Photo credit: Janet Donovan
The WHCA week can be exhausting, but attending a breakfast function was certainly worth it when in the company of Keri Russell and the ensemble from “The Diplomat,” all under the gracious hosting of the Ambassador of Ireland.
“I’m Dominic Patton, Executive Editor of Deadline Hollywood. Thank you so much for joining us today for a wonderful diplomatic conversation with the cast and creatives of The Diplomat and our wonderful hostess, The Ambassador. Before we do that, I’d like to say a couple of things. We thank all of you so much for joining us on Saturday morning and because there’s nothing like going back to your roots as a movie Cinema usher, come down before we do the panel, which is going to be conducted by my esteemed colleague and election line podcast co-host Ted Johnson, who’s also our Bureau Chief at Deadline. We’re going to show a little clip from The Diplomat, which is one of the best shows on Netflix, Emmy nominated.”
About The Diplomat: In the midst of an international crisis, Kate Wyler, a career diplomat, lands in a high-profile job for which she is not suited, with tectonic implications for her marriage and her political future starring Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell and David Gyasi, created by Debora Cahn and available on Netflix.
“It is a political thriller for our time that has some of the best actors of our time, some of the best writing that we’ve seen, and honestly, one that literally does what every good television show should do. It just keeps you on the edge of your seat,” added Dominic. To that segue, the panel began with Debora Cahn, H.E. Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell, moderated by Ted Johnson.
Rufus Sewell Keri Russell Amb. Geraldine Byrne Nason Debora Cahn
“A lot of Ambassadors will tell you how uninteresting their work is. A lot of diplomats will tell you that nothing ever happens. I’ve now talked to about 60 ambassadors and a lot happens. Things blow up. They go places where things are blowing up and they still have to be in a nicely pressed suit. So the dynamics of marrying four policy stories, which is something that I was interested in, with kind of a high octane thriller like narratives playing out with a lovely woman in a pantsuit – it seemed like a no-brainer.” Debora Cahn on how she decided to develop The Diplomat.
Q: “Ambassador, I wanted to ask you as a real life diplomat, what similarities from your life do you see in the show?”
A: “Well, I see a lot actually. So bravo to the actors. Some things I haven’t seen like the skinny dipping or the midnight in the basement. I don’t do much of that. I’m wondering, have I been missing out on signals? But what definitely is very similar and congratulations to all of you for capturing it is you talked about how frenetic it is. It’s hard work, but it’s the chemistry between the people that actually is what we’re all about.”
“It’s sort of a secretive world that we don’t know much about and it’s endlessly fascinating to us. The minutia of it all, the hard work of it all, and all that stuff is what makes it interesting for a TV show because it hasn’t been told before.” Keri Russell
Guests relished their breakfast, mingling with the stars and fellow attendees alike.
