It’s almost 1 a.m. in Florence, Italy, as Keri Russell is nearing the end of filming for the fourth season of the series. DiplomatNetflix’s smart political drama created by TV vet Deborah Kahn. It’s been a busy few days of night filming across the Atlantic, but when she takes our call, the lively Russell is eager to chat. “I just got home, had two pieces of pasta and a glass of wine,” she says. “I’m ready for you.”
Diplomat A lot is asked of Russell, from complex emotional transitions to the dense jargon of top-secret international relations, but just as she does in front of the camera, she carries it all off with ease after a long day’s work. Russell settles into the role of Kate Wyler, a diplomat thrust into the heart of a high-stakes global crisis while juggling her turbulent marriage to fellow insider Hal (Rufus Sewell) and her more complicated relationship with her own ambitions.
“There’s something you can’t manufacture when you have years of experience working with people,” Russell says. “It’s like slipping on a pair of comfortable shoes. That’s the benefit of good sequence work.” Russell is familiar with this path, which is the goal when embarking on a new, ongoing television show. Her breakout in college drama Felicity It won a Golden Globe Award and ran for four seasons. Before jumping in Diplomathas wrapped up a critically acclaimed six-season run on FX’s Emmy Award-winning spy drama AmericansWhere she also met her romantic partner, co-star Matthew Rhys.
He loves Americans, Diplomat The stages of a massive geopolitical drama in the context of a fraught marriage. “It’s the most important relationship in your life, where you grow, you fail, you fail — for all those exciting moments in life, those are the highs and the lows,” Russell says. “I love a long-form show that can explore that because you’ll grow with this couple.” in DiplomatKate overcomes Hal’s cunning, repeated betrayals while grappling with his improbable rise — at the start of Season 3, he leaps at her to take over as Vice President, to Allison Janney’s Potus Grace Penn. By the end of the season, they’ve broken up, and suddenly the biggest secret Hal has ever kept from her is out in the open.
The chemistry between Russell and Sewell was electric from the first moment. “He and I can ride the same wavelength. We don’t have to take care of each other as much, which is a real gift,” Russell says. “We both got into this at an age where we were already adults, so we already had a firm base of what we liked or didn’t like and who we were.” This type of flow is made possible through experience. AmericansIn particular, push it. I came out of this show a different kind of actress, thanks in large part to Reese.
“There was a lot of sexuality in that show, and to do all that with someone as skilled as Matthew who never felt a hint of oppressive masculinity — he had a safe way into that,” Russell says.
However, while the steely intensity of Americans“Elizabeth Jennings was a wonderful departure for Russell; Diplomat It provides the fans with an absolute joy in seeing how fully the star appears and makes the part her own.
Kate is often the smartest person in the room, and her greatest strength is her ability to listen, observe and react. “There’s a part of this character that has to carry everyone’s stories at the same time,” Russell says. “I’m a middle child, and that was my job in my family, or maybe that’s my job in this life — I’m a good observer. Kate should be the observer, not necessarily the model at that moment — she’s someone’s alpha.”
Her efficiency is matched by many other government employees in her orbit. “I don’t know how true this is, but I heard it once afterwards Felicity “After the show aired, NYU’s enrollment went up — and what I’m hoping is that maybe after this show, we’ll have an uptick in foreign service applications,” Russell says. “And I hope people will go, even if it’s fake, maybe I’ll get a good job.” Maybe I’ll go to Paris or Italy, or have this exciting romance with someone I’ve never met before from another country.
“I know our world seems scary, turbulent, and unequal,” Russell continues. “But when I meet such good and capable people, I have to believe that there are more such people, and that they are all waiting to continue doing good work.”
Starting in the pilot, there was also an attractive anxiety to Kate, a loose physicality and a proud disregard for magic. “There’s a freedom, which isn’t always there when playing a woman. You often have to be very pretty or very elegant or very appropriate,” says Russell.
It’s been a decade since her first Emmy nomination Americans; She now has five in total. Earlier this year, L DiplomatIn the series’ third season, Russell won the most important industry award of her career, the SAG-AFTRA Outstanding Actress Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series – meaning she was well-positioned for her first Emmy.
“Rest assured,” she said, “Russell has never done this before.” The New Yorker Last year, she was hoping to lose at the Emmy Awards, as she ultimately did to cutBritt Lauer, so she can relax for the rest of the night — but she expresses deep pride in it Diplomat However. She committed to praising Kahn in almost every answer during our conversation.
“I rely on her when we shoot — unlike a lot of writers, she’s there every day. She watches, shapes, pushes, pulls, whispers,” says Russell. “You can read something and think, ‘Oh, that’s funny slapstick.’ And Depp says, ‘No, that’s too serious.’ Or, ‘I know we’re talking about this diplomatic thing, but the truth is, all you care about is that you’re starving.'” That’s her genius, the specificity or misdirection of the scene — that’s where she really shines.
Watch the way Russell plays each of these scenes, she brings something so surprising, nuanced and very human to them.
This story first appeared in the June standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To obtain the magazine, click here to subscribe.
