Greg Endries
Greg Endries
Greg Endries
Fill 1
Fill 1
June 21, 2016
Features

The Younger Games

Creator Darren Star fosters star Sutton Foster’s ageless adventures among millennials.

Lisa Rosen

The fountain of youth has been found, and it’s on TV Land. Or if not youth, exactly, then at least youthiness.

In its hit comedy, Younger, Sutton Foster — leading lady of Broadway and TV's now departed Bunheads — stars as Liza, a 40-year-old from suburban New Jersey who left publishing years back to raise her daughter.

Newly divorced and in need of work, she pretends to be 26 to land an assistant's job in the only industry she knows. While passing, she lands a hot young boyfriend (Josh, played by Nico Tortorella) in the process.

Created, executive-produced and written by Darren Star (Sex and the City, Beverly Hills 90210) and based on the novel Younger by Pamela Redmond Satran, the show balances intergenerational humor, romance, friendship and workplace high jinks

It also features a stellar cast: Debi Mazar plays Liza's best friend, Maggie, who helps with the disguise; Hilary Duff is Kelsey, an ambitious young work friend, and Miriam Shor is Diana, Liza's devilish boss. But the big lie could never have worked without Foster's appeal — or her fresh face. As Star says, "Sutton is the secret weapon."

As season two opened earlier this year, Josh knew the truth, but everyone else was still in the dark. TV Land hasn't kept the show in suspense, though — even before the second season began airing, the network re-upped it for a third.

How long will the lies continue? Emmy's Lisa Rosen spoke to Foster just before she left for Australia, and to Star — whose new overall deal with TV Land calls for yet another series — upon his return from a trip to Europe.

Darren, what drew you to the material?

Star: I came across the book a number of years ago, and I loved the premise of a woman having to lie about her age to get back in the workplace. I have a lot of friends who took time off from work, dropped out to raise kids and were older and wiser, but found it really tough going to get back in — mainly in the entertainment business.

When it came time to write the pilot, there was a whole other dimension to it: this generation gap, 20-somethings versus people in their 40s, which has become so much more acute due to the rise of social media and the skills the 20-somethings have navigating that world.

Suddenly, being younger has so much currency. The idea of having to jump back into those waters after taking 10, 12 years off is even more daunting.

I certainly can get in the head of a character who's trying to navigate the world of social media, because that's what I'm doing all the time. I'm also thinking about the fact that there's a generation behind me thinking differently. So I'm able to really project myself into Liza's shoes.

Sutton, what do you like most about Younger?

Foster: There's a sweetness to it. All the characters have massive hearts. Even Diana the villain, the boss, you root for. And it's a romantic comedy — it's a rom-com on TV. [In season two] there's a little bit of a love triangle. It pulls at your heartstrings. You get to watch a character flail around a little bit. It's unlike anything else that's out there.

That love triangle is legit. Josh and Charles [Peter Hermann, who plays her company's publisher] are both fantastic options.

Foster: Right! I love that, too. They're both great guys. So even as Liza, she has mixed feelings. She hasn't acted on the chemistry with Charles, although there's an undeniable chemistry there. This season we spent a lot of time with Josh, and it's very complicated, but he becomes a really viable candidate, as opposed to just being a lark.

He's a real suitor. That's all Darren.

How so?

Foster: He's a master at storytelling, and a master of the long game. What's great is that he knows how to create real characters that people can relate to, and he keeps you tuning back in to figure out what the hell's going to happen.

The show isn't just about the chance to recapture your youth. It's also about the chance to try the road you didn't take the first time around. You get to hit reset.

Star: Absolutely. And one thing I was very attracted to about the book was that it wasn't about time travel. There was no magical element to it.

Foster: And in a weird way, I think the show is becoming less and less about the age conceit, and more about the relationship between these women, and people just relating to each other, whatever their ages. That's really smart, too.

And that makes me feel better about my job security. Liza was still 26 this season. I'm like, "You gotta get her up at least one year!"

As much as it's a rom-com, it's hard to find a show with more female friendships.

Foster: Females supporting one another, rooting for each other in the workplace, out of the workplace — I think that's nice to see. Nobody's blowing each other up, or stabbing each other in the back. They're actually trying to support each other. I think that's important.

As long as we're talking about female friendships... Darren, you're writing about a group of hot women in Manhattan. How did you feel about revisiting that territory?

Star: When I wrote Sex and the City I was in my 30s, and I understood what it was like with those relationships. I understood that world pretty intimately.

Now I understand what it feels like to experience the generation gap. I'm guilty of liking to film in New York, and I love doing shows about women. Growing up, those were my favorite shows, like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, all those classic MTM shows. I'm influenced by them, in a way. This isn't about repeating yourself. It's a different story.

There's another element you brought from Sex and the City: designer Patricia Field, who is consulting on the costumes on Younger.

