302: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner w/ Kerry Washington

Unpacking the Toolbox is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with Iheartradiots, Yeah Yeahs and Katie.

This is a very exciting episode. But before we get into the episode, it is man, G just had at the time this recording an amazing birthday. I don't even want to know. What are you someone that's not into birthday numbers or you are?

I don't really care. I really don't care.

I get it's it's so funny when I tell my age and then people are like what I'm like, do you do you not see like.

That's a little bit like insulting.

Yeah, yeah, but well you do look they're probably you do look amazing, though. I feel like you're someone who's looked young. You're his true true looked young your whole life.

I feel like, right, I think, so, yeah, I have a I feel like I have a babyface.

Yeah.

But then there's people like, you know, there's people like b Arthur who looked probably like she was sixty five when she was nineteen.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, don't I look so good and so young?

You look so I feel like you you're getting younger and younger looking. Do you ever look back at the episodes, Like, even watching this episode, some of them close ups on Huk, I was like, oh damn, I feel like I damn what no? Like, I felt like I looked almost older back then in certain shots.

I don't know why.

Reilly, Oh my god, I thought we looked like babies, like if we look young for our age. Now I look at us on Scandal, I feel like we look like full blown teenagers.

I feel like we look like so young it's insane.

Sometimes do you ever think like, how did I get cast? I look like a kid?

Like?

How did I get cast in this role?

Oh?

How did anyone believe that I could be someone that like has a job? Yeah, or like a backstory? Yes, this episode is amazing. We have in store for our gladiators today, probably their most favorite guest if I would have put money on it.

Listen, this is this is what an important like special guest. This is We're taping on a freaking Saturday. Oh my god, we a Saturday.

How many saturdays did we work on Scandal?

We worked?

Oh my god, we worked a bunch of saturdays on Scandal.

So the weekends were not forty eight hours, they were like thirty six at best.

Yes, and we loved it. We we did it again.

Saturday.

Look, she's busy, she's busy. She's got a very busy life, a very busy personal life.

It's a very full life.

And we're very grateful to have her because Gladiators, like I've said before, it is your most favorite, number one guest of guests of all time. She has been on the pod once before.

Yeah, and she's gracing us with her presence yet again.

Who I love you so much.

We love you so much, Thank you for coming on this again. You are obviously we've been teasing you. We're like, she's everyone's number one guest as everybody would only want her to have her on the Gladiators.

There's no way to even tease.

Okay, first, Gladiators, thank you for answering the call of all of our posts on the social medis for amazing questions that we're going to get to you in two minutes. But before that, we just have to say between the last time we had Carrie Washington, the one and only Kerry Washington who played the Olivia Pope on Rewatch.

Podcast, you wrote a book that came out which.

Is insane, and we need to just talk about in the book of how it relates to this podcast. You mentioned in the book that your real life sometime paralleled Olivia, and if you were comfortable in just saying that, because I think we I mean, it's a big deal to write a book and have a book come out, and if there's anything that relates to Olivia on this podcast, we would love to have you speak about you.

Oh my god, I caught you, guys. I love I think I have a hard time remembering like what I cut out of the book, but I know I wrote at some point, so I hope I made it into the book about telling you both. I remember so vividly sitting in Opa and telling you guys that I was going to go to Oprah's house for like a birthday brunch. So I totally remember that that couch and I was like, what am I gonna wear? You guys were like, what are you gonna wear? Then Oprah's house?

It was so crazy, what are you gonna wear an Oprah's house?

So it's just like those special memories of being on a rocket ship together and being like can you believe our lives? Like what are we doing?

When?

Then Oprah showed up on set, like I'm grow keen to set. That was another moment. I was like, what is happening.

Off the elevators at OPA and like, yeah, it's insane, so cool, Yeah cool.

I love the part in the book where you talk about me.

That story is as well shocking that that's your favorite. That story is very special to me. It's very very special to me, and I need to know you so much. And yes, I was talking a little about how like a lot of times we would be doing these scenes where we would be talking about the given circumstances of our characters, but really we were talking about ourselves in so many ways like that these characters kind of gave us a way to work through our own shit characters.

