Glamour, secrets and high society
The desire to fit in and be accepted is something everyone can relate to.
“I think everywhere, every day, people strive to be accepted, to belong, to want to be validated in some way. I think that’s just the way our society seems to work,” says American actress Allison Janney, 64, best known for The West Wing and films including I, Tonya and The Help.
“Unfortunately, we all want to be a member of a club that doesn’t want us sometimes. And of course, the question is, how much you’re willing to sacrifice of yourself to be included in a place that you want to belong to?”
It’s a question that’s explored in new 10-part Apple TV+ series Palm Royale – and if you’ve been missing White Lotus and longing for another opulent, sun and scandaldrenched series to get into, it might be just what you’ve been waiting for.
Set in 1969 Palm Springs, it’s as enticing stylistically (think Slim Aarons-inspired glamour and the sort of midcentury interiors that make you want to blow your life savings on velvet armchairs and plush carpets) as it is for its stellar cast.
Bridesmaids’ Kristen Wiig and Big Little Lies actor and Oscar-winner Laura Dern lead the line-up, along with Janney and Leslie Bibb (Iron Man, Miss Nobody) among others. Puerto Rican pop singer Ricky Martin also features, while Hollywood legend (and Laura Dern’s father) Bruce Dern, 87, and comedy icon Carol Burnett, 90, guest star.
Loosely based on the 2018 novel Mr And Mrs American Pie by Juliet McDaniel, it’s written, executive produced and showrun by Abe Sylvia and follows Maxine Simmons (Wiig) as she sets out to break into Palm Beach’s most elite social circles.
Being accepted into this glitzy, wealthy fold, however, requires a certain amount of fakery and embellishment. But Maxine is determined, and she’s not the only one with an agenda and secrets.
For Dern, 57, who won best supporting actress at the 2020 Oscars for her portrayal of a divorce lawyer in Marriage Story – and was also a producer on Palm Royale, along with Wiig – there’s a lot to unravel with these themes.
“As producers, when we read the book, that is the very theme that so interested us. To create this delicious and impossible world of complicated people, who try to belong to what they think matters most, and it’s the antithesis of what matters.”
Palm Royale premieres on Apple TV+ on Wednesday