'Scandal' stars laud shooting episode
LOS ANGELES – Scandal actors expressed deep pride in last week's very different episode, which veered from the fourth-season ABC drama's usual heightened reality to take on a topic with real-life parallels: a white police officer's killing of an unarmed black man.
In the episode, screened again Sunday before a PaleyFest panel discussion, Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), just back in Washington, D.C., after a more Scandal-like story that featured her kidnapping, auction and last-second rescue, was drawn into the shooting aftermath, first working for the police department and then siding with mostly African-American protesters.
Washington, battling laryngitis, told fans it was "an honor" to be part of the episode, which ran right after the release of a U.S. Department of Justice report castigating police practices in Ferguson, Mo., where an unarmed young black man, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by a police officer in August.
"I was very moved that (executive producer Shonda Rhimes) had a lot of feelings about what's been going on," she said. Responding to an audience member's suggestion that Olivia seemed to connect more strongly to her racial heritage in the episode, she said, "It eclipses any one person's identity because it's about lives mattering, regardless of who" they are.
That said, the episode, titled "The Lawn Chair"and credited to writer Severiano Canales, amounted to "a coming-of-age, coming-of-race story for Olivia," Washington said.
Cast members were "floored" when they first read the "emotionally powerful" episode, said Goldwyn, who plays President Fitzgerald "Fitz" Grant.
"We had no idea that was coming," he said on the pre-panel red carpet, praising "the multifaceted way Shonda enters into this conversation, the unflinching, uncomfortable, complicated way she did it."
The timing, coming the same week as President Obama's speech on racial progress and challenges on the 50th anniversary of the Selma march, was "uncanny," Goldwyn says. "I don't know how (Shonda) does it, except she's just very dialed into the American consciousness and she's deeply passionate about it."
The panel, which included actors Scott Foley, Guillermo Diaz, Darby Stanchfield, Katie Lowes, Bellamy Young, Joshua Malina and Jeff Perry, also focused on Scandal's signature boundary-pushing story arcs, with moderator Jimmy Kimmel adding a helping of humor.
The ABC late-night host said he doesn't like the name "Olitz" to characterize the Olivia-Fitz relationship. " 'Fivia' would be better." He explained the absence of Rhimes, also the executive producer of Grey's Anatomy and How to Get Away with Murder: "Shonda is not here tonight because she's writing 12 shows, probably."
Before the panel, which was presented by The Paley Center for Media, actors talked a bit about upcoming stories and guest stars, including Girls' Lena Dunham.
Perry, who plays presidential chief of staff Cyrus Beene, is looking forward to "a Cyrus-centric episode that takes my character through four different time periods" and features the flashback return of Dan Bucatinsky's James Novak, the deceased husband of Cyrus.
The secret, powerful government agency, B613, will continue to play a role. In this week's episode (Thursday, 9 p.m. ET/PT), Attorney General David Rosen (Malina) gets information about B613 that could topple the White House and Olivia Pope & Associates.
"There is somebody of mysterious identity who throws a wrench in the works in terms of B613 and David is right in the thick of it," Malina said.
Although Jake Ballard (Foley) was in B613, his "main concern is the head space of Olivia. She was taken for a couple of weeks and tortured and she's been through the wringer," Foley said. "Jake's really worried if she's going to be able to get on with her life the way she should."
There are some happier stories. Stanchfield is pleased her character, presidential press secretary Abby Whelan, was able to rescue Olivia. "It was so fun to have it come full circle, because Olivia saved Abby (in the past) and she continues to go to bat for Abby," she said. Going forward, "Abby has some other complicated things in her life that you're about to see."
And Young's first lady Mellie Grant, nurturing her own presidential hopes, seems happier with husband Fitz. "We spend a lot of times at odds and jealous," Young said. "For the marriage to have evolved to a place where they can enjoy companionship and partnership (is) a lot of fun. Mellie has a skip in her step in the White House."