I think it's really TV is really different than I think movies. I mean, I don't have a lot of experience with the movies, but I know you two do. But I think when you're working eighty hours a week for seventy eight years on something, you're spending so much time as your character as you are in your life, and so it and the writers are writing to.

You, so it gets confusing.

And in the book, Carrie talks about this moment where I was considering starting a family and Carrie had chosen ready to start a family, and we were doing these lines where you were like passing the torch to me. I don't remember how they were.

But you were really talking about you stepping into like O pa being yours being like.

You know, qpoh, that's right.

And and you know, like every time we weren't acting, we were talking about like were you ready to be a mom? Did you want to be a mom? Did you cause you have did you have the capacity to be a mom? And then we got these scenes that were like you can do it. This is your office, like you can take it on, like rise to the occasion. You have it in you, And I was like getting knocked up office.

Remember we we used to talk. We used to mention how we felt that there were cameras in trailers or on seid because the writers, yeah, because we're writers, would write about stuff that we were going through, we were about to go through, or we were we could really late to.

It was so trippy and we'd be like, hell, did they know this?

Yeah?

And Carrie used to do this thing for actors listening, which I thought was really cool.

And I'm curious who taught you that?

Like, sometimes again, when you're working eight hours week, like and you're doing the scene which we're down a scandal a billion times and a billion takes, sometimes at the end of a scene that would be really involved to kind of like wake us up or get us here, you would use our real like sometimes you'd be.

Like Katie, you like or you would say like drop an f bomber like you would take it.

Because we were also had to be word perfect on the show, and so sometimes if the coverage would move, like let's say, into my close up, you would change the words because who taught you to do that?

I don't know. I don't remember. I'm so you don't remember. I don't Yeah, I don't know. I don't remember who taught me to Let me think, I feel like everything that I do as an actor that school somehow goes back to Jamie Fox. That's like, actually, I'm not sure where I got something. It all goes back to Jmie because he's been so like pivotal for me at so many different times in my career. And I talk about

Yeah, it also takes the pressure off of ourselves, right, because I do that too, you try to. I remember even shooting the A seven fifty two episode, and I remember when Carrie and I had our moment on the floor when I finally wake up.

I kept I kept in my head. I was like, stay in that space, stay in that.

Instead of just sort of letting go and then letting whatever new magic like you were saying, happens in the moment, I put so much pressure on myself and then something gets lost in doing that, you know what I mean.

Because I think instead of have faith in those moments, like we have yet that the that the magic is list like we believe like there's only this finit amount of talent or this finite amount of creativity available to me. So I have to hold on so tight as opposed to like, no I can this is so woo woo, but I can plug into this infinite creative source. And so like, even if it's different, it's still going to

You used to you gave me the most.

I've always tried to hold onto it, and maybe it's going to happen here today, folks. But one of my favorite directors we ever got to work with on Scandal was Carrie Washington some sort of direction where you said something like, oh my god, I'm gonna you said something about every time you're saying the scene is someone, you're

Because I think we it's so caught up in actors it's like what do I look like? What do I sound like? Am I getting it right? But in life, when you're talking to somebody, you're actually talking to somebody for a reason, Like that's the whole thing we learn about like objective intention. Right, It's like you're communicating something and it only works if that person hears you, So like really focusing on trying to transform the actor across from you with your words and not like am I

You're in season three, if you can kind of remember this is season three, and I want to say, I think you're pregnant.

Oh yeah, is that what's going on in your life?

Though?

Right?

I think so? Yeah?

Yeah, you could see it on your face. You could, you have, but not because it was large. No, no, not at all. It's there's there's a certain like a glow and a confidence.

Plumpness it is. I don't mind it. I remember I used to say to Shonda, like, can Olivia be like instead of swimming this season, can she'd be eating a lot of chocolate? Because how blame.

Is a little bit larger.

She's three oh two. I mean this is today. We're talking about episode three or two.

So you must have been you might have been in your life in this season. I think you might have been prego, but you maybe hadn't announced it yet. Just to give context what's going on, but also in professional land context, this is around the time like, look, you are obviously a very very very successful actress before scandal, you had done a million moves and like that. But we're talking season three. This is now at the time where you are like.

