Upon meeting Allison Janney and Leslie Bibb, and telling them I write for Town & Country, their immediate reaction is sheer delight. "Oh these ladies should be in Town & Country!" Janney says about their characters on Apple TV+'s newest show, Palm Royale. Bibb chimes in, "They are meant for it—I say we should all be on the cover. All of us on a horse!"
While there's no horse (yet), Palm Royale does feel uniquely within the world of Town & Country. It follows Maxine (Kristen Wiig), a highly ambitious woman aiming to enter the world of Palm Beach high society in 1969, an exclusive clique which was previously ruled over by her husband's comatose relative, Norma (Carol Burnett!). Now, with Norma in a out of the picture, Evelyn (Janney) and Dinah (Bibb) are among the ladies competing for Palm Beach queen bee, but Maxine is determined to make her impact.
Ahead of the premiere, Janney and Bibb chatted with T&C all about what the lavish world of Palm Beach, Slim Aarons, and how they got into the mindset of their characters.
What drew you to these roles in Palm Royale?
Allison Janney: I loved the idea of playing Evelyn. I love playing a woman who's got such huge stakes for her, to hold on to her place in society. And unbelievable vulnerability and weakness underneath her fear—and that dichotomy is really great to play. It's very playable as an actor.
And then on top of that, this time period! The clothes and the hair and everything that was totally in my wheelhouse, something I always wanted to play these kinds of women, these women that live in such a bubble. Their lives are very small, really, when you think about it, but they're very glamorous and they're kind of fun to play, these tragic ladies.
Leslie Bibb: It's similar [for me]; the writing is so funny and the stakes are—to them, they're life and death stakes. Which, when you have stakes that high, there's no middle of the road, there's no tepid.
AJ: That's where the comedy comes from.
LB: I was just interested also in the dynamic between these women, this sisterhood. I come from a group of sisters, so I think it's something that I'm always sort of drawn to. Somebody brought up Popular and I was like, oh yeah, it's kind of the same thing. It was a group of women, [dealing with] social standings and social hierarchy. That is an interesting pool to swim in; there's a lot of different stories to be told.
As the show is set in 1969, what historical references did you look to for your characters?
LB: Both of us [turned to] Slim Aarons. I traveled from New York— these Slim Aarons photography books are not light, but I was bought them all and would lug them around to whatever house I was renting in L.A., and kept them as a quick touchstone. It is, like he said, 'beautiful people doing beautiful things in beautiful places.' But you look at these photographs and they're all perfectly placed, but there's still some sort of fissure; you know, it's covering up something strange and dark and nothing's that perfect. The Slim Aarons world was like a really nice foray into that time. All About Eve was something that I went to, Peyton Place was something I watched—
AJ: I watched Valley of the Dolls!
Were there any real life women who served as your inspirations for Evelyn and Dinah?
LB: I was interested in Jackie Kennedy and Lee Radziwill's relationship. I looked at them but I sort of used as like a diving board. I just read about it and then go to the diving board and start bouncing and let my imagination go and see where it takes me.
AJ: My grandmother was inspiration for me. She's not exactly one of these women, but her sense of style was very much in line with Evelyn's style. She helped inspire me; I loved putting on clothes and thinking of her. She was a lot cooler than Evelyn was; she wore pants a lot, and Evelyn doesn't wear pants. She wore silk cigarette pants and big Pucci blouses and big straw hats with ribbon around and shaker of martinis. She was a fun gal. She was fun and she did some crazy things in her life. I got inspired by her, thinking of her, doing this role.
Was there anything else that helped you channel these women?
LB: Alix [Friedberg], our costume designer. Everything [about] our costumes, down to the underpinnings. We never wore things that were present day; everything from the ground up, it was all 1969. Immediately, you hold your body in a different way. You sit differently, you just hold yourself. We had to change the way we sat because women didn't cross their legs back then. Then you're in these sets that Jon Carlos, our production designer, created and you are transported. It helps you do a little bit of the acting, because you're just living and breathing it.
AJ: I don't think there was one set that I did didn't walk on where I didn't say, 'Can I buy this after the show? Can I have that?' There are so many unbelievable objects he placed everywhere, everything from the smallest little detail
Would you ever want to live in the Palm Beach of 1969?
LB: Oooh, Palm Beach of 1969!
AJ: I wouldn't probably live there. I'd like to be invited to a party there.
LB: What do they call that? Be a snowbird.
AJ: Yeah, be a snowbird. I I would do it for like, a week and a half. I'm a New York City girl. I wanna be in 1969 in New York City.
The first three episodes of Palm Royale are now streaming on Apple TV+. Watch now
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.
