303: Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington w/ Cynthia Stevenson

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Scams and Katie.

G k Gee. The strike has is over.

The strike is over, and the deal has been ratified. We are free to go and be thesbians again.

Wesian are available for employment, and we are available to talk about more and more scam Toolbox but also which we already know because we're on episode three, but it can never be discussed enough because we're fucking stoked.

Thank god we have Unpacking the Toolbox because now I don't see you on the strike lines, I know, and this is where I see your sexy face. Yes, hey, hey, what's up baby? Second season of Unpacking the Toolbox, which like, thank god, what are you wearing today?

Honey, I'm wearing a T shirt with an angry black cat. See him? He's cool? Huh. I don't know what the words is. Oh, that's good.

Yeah, the sag actors did not rebel because we ratified the contract.

That's right.

Also, I'm still looking at your adorable faith with the nose ring that you have, and I still really want to get it.

Oh, dude, let me know. I'll take you me and Katie live eight minutes away from each other, and I found this amazing tattoo slash piercing place and he's like a master piercer. It didn't hurt at all. I'm the biggest chicken.

Shit.

I have a ton of tattoos and they've all hurt. But the septum piercing did not hurt at all. So if you're ever down to get it and look and then you can make it. We forget a job which you and it's gone your booge stupid. Yeah, I can't do it right now, but yeah.

That in my life. I've never called it that in my life. I'm disgusted with myself.

Look and now it's gone.

See and you can feel weird?

No, not at all, you don't even feel it.

What'd you eat today? What'd you eat today today?

For breakfast? I had a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese because my stomach has been a little bit, a little bit upset these last few days, so I didn't want to do my normal celery and parsley and lime juice every morning.

I just need to lay down a layer of carbs.

Well.

For breakfast, I had just a power bar, which is pretty lame. I've been in a rush children at the time of this recording. It's the holidays and everything is insane, but life stops for the guests that we have today.

Uh, one of my favorites, one of my favor guest stars in episode three oh three, she shines her light for us, and she's just amazing.

She's just a tried and true journey woman of an actress, like she just has been on everything, comedies, dramas, film, TV shows, you name it, maybe some horror movies.

What what was that again?

She's amazing and she so lovingly has agreed to come on and be our guest today for episode three or three. It is the one, It is the only. Yes, Steve, Yeah, First of all, it's amazing to see you again. I am such a fan.

I don't I don't think either one of us worked with you actually in person in the episode except for Caring right.

Yeah. It was so weird that I didn't get to connect with you guys, because you you know, when you're doing that part, like that emotional part, like.

When you're like the guest star of the episode and the entire story revolves around you. A lot of times you have more heavy lifting than the lead actors do, Like you're the entire episode. You work every day and have to go through all these emotional huge swings.

Oh my god, kiddie. And also you know, because we've done it, Like when it's your family, it's your show, it's your show, You're like, yeah, it's the weird an. You had to be invited to the wedding.

You always feel like you have to prove something right as the guests start, You're like, I gotta be the best and be off book.

Intruding somehow. I'm like always feel like, oh I'm talking too much or oh I'm talking too little.

Oh me too. We all do that shit. But you know, punning, don you killed it in this episode?

Killed it the bomb strap to you. I want to hear about Wait was there an audition? We have so many questions and listeners, we've already jumped into this. It's just like you, how is your scandal paced? Do you remember having to do talk really quick on this?

Who's terrifying? So in the last part of that episode, there was a lot there was a little not a monologue, but like some dialogue that they cut out because I think I wasn't doing this fettle face.

No, oh my god. No, you know how many monologues and pieces that we had that they cut out. It's mostly for timing or just didn't you know, work with the story. We had shit cut out all the time.

You don't even know how many times Tom Veriko would come to work and say, just delivered the episode and it's eighteen minutes over.

Like no, no, yes, yes, because you guys could not have spoken any faster your whole rhythm. So you must have been so exhausted at the end of this run because you're on a treadmill at highest speed all the time. And all the emotional journeys you guys took, none of them are casual. None of them were like this episode what you guys were going through.

You know what it was, Cynthia. The worst part after finishing with this series, when the series ended is we me and Katie spoke at least I know because Katie's talked about it too. We just talked so fast that our next auditions and our next projects that the direct would be like, you need to slow down, and we're like, what are you going down?

Yeah?