Yeah, it's crazy your life deals like this is a cover of Vanity for now crazy.

Yeah, this is Oh my god, is that Carrie fucking Washington everywhere you go?

Can you speak to Mariah Carey tweeting at us?

Yeah?

Yeah, it's crazy times.

This is like this is season three, so middle of season two, Juggernauts starts to take off and now exactly we're an SNL that any fair can you talk to it all about how your life changed?

It was just such a complete loss of anonymity, right, like a complete we all you felt it. We all felt it. It went from being like, oh, I can run into the supermarket and there might be one or two people who's like I really like that show, to like we would arrive places and there were screaming crowds of thousands of people. We were like, what is happening? It just was different. Everything was different. It was like being followed by the paparazzi for the first time. It

You know what was cool? We talked a lot as a group.

I can remember having a lot of conversations with like Columbus and Carriage, and we were in it together and really being like with Darby and just like all of us sort of like trying to figure out how to like support one another when this had never happened before. But to carry you more than anybody else, that was absolutely insane.

I was just gonna say really quickly.

I don't know if you remember carry there was We might have talked about this the last time you were on, but there was a day that we bumped into each other at Whole Foods and I barely freaking recognize you. So I feel like you do a really good job when you want to be incognito, you know what I mean, because you had like these big old.

I know, I put on my big glasses and I like I have hoods and hats and yes, yes, people.

Are so young. No, we were talking about the beginning of this podcast.

You're someone that would walk into the makeup trailer or wherever when you're like not made up and your hair is not done and you're in your jeen jacket, and I'm like, oh my god, she looks like like just you're so young looking like people would probably be like is that Carrie Washington?

Like, but yeah, that day I was like, like I said, I barely recognized you.

I was like doing a good job, and I.

Would, you know, still not make eye contact. That began a period of like looking at the floor everywhere I went, because you didn't want to make eye contact with people, so you'd be like looking down. And but also do I feel like we had I never felt isolated because we had such a family in each other and because we were on this ride together, and I felt always so grateful for that that we really really had each other to be experiencing this with and and processing it with,

You know, do you guys remember Seana had this like that, we had like this big I remember, God, it was always so scary, But once in a blue moon they would be like.

Everybody stay after the table read and you're like, what what is We're all getting fired?

I don't know.

It would always be like pick out the cast and Crewe gift for Christmas, or it would be like yes.

It would be like you're in trouble. But one time the talk was.

You know, she had been through this before with Grey's Anatomy and probably learned a lot from that experience. But the talk was sort of like anything happens, you call me, do.

You know what I mean?

Like I remember being like, you get in a car accident, you call me, like you fuck up?

You call me?

You know, I don't want to open up to something, you know, in two days, knowing that I could have helped, besides the fact that I mean, and look, we were.

All such goodie too shoe like typing.

Other casts and what they were, and I.

Was like, we were so good.

Oh good A lot more drugs apparently, when.

Any we didn't do any drugs and we only hung out with each other.

We were so lame.

Like every time we would get to like these gatherings where they'd be like all the hot shows of twenty fourteen, we're all together. It's like we didn't even fucking bother talking to any other cast ever. We just hung out with each other and.

Within and within our family. We also weren't like screwing each other. Like literally, I tell people all the time, like the only time anybody was making out was between action and cut, Like, yes, true on camera, but off cameras, it's so true to our spouses or our spouses were hanging out with us.

Like yes, it was very very peat. It was very R rated on camera and very PG off camera.

I just was like, g it was very like, Okay, we'll be right back, guys.

Olivia Fan Burning questions for you Gladiators who missed it, I'm sorry, but we put out the Pope signal to the Gladiators who delivered very good burning questions for you about season three.

So we have both. We have some that we're going to read off, some questions we're gonna read, and then some of them we're going to hear the person's voice voicemails.

Oh my god, Okay, so Mari asks.

In season three, we're introduced to Live's complicated relationship with her dad and her dead but not actually but actually not dead mom. That got me thinking about what kind of angsty teen music Live might have been into when she was younger, probably mainly just to piss off Papa Pope. It's giving me whole with Courtney Love the group whole. What do you think, Carrie, what do you think young Olivia Pope was listening to in her angsty times?

