The oral history of the ‘Americans’ finale, featuring Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, the creators, and others.
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https://t.co/WCXvshM2zx- The Ringer (@ringer)
May 25, 2023 Since several shows are airing their final episode in the coming week (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Barry, Succession, and allegedly Ted Lasso), The Ringer looking back on the series finales of various shows.
Next week marks five years since the final episode of The Americans aired. Today, they published an oral history of that episode.
• Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys both cried when they (independently) read the script for the first time. Chris Long, who directed the episode, also got so emotional reading the episode's script for the first time while on a plane that a flight attendant brought him tissues.
• Show creators (and finale co-writers) Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg first conceived of the finale plan while filming season 2, but they weren't sure it would hold up at the end of the show's run. When they revisited their original idea, they were shocked to see it would work perfectly.
• Noah Emmerich said the parking garage confrontation between Stan and the three Jenningses was perhaps the most important scene of his entire career. Weisberg noted he and Fields rewrote the scene about 40 times, often reminding each other that if that scene didn't work then the entire episode would fall apart. Emmerich added he'd slipped a disc in his back before filming the scene, making standing for a long period painful, but added the distraction helped him from stressing too much about his performance.
• It took "an act of God" to organize 3/4 Jenningses having their last American meal in a McDonald's, according to Long. Getting McDonald's to let them use their name and logo was a challenge, but the production team eventually won the company over by telling them they were set on McDonald's as a symbol of quintessential Americana. McDonald's then sent their own archivist to bring them the correct food wrappers and more from the 1980s.
• They discuss how "American Pie" was in place for the train scene for a while but they weren't set on it and searched for another song. "With or Without You" was a last minute switch. Emmerich noted that the song is now that scene to him (OP note: same, Noah).
• Weisberg and Fields knew they wanted Paige to leave her parents, but Long was the one who helped them decide it would happen on a train platform. Resetting the train took so long that Rhys had one take for his reaction before they lost the light. Emmerich shared that he gets goosebumps just thinking about "[Elizabeth's] hand on the window" (OP note: again, same Noah). Long said he knew they'd nailed it before he saw the dailies, but felt even more excited once he watched those.
• Long talks about how they filmed footage in Russia for the final sequence. It's now impossible for an American show to film there, of course, but even in 2018 it was difficult for the crew. They went with Costa Ronin, who played Oleg Burov, as he had a Russian passport. A Russian production company aided them as they filmed "on the down-low."
• The final scene with Russell and Rhys, however, was done on a soundstage. Russell was recovering from walking pneumonia when they filmed that scene. She mentioned it was especially strange to end the show since it had changed her life, as she and Rhys became a couple and welcomed a son during its run.
maybe my favourite finale of all time. i can't believe it's been 5 years!
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