Janney talks about who made her fan girl out on set, her love for Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar and Drop Dead Gorgeous, and her genuine reaction to some of her character's pettiest putdowns.
Allison Janney is a legend among legends on Apple TV's Palm Royale -- which boasts a cast so stacked even the Emmy, Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG Award-winning actress has her "fan girl" moments on set.
Janney stars as Evelyn Rollins on the show, which follows Kristen Wiig's Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons as she attempts to weasel her way into Palm Beach high society. The series returns for Season 2 this Wednesday for even more backstabbing, soapy twists and turns, and performances from a who's who of main and guest stars.
In addition to Janney and Wiig, the series also stars Carol Burnett, Laura Dern, Ricky Martin, Kaia Gerber, Josh Lucas, Amber Chardae Robinson, and Mindy Cohn -- with John Stamos and the truly iconic Patti LuPone also joining the fun in Season 2. For Janney, having them all as costars is a gift.
"Well, first of all, Mindy Cohn for The Facts of Life. I watched that as a girl growing up, and that was so fun to see her," Janney told TooFab when asked to name a project of her costars' that touched her. "Obviously, Carol Burnett, grew up watching her and wanting to be her, wanting to be up on that stage with her. 'I can do that, I wanna do that with Carol,' and really pinching myself seeing her."
Janney added that she loves Dern from "every movie ever," before saying she also, "of course," loves Wiig from "everything," pointing to one specific recent cult classic in particular as her fave.
"Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is probably one of my favorite movies ever, it's absolutely genius," she exclaimed, adding that she would absolutely "want to be in the sequel" when TooFab suggested the idea. "Every single person ... there is something that I've seen them in and it just doesn't stop; it’s pretty extraordinary."
When TooFab's reporter Brian Particelli cited Drop Dead Gorgeous as a household favorite of their own, Janney slipped right back into that Minnesota accent with excitement.
'Most smartest,' 'Are we on Cops again?' I love doing that, and I'm so glad that it's become a a cult hit or something, I don't know," she exclaimed. "It's taken people a while to find it, but I love it when people call me out for that, 'Hey, Loretta!'"
Like Loretta, Evelyn on Palm Royale also says some truly out there things -- often making insults and putdowns that are downright lethal, thanks to Janney's pitch perfect delivery. In Season 1 alone, all said in true "bless her heart" fashion, Evenlyn has dropped gems including, "spoiled little s--t," "adulterous titmouse," "murderous twat," and "backwards bumble hick," while also telling others to "eat a dirty sock."
"Evelyn is the best insult-giver ever and the writers have so much fun writing things for me to say," Janney told TooFab. "Sometimes they are just unbelievable tongue twisters and they can't wait to see me say it. It's pretty fun."
"The insults that she throws just make me so happy, because she says them almost as if they were compliments and people will almost say 'Thank you,'" she joked. "Her dialogue is yummy for me and these kinds of women, I just adore them because everything on the surface, nothing underneath is the same. Underneath they're stabbing daggers and on top they are like, 'Oh my gosh, only you could pull that off. You look so lovely.'"
When asked if there was anything she thought they wouldn't get away with saying, Janney thought the F-word was off limits, before remembering, no, she's said that too. "I say everything," she added with a laugh, recalling a time she shouted "F--k!" so loudly that she "killed the sound department."
TooFab also spoke with showrunner Abe Sylvia before the new season, where he, too, was ecstatic about all the talent in front of the camera on the series.
Speaking about the balancing act to make sure they all get their moments to shine, Sylvia said he looks at the cast "probably like a composer looks at one of their symphonies, that each of them brings an energy to it, so you take a step back and you are looking at the big picture."
"It's like when you bring in the trombone, and here come the flutes, and the cymbals with each movement. They each bring their own flare and color to the overall scope of the season," he added. "For me, as a dancer, it is almost like we are writing music and each of them are instruments in this symphony."
He also pointed out how much, this season, viewers will get to see Janney's Evelyn opposite Wiig's Maxine, saying any two-shot of them is just pure "magic." He added, "the chemistry between them is so alive ... I could probably live in that combination of actresses forever."
While fans are only getting the first episode of the season this week, Sylvia also gave us a tease about the finale -- confirming that, once again, there will be a bit of a cliffhanger.
"Oh always, you always want to go out with your finale where the season of the story is settled, but just as in life, just when you think you know things have settled, the thing comes along that you weren't expecting that was there all along that delivers you to the next threads of story," he teased.
See what Janney, Sylvia and the rest of the cast have in store with Palm Royal Season 2 premieres Wednesday, November 12 on Apple TV. New episodes will then drop weekly until the January 14 finale.