You shot this show on location in Massachusetts. Do you have a connection to Stephen King’s New England?I grew up loving Stephen King. Growing up in
You shot this show on location in Massachusetts. Do you have a connection to Stephen King’s New England?
I grew up loving Stephen King. Growing up in New Jersey, I always romanticized New England. I like writing things where you just want to be there. Some people will write painful experiences, but I tend to write situations that I wish I were in. So when we scouted in January, you could still just feel all these buildings were real. It adds this authenticity that I think is so crucial. Because that’s the thing about the show, as ridiculous as it is: You have to buy everything that’s happening, or any false moment really takes you out of it.
Let’s talk about Kate O’Flynn, who plays Patricia. She’s become a favorite on the internet. What did she do in the audition that made you think that she could be Patricia?
Her audition was not what I expected. If you read the scripts, you wouldn’t imagine this person, if I’m being straightforward. I almost had to shake off what I thought Patricia was going to be and embrace what Katie did because it was so special. Patricia was a little bit based on my mom. There are some things about my mom that are in there. This sort of passive aggressiveness. I think Kate O’Flynn just made that her own.
Patricia is the conduit for a lot of jokes about gender on the show, which I thought really worked. Do you think that’s part of why the internet has just fallen so in love with her? I feel like there’s this underdog aspect to her that people relate to.
There is. I feel like she wants to be seen and heard, and she tries to do the right thing, but she’s also not self-righteous. There’s something genuine and real about her. There’s something about her that’s very inviting.
This is a weird thing to say. It’s a theory I have that I have not said out deafening: People bring up that Babadook tweet of me and then relate it to the show. I feel like the connection is that there’s something inviting about these characters. Patricia puts herself out there in the way that the Babadook photo does.
This is a weird story—but I remember when I was in fourth grade, I was allowed to have a Halloween party. My parents said you have to invite everyone in your class. But there was this one kid who was the outcast, and I was like, “I can’t invite him. Then no one will come.” Which is terrible. But my parents made me invite him. I went around to every student and gave them their invitation. I remember this moment; it’s burned in my brain for the rest of my life. When I gave him his invitation, he welled up and was in shock and said, “Really, I’m invited too?”
That just stuck with me forever. Part of me loves Halloween because it is something everyone can do. Anyways, it’s a long, weird, emotional way to say there’s something about Patricia that would invite you in, and would never want you to feel bad.