I mean, I feel like Jagged Little Pill right, like a lot. I think a lot of Alanis and I think a lot of Radiohead. I feel like she would have been very like I love it like moody because it's because I feel like she's a bit of a like a resistant romantic, so that Radiohead like melancholy.

Yeah, like oh I feel so deeply and I feel like I know things.

Yes, I love it.

And then computer, I was just gonna say, I think you were saying the same thing. An interesting little fun fact is that young Olivia Pope was played by Yaha Shahiti and four Blackish Yes.

Oh yeah, yeah yeah Blackish Yeah.

And she's been quoted about saying how incredible you were to her on set and that you showed up to set when she was shooting some of her stuff, right, and you like spoke to her and wanted to make her feel comfortable and.

Just like Carrie fucking Washington again for people listening, actors don't do that.

They don't come wait.

Now because of Carrie.

Like that Washington school of acting, but most people don't do that.

I feel like I have to now even when I don't want to, because people think is what I do? Everybody go to ex sept to do somebody they heard I did it on Scandal like ship.

What did you talk to Yara about? Like what were were you just like establishing a mother like a younger older relationship, Like what were you doing?

Yeah, I just wanted to make sure that we had a sense of each other. That she I mean, first of all, I was like, she's so pretty. They think that's what I look like. But I would just remember like wanting to make sure that we agreed on the choices, like what cereals she was eating, or like just and just to make her feel welcome.

And you know, I am this.

I can't like no one does this, like truly, nobody does this. Okay, we've got a voicemail from Skyler in Florida, and what is Skyla.

Yeah, let's say what Stylet Florida is saying.

We don't want to assume you talk like that.

You don't.

I just say Florida because that's where my in laws live. That's why they talk like that.

But you do not, Skylar. Okay, let's hear it.

Hi, Kerrie, Katy and Giama. My name is Skyler and I'm from Florida. I'm a new Scandal fan. I've actually watched it three and a half time since November. Right now it's March, So I think that's enough about my obsession. Carrie, you mentioned in your book how your pregnancy here in season three required you to adapt the ways you gave yourself to Olivia Pope. Besides your physicality, what changed about how you played Olivia and what these change is difficult

Oh my god, we love Skyler.

Yeah, we love Skylar Skyler.

Oh god. So it really was just that I had. I had. I think so much of how I enter a character usually is through physicality, through understanding, like how they walk, how they stand, like where they live. In my body and so it felt very strange when I got pregnant because my body as Carrie was totally transforming, but Olivia wasn't supposed to be transforming. So I just

That's so great, car.

Right, Like you tried, did you?

Like?

Could you were?

I couldn't even imagine like being playing Olivia Pope and being pregnant and like wearing those shoes.

I would have died which swollen ass feet?

Yeah, at my seat, my feet in both my pregnancies, I don't remember.

I don't about your feet all the time, Kate on the pilot complaining about the shoes.

But I so.

My mother told me that when she was pregnant with me, her shoe size went up two sue sizes. And I love shoes, you know. I love a heel, I love you love his shoe.

I love you're so good in that.

Would I love a Lubaitton? I love a shoe. Yeah, And I was like, I'm not throwing all these shoes away. So I actually loved keeping the shoes on because I was it was like my version of Japanese foot by name. I was not going to let my feet grow. I was not going to let my gorgeous shoe collection go to waste. To this day, I think my shoes were up like my feet maybe would up like a half a size. But I squeeze, like like the Cinderella ste sisters, like I squeeze into the shoes I love anyway, So yeah,

I'm so impressed by that.

The other member I have of you being pregnant, which speaks to Skyler's question, is I think you were there two g Also, something happens I think at the end of this season where somebody don't pop a Pope shoots somebody in Huck's office and it's really scary, and Olivia Pope is like screaming like no, no stop.

It's like really bad.

I thought my dad would and then I thought my dad was dead, like covered and on the floor, and.

Then they would call cut and we would like go down to your belly and we'd be like, but it's not fake, it's not me, it's fake.

We're just like this is a real trauma.

We're just playing.

This is I was there.

I was down at that belly one time and I heard a voice talk back and say, back up, motherfucker, back up, stop touching my almost belly. You know.

