Allison Tolman as Fargo's Deputy Molly Solverson. Photo copyright of FX.
Have you ever had a nagging feeling that just will not go away? In the FX TV series Fargo, Molly Solverson has experienced just that for a number of weeks. A deputy in the small, snow-covered town of Bemidji, Minnesota, her life as well as those of several other residents are turned upside-down when a drifter called Lorne Malvo arrives in town. His words set into motion a series of events involving a mild-mannered, henpecked insurance agent, Lester Nygaard, and that lead to a series of murder.
Deputy Solverson has her suspicions about Lester and Malvo, but is having a tough time convincing her superiors of their guilt. When she teams up with Gus Grimly, a fellow officer from another precinct, the two of them dig deeper into the case with surprising results.
Relative TV newcomer Allison Tolman, who plays Molly, took some time out of her schedule last week to speak with journalists about shooting Fargo and helping bring the likeable deputy to life. The following is an edited version of that Q&A. Enjoy.
Can you tell us how you got the role on Fargo?
Allison Tolman: My background is in theater and a little bit of sketch (comedy). I was in Chicago working my day job and doing auditions, but not really booking anything. When Fargo came along, I put myself on tape and then sort of forgot about it and went about my daily life. A few weeks later I received a call asking me to come to test for the part in New York. Five days later I got another call telling me I had the role. So it unfolded rather quickly and was a really fast way for your life to change that much kind of overnight.
When you got that call and were offered the role, what went through your head insofar as being able to work with such an amazing cast for your first big TV role?
AT: It was certainly overwhelming, and I think that when I first got the call I was probably in shock. Noah Hawley (series creator/executive producer) made the call, and the way he tells it, I very politely said, “Thank you,” and then had to get off the phone because I had to go back to work. Inside I was definitely freaking out and losing my mind, but he said I was very calm and composed at the time. So yes, it was intimidating, but luckily once I got there, everyone was so kind, patient and welcoming that I didn’t have a lot to worry about.
Molly is the one person who’s really smart and connects the dots, but yet she’s not like a real extrovert about it. How do you approach a character like that?
AT: I think that’s one of the best things about Molly is that she’s just driven by this really strong sense of duty, and it’s not personal ambition, either. She’s not snotty about how she’s smarter than everyone else around her, and she’s not trying to one-up anybody. Molly just sees what needs to be done and feels very strongly about it being accomplished. So she falls into that role, not because she wants personal gain or personal glory, but because no one else will do it. I think that’s one of the most endearing things about her.
On the show you play a police deputy whose job is to sometimes question people, like Lester (Martin Freeman). What, in your opinion, is the art to a good interrogation?
AT: Learning your lines well (she jokes). No, seriously, the way the show is written and how we tried to play it is that I think you just have to remember to listen to everything that your scene partner, or in your character’s case, your interviewee, is telling you, not just with their words, but with their body and eyes as well. In the process, you pick up on things that will help lead you to what your next question should probably be. With my character, she’s hoping that that will help her crack the case.
You’ve had some great scenes with a lot of the cast members, like Bob Odenkirk (Deputy Bill Oswalt) and Colin Hanks (Officer Gus Grimly). Do you have a favorite scene that kind of sticks out for you?
AT: Yes, it’s in episode eight and is one I got to film with Colin. The really nice thing about it is that when we played it, we had permission not to feel like we had to speak too quickly. It was okay for there to be some silence and for these two people to just exist in the same space for a little while. That scene is really special to me and was fun to play. I talk a lot in the show, including quite a bit of “police speak,” and my character has to relay a lot of facts, so for Molly to just sit there with Gus and have not much say was a joy to play as an actress.
It looks like you got to work with almost all of Fargo’s ensemble cast. Is there one person who you found especially interesting to work with?
AT: That’s a tough one. I guess for me as an actress and coming into television as a newbie, it was really fascinating to work with Martin Freeman, because of the freedom that he has when he works. He’s not afraid to do something different, so take after take after take was different. That was fascinating to someone like me who, again, is so new to TV. I can’t imagine having the confidence that Martin has to be able to just swing so wildly from one end of the spectrum to the other, which he does. I think it’s what makes him so fantastic and gives the editors such a difficult job when they’re trying to figure out what take they should use.
Playing a female officer in the Fargo TV series, were you worried about being compared to Frances McDormand (who played Marge “Margie” Gunderson in the 1996 Fargo feature film on which the TV series is based)?
