Alex Borstein (‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’) on how Midge is ‘the other great love’ of Susie’s life [Complete Interview Transcript]

Latasha Ford and Marcus James Dixon
·16 min read
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During a recent Gold Derby video interview, contributing editor Sam Eckmann spoke in-depth with Alex Borstein (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) about Season 5 of her Amazon Prime Video comedy, which is eligible at the 2023 Emmys. Watch the full video above and read the complete interview transcript below.

The three-time Emmy winner (twice for “Mrs. Maisel,” once for “Family Guy”) played Susie Myerson, the manager of Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), and her character experienced a profound evolution during the final episodes. One of Susie’s most impactful moments on the show came during a surprise confession at an automat, when she admitted to a love affair with a woman when she was younger.

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Borstein thus saw Midge as “the other great love” of Susie’s life. As she explained in our webchat, “The first one she made it go at it being emotional as well as physical, and this one is just business, but it’s the same love, it’s the same passion. Midge is a very similar creature that she fell in love with again. And there’s this level of respect. And she would never cross that line or want to.”

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Sam Eckmann: Hello everyone. I’m Sam Eckmann of Gold Derby here with Alex Borstein from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the one and only, Susie Myerson. And audiences have come to know Susie as, I think, perhaps not the most emotionally available person in the world, but we get quite a change from her this season. There is that amazing automat scene where… It’s so impactful because of how vulnerable she gets. And I’m just wondering, for you, how hard was it to kind of finally crack open her armor?

Alex Borstein: It was hard. It was challenging. It’s scary. It’s scary for the character, and it’s scary as an actor to do that. I always feel like Susie’s an armadillo and just pulled shut and you’re… It’s not like cracking a nut where one simple cut will do it, you have to keep prying and then it flips back closed, and then you pull it back again. And I feel like it was a progressive series of those that happen, from seasons three until five. And the automat is kind of… I think she kind of begins to, perhaps, just lay there a little bit and let her belly hang out and be open, and it’s terrifying. And then you see her as she ages… Could continue that. She’s not tight anymore, she’s not tense. Even how she walks and dresses, and… I think Amy wrote it so beautifully, such a real progression.

SE: Yeah, the part that struck me in that whole… It’s obviously very sad that she doesn’t have that love anymore, but what struck me was that question of, were you ever a blonde to Midge? Because it’s kind of like that’s her love now. That’s how I took it. Do you think Susie’s content with that at that moment?

AB: I do. And I think you’re absolutely right. I agree with you. I take it as though this is the other great love of her life. The first one she made it go at it being emotional as well as physical, and this one is just business, but it’s the same love, it’s the same passion. Midge is a very similar creature that she fell in love with again. And there’s this level of respect. And she would never cross that line or want to, because I think she knows there’s no… The fear that she would leave is erased that way. There’s no fear that she could ever lose this person if it’s platonic.

SE: And because Susie’s so guarded, did you ever, kind of, create your own backstory like this? Were you thinking of those things as you went on the journey with her, or not so much?

AB: I always decided… People would always ask about Susie’s sexuality and Susie’s history that way. And my backstory, I never want to know too much. I think knowing too much, knowing what Amy has in mind, alters the way you’re playing the present. Had I known about Hedy, I would’ve played her as though she was hiding something always and keeping something in there. And I prefer having played her as though she was able to 100% compartmentalize whatever that was, because I didn’t know about it, and move on and move forward. And for me, that was the right way to play it. And I think… I always said Susie never had the luxury of… I don’t know… Pitying herself. She didn’t have the luxury of sitting around and pining and wanting, and it was, “How am I going to eat? How am I going to pay my rent?” Very practical things. And she romanticized success. That became her lover. That became what she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, was accomplishment and success. Not necessarily money, but significance. As she says in the pilot, “I don’t mind being alone, but I do not want to be insignificant,” and that, I think, was… The accomplishments of her career was the only lover she really was seeking.

SE: Yeah. Well, that platonic love with Midge, that bond, I think, is one of the most special parts of this show, which is why in this final season it is so hard to watch them when they have that huge fallout and they hurt each other very deeply in that moment in the temple. What was it like approaching that very new dynamic with Rachel?