Really she was like back up, back up, backup. Funny, Yes, I remember. I also remember Super Awkward, which Janeau was our director. So what episode was that I was so pregnant put a staw on it, you know, and told things And I had to do this sex scene, this love scene with Scott Foley, and I was like twelve and a half months pregnant, and I remember this, you know, being like, can you guys roll over in bed? And it was like stop, like can you roll over this mountain of a baby?

What did you do?

So we were laughing so hard. We're like in bed making out so bad, so bad. I just like also would go to my belly and be like, not your dad. We're like He's like, we're like pretending to sexy, roll over to our side.

But Scott's like like like himself himself to like leap over my belly to get to the other side of the god.

But this is just also but you you being pregnant also reminded me of all the wonderful food trends that you introduced to me. I'm sure a lot of other people. I've spoken about it many a time. The first one was our Yes and then the raw organic sour crawt with mounds of.

Mut sweet potatoes.

She had a peace period, a moment where she was obsessed with peas.

Yeah.

We went through a thing of eating a hundred almonds that were cooked in the microwaves like.

Hot sunset, and Katie had the pickles with hummus you had.

I was I would eat that now, though I would eat that now. Okay Brook from Melbourne, good luck on that.

Do the accent, Katie to the accent for the whole thing.

Shrimp on the Bobby, You're so bad.

Okay Brook from Melbourne, Australia asks, one of my favorite episodes of all time is Vermont's for Lovers Too. What was it like to see the Vermont House for the first time and what about Vermont do you think provides a sense.

Of solace for Olitz as well as the audience?

Those scenes were so magnificant, magnificant.

So okay, first of all, shout out to the extraordinary Ava Duverney because sheed that episode, and it was after her feature had been at Sundance and she hadn't yet become like the like Crazy Oscar nominated Banana's successful Mogul

So do that.

I think that, Like he's a former president who like Obama like sweeps in to do important things in the world and maybe produces documentaries like the Obamas, and she's like out there being a fixer. But their home base is in Vermont. I think that they're that they're still in love.

I can't.

My parents live there and I go there all the time, and I can't ever think about First of all, it is it's the best, Like it's amazing, it's so beautiful, and it's so like progressive and cool and feels like this sort of like utopia.

It's so wonderful, like that's where they should be.

More food. It's a culinary podcast. We've tricked you all.

Should we ask we ask another question? Should we ask one more question?

All right?

So Hillary asks, can you please ask Carrie to rank her love interest on Scandal from Olivia's perspective and then from your own perspective in terms of compatibility. Oh wow, So this is a this is like a freaking Jepardy question.

This is good.

Oh my gosh, Okay, I don't I'm not going to rank them as Carrie that just feels yeah. Yeah, So I always felt like any guy who showed up to be one of Olivia's love interests was like doing a service to the show, and so I'm so appreciative that they came in and took their clothes off. And I mean I but and also such nice guys, right like Brian wall Hernandez normally such nice, lovely, lovely human beings. Scott Foley not so much.

That's public knowledge, yes, yeah.

And then of course Tony Goldban is like my favorite, one of my favorite human beings on the planet in the galaxy. He's just the best. And I love Scott. I love Scott of course, well this girl.

Loves Scott too.

Who wrote in Mariah Aka at Jake Ballard's bay, hey on TikTok asks everyone me wants confirmation that Olivia did indeed love Jake to some extent. The Olitz stands keeps coming for me. But I always make videos saying Jake was the better guy. He always made sure she was eating and dancing and other stuff to keep this. But she did love Jake like that was her person, her bestie. She just wasn't in love with him like she was with Fit. Maybe I'm just Delulu, Oh Delulu, I love it.

Thanks besties, thank you.

And that was a beautiful draaddic reading. I agree with her. I agree with her. I think that Olivia and Jake really did love each other. I think she does love him, And I actually love that about Shonda's writing, that that you actually can have more than one person in your life, right, that you can love more than one person, but your one final person that you end up with is the one final person you end up with, right, Like I think that Olitz is Olitz, and I do in my

Ask Scott so pro level at it, Like he's made a whole I feel like so much of his career has been love Tryangle. Yes, Yeah, that's the whole show is like him their Speedmen and Felicity. Like he's done that for four between those two shows, that's literally fourteen years of living in a love trying.

