PaleyFest 2014: ‘Veep’ Cast & Producer Interviews

Matt Walsh 

 
Matt Walsh plays Mike McLintock, Selina’s director of communications. Taking the leap from Vice President to the big campaign is sure to cause some problems for him. 
 
CraveOnline: What’s coming up for the staff in season three?
 
Matt Walsh: The third season is all about running for president. It’s all about her marketing herself to see what America wants and willing to do that, and it’s all about advisors mucking up the works and threatening her regular crew with being fired.
 
How does Mike respond to that?
 
Matt Walsh: Mike fortunately has a little better personal life lately, so he’s okay, but towards the end he’s threatened.  He’s completely threatened because I don’t know what he would do without Selina.
 
What was your favorite Mike moment from the first two seasons?
 
Matt Walsh: That’s a good question. I think I like trying to cheer her up when she’s crying. I always enjoy those moments because Mike is not an emotionally intelligent human being, so I like him trying to go in as therapist and failing. 

Kevin Dunn

 
You’ve seen Kevin Dunn in everything from Hot Shots! to Transformers. He’s even on two HBO shows concurrently, with “Veep” and “True Detective.” Season three promises a big shakeup for his Veep character, Ben Caffrey.
 
CraveOnline: What does season three have in store for Ben?
 
Kevin Dunn: Well, Ben is the President’s chief of staff and the president’s announced he’s not going to run, so Ben is in scramble mode. He’s looking for a place to work. He’s a political junkie and there’s a finite end for him so he has to ingratiate himself and try to find another job. 
 
Would he want to be Selina’s chief of staff?
 
Kevin Dunn: Certainly, I think he certainly would.
 
Was was your favorite Ben moment from season two?
 
Kevin Dunn: It’s so hard to say. Favorite moments are very hard. I love, just because it was the first episode that I did and it was really a great intro to Ben’s character when he’s just totally freaked out in the closet hiding and Selina finds him. That’s still one of my favorite moments of all the “Veep”s. 
 
Were you as surprised by the finale of “True Detective” as everyone else was?
 
Kevin Dunn: Well, I was hired to do five shows. I got all the scripts but when I got to the end of the fifth script, I said I’m not going to read the rest of them because I want to see it, so I didn’t read them. So yeah, I was surprised. 

Gary Cole

 
Gary Cole will probably have a lot to do in season three of “Veep,” as the President’s senior strategist. Cole is also well recognizable from movies like The Brady Bunch Movie, Office Space and A Simple Plan.
 
CraveOnline: So what does season three have in store for Kent?
 
Gary Cole: Well, Kent’s hard at work now that we’ve shifted into campaign mode. So now he’s doing what he normally does when that situation arises which is spending a lot of time on a computer projecting mathematically where to go, what not to say, who not to say it too and all the things like that.
 
What was your favorite Kent moment in the previous seasons?
 
Gary Cole: I don’t know that I have isolated moments. I guess just working with everybody, especially in scenes with, and there’s a lot of them, scenes with a lot of people, eight or nine people in a scene and that’s difficult. But when it works, it’s very gratifying. I think of those moments when I think of moments.
 
Do you have to worry a lot about overlapping dialogue in those scenes?
 
Gary Cole: No, not the way we shoot. That’s usually prepared for because there’s not a lot of static coverage this way, coverage that way. It’s wide enough that everybody’s kind of included. 
 
I love the Brady Bunch movies and the idea of bringing them back in the ‘90s was so clever. Could you imagine if they came back in this decade? There’d be all new things to confuse them.
 
Gary Cole: You’ve got to leave them in the ‘70s. That’s the only play they live. No matter what, everyone would be frightened of them, no matter when they came back. 

Reid Scott

 
Finally, Reid Scott plays Dan Egan, deputy director of communications, a young upstart in the Meyer administration. The run for Presidency gives him all new opportunities for scheming. 
 
CraveOnline: What does season three have in store for Dan?
 
Reid Scott: Dan is vying quite zealously for the position of campaign manager as Selina heads out on the campaign trail towards presidency. He’s being sneaky again, man. He’s trying to stab Amy in the back because she’s probably his biggest challenge to that title. He’s trying to play Mike against the middle. He’s trying to destroy Jonah along the way so he’s got too many plates spinning at the same time.
 
Do you think he’s qualified for the job?
 
Reid Scott: I think he thinks he is. In my opinion, I think he could probably pull it off. I think he could, but as smart as he thinks he is and as smart as he actually may be, I think he’s still a young pup and he’s got a lot to learn.
 
What were your favorite Dan moments of the first two seasons?
 
Reid Scott: Oh man, I think season one when he just sort of comes blasting into the office, when he sort of takes command and takes this position out from under Amy and is forging the President’s signature on the get well card, that was one of my favorites. 

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