AB: That fight scene was hard for so many reasons, because one, we shot things out of order, especially that episode, there was aging, there was forward, there were backward, we were in so many different eras, it was so hard to keep track of. And to all of a sudden one day be in that temple and viciously, just eviscerating each other. It was really hard. It was so hard to do it kind of in a vacuum, and then come back from it and then go on to shoot another scene. I think after that we had to shoot the scene on the dais during the Testi-roastial where I’m supposed to be watching that video of her kind of making amends and making up, and we shot those out of order, I think. So, it was making peace and then having the horrific fight… Really difficult to track. It was fun though. I really like the fight scenes with Rachel. We have a good time getting passionate. Any kind of passion brought to a scene is really fun, especially with her. And I do think that she is the victor in that scene. I think that she, in a sense, is right. And someone said that Susie looks like a cornered rat, and I think that was such a great description because she knows she was very fucking wrong, but can’t quite cower. She wants to snap back. She’s not sure quite how and can’t really admit, but she’s very hurt. Because she says to her… Like I said, that Susie’s goal, this entire series, is wanting to be significant. And in that moment she says, “You are small.” She says that Susie is insignificant and that is devastating. It’s the worst thing you could have said to her.

SE: Yeah, it was a huge relief to see the characters, to know that they do reconcile. And I love the way that the whole series ends actually, with the two of you on the phone and laughter returns to their relationship. But I imagine it’s a scene with such weight, but your scene partner’s also not there because it’s on the phone. Was that challenging to have the pressure of the final moment in that way?

AB: It was, but it’s so great to hear you and others say that they loved it and that it was satisfying. We were really worried. I was like, “Are we going to be able to let people feel that connection if we aren’t actually in the same room? If we don’t have the ability to actually touch each other or…” Plus the makeup, you’re very worried, can someone see Susie through this? Can you still see her? Can you still see her expressions? And does she look like the same and feel like the same person? And then you add the layer that Midge is on the other side of the country, but it works in such a beautiful way. It really does. And it makes sense that they are absolutely still together and yet apart, and that’s how it works. People say perfect marriages are if you have separate bedrooms. Someone else said, “I think it’s even better if you have a separate house,” and maybe this is the perfect marriage, that they’re across the country.

SE: That moment too, you were talking about charting different moments and you have to age yourself up across a couple different time periods. What was it like charting that? How did the makeup and that age affect the way you played her?

AB: It was tough. Like I said, it was tough looking in the mirror and not seeing Susie. You kind of like… I usually suit up every morning, you get to work, you put on your pants, my dungarees and my belt, my suspenders, my vest, and it’s armor. It’s like suiting up for battle, and then you finish it off with the hat. In that last scene, none of that exists. Susie has let go of all those constraints and she is in a kaftan. At the end, we switch. Midge is in a pants suit, and I’m in this dress and my hair is down and flowy and pure. I wouldn’t say she’s completely at ease. I know that Susie’s ever at ease, but a confidence, and she’s at peace. And that was tricky. It was tricky to kind of find that… It’s kind of new character to have to find. And she would walk differently. She’s not in a rush anymore. She’s got very little to prove she’s done it. So, it was challenging, but Amy’s writing really… It’s a leg-up because it’s so genuine. And the scene that she paints, even in the action, all of her description, everything’s a clue to how you should hold yourself and how you walk into a room, and so challenging and yet really satisfying, those scenes.

SE: Yeah. It’s so interesting to see your transformation into Susie too, because the way you hold yourself as Susie is quite different from your normal, real everyday life. So, do you consider yourself a very physical actor? Is that a core part of how you approach a character?

