Awards Daily talks to Yellowjackets director Liz Garbus about filming different baby outcomes and what she and Sophie Nélisse talked about before that devastating final scene in Episode 6’s “Qui.”
Don’t call it a bottle episode. The 1996 crew on Yellowjackets might be confined to one room in Episode 6’s “Qui,” but as director Liz Garbus discusses, there’s a whole lot going on in front of and behind the camera.
“In this episode, there was really no escape from that cabin,” says Garbus. “There was a terrible storm, they were staying inside, and of course Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) was going through labor. The blocking was something I was thinking about a lot right from getting the script. How were we going to keep it alive and each scene feeling different, even though most of the scenes were taking place in the same room?”
Garbus says they worked rehearsal time into the schedule so that by the time everyone showed up on set, they already had a feel for what they were doing so they could concentrate on the emotional material—and also troubleshoot unforeseen issues.
“It was obviously a tough episode for Sophie Nélisse. We had something really sad happen. There was an error on one of the drives, so we ended up having to reshoot the first scene where she’s in labor and pushing, and we had to come back and reshoot it three weeks later because the material got corrupted. [. . .] Sophie is such an incredible actor and went right back into that moment and nailed it.”
I had a great conversation with Garbus, including how she devoured the first season of the Showtime series, what it was like shooting Simone Kessell’s “therapist” scene, and how this episode is not only a turning point for Shauna (Nélisse/Melanie Lynskey) but also for Misty (Samantha Hanratty/Christina Ricci). Watch the interview below!
