‘Hacks’ Creator and Star Says Kaitlin Olson Is the Only Other Cast Member Whose Role Was Written for Them
According to Paul Downs, no other actress on television could possibly wear the shoes of Deborah “DJ” Vance Jr. besides Kaitlin Olson, and that's not just because they’re size 13.
On the critically beloved HBO comedy Hacks, no character has gone through more positive growth than DJ, the formerly drug addicted daughter of a legendary comedian who has spent the last four seasons finding her own identity and independence apart from her famous namesake. DJ is the heart of Hacks and Olson is the hit show's stand-out ing star, but Olson’s stellar performance isn’t just the serendipitous result of the casting process that the rest of the Hacks squad went through (minus Downs, of course).
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In a recent talk with comedy veteran and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Susie Essman for Interview Magazine, Downs revealed that he hand-picked Olson to play DJ when he and his team first began writing the character. Fortunately for them, Olson accepted the part.
Downs, who plays the put-upon talent manager Jimmy LuSaque Jr. on the show he co-created with Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky, says that the biggest challenge when first putting the Hacks team together was, predictably, finding the right actress to play Deborah Vance, an aging stand-up star eyeing a career resurgence. As Hacks fans know well, Jean Smart ended up being so good in the role that it almost seemed like Deborah was written with her in mind — but, no, there was a full audition process to find the perfect mother for Olson.
“The only person we actually wrote for, other than me, was Kaitlin Olson as DJ,” Downs told Essman of the Hacks casting process, though he understood that Olson was an ambitious get. “We didn’t think she would do it because it’s a ing role.” After all, as Downs explained, “(Olson) was already the lead of The Mick, which was a network show, and It’s Always Sunny for 15 seasons.”
Said Downs of Olson's surprising receptiveness to the comparatively small role, “Thank god she did it, because she’s so brilliant.”
Downs recalled, “I the first day we were working with her, Jean would exit her scene with Kaitlin and run around to monitor and watch the rest of the scene.” Downs noted that Smart was more than impressed with her new cast mate, commenting, “Game respect game. When Kaitlin is on set, everybody’s a little different, Jean and Hannah in particular. They are a little funnier. They really try to rise to meet her.”
Hopefully, when the jabronis at the Television Academy cast their ballots for the Emmy Awards this fall, they'll respect game, too — otherwise those snobs can rise to meet all the spit from Olson's fans.
