![]() Alan Aisenberg had certainly never had a storyline that big before. We lose this person who is really an innocent, at the hands of an innocent, there’s a double tragedy there. It was completely earned because had created a story over the entire season that mirrored the way the world works. It told this extremely socially relevant and resonant event, but in their world. It was a very well written script - it was the harvest of a lot of conflict that had been existing in the season. So what were your initial thoughts when you read the script for episode 12? I can’t even imagine shooting that if it was her actual last day. I luckily did not have to deal with that. Your job if you’re the visiting director is to make sure every single person everywhere knows that. Because it was very important to me to know if that was actual last day. Jenji was like, “You can read it.” I said, “I’m a fan, I don’t want to know.” But I also thought, “How is she going to dig herself out of this?” The only thing I knew is that Poussey’s flashback would be in the finale. When I’m done shooting this thing it’s all I have to worry about.”ĭid you end up reading the finale script too? I was like, “I’m a fan of the show, I don’t want to read it,” but also, “Oh my God, I feel so bad for you. ![]() When we shot, Jenji was on the set working on episode 13 with Tara, asking me if I wanted to read it later. ![]() ![]() It was a pleasure to not have some of the responsibilities that I’ve traditionally had, and just focus on shooting the script and not worry about episode 13. The other thing is you have the writer of the episode with you, they know the world sometimes better than the actors do. You learn all of the actors’ names and try not to get caught doing something stupid, like say “You sleep in that bunk, so start up there,” and they say, “That’s not my bunk.” You really want to know the show as well as you possibly can. Then I got a chance to see the first six episodes as they were being cut, and read scripts for the next ones. The best way, even if you call them by their character’s name, is to watch the show. I always care about this anyway, but you really have to know everybody’s name. When you come into a show like this, how do you even approach the fact you’ll be shooting so many critical scenes with so many different actors? “Mad Men” had a big cast, but this is easily twice, even three times, as big … Other than Don at the Foreign Legion, which had a woman jumping out of a cake, I don’t think I ever had to direct anything with this many people in it, forgetting about this much action. You hope the material is right for the person. I always used to get annoyed if directors would complain if someone drew a better. On my show we would rotate people and source their availability. Was it always going to be this episode? Did she have this one in mind for you? It was a super high risk and I was excited by that. I didn’t have to do it, in a weird way, but I had to do it. I knew it was really scary to direct a script I hadn’t written. I can say her work has influenced me a lot. She’s someone I talked to before I started “Mad Men” - I was a huge “Weeds” fan. ![]() We have tremendous creative respect for each other which predates our friendship. Our conversation was, “If I disappoint you, will you still respect me?” I think Jenji knew it was something I should do. I know you and Jenji Kohan are longtime friends, but how did the idea of directing come up. Variety spoke with Weiner about his approach to such a pivotal episode, the process of putting together that cafeteria climax, and whether the experience left him eager for more. His longtime friendship with “Orange” showrunner Jenji Kohan surely helped, but how did he pull it off? It would be an intimidating assignment even for one of the show’s veteran directors, and this was Weiner’s first time working on the series. ![]()
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