S01.E01: Will

[Bort]

Quote

Martha Mitchell struggles to balance the demands of a re-election campaign with that of her marriage.

24 April 2022

[AntFTW]

Good first episode 

[Ms Blue Jay]

A woman lying naked on a bed , completely naked, next to a fully suited man?  🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄.  And the scene went on for so long, slowly ogling every single body part.  I almost turned it off right then and there.  What the fuck was the point of shooting the scene that way?

One thing I liked:  The background music.

Edited April 25, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Angeleyes]

Julia grew up in Georgia. Why is her southern accent so bad? Did real life Martha sound that way? 
 

ETA: Nevermind. I found some footage online of an interview Martha gave and her accent was particularly strong. I’ll give Julia a pass on this one. Lol

Edited April 27, 2022 by Angeleyes

[cameron]

Could not even bring myself to finish the show.  It was awful.  John Dean came off acting life a clown and John Mitchell was right there a close second.

[cinsays]

3 hours ago, cameron said:

Could not even bring myself to finish the show.  It was awful.  John Dean came off acting life a clown and John Mitchell was right there a close second.

Yeah, i watched it but am not finding it interesting, funny, educational, it was just not good at all.  I will try another episode but may not make it thru to the end.

[cameron]

35 minutes ago, cinsays said:

Yeah, i watched it but am not finding it interesting, funny, educational, it was just not good at all.  I will try another episode but may not make it thru to the end.

Going to try the same thing also only because my husband seems to want to watch the show.

[txhorns79]

5 hours ago, cinsays said:

Yeah, i watched it but am not finding it interesting, funny, educational, it was just not good at all.  I will try another episode but may not make it thru to the end.

Me too.  On the positive side, the Mitchell's Watergate apartment was an ode to early 70s chic.  I liked that, and wanted to salute the set designer. 

[Shermie]

Why would they bother to cast Sean Penn in this and then have him spend who knows how long in the makeup chair to make him look completely different? Why not just hire an actor that already looks like a generic old white guy? 

Julia is great, as usual.

[AntFTW]

On 4/28/2022 at 9:43 PM, Shermie said:

Why would they bother to cast Sean Penn in this and then have him spend who knows how long in the makeup chair to make him look completely different? Why not just hire an actor that already looks like a generic old white guy? 

Julia is great, as usual.

I was watching the second episode wondering the same exact thing. I'm pretty sure they could have found a decent actor that's a balding old slightly overweight white guy.

Watching the first episode, it didn't even dawn on me that John Mitchell is played by Sean Penn.

Edited May 1, 2022 by AntFTW

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 4/28/2022 at 9:43 PM, Shermie said:

Why would they bother to cast Sean Penn in this and then have him spend who knows how long in the makeup chair to make him look completely different? Why not just hire an actor that already looks like a generic old white guy? 

Yes!  This is part of a trend that I absolutely hate!   (Colin Farrell in The Batman, Sarah Palin in "Impeachment: American Crime Story".)

Edited May 2, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Shermie]

It’s especially noticeable because they didn’t alter Julia’s looks that much to look like Martha (other than the hair, but that’s normal).

[Ms Blue Jay]

It's like, "Aren't you so excited that we got this actor????"  Presents actor to us, actor looks nothing like we recognize, half the audience doesn't even know the actor is there.

[andromeda331]

Wow, this was bad.

[WatchrTina]

On 4/28/2022 at 8:43 PM, Shermie said:

Why would they bother to cast Sean Penn in this and then have him spend who knows how long in the makeup chair to make him look completely different?

I presume it's because Sean Penn WANTED to disappear into the role.  Some actors like the assistance of heavy makeup as a way to really "sell" the new persona.  Others (I suspect) enjoy the professional challenge of acting in heavy prosthetic makeup.  From what I've heard of Sean Penn, it would not surprise me if the challenge of the transformative makeup was one of the main reasons he was interested in the role.

[Shermie]

I’d be more impressed if he had gained weight and shaved his head to match the character. 

And I actually don’t care why Sean Penn (who I still think of as an asshole) wants a role, my main beef is why he was offered it in the first place rather than to an actor that fit better physically. He’s not a draw for me at all, in fact, I might watch something in spite of his presence. He’s just very unlikable.

[wendyg]

I feel Julia Roberts was miscast.

[QQQQ]

Dan Stevens looks about the same age here as he did a decade ago in Downton Abbey. 

[Aqua]

Wow, I have a totally different reaction. I loved this first episode. I thought Sean Penn was fantastic. He was like a male Meryl Streep, a chameleon! And if I didn't know it was him I wouldn't know it was him.

I don't know much about this era, don't remember these characters much, but I am interested in learning more. The Mitchell marriage is certainly faceted, I'll give you that. I think it's interesting to see a middle-aged couple being played with such a nuanced, multi-layered effect.

This seems to be told from the perspective of John Dean. Did he approve or was he otherwise involved in this production?

P.S. I thought the character who played G. Gordon Liddy was magnificent. What a diabolical character. He tones down his psychopathic affect and acts like a regular guy to get in good with Mitchell in the early part of the episode. I don't remember hearing he was such a nut job. 

[Anela]

Sean Penn is in this? I had no idea.  
I’m going to keep watching, for now.  

[Aqua]

23 minutes ago, Anela said:

Sean Penn is in this? I had no idea.  
I’m going to keep watching, for now.  

He is John Mitchell.

[reggiejax]

On 4/28/2022 at 8:43 PM, Shermie said:

Why would they bother to cast Sean Penn in this and then have him spend who knows how long in the makeup chair to make him look completely different? Why not just hire an actor that already looks like a generic old white guy? 

Julia is great, as usual.

Julia Roberts is in the lead role, and the character of John Mitchell is the male lead opposite her. They're going to want to cast an actor with similar name recognition in the role, and I can't think of any A-lister who could play the role with minimal makeup. John Mitchell did not have movie star looks, to put it mildly. Even character actors would have to ugg it up to play the part. Honestly, the only actor I think who could have done it without too much makeup is sadly no longer with us. That would've been Philip Seymour Hoffman. 

Edited January 1, 2023 by reggiejax

[Aqua]

Also Sean Penn is one who likes to stretch his acting muscles and this was likely a challenging and fulfilling role for him.