Jennifer Aniston and Jon Hamm’s characters shared an intimate — however tasteful — second on The Morning Present.
Throughout the Wednesday, October 11, episode of the Apple TV+ hit, an interview between Alex (Aniston) and Paul (Hamm) erupted right into a match of ardour, ensuing at first of a brand new relationship. Moderately than shoot a “rip-your-clothes-off intercourse scene,” director and govt producer Mimi Leder needed to showcase “a mutual real affection” between the 2.
“It was wanting into one another’s eyes, discovering the tender middle of the scene,” Leder, 71, shared in an interview with Selection printed on Wednesday. “That first, deep emotional connection. Two individuals caught up in simply caught up in one another, taken away by the second.”
The scene was filmed on a closed set. Leder defined that Aniston and Hamm “actually understood the character of the storytelling and had been very a lot part of it,” including, “We needed it to be delicate. We needed it to be attractive. We needed it to be grownup. We needed it to be emotional. They actually let go. They’re nice actors. And there you might have it.”
Some followers might have been stunned by the fast romantic flip of the duo’s relationship, particularly since Paul is making an attempt to purchase The Morning Present’s community. Nevertheless, Leder famous that the seeds of their romance had been planted on the very starting of season 3.
“From the primary second she sees him in Episode 1, when she says, ‘He’s tall,’” Leder advised the outlet. “There’s this interior attraction that she simply buries as a result of she’s centered on her work, and it will get sidelined by the deal. And in Episode 4, in wrangling him again to UBA, I believe there’s some seeds there that lay some pipe for the attraction.”
Alex’s emotions towards Paul additionally modified after he apologized for mistreating a former colleague — known as the “Stanford Pupil” — and making billions off their concepts.
“She sees the truth-teller in him. She sees that this can be a man who’s keen to confess his errors. And it’s very attention-grabbing which you can be this one that can say ‘I’m sorry,’ after which proceed to control and management the state of affairs,” Leder said. “And it’s all actual. It’s all actual. Paul Marks doesn’t assume he’s the villain. And there’s this bodily attraction that takes over. That’s what love does. It makes you loopy.”
On the finish of the day, Alex is “a really highly effective girl, and that pulls very highly effective males,” Leder mentioned. “She wants her equal, and she or he finds it in Paul Marks the best way she discovered it in Mitch Kessler.”
Season 1 of The Morning Present centered round Mitch’s (Steve Carell) firing from the community following a sexual misconduct scandal. Newcomer Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) subsequently stuffed his spot on the daytime broadcast as Alex’s cohost. Mitch later died in season 2 after by chance driving his automobile off a cliff.
New episodes of The Morning Present premiere Wednesdays on Apple TV+.