Collider got the chance to speak to Pompeo and Blue about the series.
COLLIDER: First of all, congratulations on this show.
Why did this project feel like the perfect thing to follow that up with?
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And how do you feel like your two decades on that show prepared you for this?
ELLEN POMPEO: I think that the character ofKristine is someone I could disappear into.
[Shes] completely different in every way different sounding, different looking.
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As an actor, that’s what you hope for, right?
Someone who dresses different, looks different, sounds different, has different emotions.
And then…sorry, what was the second part of your question, Taylor?
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How being on a show for that long prepared you to step into another role.
POMPEO: Oh, girl!
I was so excited!
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It prepares you because you’re like, kindly, let me do something else.
Let’s see if I still have it.
Let’s see if I can.
You absolutely do, let me reassure you.
POMPEO: [Laughing] Yes!
I’m curious how you approached your dynamic.
SARAYU BLUE: That’s part of what was so fun about it.
I had a fun, great conversation with the showrunner early on.
I had a conversation with her, and I said, I’m South Asian.
Let’s make her South Asian.
But let’s make her a South Asian, but she calls herself Val.
There’s already a story that tells.
She’s Vallika, butshe goes by Val to keep it easy to stay in that same American world.
And there’s this moment that you see Kristine doesn’t have money.
That’s the word.
There’s a foundation of, I want to pay you back.
POMPEO: And for Kristine, I think thatVal represents everything she wants to be.
She wants to have money, she wants to be polished and look so successful.
And you know, she’s so glamorous.
They represent, for each other, their best version of what they could be.
POMPEO: If I could only be that.
BLUE:Its, like, projection the whole time.
A few wrong moves, you’re free to really mess them up.
We have so much responsibility.
Everything we say, everything we do they watch everything, they absorb everything.
That’s why it’s really important to take a stab at keep our kids safe and unharmed.
How did you verify to keep that separate or take care of yourself through filming some of this stuff?
POMPEO: Yeah, it was pretty intense.
And again, I think that I relied heavily on my actors my co-actors.
I remember at the table read, I was just trying not to cry.
There’s so much of, Why did this happen?
It shouldn’t have happened.
I’m a doctor, for Christ’s sake!
So that did help me.
And what do you think the importance of that is?
Because it is, unfortunately, still so rare nowadays.
BLUE: I mean, it’s great.
Shonda taught it to me.
I don’t know that I would have known it without her.
Shonda set the example.
That’s my life that’s our life onGreys is inclusivity and a lot of women everywhere.
I’ve always brought my children.
My daughters have come to set and seen all the female directors and the female camera people and everything.
I’m just, I guess, a good student.
But also listening to people and what’s important to people communicating and listening to people.
We had this great conversation [to Sarayu] I hope its okay if I share.
I dont know which one, so sure.
[Laughs]
POMPEO: Well, about co-stars.
BLUE: Oh, yeah.
I think it’s really important inclusion.
We had disabled actors who were very well supported and cared for.
I don’t want to speak for them.
Ihopethat is true for them that’s what I saw.
It was one of the warmest sets I’ve ever been on, and I consistently told people that.
I was like, What the fuck?
This is fucking great.
I can be like, Hey, can I just have a minute to myself?
Theyd be like, Take 15.
I’d be like, What thefuck?
And that was met with an, Absolutely.
There was no pause.
There’s no hesitation.
There’s an, Oh, of course yeah.
How do we do that?
POMPEO: As you should.
BLUE: But what I appreciate are the environments where it is welcome.
And I can say, wholeheartedly, every single day on the set, I felt valued.
I felt like I was treated as a full cast member not like there was some sort of hierarchy.
Well, on that note, what a great way to end.
POMPEO: Ladies and gentlemen, Sarayu Blue!
Im so inspired being in the room with you two!
New episodes ofGood American Familypremiere every Wednesday on Hulu.
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