Keri Russell, literally acting as U.S. ambassador, was deftly balancing yet another diplomatic crisis, in a rented manor, with prop champagne. And the plot, while plausible, was scripted. Asked whether it was over-glamourized, Russell replied, “The diplomatic world? Well, yeah, it’s TV! You’ve got to over-glamorize it! Everything takes so long!“
But “The Diplomat” moves. In its first season, Russell’s character, Kate Wyler, was thrown into her role of United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (no pesky Senate confirmation required), and literally tussles with her opinionated former ambassador-husband (played by Rufus Sewell). The storyline parallels current events, including Iran and a resurgent Russia.
“It’s just a world that we kind of don’t know that much about, which is really interesting,” Russell said. “I think the State Department, in general, they’re doing their job well when we don’t hear about them. It’s fun to get to peer a little bit behind the curtain.”
“Sunday Morning” got to peer behind the curtain of this hit Netflix show while they were shooting Season 2, to be released later this month. In a grand room, by a table prepared for a feast, were temporary office of series creator Debora Cahn. While filming commenced, she kept taking notes. “Reminding myself to, in future scripts, follow up on something that’s planted here,” she said.
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The writer-producer has built a career making the politics, dealmaking and diplomacy of Washington sexy for TV audiences – in the CIA drama “Homeland,” and before that, the White House, with “The West Wing.”
“I was sort of raised on ‘The West Wing’ as a writer,” Cahn said, “and loved that there was a way to talk about things that mattered in the world, but without making it feel sort of preachy or expositional. I thought that was just an incredible magic trick, and I really wanted to do the foreign policy version of that.”
Doane asked, “Will you open the newspaper now and say, ‘Ooh, this could be a good storyline for ‘The Diplomat’?”
“Every single day,” Cahn replied.
Asked to react to criticism that “The Diplomat” has over-glamorized the workings of the State Department, Cahn said , “I’m okay with that. They could use a little glamorizing! I mean, they work really hard and they do good stuff – and absolutely nobody has any idea what they do.”
Russell became familiar to TV audiences in the title role of “Felicity,” a drama about college life. More recently, in the thriller “The Americans,” she played a Russian spy. “‘The Americans’ was so, like, stylized in a way, or at least my character was,” she said. “It was all, like, mood and vibe, kind of. And this is much more ‘Fraggle Rock’ – I’m always, like, spazzing out and saying things a million miles a minute and all of that. It is such a different gear, and it’s such a fun different gear to play.
“The pace is fast. I think the diplomatic nature of the dialog is muscular and quick and, you know, fun, if you can get it!”
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Jane Hartley, the real U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, says Russell is “absolutely perfect” in the role.
“One of the things I love about the show is, one, it is a female ambassador to the U.K., and I am the second female ambassador to the U.K. – two in 200 years,” Hartley said.
Doane asked, “It must be interesting to have a spotlight shone on what you do?”
“You know, when I heard about it, first, I was worried,” Hartley said. “I wanted to make sure that it got the substance right, and I think they do.”
She admits that she had been slightly involved: “They’ve checked with me on things,” she said. “If you come up to my office on most days, it’s pretty frenetic. We’re pretty busy. Phones are ringing, people are running, papers are being shoved. And if you watch your show, it’s the same thing. So, they get the intensity right.”
Asked what she had learned from the real-life diplomats, Russell said, “They’re kind of unflappable, and I think that’s what you have to be. You have to be really good in crisis, and know how to manage many different types of people. And I think Jane really has that.”
The ambassador took “Sunday Morning” around the real Winfield House (the official residence of the U.S. ambassador in London’s Regent’s Park), and told us there is one problem: Some visitors to the residence who’ve seen the show are expecting something more familiar. “They’ll walk in, and I can see them looking around and looking around, and I can see them thinking, Well, this isn’t how it is on this show!” Hartley said.
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Hartley says folks in the foreign service are definitely watching, and she’s not the only one wondering if this TV show might spark interest in the next generation of diplomats. “You never know what’s going to touch people,” she said.
Russell added: “It’s like a little look-in, and maybe it’ll get, I don’t know if the smart kids at school go, Oh, I’d like to do that. That’s what I think it could be a little eye-opening. Like ‘Felicity’ recruited kids for NYU, maybe this will recruit diplomats to work in the State Department.”
To watch a trailer for Season 2 of “The Diplomat” click on the video player below:
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Story produced by Erin Lyall. Editor: Brian Robbins.