FLACK – Season 1 Key Art | ©2018 Pop TV

In FLACK, on Pop TV Thursday nights, Anna Paquin stars as Robyn. Robyn is an American publicist who has moved to London with her sister. Robyn is much better at handling her clients’ crises than her own life.

Paquin, on the other hand, seems to excel in both work and life. She is also an executive producer on FLACK through CASM Films, the company she is partnered in with her husband Stephen Moyer, as well as Cerise Hallam Larkin and Mark Larkin.

Born in Canada and raised in New Zealand, Paquin became a Supporting Actress Oscar winner at the ripe age of eleven for her work in the film THE PIANO. She subsequently appeared as Rogue in the X-MEN films, starred in MARGARET, and played Sookie Stackhouse for seven seasons on TRUE BLOOD. Other recent television work has included starring roles in SUSANNA, BELLEVUE, and ALIAS GRACE.

Paquin wants people to know how much she appreciates the work of FLACK creator Oliver Lansley. “I just think that it’s really worthy of note how amazing it is to work with a male writer who understands the female experience so incredibly well, like Ollie does, and to be able to write it in such a personal and detailed and beautiful way. And in all of the MeToo of it all, I think sometimes not very much credit is given to men who actually are part of the solution, not the problem. So thank you, Ollie. Thanks for being a feminist. We love you for that. Also, that kind of dialogue is, I feel, excuse the expression, kind of like actor p*rn wet dr*am stuff. It’s exciting, it’s a whole, big, beautifully-worded mouthful that, if you actually memorize correctly, and the punctuation is very specific, and the words are very specific, and this is another thing that I think Ollie deserves endless credit for is, it just flows. And it’s beautiful. And I love stuff like that.”

ASSIGNMENT X: Is there anything that FLACK reminds you of that you like? Is this reminiscent of some dark comedy that you’re fond of?

ANNA PAQUIN: Honestly, no. This is like nothing I’ve ever seen or watched or read. The line between the drama and the comedy, and the pitch-darkness of it, I think it’s its own whole, unique genre [laughs]. And I love it.

AX: Was there a lot of discussion about Robyn’s nationality, whether she should be British, or American, or, as it turns out, an American who’s spent time in Britain?

PAQUIN: There was some discussion about it. Ultimately, we’re wanting to depict a very international world, and the world of p.r., obviously, especially in the Internet age, everything happens across the globe in a second. So you would, if you’re a major firm, have offices in the major cities. So it just felt like a way to make the story accessible to both sides of the pond.

AX: Where was FLACK shot?

PAQUIN: London.

AX: Is shooting in London more fun than shooting in Los Angeles, or any different?

PAQUIN: Well, shooting in any big, busy city has its excitement and its challenges, as far as needing to be able to control your environment you’re shooting in to any degree. I mean, it’s like extreme TV-making. But I love that stuff. I love the pulse of a big city. It’s like shooting in New York or somewhere.

AX: When the Pop TV network became involved with FLACK, did you think, “Oh, that’s great,” or did you think, “What exactly is Pop TV?”

PAQUIN: I think that the small, emerging networks that are willing to let the creative people be creative, and are willing to jump onto your vision, is the most exciting thing as a producer I could ever hope for.

AX: With CASM Films, do you and Stephen Moyer look for projects that one of you can multi-task on in addition to being producers, that either you can act in, he can direct …?

PAQUIN: Not per se. It happens that a lot of material has thirty-something-ish women, or forty-something-ish dudes in it, so there ends up being a lot of material that we are right for, collectively, or one of us. We’re not only seeking to produce things that one of us can be in, or direct, but it certainly helps get things made when you have a major cast piece of the puzzle attached already.

AX: You played Denis O’Hare’s little sister in THE PARTING GLASS, which he wrote, based on his real life, and Stephen Moyer directed. How was that?

PAQUIN: I don’t have a lot of screen time in that. She’s seen only in flashbacks through the other siblings’ remembrances of her. I was primarily producing that, but it was also lovely to get to play with some of those massive heavyweights that we assembled on the cast [which includes Edward Asner, Paul Gross, Rhys Ifans, Melissa Leo, Cynthia Nixon, and O’Hare].

AX: Do you have any other projects going on we should know about?

PAQUIN: I’m working on THE AFFAIR right now. It’s their fifth and final season, and I have a really awesome character arc on it.

AX: And what would you most like people to know about FLACK?

PAQUIN: Don’t worry, you’re not a terrible person if you’re almost passing out from laughing at some of the darkest things you have ever seen. We intended it to be funny, and also it’s a wild ride, so just hang on tight.

This interview was conducted during Pop TV’s party for the Winter 2019 Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour.

Related: FLACK: Creator Oliver Lansley on new dark comedy

Related: THE GIFTED: Stephen Moyer chats about starring THE GIFTED – Season 2 and executive producing FLACK

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Article: FLACK: Star and producer Anna Paquin talks about new dark comedy series – Exclusive Interview

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