‘Succession’ director Lorene Scafaria loves the show too: ‘I can’t believe how lucky I got with these episodes’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
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SPOILERS are in this article and video for the series finale.
Filmmaker Lorene Scafaria isn’t just the director of two of the best “Succession” episodes from its just-finished final season – “Honeymoon States” and “Living+” – she’s also a major fan of the show itself who is more than happy to discuss the series finale.
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“We could talk about that forever if you want. It’s a perfect episode. It’s a perfect ending,” Scafaria – an Emmy Award nominee for the “Succession” Season 3 episode “Too Much Birthday” – tells Gold Derby in an exclusive video interview about the final episode. “I don’t know how they did it. It’s a show that aims quite high for referencing everything from ‘The Godfather’ to ‘King Lear.’ But I think it achieves it. It was so satisfying, in a way. It wasn’t as steeped in the same sort of tear-jerking emotion as other episodes. But I’d say it was the most brutal – the most brutal things happen in this episode. But think everyone ended up where they should because it’s a tragedy.”
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The devastation of the finale – which left the Roy family completely fractured and Kendall (Jeremy Strong) all but walking off into oblivion – had its seeds planted in Scafaria’s episodes. In “Honeymoon States” – the season’s fourth episode and first after the death of the Roy family patriarch, Logan Roy (Brian Cox) – Kendall is alerted to a document left behind by his father that perhaps suggested he would take over the company after Logan’s death. (Kendall’s name was either crossed out or underlined, but it didn’t matter to Logan’s second-oldest son.) Buoyed by this knowledge, Kendall begins to assert his power in an attempt to wrestle control of the company from his siblings, Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Shiv (Sarah Snook). That newfound and perhaps unwarranted confidence helps Kendall succeed during a major product launch in Scafaria’s second episode of Season 4, “Living+.”
“Kendall, in a way it’s a full arc in those three episodes I got to do with him,” Scafaria says. (“Too Much Birthday,” a nadir for Kendall, takes place over the course of his 40th birthday party.) “I love working with Jeremy. He’s such a thoughtful actor. He’s so collaborative but he also has a vision. I think he’d make a great director but I hope he never does because I think he has such a gift that he brings as an actor. My job is really just to help calibrate and give him space and create environments where he felt like he could do his best work.”
In “Living+,” the season’s sixth episode and the final episode directed by Scafaria, that meant helping Strong as Kendall with the massive product launch. “I just wanted to make sure that he felt as real as possible when he stepped out onto that stage,” she says. “It was just such a major day. There were 300 extras who all had to keep something huge secret [that Logan had died]. I think they did because of how important they knew they were to this scene. Jeremy had 300 scene partners, and he came out and thanked them all after. The whole room literally leaped to its feet cheering for him. They were so impressed and felt deeply appreciated.”
Scafaria is an acclaimed filmmaker known for writing “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist” and directing features such as “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World,” “The Meddler” and “Hustlers.”
“Directing TV can sometimes be so by the numbers,” she says before crediting “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong with giving her and the other “Succession” directors a lot of freedom to express themselves creatively.
“It’s such a strange thing. You’re just supposed to come in and then run a set basically and obviously make a ton of decisions. But it’s still Jesse’s show,” she adds. “But I just love this experience and I can’t believe how lucky I got with these episodes, with these scenes focusing on the siblings and giving Kendall his full arc and finding all these moments.”
It helps that Scafaria is a “die-hard fan” of the show too. “For me, it’s like, give me Frank and Karl all day – give me Gerri, and put them in a pantry,” she adds, referencing an iconic scene in “Honeymoon States” where Frank (Peter Friedman), Karl (David Rasche), and Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron) verbally assault Tom (Matthew Macfadyen). “I’d like to spend six hours there.”
All episodes of “Succession” are streaming on Max.
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