GN:
Can you share any memorable behind-the-scenes moments while filming the series?
SP:
Mayor Paul has had some interesting moments on the show. Santa Claus, racy photos blown up into posters, Colonel Mustard with all that facial hair...mayoral campaigns with "Vote for Paul" buttons everywhere. The crew never misses a chance to give me a bit of a hard time with it and I love it. One day, a member of our camera crew wore a giant paddle with my face on it as Mayor Paul, and kept it on for the entire shoot. I'd round a corner and see a man's body with my face sticking up out of his shirt walking towards me. Scared the heck out of me, made us all laugh so hard. BUT, the real magic is in how much we all hang out together off set. Cast and crew. Playing Mafia with the cast and the writers has become a huge thing for us, getting together to watch "Survivor", karaoke out on the town, catching a baseball game with the camera crew, playing basketball regularly with the ADs and PAs, going to a brewery with the sound department. THAT'S where it's at. I LOVE our crew with my whole heart, and really getting to spend time with them, to get to know them away from the madness, that's what it's all about.
GN:
This season we see your character, Mayor Paul Randolph, go through many struggles that he never thought he’d face as a newlywed husband. How do you balance the comedic and dramatic elements in your performance on the show?
SP:
Most of it is just in the writing. As wild as our show can be it still finds an incredible amount of moments to ground itself. With Paul, becoming a new member of the Miller household has really flipped the script on him. When we met Paul he was as comfortable as he could be as a leader in the community of Wellsbury, but as soon as he walked through the entrance of Georgia's home he became the fish out of water in our story in a hurry. He went from single and career-oriented to married and a parent overnight. The awkwardness of him trying to establish relationships with Austin and Ginny while balancing the martial art of staying calm in the midst of the maelstrom that is Georgia Miller really plays well into the comedy. We also get flashes of him fighting for sanity within the madness and him truly wanting to be trusted in a way that he feels he has earned, and those moments can play with both drama and humor. He is a window from the regular world into their craziness, so I just try to be that connection in the most grounded way possible.
GN:
Over the years, what has been your favorite episode or scene to shoot in "Ginny & Georgia" and why?
SP:
I still think the penultimate episode in Season 1, where Paul proposes, is my favorite episode. It was one of the first truly major surprises to come out of Paul, who has proved that Georgia doesn't have a monopoly on them. It's the episode where you get a true sense that Paul sees Georgia as a true force that he wants to partner with. "We can be unstoppable." It also sets up so much impact for the Season 1 finale and beyond, with Cordova and Cynthia picking up more dirt on Georgia, Zion breaking Ginny's heart again, Austin finding the forged letters his Mom has been secretly writing which sets up the Gil storyline going into Season 2...yeah. That's my favorite, I think.
GN:
The show has already been picked up for a fourth season – congratulations! How do you see your character evolving in future seasons?
SP:
I have no clue. In Season 1, Georgia asked Paul what he really wants out of life and his answer was, "To make a difference. To make real change." We've seen him fight his father's advice on politics a bit. We've gotten the sense he wants to switch up how politics is played in this town and beyond. The "Green Gardens" storyline in Season 1 shows he wants to pull Wellsbury into the future but he's not completely sure how. I'm not sure how he can attain those dreams of change going forward with everything that happens in Season 3, though. He's in a dogfight all season long, and in the midst of a battle like that, you lose sight of your long term goals. I hope to see Paul spark that desire in himself once again, and do it with his gut, on his own. I hope we see him really fight. We've heard a lot of how good he was at what he does before Georgia waltzed into his life, I want to see that ability on display.
GN:
How has your experience on "Ginny & Georgia" influenced your approach to acting or storytelling? How has it influenced your hopes for future roles?
SP:
We have a massive cast and a huge array of stories being told in our show at all times. It's kind of similar to "Friday Night Lights" in that regard. When you have this much going on in a show it's easy to get wrapped up in the larger scope of it all. So, I try my hardest to detach from the mountain of stories and just focus on my little moments, focus on the emotional impact of the small moments of Paul's relationships, either at work or in his marriage. The stronger each of the smaller threads are, the greater the overall fabric of the show will be. We have an incredible cast that bring it each and every day, in each of their own threads, and I believe that's what makes our show successful. As far as future roles? I really have to say that playing Paul has given me a bit of a new confidence in myself that I can step forward into the next phase of my career knowing that I belong. When you begin a new chapter of your life you start to doubt if you can leave behind some of your younger instincts and evolve into more mature storytelling, and I had that doubt before playing Paul. He's helped me leave some of that doubt behind.
GN:
What do you think resonates most with viewers about the relationship dynamics between Paul and Georgia?
SP:
Relationships are messy. As you peel back the layers of any new relationship you will find new challenges, new flaws, but also unearth some beautiful things. Some folks have difficulty trusting, some are stubborn, some trust too much and open up too quickly. I really think you've seen that journey with Paul and Georgia. You can feel a power of attraction for someone for many reasons, but that attraction can fade quickly unless you fight for it to continue even after you uncover some of the tough stuff. We've seen Georgia and Paul continue to push and pull each other but keep battling for their partnership and I think some folks can identify with that. There is also the "what could have been" game that a lot of us like to play. In another world, without their pasts, Georgia and Paul could be a truly unstoppable couple. But in the world of "Ginny & Georgia" there may just be too many hurdles for even them to overcome. That being said...what could have been is a fun game to play, and to see play out on screen.
GN:
Can you share any insights into the collaborative process with your co-stars and the creative team?
SP:
We have been a very insular show, very us against the world, since we started. Our first season, we were a tiny, independent show that was looking for any kind of place within the big world of Netflix. We were really left to ourselves quite a bit and we flourished because of it. I have to say this show is perfectly cast, and all of us could tell from the jump that we were all right for our rolls. That created trust. We counted on each other, from the top with our creator, all the way down. The writer's doors were always open, not just in scene work but in the big character shaping conversations, and the cast always showed up ready to support one another. Season 2 was shot in the height of a pandemic and once again, we circled the wagons. I'm really proud of how much of a two way street the creative process is on this show. We push, we play, we explore, we try scenes in so many different fashions to find the one that fits, the one that surprises. In season 3 we started to feel the pressure of being a "hit" show a little bit but we didn't blanche from continuing to work as we always have. I hope the audience can feel that.
GN:
What does ‘goodnight’ mean to you?
SP:
Goodnight means reading a book to my kids, turning out the light, and singing a song to them. It means the big exhale as I sit down to spend some time with my wife after the day is over, knowing that we got through it all together, and knowing we get the privilege of doing it all again the next day.