The term “coastal elites” is frequently used by conservative pundits to pejoratively describe people from liberal citieswith different valuesfrom those in the heartland.
The term is used so broadly in the Trump era that writer Paul Rudnick (“I Hate Hamlet,” “Jeffrey,” “In & Out”) saw the potential to explore the subject with “Coastal Elites,” coming to HBO on Saturday, Sept. 12. Billed as a “special event” by the network, it was filmed in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak this summer, with its skeleton cast and crew completely separated, resulting insegments that are essentially single-camera monologues about life in 2020.
Directed by Jay Roach (“Recount,” “Game Change,”“Bombshell”), “Coastal Elites” stars Bette Midler, Dan Levy, Issa Rae, Sarah Paulson and Kaitlyn Dever expounding on life during a pandemic, politics and social movements. The Chronicle spoke to Rudnick and Roach about crafting the stories and what it was like directing amid the coronavirus.
Q: Is the title meant to be ironic?
Paul Rudnick:I meant it to be both deliberately provocative and kind of a jumping-off point. It’s a very loaded phrase; people aren’t sure if it’s a slur or it’s just a geographic reference or if it’s a matter of pride. I wanted to get into that and to see, are the coastal elites ultimately as varied as any other group on the planet?
It is not a group whose voices should ever be excluded or demeaned simply because they happen to live somewhere near New York or Los Angeles or San Francisco.
Jay Roach:I think what’s great about the work is it rejects the stereotype. “Coastal elite” means people who embrace science, culture, the power of humor and self-awareness, as opposed to narcissism.
Q: What was different about working during the coronavirus?
Paul Rudnick:Originally, Jay was going to stage the pieces live at the Public Theater (in New York) before an audience and then would film them for HBO. When the pandemic hit, that became impossible.
Then HBO and our production team came back to us and said that there might be another way of doing this.… With a COVID adviser and every protocol in place, we started talking about how you might go about filming these pieces remotely.
I was so impressed withour cast and with Jay’s work. They navigated what could have been wildly theatrical monologues and made them so exactly right for this new format that there’s a real intimacy to it.
Q: Is there a common set of values that connects the characters?
PR:I’d say the foremost thing that the characters share is a sense of curiosity. They all are kind of aching for an understanding of how the country got to this point of becoming such a corrosive battlefield.
JR:One thing every one of them has in common is patriotism. They actually all love their country and just are astonished by what’s going on and how absurd the anti-American sort of movement that has happened under the Trump administration is.
问:我要提到的每个演员在“农委会stal Elites” and want your thoughts on their characters. First is Bette Midler as Miriam Nessler, a woman arrested at the Public Theater.
PR:Her character was so ideal because Bette is such a wildly intelligent and informed person — and anyone who’s been seeing her tweets knows that she’s got major opinions about this administration.
Early on, when Jay would be on the phone with Bette talking to her about the role or rehearsing it over Zoom, it was such a delight because Bette would become angry and frantic and passionate and hilarious about all the same things that Miriam was going through.
Review: Paul Rudnick’s ‘Coastal Elites’ captures the mood of current America
Q:Sarah Paulson as meditation guide Clarissa Montgomery.
PR:I’ve watched plenty of meditation videos and I would never spurn them. Whatever helps you keep your sanity is completely valid.
I wanted to take someone who we start off with a certain kind of preconception about and show that there is a lot more to that woman.
Q: Dan Levy as Mark Hesterman, an actor auditioning to play a gay superhero.
PR:When I started out, for an actor to be openly gay was considered absolute career death. They were told that they would never work again, and meanwhile, straight actors would play gay roles and win Oscars for them. We’ve now been lucky enough to have this kind of first generation of “out” gay actors and Dan is very much one of those guys, along with Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons and Zach Quinto. …I wanted to both explore and celebrate that because I think the men and women and the nonbinary performers who are going through this are really just changing the culture.
JR:Dan came in and was so fired up he nailed that first take. It’s a long monologue, 15 minutes or so, and he went straight through and not a mistake. What’s fun about directing in these situations is it’s just me and Paul and the actor (on Zoom.)
Q:Issa Rae as Callie Josephson, a former classmate of Ivanka Trump’s.
PR:Issa is so extraordinary; much like Dan she’s also a superb writer. Watching her navigate probably the most verbally dense of any of the pieces — she made it look so easy.
I wanted the character to feel unexpected because I thought, “OK, if we’re dealing with this administration, I needed someone who actually had access.”
Callie is a very powerful, very confident and very aware character. You wanted someone who could stand up to Ivanka, which I think is not easy because Ivanka uses weaponized charm. We needed someone who could say, “Look, I could see your charm and raise you 1,000.”
JR:The main objective from her character was to sort of enjoy the trash talk, but also try to figure out what made Ivanka think she could ask me to be her photo prop, her shield? It comes down to Ivanka being transactional.
Q: Kaitlyn Dever as Sharynn Tarrows, an independent voter and nurse working in a COVID ward.
PR:I was so grateful that I was able to rewrite up until the very last minute because I began working on the piece probably about a year ago. The nurse was not (initially) a part of the project, but then as the pandemic came and the Black Lives Matter protests happened, I thought we absolutely have to include these events and how they might impact these particular characters.
I’m married to a doctor, so I know the line they have to walk, because when you’re dealing with such severe illness and with constant death, you need a certain emotional distance from all that.
I thought her performance just walks that perfect kind of high wire between tears and a sense of humor.
Q:Where do you think our culture will go next?
JR:The show tried to capture, to some extent, (that) we do share this love of this country and this desire to see the institutions preserved so we can go forward. We might even be stronger now that we’re beginning to face our original sins and our need for racial justice and social justice. If we come out on the other side of it, it might be a whole new evolution towards something more just and for more Americans.
PR:If 2016 taught us anything, it’s that no one knows anything.
“Coastal Elites”debuts at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, on HBO and on demand.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated when “Coastal Elites” was filmed. The story has been updated to reflect it was done in the summer.