I still have that problem I do too.

Yeah, funny you got tightened up internally like you're nervous, is yes? No, I totally get it.

Yeah, for all of you listeners, just to catch you up. Obviously, it already feels like me, Cynthia and g our family the last three minutes and it feels like forever in a good way. I hope that came out.

I feel like a good aim, of course.

But we are going to read real quick that we're talking about episode three oh three, which was entitled Wow, I think cultivated.

It was entitled to shit. It was titled and entitled Yes' character was definitely a title.

Missus Smith Goes to Washington, which aired on October seventeenth in twenty thirteen. It was written by.

Maddy Bird and directed by Janeaul's Wark, who is one of our one of our directors who who directed a bunch of episodes.

Yes, he directed a bunch of episodes, and he's directed a bunch of Gray's Anatomis too, and I believe Private Practice. He's a Shondaland All star and a real character, a real.

Character, and he directed Jaws two f y.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it. The episode is guest starring the one and Only Cynthia Stephenson as Mary ness Bit who we have? It was also starring Mark Moses as Congressman Jim Struthers and Ernie Hudson Yes Wow, as FBI Commander Randolph Bowles. Cynthia, do you want to take a Do you have this synopsis up in front of you? If you don't, I wish that's okay. I'm like you, grandmother, You're most Look, most people have never done any of them before.

We've been doing this for so long, and I still will text Katie and be like Katie, can you like send me that link? I don't know what to do.

Also, we had like Deborah Mooney on.

Who played Judge Brenda Thornton on the show, and she her camera was like just like from her eyes and her forehead and that was it.

And she was doing the episode.

But she was amazing. She was great, all right? So should I give it? Should I start it off?

Yeah?

Rock it out, be a little dirty, but not too dirty. You're welcome, Hulu.

As most of the OPA team takes on a new client, a mother seeking justice for her murdered son, Huck has see I already screwed it up. Take two, as most of the OPA team takes on a new client, a mother seeking justice for her murdered son. Huck has a mission of his own track down and kill pop a Pope, but two twists interrupt everyone's plans.

The grieving mother plans to blow up part of the White House, and Eli Pope knew Huck was coming. Oh shit, Oh yeah, yeah, we did not getting highed. We're not getting hired. The grieving mother plans to blow up part of the White House, and Eli Pope knew Huck was following him. Olivia gets herself in the middle of Olivia gets herself in the middle of the hostas negotiation over an ultra high security dot that leads to a tragic ending.

Booked, But give us a couple of minutes reading that over, we would have had it down. We would have had it down.

So, Cynthia, can you take us into had you seen scandal before? Did you audition for the part where you offered the part because you fancy tell us how you got here?

So this was so funny to me. Every summer we go to this cabin way up in northern California in the woods. My grandparents built it in the fifties. It's a little red cabin with yellow shutters. It's like walking into a story book. It's so great. And there's no internet there, so whenever we go, you're just fully unplugged. Right, So it does jealous, I know, it's so heaven. So we're there or at the river, and we do have a landline and the phone or whatever. The phone rings.

What is that?

The dairy?

So I answered it and it's my manager, God love him, sweetest mallin earth, Kelly Garner, the greatest guy. And he goes, Cynthia, I'm sending you something. And I said, I'm at the river. He goes, I'm sending you something and you have to get in your car and I have to drive four miles to get internet. Right, He goes, get in your car and drive to the it's called the dry yards. Get to the dry yards and read this thing that I sent you. And I go, what is it? He goes,

Mantain, oh nice, I have.

Goosebumps while I'm telling you this. So I start reading it, and you know what it is. I'm reading it. I'm like, oh my god, oh my god, this is a huge Oh my god. When I get to the end, he burst out crying. I start just crawling. What And so then I'm alone in my car and I go, I don't think I can do that. Har they made a mistake. It was an offer, and I'm.

Like, it's oh my god.

No. At the time, this is your magical realm of Shondaland had already been a guest on her show Off the Map, so I'd done yes, Yeah, and an episode of Grays and a private practice, then Scandal, and then after Scandal, I went to do How to Get Away with Murder a little arc on that.

So, oh my god, Aynthia, you are yes, you are a beloved. You are part of the shop.

The team right, like they're just so wonderful. Yeah. I call him for myself and I go and I said, Kelly, I don't know. You just shut your mouth and if you don't get your ass back down to town, I'm gonna drive up there and I want to.

