©Joel Kim Booster, Ron Funches, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, Meagen Fay, Nat Faxon and Stephanie Styles in “Loot,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

Q: How much of your personal experiences did you put in Molly’s character?

Maya Rudolph: I can’t tell exactly, I didn’t grow up in the world she lives in. I’m nothing like this character. I don’t have a lot of similarities to her background. But I definitely can relate to the element of being a person who is at a place in her life, where she is asking herself hard questions. Trying to figure out who she wants to be. And the choice that she made, which just blew up in her face, isn’t working anymore. What’s interesting about playing this character is showing that there are opportunities in life to start over. 

Q: And how did you use all of this to create the funny side of Molly?

Maya Rudolph: My comedy background is just seeing everything in the world and trying to create stories based on it. Real-life events. We’re not telling anybody’s personal story, but getting inspired by these real stories and then just creating a fun world from that. None of us truly know what these people’s lives are like. The world of the ultra-rich billionaires is a mystery to all of us, but we all like to pretend and create, be part of the fantasy of what that might look like. It’s just fun to see how rich people live, everybody wants to see the inside of the mansion. 

Q: Which has been the most challenging side of Molly emotionally?

Maya Rudolph: The emotional stuff has been with the Adam Scott character, my ex-husband. Um, What’s been interesting for me was just trying to balance the comedy of the show with the heart of the show and finding places where you see the cracks, meaning someone being an actual real person. I’m trying not to put too much weight on the comedy and sort of just finding the balance, I feel it’s where the world becomes more believable. It’s really important to me to have that balance and try to find the right notes. That’s the most emotional side, it’s where she’s the most vulnerable and where you see that it isn’t about What you can buy or what power you have with money: at the end of the day, we’re all incredibly vulnerable when we’re broken-hearted. Equal. 

Q: What about acting in this tormented relationship together with Andrew Scott?

Maya Rudolph: He’s a terrific actor. I always joke with him whenever we’re doing the show, saying: “You’re the best douchebag!” I mean, he is incredible at it. I can say that lovingly because he’s such a wonderful person and actor, and he’s just so good at being hateable, but just enough. In that way, we just need a little bit of it, but it is still genuinely funny. Terrific.  

Q: Can you talk about your role as an executive producer for the show?

Maya Rudolph: You’re behind the scenes, building the show, as well as the star.  It is so much fun, I’m so grateful that I got the opportunity to help bring some of these people in. Some of them I knew before and some of them we found for the show. I had never met or worked with Ron Funches, but I knew I wanted to work with him. There’s just something about his voice and his sense of humor that I just wanted to add to this group. It’s such a luxury to be able to select the actors that you want to work with.

That’s the ultimate joy. I worked on Saturday Night Live for so many years, when you’re creating sketches on that show it’s sort of like a little weekly workshop, you’re contributing to what the costumes look like, what the wigs look like, what the sets look like. You’re working with all the designers, it was such an incredible process to prepare me for when I have to do this in the real world. That training to me is the most fundamental. It changed my life. It gave me the ability to feel like I can really have a larger view of what needs to get done in the amount of time that we’ve got. I found the process of working on Loot as a producer incredibly fulfilling. I also work with incredible showrunners who invite me to be a part of a collaborative process. To help with ideas,  to bring people on, both writers and cast. 

©Maya Rudolph, Joel Kim Booster and O-T Fagbenle in “Loot,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

Q: Reflecting on the life you are living now, is there something you’d change? And if so, why?

Maya Rudolph: I feel like the world has been changing rapidly. I’m trying hard not to pray for the little things that happen when there’s so much social media and all of that. I’ve changed my hair. I feel like stuff is happening fast and I don’t love it. I’m a pretty old-fashioned person, I’m trying to be relevant and keep up and speak the same language without giving up my values, which is trying to look people in the eye more than looking at my phone.

Q: Can you please talk about the creative process of creating and finding those incredible different outfits that you wear in Loot?  

Maya Rudolph: Our costume designer, Kirston Mann is a genius, she’s so good at creating Molly’s looks. We love to talk about what she would wear. She’s the kind of person who would wear something for an event, for going to the market or going to the movies: It doesn’t matter what it is, she loves to dress up. We just thought so much about what kind of a person, if you had all this money, what would that look like? What kind of purse would you carry? What shoes and coats? It’s just an endless fun place to explore. I’ve always loved costumes, I went to design school at one point in my life and I worked in the costume department out of college. So it’s really fun for me.  

Q: Is there any difference between developing a character through a TV series or a movie? 

Maya Rudolph: A series is essentially like making a much longer movie, you just really get to know your character a lot more. Movies are shorter and it’s just a shorter amount of time, it also depends on the project and depends on the director.  Every single project is so different. I’ve had the luxury of getting to know this character for a very long amount of time, and still, I feel like I’m still getting to know her, bringing things in. Luckily it’s a character that we, that I really love and that I really enjoy. 

Q: Do you prefer drama or comedy when choosing a role? 

Maya Rudolph: I have my background in comedy, I think that comedy has many, many forms of it. There is a wonderful balance to drama within comedy that can be quite beautiful. I watch it all except for horror. I am not a horror fan because I get really scared. I have no problem with drama, but there’s nothing I love more than just hard comedy. I mean just straightforward, solid comedy. I just feel like there don’t need to be boundaries between comedy and drama.

©Joel Kim Booster, Ron Funches, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, Meagen Fay, Nat Faxon and Stephanie Styles in “Loot,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

Q: When you are preparing for drama or comedy, do you have different methods to get ready? 

Maya Rudolph: I don’t have an acting coach. I’ve had wonderful teachers over the years. The only process that tends to be whatever process I might have has been, when I’m in my costume, when I understand what my costume is, when I understand what my character looks like, once I know the sound of my character’s voice, then I’m good, but sometimes that takes a minute to figure out what that is. 

Q: How did you work on the songs that we can listen to during the episodes?

Maya Rudolph: I don’t have any input. Those are our music supervisors, people who seem to like the music.  

Q: Is there anything you’d like for the audience to take away from watching Loot?  

Maya Rudolph: There is a point in the show when  Molly created a housing project where she took old hotels and created homes for unhoused people. And I thought: “What a cool idea to just bring into the conversation.” And hopefully, maybe somebody hears it. I feel like our show has a responsibility to be a part of those conversations. So I am particularly proud of these ideas.

If you like the article, share your thoughts below. 

Check out more of Adriano’s articles.

Here’s the trailer of Loot: