MJ Delaney on helming ‘sillier end’ of ‘Ted Lasso’ and directing Hillary Clinton in ‘Gutsy’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Joyce Eng
·4 min read
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MJ Delaney has been with “Ted Lasso” since the beginning and the Emmy winner can only describe the three-season journey so far as an “absolute pleasure.” “This show, in particular, is such a lovely bunch of people and we’ve all just been a happy family from the start,” Delaney tells Gold Derby at our Meet the Experts: Directors panel (watch the exclusive video interview above). “Being able to go three seasons with them, it was so good from the get-go in terms of the dynamics behind the scenes that you just kind of build on that and get to know each other.”

And even three seasons in, there are still firsts for the Brit. Delaney has directed two episodes in each season so far, but unlike the first two installments, in which she helmed a block at the end of the season, she directed the first two episodes of Season 3. “The scheduling on ‘Lasso’ is kind of infamously chaotic. You have one block, then you have another block, and everybody does a little bit of everybody else’s block. We’re kinda constantly signing DGA waivers to be able to do it. It’s a big, happy, dysfunctional family,” she shares. “Historically, I’ve always brought up the rear and done the last episodes, penultimate episodes, so this was the first time doing the beginning, which for me was really nice because I usually do, like, the crying at the end.”

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Instead, Delaney got to establish new settings, like Keeley’s (Juno Temple) PR firm in the premiere, “Smells Like Mean Spirit,” and introduce new characters, like enigmatic footballer Zava (Maximilian Osinski) in the second episode, “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea,” which is her Emmy submission. “It’s also the sillier end of ‘Lasso.’ It’s like the big ensemble set pieces. It’s like when the stakes are still low and it can be a bit silly and freewheeling and fun, so it was really nice,” she continues. “It’s the same show, but I’m doing a different show, if you know what I mean.”

SEE Interviews with 2023 Emmy contenders

Delaney was doing a different show — and a different genre entirely — on Apple TV+’s “Gutsy.” Inspired by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton‘s 2019 bestseller “The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience,” the docuseries features the Clintons sitting down with prominent women across different fields. The first episode, “Gutsy Women Have the Last Laugh,” is about comedy, with mother and daughter interviewing Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes in addition to lesser known stand-up comediennes. Delaney had no background in documentary when she got the call from showrunner Anna Chai, who “thought that I could do it.” “She believed in me. All the themes had been decided. They had this comedy theme and she wanted it to have its own identity and to bring in someone from that world like it and make it funny because you had all these funny women in it. And the Clintons themselves, particularly Hillary, are really funny.”

That was one of the first things that struck Delaney after meeting the former first lady, senator, secretary of state and presidential candidate, and she was determined to highlight her sense of humor — and particularly her laugh — in the show.

“The impression you have of her as a person was so different to the experience of meeting her. One of her most memorable characteristics is she has this worker’s dirty laugh. She’s constantly laugh. It’s like a really contagious, really rambunctious, proper deep laugh,” Delaney says. “As soon as I got to know her, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, we have to showcase this in this episode.’ And I think, Anna, having gotten to know them, having been in the weeds with them for ages in the pre-production … probably had the same experience, like, ‘Oh, this is an opportunity for her to shine in a way we haven’t seen her before,’ and so she wanted to bring on someone who was more from the comedy world.”

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