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At a time when so much TV is adapted from real-life stories, theres something fascinating aboutHBO MaxsJulia.
But rather than hitting the beats of a strict biopic,Juliamoves slowly.
As a result,Juliais a fuzzier, warmer blend of fact and fiction than most ripped-from-life TV series.
We are making a piece of fiction about a real person, Chris Keyser explains.
But the idea ofJulia Child drag in 1963?
Thats based in fact.
Even more so, the pitch was the invention of the first modern marriage.
We would start with a warm, loving marriage, but it would be the 1950s version of marriage.
Over the course of the season, the marriage wouldevolve into a true partnership.
In Hollywood terms, it wasMrs.
We had a lot of conversations about the womens movement and celebrity and public television and feminism.
Chris and I always talked about this as theAmadeusversion of Julia Childs life.
Everything in this seasoncouldhave happened, and maybe did happen, but didnt necessarily happen.
But it was all inspired by the research we did.
We knew there were going to be tentpole moments to be truthful about.
Those things are all true.
Most of the big moments the public might be able to find in the record, we stuck with.
But Julia wasnt public in the way Elizabeth Taylor was public.
We dont know where she was at every single moment.
There were plenty of spaces in between, and that gave us space to be imaginative.
Its the most loving fable we couldve written; theres no sense of undermining.
But we felt pretty free to say what happened behind closed doors, we could come up with ourselves.
And Julia and Paul were a little bit complicated about their homophobia.
We wanted to lean into that and not shy away from Julias more complicated personality traits and beliefs.
We have a lot of biographies, and you’re able to see some of the contradictions.
Whether Beard took Julia to a drag bar, we dont know.
We were going to hit the tentpole moments, but we also had time to explore between those moments.
The essence of each of those stories was based on something real.
Erica wrote aboutthe bread chapter; Natalia wrote aboutthis trip to Smith.
They all have elements of truth and elements of fantasy.
Theyre brilliant and hilarious these women were so funny.
Keyser:We thought about it in three chapters.
The first chapter, the first three episodes, are really what went into her makingThe French Chef.
It begins with the idea and ends with the first moment.
We know a lot about that but not everything.
We know, for example, that they had to pay for a lot of the food.
The second chapter was about what the growing fame meant to Julia.
Goldfarb:When we did the initial research, there were little moments.
So we invented this idea of going back to Smith.
Erica Lipez:The bread episode is a good example of that.
But a mail sequence from Boston and New York is not good television.
Its really exciting to see them do all that work together and get to the essence of what happened.
Bread was a big part of her life.
Paul was getting to have some ownership over something Julia was doing.
Doing that over a montage rather than a year, thats fun!
But there was so much room to decide who she really was outside of the workplace.
Her brothers are professionals.
So showing some of the talented tenth, as W.E.B.
DuBois would put it that upper-middle-class Black American demographic in the middle of the history of racism in Boston.
Keyser:Alice is not a Black version of Ruth.
She is a composite character based on a number of people at WGBH at the time.
We know Madeline Anderson, the well-known documentarian, was doing work in public television.
We had this conversation about not saying whatisbut what might have been.
That gave us a chance to talk about things we could not have spoken about until season three.
How early did you make the decision to create a composite character?
Did you have versions where Ruth Lockwood was there first?Goldfarb:Fairly early.
By the second draft of the pilot, it became Alice.
Can you talk about the shows tonal balance?
In episode four, after Julia has that walk with Iris, she goes back to her room.
Shes looking at her reflection.
She doesnt even know who she is.
But she calls Paul.
Thats so much of what the shows about: not shying away from the discomfort of being a human.
Its in those moments that we reach out to people who know and love us.
Keyser:This is not a comedy in which life doesnt hurt.
Its a subtle way of saying, Whats my new baby?
What do I create?
Goldfarb:In 1962, 50-year-old women did not think about having children.
But it is still a penny-drop moment for her.
She doesnt feel sorry for herself, she doesnt dwell on it.
Not only that, I want to be more visible than I ever have in my whole life.
I want to feel relevant.
Thats such an inspiring, exciting place to start.
We wanted the story to be about the process rather than an endpoint.
Lipez:And this room isfascinatedwith process.
The references in this writers room are constantly musical references, theater references.
What are the rooms favorite musical references?Bensinger:Oh my God,How to Succeed in Business.
On a daily basis.
Temesgen:Fiddler on the Roof.
Lipez:AlsoMy Fair Lady.
We also likeNoises Off.
Goldfarb:Episode two was inspired byNoises Off.
Keyser:And as Daniel said earlier, we began with theAmadeustheory.
Goldfarb:And Julia is theatrical!
Pauls letters as well.
They were very witty people who loved to amuse each other with language.
How much did you think about viewers watching the show and immediately wanting to look things up?
Im more aware of it now that the shows out in the world.
And Julia did meet Mr. Rogers!
Did it happen that night at that gala?
Keyser:How do you do the other version, really?
We felt pretty free to say this is an act of imagination.
It is a fable.
Its the essence of these people, but thats the fun of it.
Its not trying to replaceMy Life in FranceorThe French Chef in America, which you might certainly read.
I dont think its bad that people check to see whats real and what isnt real.
Fables have a moral lesson attached to them; theyre teaching stories.
Its not the kind of lesson you may be thinking of, but Julias lesson is to embrace life.
Find something you love.
Dont ever let it go.
That is the lesson of the show.
Its because shes a blueprint for how to approach life.
She becomes a fable for us.
In your ideal world, how many years would you be making moreJulia?Bensinger:Many years!
Goldfarb:The French Chefwent off the air in 1973.
By the end of the second season shes genuinely a national figure.
We never want to do flashbacks, but that lore is something we want to examine in the future.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