AB: I don’t know. I don’t if I would say I’m a physical actor. It’s not anything that I think about. With Susie, it was like, I read it… I think I read it on a plane and it was like, “Fuck, this is really good. I want to audition for this.” And then flew to New York to do it. And I thought about what to wear. “Okay, I’m going to wear a button down shirt and these brown pants and my hair back in a ponytail,” but aside from that, to me it was just kind of obvious. It was on the page… There was no question of, “Should I play it like this or that?” There was one way that she was going to come out of my mouth and that’s how she came out. And then standing on the set and in the boots, in her leather jacket, there was just one way to walk. And there was one way to talk and one way to open a door, and it was never an active choice. It just kind of… It’s like filling a donut with hazelnut cream. You just take up the space that’s there and it just kind of becomes… That’s what it was always made for.

SE: Yeah, well it clearly worked. It clearly was the way to play it, I would think. I would also say, one of the through lines of the whole series is watching these little backstage moments that Midge and Susie have, and you end the series, before the aged up ending, before her final performance, that four minutes moment where you tell “Tits up” for the last time at Gordon Ford. What was it like shooting that knowing that was the last time you’re going to say that to her?

AB: Yeah, that was torture. Amy wisely saved those scenes for the very last few days. She knew it was ensemble, we’d all be together and she knew it was going to have the feeling of completion. She knew that it was going to be kind of that final stitch of hearing that for the last time, “Tits up,” and hearing him announce… And name her as the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. And it was rough. It was very hard. We cried during rehearsal. It was very hard to get through. I was the one who got choked up first, which was funny. But yeah, Susie… When Susie says “Tits up” to her there, she is choking… She is choking on the words. The way she got them out is the way she was able to get them out, and that’s all she could do. And when she is finally crowned the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, my hand hit my heart and it was just what happened. It’s just what… It felt like my heart was breaking and my heart was filling at the same moment. A piece of Susie knew she’s losing her. She’s no longer just hers, and she’s got to share her with the world now, and this is going to be different.

SE: I think it’s really hard to end a series in a way that feels appropriate for… There’s lots of pressure, I think, when a series that’s beloved comes to an end. Did this feel like what you had imagined the ending might feel like?

AB: No. I mean, there’s so many possibilities of what I thought could be or would be, and I never imagined… I mean, I of course had a feeling Midge was going to make it and achieve the success she wanted, but I had no idea what the journey would be. And I didn’t know in what capacity she would make it. But I think I learned… The thing I learned is, never doubt Amy Sherman-Palladino, because she envisions the beginning and the middle and the end. She really does. She knows what she wants the last lines of her shows to be when she sits down to write the first lines. And I’ve never really worked with anyone like that before, that knows that. Other shows that I’ve written for or performed on, it’s very much… There’s an open-endedness to it. This could be anything. “What could happen?” I don’t know yet. I want the writers to tell me. And I think Amy always knows… And certainly, she always knew who Susie was and would leave me guessing many times. But I think it was much more satisfying than anything I could have imagined, the ending that Amy helmed. I think it really works because it answered so many questions, but it raises more. And I think that’s a really interesting way to leave an audience, to have people want to know… There’s time periods in there that you still don’t know what happened and you are very curious, and “What led to this? What led that?” I find that really intriguing.

SE: Well, it’s a great way to end the series that is so, I think, transformational for its characters. They all go on such a huge journey of discovery and becoming who they’re supposed to be. Acting on the show, is there one lesson that you can pinpoint, looking back on it now, that you’re going to carry with you?

AB: Oh, I would say if it hurts, it’s probably going to come off looking pretty good on screen. I would say if it hurts, if it’s figuring out how to ice skate, if it’s actual emotional pain… There’s an episode that Susie loses her dear friend, Jackie… And we lost our cast member in real life, Brian Tarantina… And that was just a painful, really difficult scene to do. But I didn’t know I could do a scene like that till Amy wrote a scene like that for me, and I found out I could. So, every break that you kind of feel working on a show, I think leads to more interesting architecture in you as an actor.

SE: Well, we can’t wait to see what else you discover next in your architecture, but it was a fantastic way to finish out Susie’s journey. So, thank you so much, Alex, for joining me here. If you’re watching out there, subscribe to GoldDerby. Stay with us for the rest of the season. Alex, thank you so much again.

AB: Oh, and tits up.

SE: Tits up.

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