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In Hulu‘s Paradise, Julianne Nicholson plays the mastermind behind the mysterious underground city that saw its president [James Marsden] assassinated in the first episode. By episode 7 that aired on Feb. 25, viewers learned just how far Nicholson’s Sinatra was willing to go to protect her little paradise by holding a figurative gun to the head of Xavier Collins [Sterling K. Brown].
Is Sinatra a straight-up scoundrel? Or is she simply a misunderstood visionary?
Here, Nicholson talks about her character’s evolution on the drama from Dan Fogelman and whether it’s unfair to assume that her intentions are all bad.
DEADLINE Let’s back up for a bit. What was it like when you first received the scripts for Paradise?
JULIANNE NICHOLSON There was definitely a shroud of secrecy around them. I was sent the first four scripts and I was basically hooked on the first episode because of the way it ends. There’s so much more here that you see at first glance. And then I just loved episode two. I’ve never had the opportunity to play such an arc of experience for one character in one episode of television.
DEADLINE How much did the writers and actors strike interrupt production?
The strike ended and then we started. When we first started filming at Paramount , it was a ghost town and it was so depressing and scary, and those of us who were working felt so grateful to be working at all. We were so grateful to be working in Los Angeles. Luckily, by the end of filming, there were more shows there and it was feeling alive again. I remember when I used to go to auditions at Paramount in the nineties and you couldn’t get a parking spot. You’d be driving around looking and you’d be late for your audition, sweating. This time you’d drive up and there would be a hundred parking spots, and I was just like, no, no. I’d rather be looking around for a parking spot than have this be what we’re dealing with right now. I love that Dan wants to continue working in Los Angeles. Even though it costs more, it’s a big deal. It’s important to keep production in L.A.
DEADLINE Did you wonder about how this show would land given today’s political climate?
NICHOLSON No, not really. I think I heard Dan say he started thinking about this story idea before This is Us. So it’s been kicking around in his imagination for many, many years. When we were making it, we never talked about politics. It was pure imagination, pure thriller, and just about getting everybody on board. For me, it’s more about the climate crisis and how things continue to erupt everywhere around us. It does shine a light on that and we push it to the worst-case scenario.
DEADLINE Why was it important to show Sinatra’s backstory with your dead son? Would your decisions have been different toward the underground city had he lived?
NICHOLSON Yes. I mean, I think him dying was the catalyst for the whole thing because now her need to protect what she still has — her daughter and her husband — supersedes everything else. So it starts her thinking as she’s looking around her, as she’s going to these meetings, as she’s seeing what’s happening in the world around her … it pushes her to want to create this other world.
DEADLINE So Sinatra is to blame for creating this whole underground city.
NICHOLSON She started the idea. She goes to the Davos-esque place, and then she starts pulling people together and meets Gabriela (Sarah Shahi), the therapist. She’s the person who starts investigating, how can we do this? But she doesn’t have a title, for instance.
DEADLINE Did Dan explain why he chose to call you Sinatra?
NICHOLSON She’s just kind of the boss. It started from Kane Bradford [Gerald McRaney], because we have a relationship and he’s had his fingers in politics for decades. His dad was probably in politics, and that’s why Cal [James Marsden] is now the president. He’s the one who gives Sinatra her nickname, and so it starts there, like a friendship, a relationship. They were in business together and now he’s one of the most powerful men. His son is now the president, so that was her actual entry into the world.
DEADLINE Because you made so much freaking money from your tech company, can we assume that you helped to finance the build of this city?
NICHOLAS Yes, definitely.
DEADLINE But that hasn’t necessarily been established, right? How it was financed?
NICHOLSON It It’s not revealed in the show, no. But her money was definitely spent.
DEADLINE Did your character ever really like the president?
NICHOLSON I feel like there was a time where she appreciated him. I feel like there’s been other times where she tolerates him. I have a feeling she’s probably enjoyed him once or twice along the way, but then at the end, she has no time for him. Basically. It’s like, if you’re not on my team, get out of the way.
DEADLINE At the end of episode seven, we hear you pose the question, ‘am I a monster’? So when you were talking to Dan about the character, did he suggest that you may, indeed, be a monster?
NICHOLSON His thing was always how we’re not going to have any good guys or bad guys. We’re going to have people who make bad decisions, and also it’s a TV show, it’s entertainment, so we’re going to push it as far as we can within the world of believability. But it’s still going to be juicy, something fun to watch. I think that’s why he was so smart to put Sinatra’s episode very early on in the season because in that way, you feel like as an audience member, you get to know her a little bit more and hopefully have a little bit more of an understanding of the place where these decisions come from.
NICHOLSON Did Dan mean to have people misunderstand your character’s intentions?
NICHOLSON I never thought that he was worrying about anyone’s understanding of Sinatra. She just plays by her own rules. She literally thinks she’s doing the right thing, and she didn’t really care what other people thought about it.
DEADLINE I guess what I’m looking for is whether we’re going to find out that maybe Sinatra is not such a bad gal by episode eight, after all.
NICHOLSON Are you looking for her heart of gold? I don’t know that you’re going to find that. The cliffhanger that we leave you with in episode eight will blow your mind. There’s so much more to discover.
The season one finale of Paradise streams March 4 on Hulu. The series has already been renewed for a second season by Hulu.
