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Playing a wistful single mother in last year’s indie gem “Janet Planet,” Julianne Nicholson landed some of the best reviews of her career. Then came Hulu’s “Paradise,” the twisty sci-fi whodunit where she shows up as Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond, the wealthy shadow ruler of an underground utopian community and (possibly) a dangerous psychopath. Did she ever ask series creator Dan Fogelman why he thought she’d be perfect for the part?
“He mentioned that he liked the idea of Sinatra having a real humanity to her,” says Nicholson, who in flashbacks is soft and in the story’s present all brittle, escalating fierceness. “In addition to all the villainous respects, it was important to him to have her be a living, breathing woman, wife and mother.”
As it turns out, bringing reality to a role also was what inspired Nicholson’s guest arc on HBO’s “Hacks” as an outsize TikTok personality called Dance Mom.
“They thought that, as big a character as she is, she needed to be grounded in the human experience,” says Nicholson, whose energetic routines were kept secret from everyone except the “Hacks” producers until she performed one for the first time before the cast, crew and a studio audience composed of extras. She brought down the house. “They were catcalling and whistling, and the crew all started doing versions of the dance. It sparked a lot of joy.”
The actors star in Hulu’s “Paradise,” which reunites Brown with “This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman and meditates on climate change and technology.
Dance Mom clearly subscribes to the phrase “Dance like no one is watching.” Were you channeling someone specific?
You can dig around on the internet — Instagram, TikTok — and find versions of this character, people who are doing their dances, selling their products. But I worked with a choreographer twice a week, and we’d work for hours to get it into my brain, make it feel natural. He already had kernels of the big dance. Then every time we’d meet, he’d add a couple of steps, or we’d add together, or we’d just be silly. Then he’d make videos. There were some dances where we went way extreme, one that was super raunchy. And he sent [the video] to [the producers] and they were like, “Um, not the direction [we’re going in].”
Do you have a background in dance?
I’m glad you asked. When I was in high school, I danced at Bill Fowler’s Dance Academy in Medford, Mass. I did that for five years, and I loved it. Tap, jazz. But I stopped when I was, like, 16. So it’s been a minute [laughs].
Because of scheduling, you had to film your three-episode arc in a single week. Sounds like a hectic cardio workout.
I’d be panting at the end, even if it was a 2½-minute dance. Even those little TikToks. I should have known, but I didn’t, how physically demanding it’d be, doing it again and again and again.
Moving on to “Paradise” and Sinatra. Do you think she’s a monster?
I honestly don’t know anymore. Initially, I thought, “No, she’s not. She thinks she’s doing the right thing.” But in Episode 8, you start realizing she’s putting these people in [danger] when they’re building [the bunker]. It’s the class system. [She’s] just being careless about the lives of people who have less. But I swing back and forth. I think both [sides] are right. She is and is not a monster. There’s more to come with her story in the second season, which reveals even more about the end of the world and what she’s trying to put into place.
Did shooting “Paradise” summon up your childhood memories of living off the grid — no running water, no electricity — in rural Massachusetts?
It’s actually crossed my mind. People have asked since the show came out, “What would paradise look [like] to you?” And I went back there to do “Janet Planet” and it felt like paradise to me. I hadn’t been there in 30 years, and I felt like, “Oh, my God! Is this my place?” I don’t feel that in other places. I’ve always been a wanderer, a mover. And when I went back there, I was so peacefully content. Part of it is familiarity. But it’s not just that. I’ve returned to other places before and not had that feeling. But the air, the sky, the farms ... I think I might end up there someday.
Sinatra does some terrible things. Did you ever worry that she wouldn’t last very long?
No. I’ve been doing this for long enough now, if you need to kill me off, it’s all good. I don’t take it personally. There’s going to be another job. It doesn’t start and stop here. They didn’t use to kill off the people we thought were our heroes. But I think that’s changed a lot. For me, the turning point was Sean Bean in “Game of Thrones.” You think he’s going to be your hero throughout the whole thing, and he was killed in the first season. Nothing’s safe.
Your reputation is for being very easy to get along with on set.
I like being on a set. I worked with Willem Dafoe, and he really likes being on a set. Like, [he] leaves his phone in the trailer that’s a car ride away. I never once saw him sit in his actor chair. I’m not like that. But unless it’s a very intense scene, it’s nice to be with the people you’re going to work with. But I’m also happy to go to my trailer if I need to be quiet. Sometimes it’s nice to recharge.
When “Paradise” began production, the writers’ and actors’ strikes had just ended. None of the crew had worked for a year. Could you feel their warm embrace?
Yes! First of all, we shot on the Paramount lot, which was a ghost town. I used to go to Paramount when I was first starting out and auditioning. I also did a television show called “The Others,” which filmed on the lot. I love Paramount. It just feels like history when you walk under that arch. But everybody was just so happy just to be working.
Does “Paradise” seem more frightening now than it was when it was in production?
That wasn’t our intention. Dan had the kernel of the idea of this show before “This Is Us.” We finished filming in July. We didn’t think about the current administration. There was a moment where everyone is like, “Sinatra doesn’t have a title. What’s her role? Can she be in the Oval Office without being an elected official?” And now it’s like, “Apparently, you can.” I expect that’s one of the reasons it’s resonating with people. Since then, the fires happened here. There’s [a] climate crisis to the extreme. And the state of politics at the moment is being run by tech billionaires. It’s just adding a little extra [laughs queasily] heh-heh-heh.
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