00:00Boofing is a funny word, and then when you know what it actually means in this context, it all adds up.
00:17I'm Paul W. Downs, I play Jimmy Lussac Jr.
00:20And I'm Julianne Nicholson, and I play Dance Mom.
00:23Hi, I'm Meg Solter, I play Kayla, and this is Variety's Making a Scene.
00:30Why are you laughing?
00:35We always thought it would be funny to have someone on the show that was a source of some tension for Debra and Ava,
00:41but also a character like this, someone who had been on TikTok and been a sort of sensation,
00:45we thought the audience would actually love and then would become a feature of the show.
00:48But it was always a funny idea to us that coming to Hollywood and being innocent and someone who's Canadian
00:55might sort of drink the Kool-Aid a little bit and go off the deep end.
01:00And so we always were writing with this scene in mind.
01:04I remember when we did the read-through, everybody was dying at that scene.
01:07And then I think it probably got even crazier when we were doing it.
01:11I think there was just so many funny things that were also added, but it was like, it was like such a funny written scene already.
01:18That scene, they had a very clear idea of what they wanted it to be.
01:22So we rehearsed it actually, I think, the night before, and there were real beats marked out.
01:27We kind of like knew where Dance Mom would fall as she's walking into the room so we could catch her.
01:33And there's almost more freedom when you have those beats in place because you know where you have to go
01:39and then you can just sort of let go from there.
01:41We never rehearse.
01:43Really?
01:44That was like one of the few scenes we've ever rehearsed, but it was one that was very important to all of us.
01:48And also because there was so much choreography, we were like, we have to run through this before we do it.
01:53Come on, stay with us. Stay with us here. We're at commercial.
01:56Okay, I'm getting the coke. I'm just going to get the coke. I'm going to get the coke.
02:00Jimmy is very tightly wound and very buttoned up and always trying to do right by his clients.
02:05And so in moments on the show when he gets exacerbated, when he's pushed to the limit,
02:10it's really fun to let him crack a little bit.
02:12There's not really a straight man between him and Kayla.
02:15You know, they get to both toggle between being the character, which is a very fun gear to play for me.
02:21Kayla, she's just so the one to say the crazy thing.
02:25And so it's definitely like let me and encouraged me in moments of improv to like be the crazy yeller.
02:32I came in as a huge fan of the show. So it's a bit surreal to suddenly be sort of under Jimmy and Kayla.
02:40But I don't think I broke what we were filming.
02:43My character doesn't think this is funny.
02:45Dan's mom doesn't think this is funny at all.
02:47Like she's having a real moment.
02:49So you just kind of have to live in in that.
02:51There is no way you're doing coke right now.
02:53I'm doing coke, Jimmy.
02:54I have an eight ball in my bag.
02:55I need to go on.
02:56No, you cannot.
02:57I'm just going to get it.
02:58Get your arms off.
03:00That purse.
03:01Well, that little purse was so funny.
03:02The purse work.
03:03First of all, the prop was so funny.
03:05We have to give it up to Kathleen Felix Hager.
03:07Kathleen is incredible.
03:08And all the options and every last accessory.
03:13I mean, she's just brilliant.
03:14I loved being a part of creating Dance Mom, like bringing her to life.
03:18Like Kathleen has everything there.
03:20The jeggings, the crazy sweaters, the cowboy hats, the boots.
03:23And then it was like, okay, hair.
03:25They're like, okay, we want to see your hair up.
03:27We'll put these parts.
03:28And I was like, what about on top of the head and scrunchies?
03:30So to be invited to take part in that way, like those tiny things go so far in creating
03:37a specific character.
03:39And it's so joyful.
03:41And I don't know that I've ever had more fun, just pure fun and joy, than Dance Mom.
03:46More!
03:47We don't know our tolerance right now!
03:48Come on!
03:49Big lines!
03:50Big, bad lines!
03:51Gator tails!
03:52What is a gator tail?
03:53Go to one party, Jimmy!
03:54Shut up!
03:55You shut up!
03:56You're freaking me out!
03:57I would say probably 10% of it was improvised.
03:58But it's not really about dialogue, because a lot of it was there.
04:00I mean, there were things that we always rewrite on the day.
04:02There's a voice from behind Video Village that is shouting out, try this!
04:07Try this!
04:08So there were no bad lines.
04:10It's just trying different ones to see which one works the best.
04:14I think gator tails was a pitch on the day.
04:17I think Lucia told me to say that.
04:19And it's like a line that's so big that it's as thick as an alligator tail.
04:24It's such a funny description.
04:27I'm like, oh yeah, I guess alligator tails are very thick.
04:31But also when you said, what did you say for breakfast?
04:35Something from-
04:36Oh, breakfast is served.
04:37Breakfast is served!
04:38That was improvised!
04:39I almost lost it.
04:40Okay, here you go.
04:41Here's your Coke.
04:42Come on, you can do a line.
04:43Come on, breakfast is served!
04:44Come on, please!
04:45Oh my god, I can't believe he's saying that about lines of Coke.
04:48As he's like approaching.
04:49Well, we had to get her up.
04:50You know?
