In episode 6 of Shining Girls, Brewer plays Klara, Harpers childhood friend and avant-garde dancer.
Warning: This article contains spoilers aboutShining Girlsepisode 6.
It’s aHandmaid’sTalereunion forElisabeth MossandMadeline Brewerthis week onShining Girls.
Madeline Brewer and Elisabeth Moss on ‘Shining Girls’.Elizabeth Sisson/Apple TV+
Here, the guest star breaks it all down for EW.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So how did this littleHandmaid’s Talereunion come about?
Did Elisabeth Moss call you or was it pure happenstance?
MADELINE BREWER:She called me up in August, and was like, “Are you available?”
And she was like, “I’m so sorry, is this weird?
And then she sends me this dynamite character, which is exactly what I’ve been looking for.
Just something to really sink my teeth into, and so I went to Chicago.
It all worked out, and I had the time of my life in Chicago.
There’s so much you get to do in one episode!
Let’s start with the paint how was the glowing effect of the radium achieved?
There’s that Ben Nye kind of makeup that you’re always seeing on set.
It was mostly that, but the makeup team was just incredible.
So that was an effect that they added later.
[The makeup] took us like three hours.
I think we had to do it maybe three or four times, where I was in full green.
And I loved it.
I loved every minute of it.
I guess I hadn’t gotten it quite out of my hairline or something.
So you know, I was very happy with that.
Your character is supposed to be a WWI-era exotic dancer.
How did you go about prepping for that aspect of the role?
So I went to musical theater school, and I’ve done musical theater my whole life.
So while I’m not a super trained dancer, I have been dancing and moving my whole life.
I know several of them.”
But itwasa challenge, and that’s what I was really, really looking for.
I mean,TheHandmaid’s Taleis very challenging, but I know the character [of Janine] already.
I’m still discovering her, but I do know her innately and deeply.
And this is a whole new ballgame.
That dance is so hard.
You said you know Janine deeply as a character but Klara was new for you.
So, what did you learn about Klara that surprised you?
There are so many things about me and Janine that are very similar.
Klara is my polar opposite.
I mean, I love her and I admire her.
Klara is like, “This is pretty cool.
I think I’m gonna completely embrace this.”
And that’s amazing.
And I so admire that about her.
She loves that that’s where she is from.
And she also wanted to know more about the world.
She accepts all that she is and she still wants more, and I love that about her.
I’ve had Duolingo on my phone for 100 years and that little owl is just harassing me.
But I feel like I have a good grasp of the pronunciation.
Because truth be told, I’m just a mockingbird I was a classical singer for 11 years.
And so I sang a lot in French and worked a lot on pronunciation.
So yeah, I have a little bit of training in that.
Was it hard for you to just hop into that?
What year am I in?"
I guess that’s just my insatiable nature.
I haven’t found anything to really,reallysink my teeth into.
She’s just my little fairy godmother, angel woman, Lizzie is.
[The role of Klara is] exactly what I wanted.
Also, I said this when I got my sides forThe Handmaid’s Talein 2016.
I said, “Oh, anything that Elisabeth Moss touches is gold.
So this will be incredible.”
And that’s how I felt about Klara.
If you could time travel like Klara does, when would you want to go?
Like the Moulin Rouge.
Yes, all of them.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