I love your manager's so great.

Did you have to cancel your trip?

I think we cut it short a little bit, and that's why he was like, oh, well you have to leave the river jut down here.

Isn't that old, doesn't it? That always happened. I remember being Inwai in Hawaii for one of my best friend's weddings and I had to leave early because I booked like a Law and Order episode. That that's been like our lives so.

Long, right, just like okay, yeah, all the actors listening there, it's like book a trip, book a job, like no one will want you in the minute you actually spend money to leave town and do something else is when Hollywood will get It's because I need a.

Job, yes, is yeah in the universe is like.

Hey, cool guy, Hey cool girl, here's your job.

Yes.

So do you remember like you're fitting with Lynn Pollo or like first coming on too Saturday to prepare for the role, were you nervous to work with Carrie?

Like tell us all of them, I'm always I literally am the most If you know what HSPs are I highly sense to your person. I'm like, my son, is that tweeked up to the max? So I'm always like, oh god, what's happening. It's just so much craziness. So and everybody's so lovely. And the other thing about your show is that season three, right, so everyone's comfortable. Yeah, you guys were all the cool people at the reunion. Yeah, yeah,

It was probably George George.

It had to be George, and George props, he's the bast You've taken so.

Much pride in it, and it was incredible. So he came into the wardrobe fitting to see how it fit over the blouse, and yes, they were all excited about it, and so I'm like, that was super cool. And then I remember in the makeup and the hair and makeup, I think Carrie wasn't there yet, the Bellamy, who had never met before. So here comes this amazing angel person and she's like, yeah, I was all my nervous craziness just disappeared in an instant. She was like, you're got

Oh yeah, oh my god, we even talked about that yet on this podcast. Yeah, Carrie Washington's nerd ass binder.

I looked at her blinder and I actually got a stomach ache. I was like, oh god, I remember what she.

Would be memorizing lines for like the next episode while she was memory while she was doing the scenes for the episode we were shooting.

She would take down an entire tree of post it notes through the binder, color coded what was shooting, what she had memorized, what she hadn't learned yet, what the long like, how things connected to each other.

Crazy. We'll be right back guys.

Now, you've been a lead of so many shows. What's so amazing about you is like you are so versatile in I mean, you carry sitcoms.

Really quickly too. I love horror movies and I had not ever seen a horror movie that that Cynthia had had been in called Jennifer's Body, and I just watched it like last night.

This is Ghermo Diaz six Degrees of Horror. Every episode we relate some shit to horror. We got.

Cynthia Stevenson was in one of the best freaking horror movies written by Diablo Cody, who was an amazing writer. That writer was gonna was in the midst of writing Madonna's script about her life that Madonna's gonna direct, and then something happened and she has a different writer.

Now Giermo's life has two lanes horror, yeah, Donna, yes. And so Diablo Cody and Cynthia Stevenson are meeting at the crux of horror and this is big for Gharamo.

And Cynthia plays Chip's mom who provides him with a spray that says something pink on it, which he uses or the other character uses to spray like the woman that's possessed by all this devil stuff. Anyway, you were so funny, so lovely, in that movie, and the movie was so good. But then today this morning, I watched A thirty nine, which is another horror movie that Cynthia's in with Renees Eliger and Bradley Cooper.

Cynthia, see, I have a hard fast rule. I do not watch horror. I do not like it. I only hear about it all.

And thank goodness, like in all of those things that you're referencing, I didn't have to do the horrory part of it.

You didn't, Yes, for those of you listening and that don't have a computer in front of you to know every single thing that Cynthia has been in, which is insane, and of course why you would get a straight offer on Scandal and be on every single Chondalin show. But it's like, it's unbelievable. It's like my talk show, Bob Hope and Gloria Oh Baby, Robert Altman's film The Player, Forget Paris Home for the Holidays, Air Bud Golden Receiver. I mean, come on, Agent Cody Banks, dead like me,

And hey, what about IMDb, you guys, I gotta say I go on IMDb for a million years now and it says my tashow various episodes.

Are you kidding?

Yeah, it won't change it. And it says I'm sixty.

It says you're six feet tall. What fucking forty two? I'm forty one.