04:51It is a good way to start the day.
04:52Needs must.
04:53Yeah.
04:54You need to boof it to me.
04:56What?
04:57What is she saying?
04:58She wants you to boof it!
04:59I want you to put it up her butt!
05:02I am not going to boof it.
05:03That was an improv of Julianne's.
05:05Ew!
05:06What?
05:07I never-
05:08Can you imagine?
05:09What?
05:10I like to throw boofing into any scene.
05:11Luckily it's stuck.
05:12It's finally stuck.
05:13I don't know where it came from, but it is a thing.
05:16I think that was part of the escalation of the Dance Mom arc.
05:21It was going to always get to boofing.
05:23It's so funny because my parents asked me,
05:25Is that real?
05:26Did you guys make that up?
05:27And I had to say, it is a real thing.
05:29It is putting drugs in someone's butt.
05:32To my mom.
05:33Fine, I'll boof it!
05:34No!
05:35Only Jimmy!
05:36Nobody's boofing anybody!
05:38Only Jimmy comes from my son.
05:42Because he often says to my wife, Lucia, who's my co-creator and the director of the show,
05:48Only Dada!
05:49No!
05:50Only Dada!
05:51So that was lifted from him.
05:52That particular line.
05:53So the line was lifted and also the direction was lifted too.
05:55Because they said as much.
05:57Lucia came in and said, explain to me where it came from.
06:00And so it was like to have the idea of like a, is he three?
06:03Yeah.
06:04He's a toddler, yeah.
06:05Right.
06:06Have that idea was like very, very helpful and specific.
06:08So that was sort of where that whiny need came from.
06:13She channeled.
06:14She channeled.
06:15She channeled the toddler.
06:25It was very, very fun for me to do that final dance scene with Eric Balfour,
06:29who's a wonderful actor.
06:30And he and I did a show called Conviction almost 20 years ago.
06:34And I know he was a dancer anyway.
06:36It really allowed me to feel really safe and really comfortable and know that whatever I hit him with,
06:43he was more than happy to receive.
06:46That was a sequence that the crew watched over and over and over.
06:50People would come up to monitor and say, can we replay that dance?
06:53And they would want to watch it and watch it because it was so unhinged and so funny.
06:57I worked my ass off to learn these dances.
07:00I thought I needed to work much harder.
07:02I had worked with an incredible choreographer named Cory Baker that these guys found for me.
07:07Thank God.
07:08Because I live in England.
07:09Brilliant, brilliant.
07:10He lives in London.
07:11And so I worked with him for many hours actually.
07:13And he's just a pro.
07:14And some of the dances were already made and some we worked on together, but they're his for sure.
07:20He's just so effortless with it all.
07:22And then I had to work really hard to look that bad.
07:25You look good.
07:26You look good.
07:27It was great.
07:28It was so fun.
07:34That was some improvisation too.
07:36You guys slow dancing and you taking off your hat?
07:38I mean, maybe you guys worked it out before.
07:39No, no, we didn't.
07:40Oh, it was so good.
07:41No, but also that was, I think Lucia was like, now slow dance.
07:44Oh, really?
07:45Somebody gave me that note from behind the camera.
07:48And I thought that was such a brilliant note because there's like a deep sadness, I think, in Dance Mom.
07:52And there's like a little bit of a life unfulfilled in there.
07:54And so then to be suddenly from wild to like longing was just like, oh, no, this woman.
08:00It's so good.
08:01I know.
08:02And even the way Eric played it was like, oh, this is like awkward, but this woman's in need.
08:06This is a dark moment.
08:07Hey, stop.
08:08You just did that.
08:09You just did that.
08:12Okay.
08:13It's a call back to obviously Ava in mid season has a breakdown and drives through the gate.
08:19So they had just repaired the gate.
08:20And so we thought it would be funny if Jimmy is about to smash into the gate and then just narrowly avoids it in this small, small space that would just fit a golf cart.
08:27What I didn't know was they were going to have me actually pull onto the freeway with live traffic.
08:33I mean, it was stunt drivers, but I thought because we had a stunt double and then they were, well, this one's a frontal pulling shot.
08:38So we need you to do it.
08:39So, so I didn't have to drive out onto Lancashire in front of a lot of trucks, which was, there's not a lot of acting because it was very nerve wracking.
08:47It was horrible.
08:48Oh, that's the job princess.
08:50I remember being so tired and getting so much energy from doing the scene with them because they're so funny.
08:58The reason it works is because dance mom is such a real person.
09:03She is playing her with full range.
09:05I think that people responded to it because first of all, what it is, what the thing is, and that she wants Jimmy specifically is hilarious, who is trying to keep it all together and is usually able to.
09:18And I feel this about the name dance mom too.
09:21It's the words that's like to the writing that speaks directly to the writing.
09:25Like boofing is a funny word.
09:27And then when you know what it actually means and this context, it all adds up.
09:32But I feel like half of the joy around dance mom is that people call her dance mom.
09:37And that's what I hear now on the street is people literally shouting from car windows or like dance mom.
09:44It's fun to say.
09:45So it's like the words are funny and then what it's matched with.
