“I hold myself differently,” reveals Meredith Hagner about acting in “Search Party” on HBO Max. She continues in her exclusive interview with Gold Derby about playing actress Portia Davenport on the millennial satire (watch the video above), “Now, the way that Portia walks — I hunch over like I’m in ‘Lord of the Rings’ like I’m Gollum in real life and Portia does not, so yeah, there’s all this physicality and once you’ve been doing a show for five seasons, it really becomes a part of that character.”
Hagner notes, “She’s so susceptible and she basically is the definition of a follower.” She adds about Portia’s profession, “The character study of an actress is really fun and meta to play when you are an actress and I find there’s so many deeply sad and humiliating elements to this job that I sadly could pull from, especially from my early days, so she’s an amalgamation of a lot of past experiences.” The season that HBO Max released earlier this year allowed Hagner “an opportunity to go to some different, dark places,” as a result of her character “finally reaching that light-burning-out moment.” She explains, “Season four was really a breaking point for Portia.”
Production on the next season is currently underway in New York. Hagner teases, “Wait till you see season five. The scripts are really unbelievable.” Noting that “all of these different tones exist within these scripts” and that “it’s satirical in its broader tone, but they follow no rules,” Hagner recalls, “I was doing a scene the other day because we’re shooting season five and I was like, ‘I feel like I’m in “Handmaid’s Tale” ‘ — and then another scene where there’s farce and this element of screwball comedy.” She concludes, “It’s such an amazing role — really is, so I’m like, ‘What if I just really, really enjoy it’?”
Will Hagner receive a Best Comedy Supporting Actress nomination at the 2021 Emmy Awards? Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track the latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?
