With the Apple TV+ seriesThe Morning Shownow streaming in over 100 countries and regions around the world, I recently sat down withdirectorMimi Lederfor an exclusive interview. If you’re not familiar withThe Morning Show, the series is inspired by journalistBrian Stelter’sbook,Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TVand starsJennifer Aniston,Reese WitherspoonandSteve Carell. As the series begins, Aniston and Carell are the hosts of the number one morning news program (thinkGood Morning Americaor theTodayshow) titled The Morning Show. But almost immediately, Carell’s character is fired for sexual misconduct in the workplace and the first two episodes deal with the repercussions of his actions and how Witherspoon’s character enters the picture. The series is incredibly timely to what’s been happening in the real world.The Morning Showis written and executive produced byKerry Ehrin(who also serves as showrunner) and also starsMark Duplass, Billy Crudup, Nestor Carbonell,Karen Pittman,Desean Terry,Gugu Mbatha-Raw,Bel Powley,andJanina Gavankar. For more onThe Morning Showyou canread Adam Chitwood’s revieworwatch the trailer.
During the interview, Mimi Leder talked about what she learned about the making ofThe Morning Showas the series was being filmed, if they had a lot of deleted scenes, if the show changed in the editing room, what it’s like making a show that has a two-season pickup, and what she thinks happened inThe Leftoversseries finale.
Check out what she had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about.
Mimi Leder:
Here’s the official synopsis:
Starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell, “The Morning Show” explores the cutthroat world of morning news and the lives of the people who help America wake up in the morning. Told through the lens of two complicated women working to navigate the minefield of high-octane jobs while facing crises in both their personal and professional lives, “The Morning Show” is an unapologetically candid drama that looks at the power dynamics between women and men, and women and women, in the workplace.
