’s newfound courage to their daughter. Although both have negative reactions to watching Midge perform stand-up comedy for the first time, Shalhoub speculates that perhaps they are subconsciously inspired by her daring and adventurous spirit. The actors both praise Rachel Brosnahan (Midge) and her portrayal of Midge’s complicated relationship with comedy and her parents, with Shalhoub describing her performance as “[mesmerizing]…complex and inscrutable.” Hinkle agreed, stating that Brosnahan’s performance of Midge’s Paris routine felt like a “historical moment.”
The conversation then pivots to a discussion of Donna Zakowska’s intricate costume design, an integral part of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The vibrant, period-appropriate pieces help bring the show to life and drive the development forward, so every detail matters. Hinkle jokes that Zakowska would often adjust the angle of Rose’s elaborate hats one inch at a time over and over before finally giving her approval. Even the number of times Abe’s sleeves had to be rolled up or the precise shade of pink for one of Rose’s coats was a matter of calculated deliberation. In later seasons of the show, the characters’ outfits begin to shift in subtle but important ways. Abe, for instance, begins wearing turtlenecks and associating with Beatniks in an attempt to “recapture his volatile youth,” while Rose dons more fitted, youthful jumpers. The complexity of each outfit is absolutely crucial to the show and its portrayal of Abe and Rose’s characters. At the end of the panel, audience members were even gifted with a copy of Madly Marvelous: The Costumes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a book diving into Zakowska’s artistry.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a show about a 1950s woman discovering her knack for stand-up comedy, but it is also a show about family and taking risks. This conversation about the motivations and insecurities behind Abe and Rose’s characters provided us at Her Campus at UCLA with a new depth of insight into the show. To keep up with the Weissman family, check out The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime Video.