Star: Of course. I love her. She inspires me. I hope I inspire her. It's just a fun, rewarding partnership. I don't pretend to be an expert in how to dress these women, but she is, I'm lucky to have her. Another thing about her is that she's ageless. She's a walking example of what the show is.

Foster: I've never met anybody like her in my entire life. Patricia has such a great sense of humor about Liza's wardrobe. Liza is trying to fit into this world, and the clothes have a sense of that.

It's great to be able to play a character who's playing a character. So it's really been fun. It's gotten a little more sophisticated this season, as Liza's becoming more confident, and finding her own self more. It's reflected in the storytelling. These are people who know what they're doing.

How do the millennials on the set differ from the more seasoned actors?

Foster: We have a lot of mature millennials. Hilary's 28, but she's a mom, which automatically makes you more mature. She's got that up on me. I'm not a mother; I'm a mom to my dog. She's also been working in this industry for a long time. Nico is a real mature guy. He's 27.

What I find really cool about this young generation is their sense of individuality and singularity. There's this openness to anything.

Star: Since Hilary's a mom with a lot of responsibility, I think she's getting to experience her 20s vicariously through this character. She has fun doing that.

Nico is a millennial through and through. I did love when they both showed up with green hair last year at the premiere, unbeknownst to each other. They both have unbelievable social media presences, so they're showing their millennial stripes there — Nico on Instagram and Hilary on Twitter.

Are they educating you on all things 26-ish?

Foster: There definitely is a generation gap, but I don't think of my coworkers as kids. They truly are my peers, and I look up to them quite a bit. And it's nice to stay current on what the hell they are up to! Sometimes I feel like I've been under a rock the last 10 years.

Star: It's not my world, and I love living through our 20-something writers, who are hilarious.

Darren, are you educating them on all things 50-ish?

Star: I don't know. I'm sure my wine knowledge is better than theirs.

Sutton, what kind of input did you have into the character as Darren was developing the show?

Foster: I just focus on bringing as much of myself to Liza and keeping her truthful and earnest — while telling this lie. It's really about being truthful, all of it. As much as I can.

Darren, same question — what kind of input did Sutton have on Liza?

Star: She embodied the physicality of the character. Because she’s a dancer she physically carries herself so differently between the two ages, an inside-out transformation. It's not just about the clothes — it's how she internalizes being younger.

Darren, do you have to restrain the urge to add a musical number?

Star: Yeah, but I kind of promised her I wouldn't. She has plenty of opportunities to do that on stage. This is the place for her to show a whole different side of herself. Mary Tyler Moore is another great example. Great Broadway star, but she'd never sing or dance on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

The show is pretty racy for TV Land....

Star: That's sort of the basic-cable landscape. People are consuming everything on so many different platforms. They're not making the distinction between what's on TV Land, what's on Amazon — they're just looking at the show.

We're out to tell fun, truthful stories. We don't censor ourselves, but we're not out to push the envelope either, because I feel like the envelope's been pushed.

Foster: I feel really lucky that I have a great relationship with Nico and Peter. We all get along so well. Nico and I shot a scene in a bathtub in the first season, and we were like, "Oh, just another Thursday, getting in a tub with my coworker." And saying to my husband, "I'm off to take a bath with my costar."

It's very strange what we get to do, but it's also fun. There are worse things.

Describe Liza's evolution from the first season to the second.

Foster: Liza's becoming more comfortable in her skin, in a weird way. She's having more fun, even though it's bringing up enormous complications. And she has a real ethical dilemma, especially with her friendship with Kelsey, Hilary Duff's character — keeping [the secret] from her. That's becoming more difficult.

As far as her relationship with Josh, this is a whole second chance at her life. Her life was going on this other path, and now she's reinventing herself.

There's a scene where Debi Mazar's character is like, "You're way more authentic now than you were when you were living your life in New Jersey. This makes more sense than that." Even though she has an ethical dilemma, in many ways she is living more authentically.

The real conflict now is that Josh knows, but their friends don't. He's feeling torn, and he doesn't like lying, and he doesn't quite understand. Of course, it also affects their relationship and whether it's based on something that's fun, or if it's got something that's got real legs and real possibilities.

How do you plan to keep the concept going over a number of seasons?

Star: I like the fact that she's a little bit of an anti-hero whose lies keep digging her deeper. Sutton brings this incredible warm, sunny quality, but Liza's not a completely ethical character, though you still love her. That makes for more complicated, fun storytelling. With any lie, the longer you sustain it, the harder it is to get out of it.

At the same time, TV series are all about characters. Look at Beverly Hills 90210. In the second season, when the Fox executive said, "What about doing a college spinoff?" I said, "They will eventually be going to college."

It was the first time that everybody thought, "Wow, these are evolving characters. It's not a show that's going to be about high school for six years."

We've got to be true to the character, but I wouldn't want to be completely limited by the premise. Ultimately, the show is about intergenerational female friendships, and the idea that you don't have to be divided by your age.

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