I think that's a superpower. I think somebody who like is very very very very loved and very very very very hated, and to hold that space of like I'm not threatened, I'm I can hold all of that energy and just show up every day and be that and let fans like spin out of control because they love me so much or hate me so much. Like it takes a special human being to do that. And I think, I just think Scott is He's He's he's the best. He's the best, right, He's just.

Like and a great director, and he directed us a bunch of times.

On the show.

And sure I learned so much from Scott as a director. And I would say I learned just as much from Scott when he wasn't directing about nothing, because we would have a director on set and I would look over it at Scott and he would be like, why are we doing that? And I'm like, what are you talking about? And He's like, we could be home an hour earlier if we put a camera here, in a camera here, and a camera here, and I'd be.

Like, oh, wow, we rehearsing a scene.

We'd be rehearsing a scene and I'd be like, well, I'd be like, my character would stand over here, and he'd be like, if your character stands over there, Carrie, we are going to be here for another two hours.

And I'd be like, he's got it, so he.

But he's But also he wasn't like phoning it in. He wasn't like, don't stand over there because then we can't go home. He was like, how can we make the scene work.

And how we be efficient and honor of the scene. Yeah, we will be back with more after the break.

Okay, wait, before we move, We're going to hit the episode really quickly.

But I'm going to do g let's do it. I know it's going to be that's only gonna be last five minutes because that's how we do this.

But wait, thank you, We're gonna do a speed round of the last like few questions that fans have asked, because I want them to get them in.

Okay, let's hear from Frankie and Ruby Ontario.

If Olivia could season three, So one piece of advice, what do you think it would be and how do you imagine it would have altered the course of season three?

That's all I have to say. By one piece of advice, I think about like Vermont is for the lovers. So I'm thinking about that episode, So I would say, like, just trust that it's going to be okay, Like it feels like the romance trauma feels so overwhelming, but it's gonna be okay.

Love it.

Oh, that's good. That's always do it. That's always good advice.

Yeah, well go and cheat that homegirl, gun cheat that ask there's one thing Carrie could change about Olivia?

What would it be?

Oh, I wouldn't change a thing about Eliza. Yeah, because yeah, I love her. I love her messy, awesome journey. Yeah, I just love her. I guess maybe you know. And I think about like Carrie pregnant walking down the hall, like I was trying to do the Olivia Pope walk. It was more like an Olivia Pope waddle. I remember,

Pope's signature walk is not fucking around.

It's it was a thing. But so I guess I would. I wouldn't change a thing about her. I really wouldn't. I wouldn't I love that. I love that.

There's one question here, it's such a good no no.

Yeah, ash a ka, it's it's Tony Braxton on Twitter asks me, first, why is there no receptionist that Olivia Pope and associates and firing one.

We never trusted anybody enough to.

Be exactly, yes, agreed all the rest right, We were all the rest exactly.

There was no hierarchy. It was very much like all for one, one for all, So having a receptionist would be like somebody working for us. But we were all working for each other all the time.

Uh huh, Yeah, I couldn't trust We couldn't trust a receptionist, although no one was kind of a receptionist Season one and her sister I.

Got people coffee. Okay.

Second, what do you think Olivia Pope would be up to these days, which we've already addressed. She's in Vermont, she's Judy smith ing, She's kind of going around consulting.

Is she maybe also encouraging everyone to vote.

A hundred person after stealing an election?

She?

I do? I think she would. I think part of what Olivia like, part of the framework of who Olivia Pope is she really wants people to know that they matter, Like she really has so much compassion for people, and she's so non judgmental. She really she understands that you are not who you are on your worst day, that everybody deserves a second chance, that we all matter, that we all are important, we're all like equal children of God.

Over a cliff, for this place.

Okay, this is what we're talking about today, which we've got a QW things that you can easily answer.

It's episode three oh.

Two guests Who's Coming to Dinner which aired on October tenth in twenty thirteen, and.

It was written by Heather Mitchell and directed by Alison Lady Brown You.

Love Alison Brown, Alison.

