Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Hahn Talk Acting Choices in Amazon’s ‘I Love Dick’
Amazon Studios celebrated their new comedy, “I Love Dick,” with an intimate premiere screening at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood, where the tight-knit cast and crew assembled to watch the first two episodes with friends.
The show is based on Chris Kraus’s book of the same name. Kathryn Hahn, who plays Chris Kraus in the series, was effusive in her affection for her character.
“This show has a darker heart for sure,” she said. “The source material is so beautiful. It’s so bombastic, fearless and unapologetic. I was so excited to play somebody that messy and maddening and contradictory. She’s flinging herself forward into her desire. In her mind, her obsession is tied in with her art.”
Her obsession, the titular Dick, is played by Kevin Bacon.
“Adapting the book for television was challenging,” described executive producer Sarah Gubbins (who had to balance trying to please the book’s cult audience as well as a general audience). “What we really had to figure out was who is Chris Kraus and what does her obsession look like? What we came to understand is her obsession with Dick allows her to unleash a big creative fire. We all have Dicks that we love, things we’re searching for, that we project our desires upon.”
Kevin Bacon shared that his usual preparation method didn’t quite work for this show.
“I think a lot about the character and choices I’ll make,” Bacon explained. “Then I’d get to work and Jill (Soloway) would say, ‘I don’t think we need to say this. What would you say?’ I learned that even at this age, with all the experiences I’ve had, it’s possible to go with it and leave yourself open. It was very fluid.”
After the screening, guests gathered at the Kohn Gallery, which was transformed into a specially curated space filled with art inspired by the show, including photographs of the cast in Marfa, Texas. Guests could also type their own letters to Dick on a vintage typewriter, which were then hung from clothes lines in the same manner the Hahn’s character does in the show.
“I Love Dick” streams May 12 on Amazon Video.
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