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Becky Ann Baker is best known for playingFreaks and Geeks Jean Weir and Hannah Horvaths long-suffering mother onGirls.
Dylan Baker has gotten three Emmy nominations for playing a creepy client onThe Good Wife.
Becky Ann Baker:Were on the Delaware River, on the border between New York and Pennsylvania.
Were you in the middle of working on anything when everything shut down?
What was your early March like?D.B.
So Becky and I jumped in the car that Sunday and we drove up here.
:It was mid-June when we started hearing about it.
We were quarantining; they were quarantining.
We just got in a car and drove all the way there and were able to quarantine with them.
:It had been delivered while we were gone!
So they just sent you all the set dressing for the show?B.A.B.
He plugged it into this one circuit, and I was like, Can you do that?
He was like, Dylan, Im also an electrician.
Did you divide up the crew jobs among yourselves?B.A.B.
:I can do nothing technologically, so all the camera tricks and the lighting Dylan took over.
I was the art director and the caterer.
I made sure that everything was swept and cleaned and put all the props where they needed to be.
:I became Sal the grip and Murph the camera assistant.
I had to put programs in and put them on tripods.
I had so much fun, and it was exhausting.
Grips are not paid enough!
Sal complained more than anybody on the set.
How did you communicate with Jesse Peretz, the director, as you were filming?B.A.B.
:For each shot, there were two iPhone 11s.
One would be facing you with Jesse or different people Zooming.
Everybody was there, but then they would pop up when they needed to talk to us.
Hed run it up to the city so they could watch the dailies the next morning.
He was very safe.
Hed put the lav mics we needed on a table and leave and wed come and pick them up.
How many days did it take to shoot the episode?B.A.B.
:The actual shooting was for four or five days.
But the week before, we did a lot of prep.
We had a Zoom costume fitting where they sent all the clothes.
The episode ends with Beckys character driving off and going back to work.
Did you talk about whether this couple would stay together?B.A.B.
But then we collectively decided that they do stay together.
I think thats the strongest choice for the piece.
Dylans character is also a big fan of Steely Dan.
What are your thoughts on Steely Dan?D.B.
:Ive always loved Steely Dan, I have to say.
Arent they the ones that Chevy Chase was originally a part of?
:We had that on a trivia question or something!
Yeah, sure, we love Steely Dan.
Whats not to love?
Youre both actors whove found ways to work constantly, whether in theater, television, or film.
What was it like to not be able to work for so long?B.A.B.
:It was really hard.
We were reading a lot of P.G.
Wodehouse because hes so funny.
:I found myself actually doing a lot of projects at the house with the grass and gardening.
:Everything we ever wanted to have fixed is fixed.
I even restuffed the outdoor furniture pillows.
But its still going on in terms of work for us.
:We have a Zoom group that we go to every week with a close group of people.
Its not a joke.
The reality of the thing keeps resurfacing.
Do you have a sense of when you personally might feel safe returning to work?B.A.B.
To be honest, I said Im just not ready to get on an airplane.
Were also in our 60s, so its not like it will be just a bad flu.
We dont know where it will go.
But they also offered it to Dylan to play my husband.
But it was just a pilot; nobody knew if it was gonna go or do anything.
:And I was doing an Encores!
revival ofBells Are Ringing, where you rehearse for two weeks and do it for the weekend.
I wasnt singing, but there were two nights of rehearsal where I had to be there.
And then it becameGirls!
:Then it was Peter Scolari.
:I cant imagine anybody else but Peter Scolari doing that job.
The one show where you two actually played parents wasSmash, where you were Katharine McPhees Kansas parents.
Has that lasting affection surprised you?B.A.B.
:I do think a stage version sounds great, actually.
:Some people, all they want to do is talk to me aboutSmash[laughs].
It was so long ago, but it must still have its fan base out there.
You know that cohort of working New York theater slash TV actors pretty well.
Have you stayed in touch through the pandemic?
What are the conversations like?B.A.B.
:Then all of a sudden SAG-AFTRA changed the rules, so it really has been tough.
If you cant qualify for your union health care, youre in trouble.
The Actors Equity insurance also justextended the number of weeksit takes to qualify.D.B.
:Yes, they did.
Its a two-headed thing, because theres no money coming in and you want the health-care plans to survive.
Its a very tough situation, and one that we shouldnt be in, but we are.
:There we go, another pandemic talk.
:And what skin doctor youre going to.
:And now its only about health care.