AT: Yes, there was certainly fear there. I knew going in that these characters were really different (from the Fargo feature film) and that the Molly character was quite strong in her own right. Still, it was definitely a concern of mine, and especially being a newcomer, you don’t come out the gate as, for example, a singer and try to compare yourself to Judy Garland. So yes, it was scary for me coming into this role. I knew people associated the Molly character with Marge, and the comparisons were nerve-wracking. However, since we started out, I think we’ve proven that our characters are different enough to allow viewers to draw parallels between them and the movie characters, but they don’t have to be pitted against each other. As such, I feel a little bit of the pressure has been taken off us.
You have such good onscreen chemistry with Keith Carradine’s character of, Lou Solverson. Can you talk about what it was like to work with him for such short scenes, but fill them with so much father-daughter emotion?
AT: In addition to being a really tremendous actor, Keith is a really wonderful man. We had a very paternal relationship throughout filming, so it was interesting to go in and be able to play that onscreen as well. It’s nice when you’re playing a character who does so much work, work, work, work, work, to then be able to play scenes where she gets to kind of come home, sit with a person who really knows and loves her, and to see what those interactions look like. Similarly, I felt really safe whenever I played scenes with Keith. I felt very much taken care of and knew that he was proud of the work I was doing. So it was just like shooting a scene with a (real-life) father and daughter.
Kind of building on the last question, what’s Molly’s relationship with her dad?
AT: I think she seeks out her father’s advice and listens to it. Molly doesn’t come right out and ask him, “Dad, tell me what you think about this,” but when she sits down at his counter for a cup of coffee, she knows that he’s going to tell her some sort of story that helps her try to figure out what she’s supposed to do. So I think that there’s a shorthand between the two of them that’s really nice and that really reads onscreen. Although Molly seeks his opinion and Lou gives it, he knows fully well that she’s going to do whatever she wants to do anyway. That’s just the dance that they do, though.
How does it feel to be playing a true detective in a dynamic of a dog-eat-dog world?
AT: I think one of the best things Molly has going for her is the fact that she’s a natural detective and that her brain works in such a way. If she had remained untested and never had this case come her way, she might never have found that out about herself. However, because this case has landed in her lap, Molly is getting to find out just how good she is at this sort of analytical detective work. And yes, I think that it’s a really dog-eat-dog world, as well as a very brutal world that this show takes place in, but she’s so pragmatic that I think she’s able to adjust and remain emotionally detached from the things that are going on and just proceed with getting the job done.
Molly has a very methodical approach. She takes things and looks at them and then puts them together. Every detective has a different style or approach, as do actors. So I’m wondering, what is your process like on the scale between Laurence Olivier’s, “It’s all just pretend,” to the more Stanislavski method approach?
AT: That’s a good question. I would say that I tend more towards Laurence Olivier, and that I’m able to turn things off when I’m done working. I don’t have to live in that world. That’s never been a problem for me. But having said that, I think that there’s certainly value to figuring out how your character thinks, how they live and how they breathe, so that when you do have to turn that on, you’re able to do so. It is, however, difficult sometimes and depends on the kind of scene you’re playing. If you’re playing a really emotional scene, it’s a lot harder to leave that behind and still get home that evening and be like, why am I sad? You realize it’s because you pretended to be sad all day. So you have to remind yourself that it’s not real and be able to shake it off.
Did you do any research into the job that Molly has before you started?
AT: Our still photographer onset was a policeman in Canada for 20 years, so when I first got into town I spent some time with him learning how to handle a weapon, how to search a room, and other basic sort of police observational skills that they employ when they’re on duty as well as throughout their lives. He then was onset with us every day, so if I ever had a police-related question or needed to know how something would be done properly, he was there to let me know.
Being sort of new at this, what’s the one thing or best piece of advice that you’ll take with you and that you’ve learned just as an actor?
AT: Keith Carradine said something really interesting and quite poignant to me and that has been really helpful as I’m kind of proceeding and trying to figure out what’s going to happen with the next season. He said, “You have to think of the life of a television show as being like the life of a dog. It’s such a sweet thing to have a dog, but you know that at some point in time, that dog is not going to be with you anymore. That doesn’t make that time any less sweet, though. You just have to enjoy it while you have it.” That’s a really nice analogy; I just have to think of that in terms of Fargo and any project that comes my way in the future. It’s so sweet to get a job and play a role, but eventually it’s going to end, so you just have to enjoy the time that you have with it.
As noted above, photo copyright of FX, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
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