It was guest starring Norm Lewis's Senator Edison Davis, Dan w Bailey, Is Noah Elliott.

Kate McGregor Stewart is married and Kristen Carrey as Brooke Foster.

Gee, you want to do a synopsis for me?

Baby, Let's do it.

Let's you do it? You do it?

Should we do it in heart and sync?

Yeah?

Oh yeah, let's try that.

Oh my god, I love it. I love it.

Okay, ready because Carrie's here are number one person? Ready, one, two, three, go Whie houses plans. We're giving flashbacks to her.

Father's dinners and relationship with howk grew. In the end, some shocking secrets are revealed, like.

Learned to love a big, big glass of wine and what happened to Jake Ballard.

This is where here's the biggest things that we need to just talk about very quickly before you go. Your

It's crazy and you it's so amazing. Do you remember picking these?

So this was when you wore your hair in like a bang with like a curlly.

Can you talk to us this episode? It was so big?

How you and Linda via Lobos, who I love so much, shout out to the greatest hair.

This is not a hair, got it? Do you remember picking these? This hair? And like, how and why?

No?

Unbelievable, it's my favorite Olivia hair.

I don't I just remember. I mean that we had so many wigs, remember who was like people would laugh at how many wigs we would have on our show. It was just like end.

And it was like there were several people wearing wigs.

Yes, yeah, yes, gosh no, but it's so fun. It's so fun to see these pictures.

Yeah, don't you love your coats?

Let me see these, It's we always do Olivia Pope's fashion moment.

These coats are unbelievable.

In this episode, Paolo, Linda was amazing because Linda came So I met Linda many many years ago. We had done a bunch of movies together. But her, like sure, like what I always think is her coolest credit on her resume is that she did in Living Color with the Waynes Brothers in the like back in the day when Jlo.

Was a weekend Yeah, all those crazy wigs right, like that sketch comedy world where it was like a different way every five minutes.

And like big bald, awesome character changes through costume and makeup and wigs. So she's just a master at her craft. And she did this job, an incredible job of tracking Olivia through hair. It was like the big one of the biggest ways that we told story about where Olivia was in time and emotionally was with her hair.

You know.

I mean I remember being in the shower and like having that wet Olivia curler, being out on the island with Jake when we escaped curly hair. People were like, what, like she really you know she was?

She was so awesome and in that run episode. Remember the episode when you're running with like a camera in front of you and your hair is all like supernatural and beautiful.

Yeah yeah, it was so messy.

Yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah.

Fait, We always do you.

We do Kerry Washington school of acting on this podcast where we talked about who who won? We do Olivia Pope fashion moments. Okay, this episode really didn't have any like big things. We always do Kerry Washington School of Acting moments where it's like who won the scenes of this.

Episode, and you and Papa Pope have the most amazing scenes in this episode. It's so great.

But then my favorite end of the episode, actually, if you remember shooting this, Huck slams Olivia Pope up against a car and has her jaw like this because he finds out that your dad is command and is the person that took his whole life away and threw him in a hole in all of this, right, like, when do you remember shooting that?

Nope?

Is remember shooting that?

I remember shooting you know what?

I remember.

I remember being really disturbed and upsets that I had to do that, that Huck had to do that to live because I felt it was it was it wasn't right, like if.

It didn't feel it didn't feel.

Correct for Huck to react that way and put his hands on her. I remember having a problem with that, but you know, I mean, you can't but remember.

The last best part of this episode.

Really is that we learn in these back flashes you're having dinner with Papa Pope his house and he's like, would you know he's making this like ridiculously amazing steak or something, and he's like, would you like wine? You're like, I don't drink wine, and of course the whole audience is like, Olivia popes like wine and he's like, it's

Shout out to our scandal writers. I just love that they meant stuff like that, that we got to that we got to build. I love that our show was always moving forward but always moving backward. That we as we were like you know, progressing plot, we were also filling in the past all the time. Yes, sort of the DNA of the show. And I just I love it. I love that we just were always kind of growing our roots and our leaves right like constantly with these cameras. So yeah, so fun.

True, that's true.