It brings up it actually says I'm younger. So I'm not mad at IMDb, but I'm mad that it says that I was born and raised in New Jersey. Now that's worse than being six feet tall and being forty two. It says I'm from fucking Jersey. No, no offense from Jersey. I do love Jersey Jersey. But you're from fucking watching Manhattan.

Yeah, and it's culturally such a huge part of who you are. That's so muched up.

But you're right, Cify, it's so hard to get things changed on the it's ridiculous.

You can't, guys. So you say this, look what your show gave you.

Best friend, right, Yes, yes, that's so true.

One of the greatest of all time. And I will say this that so many people could not have done, never could they have done your roles? Going back to you sang listen to your silvers, you too, come on. Your storylines were insane, and.

You were so they were insane, amazing, We were so lucky.

When did I feel like you were outside of it? You just you can't or you can't do it.

Yeah, but that's the way I felt watching this episode with you. I was like, I could not imagine anyone else doing that part. You were so emotionally available, and you talked a little bit about being that person that sort of feels everything, and so I'm sure that helped playing this character. You were just so there. Man.

In real life, I have one son, so of course I was using.

Oh my god, I was going to ask, how did you prepare? Like what do you do for that stuff?

Do you guys do this? So when I was reading it in the dry yards way back and like I'm at the river, I was reading it and I knew immediately she's a single mother. The husband had left many years before. She raised her son alone, and she I don't know why the song him to me in a giant flood. And she's a home ch teacher, she taught home ex she was just a teacher.

She's just oh my god, I'm chilled Midwest.

Woman and her whole life was her son. That's all she had and that was enough. And so when that happened, I remember saying, as that character, I can't live with it. I can't, So I don't. I didn't know it's the character. I was going to do what I did at the end of the episode until I get the news from Carrie. But it's like my whole was done. Yeah, it was heartbreading. So that was a good place to go all during the episode when you have to stay in that place,

Not oh yeah unclaimed, Yeah yeah.

Yeah, just begune unraveling.

Can I ask you something selfishly and then we'll talk a little bit more about the episode. But because we didn't get to be with you, did you do you like not socialized? You like listen to music and like an iPod? Do you like? I mean, I'm gil I have tried so many different things when she's not there, and I'm like, oh, hey, let's just think about if something really fucking bad happened to my mom or like whatever bring And then I'm like the biggest person for that.

I do the same thing for all the time. And I had this wonderful teacher who actually is still teaching in la Ian Tucker. He's amazing, and he always says, always keep your character here. Then when you're rolling, it counts here. Put it right here.

Oh wow, for those of you guys listening, she's putting like her character sits on her shoulder, sits on your shoulder, and then when they call action, they move from your shoulder into you. Is that what you're kind of meaning?

Because think of us walking into an audition room, which now at ZUM we don't really have to do it anymore, but you walk in, hey, and sometimes your character is so far away that when it becomes time to like here's my moline, you start reading, you're like, oh, picture, our character is writing in with us, we're chatting, we're us, we're not so crazy that and then it's just only got this distance to travel, and then you're right there.

Mark moses gentlemen that plays the Congress, Yeah, yeah, yes, yes, yes, you know yeah. I feel like Katie is the complete opposite Katie. We've talked about this before. We'll be cracking up, talking a mile a minute, telling a story about what happened the night before. And as they're saying Rolling, she's still talking, and the directors already knew once scandal. They were like, just keep calling Rolling, slate, rolling, and when she hears action, she snaps right into it.

I can totally see you doing that. I love that. I love that.

Yeah, she can do that, and then she she still does a kick ass job.

I mean I probably do better if I like took my ship more. Seriously, I just love everybody so much. Being on set is so fun with being all the people.

See Katie, that's your magic.

And I want to eat my snacks and I want to you know, like.

And then you want to get into the same Yeah, that's that's a huge skill. So don't ever say, oh, you're in it.

We will be back with more after the break. This episode there we always have like some uh some Kerry Washington School of acting moments or word for words like monologues that knocked your socks off or made us go holy shit Sean Rimes and these writers are unfreaking believable. And this episode, that Melly speech at the end with the accent, I mean, I I cannot. Also, I think this is the second or third time she's called Olivia popehor but I never get I never am born of it.

I love.

So oh my god, it's hilarious, like, oh my god, Matt Burne wrote this episode. But I just can't, like, we never heard I think, you know, if Olivia Pope died. It would be so bad, because it would be she says, spectacular. But you can't compete with religious fervor. So no, I'm not hoping that she would be blown up today. Tell us your other acting favorite moments of the app.

