By Deborah McCormick
At the helm of one of the hottest dramas in the world, Bruce Miller gets his feelings hurt when fans don’t like June’s [Elisabeth Moss] “anti-hero” decisions. But know this: it’s not going to change anything. He’s mirroring author Margaret Atwood’s brilliant storytelling to shock, awe and provoke conversation.
We sat down with Bruce Miller about virtually attending Australia’s Screen Forever, and what’s in store for season four of the show.
What will you be discussing at Screen Forever?
“Well, I’m finally able to talk about season four. Another thing I’d like to talk about is starting and stopping in the middle of the pandemic and how that affected storytelling on a show that’s supposed to take place not now, but in a version of now. And so, all of that stuff is very interesting, I hope, for the audience – both the people in and out of the industry. If you’re an audience member, how is this going to affect what I’m seeing? How is it going to be different? It’s going to be interesting. Some of it won’t be different and you won’t notice. For creators, what are you going to look at in terms of projects to sell? How do you decide which one to go out with for next year based on what we’re able to make now and how we’re able to do it?
“There are so many interesting things that have changed since last March. We were two weeks into production and all of a sudden, we had to pull the plug. And it was shocking, like jumping into cold water.”
So, season four is rolling again?
“We are rolling again. We were able to come back in Toronto and it’s been just heroic on everyone, from the people at Hulu and MGM, to the people in the paint department and the office here in L.A. The crap that they have to go through to make this show at such a level of disorder and discomfort – they are heroic. I can’t say enough about them. I’ve had to do my job in a very weird way, which is mostly remote, because I am not essential on set. My big fat brain can go via a picture, but the others have been crucial, and they’ve been out in the cold and working very, very hard. And it looks beautiful.”
Do you have a release date?
“I don’t know when we’ll wrap, only because I want to [knock on wood] not spit in the eye of a pandemic. So, we’re going to take it slowly and safely, but I think we’ll probably be on the air by June.”
Some fans were angered in season three.
“You could say that’s the story of my life.”
Does fan backlash keep you up at night?
“I’m sure it affects the direction of the show, even though I would say it doesn’t consciously. The honest answer is, I don’t really let it change the way I make the show. It just hurts my feelings. Seriously, I try not to let it steer what I’m doing because you just try to make a good show – what you think is good and interesting and cool and just try not to blow it beyond that. I mean, there are a zillion people out there saying you’re a genius, too. Don’t listen to them either. You just shut up and make your TV show. But when they feel like I screwed them or I made a mistake or something, I didn’t do that. Almost everything I do on the show is on purpose. So, if you don’t like something it isn’t a mistake. It was really meant for you to hate.”
How do you maintain the emotional stamina of the work?
“It’s hard to imagine how different it is on the set from how the show feels. It’s a very warm, professional, funny, casual, non-high stress set. We have a no asshole policy and it really does work. We also have wonderful actors and directors. We don’t tolerate any BS. There’s a certain level of fear and nervousness that people have coming into a show, and so we try to make it a very comfortable environment. And that really comes from Elisabeth Moss and Reed Morano. Reed directed the first three episodes the first year. It was an environment I wanted to encourage, but those two women really set the stage for respect and a comfortable workplace. Elisabeth Moss is this funny, casual person, except for those eight seconds that she’s on camera. Yvonne Strahovski is the most wonderful, bawdy, big spirit, loud person in the universe, except when she’s Serena. So, it’s all the other time that they get their nastiness out.”
How long will the show run?
“I’m thrilled to keep following June as long as she wants to go. It’s fascinating, everywhere she goes, whether she ends up somewhere in Gilead or the Republic of Texas or, on a boat in the ocean or in Canada or on Mars or wherever, I’ll follow her because her story, The Handmaid’s Tale is interesting. I’m happy to keep going with her as long as the people in charge will let me.”
How does one decide when a show has run its course?
“As long as she is a handmaid, we will cover her. The moment she stops being a handmaid, either physically or psychologically, I’ll stop. She’s been a lot of other things in the course of the time. This is that time of her life. And maybe she’s going to be a handmaid til the day she dies. But that’s what I feel – as long as it’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, I want to stay with it. That’s the life of the show.”
Bruce Miller will be speaking at the 2021 Screen Forever Conference, February 16-18, 2021
