LOS ANGELES, May 22 (UPI) — Editor’s note: This article contains spoilers for Hacks Season 4 Episode 9 “A Slippery Slope.”
On Thursday’s Hacks, studio executive Bob Lipka (Tony Goldwyn) ordered Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) to fire her talk show’s head writer, Ava (Hannah Einbinder). Instead, Deborah told her audience on a live show she refused, knowing Bob would cancel her show.
In a recent phone interview with UPI, Goldwyn said he understood his character’s position. Ava had told a reporter friend about the show cutting a joke about a controversial movie star, leading to a damaging exposé.
“It was fun to take a perspective that Bob was just doing his job,” Goldwyn, 65, said. “In any company, that person would be let go immediately for doing what she did.”
The episode uses Hacks‘ drama and comedy to explore the ethical dilemma. Deborah joked about Ethan Sommers’ (Eric Balfour) alleged controversy, but did not resist when Sommers’ publicist and the studio asked her to edit out the joke.
Bob Lipka (Tony Goldwyn) demands Deborah fire Ava on “Hacks,” on Max Thursdays. Photo courtesy of Max
Ava disagreed with the decision but made it worse for herself when she vented to a reporter friend. Bob wanted to make an example of Ava, but Deborah gave up her entire talk show rather than let him.
Bob even tells Deborah her talk show is a supporting player to what he considered the “starting lineup” that includes Sommers’ Shadow Soldier franchise and theme parks with attractions based on those films. Goldwyn said he understood Bob putting Deborah in her place.
Bob Lipka (Tony Goldwyn) has a secret relationship wtih Deborah on “Hacks,” on Max Thursdays. Photo courtesy of Max
“I think he needs Deborah to know that she’s not getting too big for her britches,” Goldwyn said. “He’s telling her, ‘Look, you’re amazing but you do not make me the $5 billion that this franchise has made me and you have not made me the half a trillion dollars that my theme parks have made me.'”
As both an actor and director, Goldwyn acknowledges that he needs businessmen to allow him to do either job. He has been acting in film and television since the ’80s with credits in Ghost, Oppenheimer, Scandal and Law & Order.
Tony Goldwyn, seen wtih Kerry Washington at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, guest stars on “Hacks.” File Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI
He made his directorial debut in 1999 with the film A Walk on the Moon, and is currently workshopping a theater revival of Pal Joey with Savion Glover.
“It’s a constant tension of needing to do something that’s very expensive to do, that people must buy tickets in order to consume what we’re creating,” Goldwyn said. “Yet, we’re artists that want to express the thing we want to express.”
Tony Goldwyn, seen at the 2022 Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles, guest stars on “Hacks.” File Photo Jim Ruymen/UPI
Hacks takes place at a fictional studio but reflects the real entertainment industry where franchises like Marvel and legacy sequels to classics dominate the box office, and both Disney and Universal Studios have thriving theme parks.
Where executives of classic Hollywood would make a movie and then try to sell it, executives now try to anticipate which franchises people will pay to see.
“It costs so much to make it,” Goldwyn said. “You’ve got to go make a multi, multi-million dollar investment just to get it in front of an audience to see if it’s going to work or not. That’s a big risk that financiers and studios take. I have a lot of respect for that but I wouldn’t want to do that.”
The ethical dilemmas Goldwyn has faced in his career tend to be “more of a creative battle where you’re fighting for something and the studio or whatever wants you to do something different, not a personnel issue like this.”
Still, Deborah and Ava had some leverage they didn’t use against Bob. Both know that Deborah slept with Bob last season to get her late night talk show.
Had either woman threatened to expose Bob, Goldwyn suspects their short-term gains may have been outweighed by Bob’s long-term wrath.
“Bob’s a pretty ruthless person in business,” Goldwyn said. “You don’t get to be one of the Bob Lipkas of the world if you don’t fight pretty rough.”
Goldwyn got a chance to do physical comedy in the episode. When Deborah is making her speech on the live episode, Bob goes to the control room to pull the plug.
Deborah’s manager, Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) wrestles the cell phone from Bob’s hands and they have a comedic scuffle. Goldwyn said they only filmed two takes and the funnier one was in the show.
“It wasn’t exactly choreographed but in rehearsal we decided to do that,” he said. “It was very messy and fun.”
The season finale of Hacks premieres Thursday, May 29 on Max.