For me, I think it was when Melly looked right at me and said, you shut up.

It was so great, Yes, you shut up. Oh my god, that was so good.

Melly might be the winner of this app. It's a tie for me between Melly and between Mary nest Bit.

Well, no, but you had had some She walks into the office and you're just sitting there. You were so scary in.

That episode, you guys. This was the This was around the time. Do you guys remember the grumpy Cat meme that was going around. This is the episode that people started posting that meme with my face in this scene.

In that scene, I am dead.

With grumpy Cat.

But your whole journey in that episode is so heartbreaking. When he walks out of the trailer and you just have the gun right in his head. Oh my god, there's so much.

This is also the episode where Sion knows Wark our director first came up to me after I we did the first take of that scene where carry walks into the office and he came up to me and he said, yes, you're too maniacal, Yes you're too it's too much. And I was like, oh my, okay, okay, because we have to keep going.

So then when you were when she cradles you and you're crying, yeah, and then it just flashed back to all the time you were in the box.

Was such a wounded wound.

I loved doing this episode for me. The king of this episode, of course Cynthia, I mean with her performance, yes, But secondly, is freaking baby Teddy in that opening scene where I have never seen a baby on screen give less than any fucks before in my life. He was slept. He was leaning on one one hand with a look like I don't know what the hell I'm doing. He looked like he was sixty five.

Years old, I'll give And they kept putting.

Like food on his face. You could tell because in different takes there'd be more food or less, and he just had this look like, get me the fuck out of continuity.

Must have had a real heyday.

He wasn't like the guying and like he was just like he was like staring.

With disdain at both of them, like, really, this is parents.

I felt bad for baby Teddy because Baby Teddy was a set of twin girls I'm pretty sure, and they just had kept having Baby Teddy girls in and cutting her hair short like a boy.

Yeah, when he was really young, it was too. It was twin girls, and then when he was older. I think it was too at some point.

But you know, G and I love food and our favorite acting on cameras when anyone eats, And so of course maybe baby Teddy is the winner since he is crushing baby food. Not the best acting.

He was amazing at the acting, but he was terrible at the eating because he wasn't his mouth was shut. Clothes, you just have food smeared on um.

He must have eaten in like other takes, Like he must have liked, you know what I mean, Like he must have like I don't know what went down, but it didn't really work, and I thought it was very distracting. But I do think that he might be and winner.

I think he's a king actor in this episode for sure, and Cynthia is the queen that works. Another moment is when Carrie is on the phone at the end of the episode when you guys you still have the bomb and she's talking to fits and she turns away from you, Cynthia, and you could see it all on her face, and she says, don't make me do this, and she and then she turns back to you and just oh my god. It was just so full of emotion and so heartbreaking.

I decided that she was a princess, and I crazy, she's like a princess. She's like a princess, and she's going to save me. Yeah, my character fell in love with her and she was my safe.

You could feel that, Yeah, I could feel that watching it.

Yeah, we also have to add to the ah, we have body count to add in this. We have some death to add to the ever loving scandal body count, which is sadly nessa Congressman, Jim Struthers.

And then Peter Poster, the.

White House intruder, and then yeah, hey.

Episode three, three deaths. There's some good syncretis.

Oh wow, Yeah, the Trinity.

You have to tell this story to remember so at the end that what you just referenced caver where Tony Goldwin has a giant two page monologue talking to and her phone and I remember saying, how are they going to do that? Did they recorded or is it God forbid? The script supervisor, which thank so I remember on the night because it was really late when we shot that.

Is yes forever. Yeah.

He shot that scene at one o'clock in the morning, So line huge monologue into a phone call scene, which is how you know they took those phone calls very soon.

We would do that all the time, Katie right. They would give us a heads up and be like, hey, you have a phone call with Carrie or with Katie or whoever, and we would make ourselves available to actually get on the phone while they were shooting the scene and do the scene with them, or we would come to set. There were a couple of times I came to set, or if we were already on set, of course we would do it and just actors listening.

That's really unusual. A lot of the time, that's when there's just oh yeah, support and that's the way it should be, right, but it isn't.

A lot of the time, and sometimes it is Oh yeah, that's definitely how you do your best act that's a really good point to bring up, and that I love them. They yeah, that's really really nice.

