Hi Gasmii, season two of The Riches starts tonight, March 18th at 10PM PT/ET on FX, and I had the opportunity to catch up with Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard talking about this upcoming season. Enjoy!
Nads: Since your season was cut short due to the strike, did that mess up this upcoming season??
Eddie: Well, obviously, it's seven episodes because of the strike. I think the writers were obviously aware of this beforehand, and so we built a sort of cliffhanger halfway through the season. So it really didn't hurt us in any way. I think they're seven very strong episodes. The first season, if you watched it all the way through the tone does move around somewhat. The second season, we just sort of knew where we were going, we locked down, we got on the railway lines, and we just went full steam ahead. So I think it makes it like a tighter punch, and we're coming out now. It's a great time to come out, because there's a lot of stuff normally out on television, not all of it is back on television. So we're very happy to come out, do seven, and give it a big smack in the face.
Minnie: Yes, I agree with that. It's true. Everybody got hammered by the strike. And whilst we all support the writers, I would have loved to have done a full season. I don't think the show suffered. I think it's going to leave the audience wanting more, which is a really good way to end a season at all, and the addition of Jared Harris to our cast I think has added a kind of weight and a danger that's really fantastic.
Nads: What's going to be the tone of Season 2??
Eddie: It's somewhat darker. Some of the episodes in the first season were slightly funnier, and they're not, the funny comes out at very dry and bizarre circumstances in this season. It's a drama with some quirky things going on in it. It's just very sure and it's dark and compelling, and it's a train ride. So, yes, I loved that, and I think Minnie did as well.
Nads: Since your season was cut so short, will there be a Season 3 quickly following?
Eddie: That's an FX kind of question really.
Minnie: Yes.
Eddie: The network have their decisions based upon, they talk to the Oracle in Greece, and ...
Minnie: Turkey, ...
Eddie: Yes.
Minnie: ... we might get picked up, we might not.
Eddie: John Landgraf is very passionate about this, and so we're very happy to be at FX. But they've obviously got things to bear in mind, but from our point of view we're going on.
Minnie: Abso-bloody-lutely. I mean, if it were just up to us and Dmitry Lipkin we'd be working every day of the year.
Nads: How will the relationship between Wayne and Dahlia evolve in Season 2?
Eddie: Well at the moment it's heading towards a sort of train wreck, and we won't wreck the train. I've always thought that their ambition is similar, because they're quite different people, but they've got this ambition thing. They kind of want it all and in different ways. And I think that's going to keep them together, and there's a love that's underneath it. They're both lost children as well, so that ...
Minnie: Yes, yes very much. They've been so much a unit and suddenly they're getting a taste of what it is to be, to exist separate from this nucleus. And whilst that's obviously an integral part of being a human being, it is definitely what they discover about each other stuff to tear them apart. So it's kind of interesting. It's like they're choosing the individual over the whole in this season. They're choosing to kind of explore their own territory and believe that they are right, you know. What's that great thing about, I think it was my mom who said that great thing, she's like, "In a relationship, what do you want to do, do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?"
Eddie: I think we're trying to be right.
Minnie: And we're trying to be right, exactly.
Eddie: We're trying to be right at this point.
Nads: Eddie, let's talk comedy. I'm a huge fan of your stand-up. Are your comedy fans shocked by your character? Did they expect something when you came out with this series, and then like are they like "Wow, what's this character you're playing?" And, Do they always expect you to be funny?