I am so appalled at how little I remember, But it was it was the whirlwind of you know, these sixteen hour days of I've just it was such a high volume of material that I was having to metabolize all the time that it was like in and out, in and out, Like it was really I really I think about it. I'm like, I feel like when people talk about how they don't remember stuff when they channel, like you know, like like people who channel ancestors or they're like.

Hypnotized, They're like hypnotized, they're like on a different plane it has been working through me constantly, and just I was like, the special the most lines probably in the history of television, ninetyay pages.

It's funny because now anytime that I'm on a set and somebody's like, ooh, today's a heavy day for you, I laugh. I'm like you and you're.

Like, this is heavy, kidding me, Yeah.

It's like kidding me. Or like the other day on the show, I'm I'm on a half hour comedy.

And I do President's Amazing.

And my character does these really fun like little monologues on Instagram. And the other day we had an actor who had we had an emergency on set and so they were like, we had to pivot, we had to shoot something else, and they were like, do you think you could memorize the monologues? And I turned to Sherry, who's my makeup bars on and it was also my makeup bars on piano, and I was like, Sherry, do you think I can memorize the monologues? And She's like, yeahtect me like it's.

So it's say yeah, but you also you have to let that stuff go. It has to go in and out or else you don't have the bandwidth for something new, right, Like, I think Katie is the only actor I know that can recite a soliloquy from a freaking placed like ten years ago.

Working early on I've still got but I can't tell you like and everything else is put into.

The short term bad it goes.

I think part of that too is also being a mom and a wife, right, is that like I wasn't at a certain point, I didn't have the luxury like in college where you would remember stuff and you'd you'd live with it and you'd sleep with it, and you'd go home and think, I remember when I did Last King of Scotland, Like I was that character all the time. I was like in my hotel like I was heard like all the.

Time, what a nightmare.

But I couldn't Like I couldn't do that on Scandal. I didn't like a toddler. I wasn't gonna go home and be like, it's my name on that door, like you got to let that go and like you know, like can you imagine namdu space my name on that.

Door handles there's people, let's go.

Let's go. Solid food starts this week.

No, No, I don't think we forgot anything. G did we forget anything before.

I think we got and then you guys next listeners.

Episode three oh three, Missus.

Smith goes to Washington. I don't remember what the hell that is or we're talking about.

Oh, she's the one that puts makes a bomb and straps it on her body.

Carry Do you remember that?

Yeah, I remember all the lasers and the right.

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah.

Really intense episode.

Yeah.

Me and Carrie thank you so much for so much.

Person to come and have do audience participation.

It was the best having you. Gladiator sending question is the greatest.

And someday when you rewatch, when you're really think you're gonna do it, when you're like eighty.

We should do it all together. We should have like a hang and watch like a bunch of episodes together.

Fun Carrie, because you didn't really remember.

Any like I don't remember any of it either, and I had nothing con bear to you. But Quinn comes in there, I'm like, what ye.

What am I doing?

Like we just got to the scene where Honk and Quinn like hook up for the first time, and I didn't know that was coming.

Did you hear?

No at all?

No idea? What's happening and it's so fun.

Can we also, I like, I know we keep saying it, but it's so overdue, Like I miss you guys. We need to get to get there.

Yes, I'm like, yo, we need and it doesn't need you know, we should have to have a dinner.

Yeah.

I think we need to have like an east coast and a west coast because I know that's where I not everybody's here and not everybody's there, So maybe we just need to do like we're going to do an eaper coast and a west coast and west there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I love that.

Everybody get Carrie's book. Everybody watching? Yeah, so everybody rewatch Scandal on Hulu. What else am I missing? Any of the plugs?

Noo oh, that's it.

We had Carrie Washington on. Thank you, carry love you.

Thank you, love you so much. You're the greatest orlest my may.

Thank you guys for joining us on Unpacking the Toolbox. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe, share with your friends, rate, or leave us a review.

Scandal is executive produced by Sandy Bailey, Alex Alcea, Lauren Homan, Tyler Klang, and Gabrielle Collins. Our producer and editor is Vince de Johnny, with music by Chad Fisher.

Scandal is a production of ABC Signature, and you can follow along by rewatching Scandal on Hulu.

Unpacking the Toolbox is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you subscribe to your favorite

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