I did a move a big movie once and I did most of my scenes with the actors stand in. We would do all his stuff and then not the whole movie. But like like I remember like two or three like big scenes, and I ended up with doing all my coverage with his stand in, and I was like, this is so weird, this is shitty. But yeah, it's not the norm to be there for your actor when you're not in the actual scening or just on the phone or whatever.

To you for doing that, because it's really hard. It's really hard cameras in your face. Yes, So even if you're your partner's there for you, which the perfect world they are, but when they're not, that's really tough on them and great on you that you could do it.

Yeah.

Real.

Although I feel like I've had some of my best acting moments acting with like a tennis ball. There were times where I had to act with just the actor couldn't physically be there or they were like off to the side, and I was like, this is the best work on this tennis ball.

Even more.

Yeah, because sometimes you can look in the eyes of the other acting you could see them being like, oh God, what am I going to have for lung?

And one of the biggest hardest monologues I ever had with an actress who will remain unnamed, and she may or may not be a part of sand Land, but we're going to leave it at that, and so all you listeners can guess, but I'm not going to say who it is. I do this like massive monologue and like there wasn't nobody home, like nobody was listening, nothing behind the eyes, nothing behind the eyes. And I was like, this person is so bored and I am sobbing I am having to go there and she does. I'll never

Again, I won't name I won't name them. I was doing. I was doing a guest part that I was like, okay, I wasn't super excited and literally like a cartoon. Her off camera for me was this, no.

Freaking nails, put the.

Nail file in her pocket and then pulled her phone out. No, like.

That person should be fineired.

Oh my god.

My thing about where is that? It's not our job as the guest. It certainly isn't. I don't want to stand there and make a big scene on someone else's show. But the producer needs to step It needs to happen because young people just sometimes don't know. You think, where are you?

Cynthia? Was Was it a show where it was an established show? Was it like successful? And she was like the.

Least, she's a really good actress.

She was really really amazing.

Yeah what wow, I am wasting all my energy off camera, really holding up. I should just be filing my fucking nails and checking my phone so that when it turns to me, I'm full of energy and rare into go because I've given them nothing.

Oh no, you're doing it because it's a gift. It's the gift that you want to give and you want to give her. That's the drug. A huge piece the joy of creating this family and creating this altered world, which is so magical, amazing.

I am in to know who this person is. We finished recording, we will all name name.

Oh my god, we have also were you on Twitter at this time? Or you are you on Twitter?

God? I am like, I'm like the character in Downton Abbey, was it Maggie Smith who comes to goes, Oh, these lights, this is never gonna last. The vapors.

Good for you.

I'm the most untechnological person on earth. And the thought of to live tweeting. I never because talk about my characters here. Mary nesmdn't tweet. I can't. It's too far for me to go. I can't go out.

Yeah, do you know what I mean?

No, you're not wrong. We read some Scandaled tweets of the time and they're kind of like a real nice time capsule for us to see what people thought of the episode. There's some wow, oh I forgot about this line. Kevin Costly, who oh my gosh, worked on Scandal in publicity at Kevin Costly on October eighteenth, tweeted now we've

At Scandal Feelings tweeted, I think we'll need further inspection to tell how presidential his balls are hashtag oops, hashtag that slip, hashtag scandal.

Wow.

So women love that Tony goldwin Man, so women behave like absolute imbeciles around him? Yes. At Joe Morton tweeted work unfortunately or fortunately, Oh happy birthday, big Daddy Rowan. What does a head honcho do for his birthday? I guess maybe it was Joe. Was it Joe's birthday?

Joe Morton's. Maybe? I don't know.

I don't try to kill tried to kill him.

I tried to kill him. That's right, that's right.

Oh yeah. The other thing is at. Brown Eyed Girl twenty three tweeted the Disney Studio lot is again showing some love to add scandal and at Once upon a Time. So this was at the time, and there's a picture of up on the ABC a lot of the poster of Lana Parrilla, who's me and Giermo's friend played the Wicked Witch. It's her face up behind an apple on the What's upon a Time poster and then carry's I mean gorgeous face, I mean her face on those posters.

Oh damn. Trish tweeted, I'm scared of Hawk hashti scandal. Awesome, anybody calls me hawk? That's a fan of scandal?

Wait, what does it hawk? By the way, it's a very cool name. It's a very cool name.

Yeah.

