“There’s an ambition in ‘Fargo’ in balancing story, theme, character, entertainment and action,” states creator and showrunner Noah Hawley. In our recent webchat he adds, “If you entertain people, they give you permission to do more with theme or character, to do something that seems elevated.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
“Fargo” is the FX anthology series created by Hawley, inspired by the 1996 Joel and Ethan Coen film. Each season takes a darkly comedic look at characters dealing with life and crime in the Midwest. The series’ fifth installment tells the story of Dot, played by Juno Temple, whose normal life is disrupted when her abusive ex-husband discovers her whereabouts.
This year, Hawley is nominated as one of the producers for Best Limited Series at the Emmys. He has also been nominated for writing and directing the premiere episode, “The Tragedy of the Commons.” In the episode, Dot’s involvement in a school board meeting riot inadvertently leads to her being kidnapped and having to escape.
Hawley reveals, “We have this big roadside pullover that leads to a shootout and action sequence. That was about a week of production. But I also love telling the story with the camera and letting characters emerge through behavior and detail. Dot runs into this convenience store with her hands zip tied. She sees some boxes of Bisquick, and pauses because she knows she owes her daughter breakfast. We do that all without saying a word. I’m very proud of the work that went into what’s probably an 18-minute sequence.”
This comes full circle in the finale when Dot’s kidnapper Munch, played by Sam Spruell, returns to collect his debt. Instead he is invited to join the family for dinner and helps make a “literal biscuit of forgiveness” from Bisquick. Hawley reveals, “When I sat down to write that scene, I had expected it to be one final cat and mouse sequence. Maybe there was violence. Then I thought, that’s the scene he wants. What if she rejects his scene? What if she says you have to be in my scene? And he found his way to that forgiveness and the power of it.” He notes, “the way that we’ve grappled with the issues that we, in America, are going through right now with a sense of humor and positive outlook, really revitalized the show for a lot of people.”
Hawley won the limited series Emmy for the first season of the show 10 years ago. Hawley has also created the upcoming series “Alien: Earth” which will serve as a prequel to the iconic 1979 Ridley Scott film. He believes the early Emmy success of “Fargo” helped with this project. He reflects, “It created so much opportunity for me to continue to tell these stories, and to be able to make ‘Legion’ and now ‘Alien.’ I don’t take it for granted that that I have never been pigeonholed in this career and that I get to experiment as a storyteller. That statue bought me that.”
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