Yeah, oh, someone tweeted at Anna. Labor eighty seven tweeted watching hashtag scandal again, OMG, Melly and then quotations you shut up. So that moment that you always talked about really it really affected with the people even of the time.

I forgot to tell you guys this, So this is another so crazy thing. So in the room where when I'm holding the hostage and they're saying, what do we do blah blah blah. Tony Goldland's characters and they're the presidents having his briefing with like, how are we going to get this crazy woman? Either my oldest friend Cheryl Bricker, who I met when I first moved to LA in nineteen eighty whatever. She plays one of the people and one of her lines, oh no, wait, pumping some gas.

Oh my god, Waite.

Are you guys good friends now or you had run into or you were.

I don't get to see herzona because I don't live in LA anymore, but she's one of my oldest friends. She's amazing. She's a wonderful actress, and she had more dialogue in Their Worse you know.

But did you know that she had booked the job or were on set? How did that happen?

Yeah? We were just talking and I said, oh, gosh, you know, I just got this offer on Scandal and I'm so excited. She was like, what really, I'm going to be on that? Like that really?

Oh my God, where are you, Cynthia? Do you where do you live in.

Tucson, Arizona?

Oh? Wow, don't ask me.

Why spirits just let us here for some crazy reason.

Oh man, do you do you ever watch Long Island Medium a lot about Spirits. She always refers to it as spirit and I mean, so every time you say that, it reminds me.

We love the Long Island Medium. We love it so much. Wait tuson Arizona. Do you love it?

We've been here almost two years. I like it. I'm not sure. The deserts in tenth California. We're in a desert, but we don't feel that we're in the desert right right. It's cool. There's it's actually really cool. There's a huge music seeing here, really interesting quirky art, cool street fairs, and it's got a cool life to it. I'm still not ground.

Just figuring it out.

What do you do like for auditions? Of course you do a remotely. You'll just audition remotely and then if you book something, you'll get to LA and order wherever it's shooting.

Ye.

Yeah, has that been challenging at all?

Or? I mean my careers I remember being my twenties. You guys and meeting much older women and they'd say, I, well, it was here, because after fifty it's all over. And I remember hearing that probably fifty times, and I'm saying, hello, negative, what the heck? I'm a character, right, A character is not gonna work forever. And I swear to god, I was like, did that thought virus infiltrate my subconscious mind could get out? But after fifty ish fifty five ish,

And it sounds like you have a bunch of other stuff that you love doing in your yeah time and energy into Yeah.

I'm just going where you feel like it was like that started naturally close down. I'm open to that, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, so we'll see.

Yeah, you are an inspiration killed this episode and you are so wonderful for taking the time out of your life and bringing out so lucky, So lucky.

I was super shocked and excited when they said you were going to be the guest, because I was like, oh, we're not going to be a ready to get her. And then all of a sudden they were like, Okay, this episode, Cynthia's gonna be there, and I was like what.

I was so happy. We were so happy, thrill and you guys are so great on the show, and your love for each other just just so infectious and it makes people want to come and listen.

Good, oh good, Yeah, I love it.

I always say I did this podcast because it would force Cameron hang out with me, like at least for however many episodes we have a season.

I love it so much.

Like Cynthia Stevenson, you are the greatest. Thank you for doing this. I'm glad you SiO. Thanks for listening. Here we are at season three of Unpacking the Toolbox and next up episode three oh four titled say Hello to My Little Friend.

What from that's from Scarf?

Oh?

Thank you god?

But check it out. So this episode is called Missus Smith goes to Washington. Right. There was a nineteen thirty nine Jimmy Stewart movie called Mister Smith Goes to Washington. So I wonder if they did a play on the.

Idea of that movie. And then they did, right, yeah, so good is it?

Really? I haven't seen it now. I think Claude Rains is in it and and Stuart.

Like I said, amazing and weirdly, here's a fun fact. My uncle I met and worked with Jimmy Stewart for like a decade. He was who was a fundraiser for some I think it was muscular dystrophe or something, and said, Jimmy Stewart was the chose to be the face of that, the celebrity face.

And he said, I'm the biggest Jimmy Stewart fan. I can't, I can't. I love so much much.

Said he's kinder than we could ever imagine.

Really, Oh, I love that.

I love that. Cynthia Stevenson, we love you, rip to your amazing character.

Yes, 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 shows.