SPOILER ALERT: This story contains plot details for “Habseligkeiten,” Season 4, Episode 3 of HBO‘s “Industry,” now streaming on HBO Max.
Anyone who last saw Kiernan Shipka as little Sally Draper in ”Mad Men,” or even as wand-waving adolescent Sabrina Spellman in “Sabrina teh Teenage Witch,” may well blink twice upon seeing her latest role as Hayley Clay in “Industry.”
In the first scenes of the Season 4 opener alone,she’s popping pills in a nightclub,getting frisky on the dance floor (with Charlie heaton’s Jim,also a new character) and giving colorful descriptions of her vagina to her new acquaintance back at her - quite impressive – apartment. And this all before Hayley is eventually introduced as an executive assistant at shady financial startup Tender.
But it’s Episode 3 that truly kicks whatever remaining child-star status Shipka has left firmly into the annals of TV history in a scene in which she’s playfully encouraged to have sex with trouble aristocrat Henry Muck (Kit Harington) by his deviously manipulative wife Yasmin (Marisa Abela). Hayley obliges, perhaps too enthusiastically, prompting Yasmin to get involved in the action herself so as not to be outdone in the endless game of power play. Naturally, with this being “Industry,” and a season in which creators Konrad kay and Mickey Down have all but blown the doors off the show’s financial roots, this threesome takes place in a medieval Austrian castle run by a family of fascists, where paintings by an “A. Hitler” hang on the walls.
As Shipka notes, “Industry” is a show that is not only “brave and it’s rule-breaking and it’s pushing limits” – but it’s a show that manages to “get away” with it.
At first,Hayley seems to be the doting assistant,albeit one who also likes to go out and hook up and take drugs. But we see more of her identity as show moves on. How would you describe her?
When I taped for the show, it was pretty much the opening sequence, and then it was a scene from a later episode. And I was kind of going, “Who is she, who is this girl?” I could sense that she was playing some sort of game, and was also wild and living her life, and had a much grittier, more raw quality to her, given how much she explodes within the fir
“Fellow Travelers” Star on the Show’s Bold choices
Actor Matt Bomer described a surprising experience on the set of the new Showtime series “Fellow Travelers,” realizing *while filming* that he was enacting lines he’d previously only read and mentally processed. Bomer praised the show’s creative team for handling sensitive material with care and pushing boundaries.
“The amount of stuff that I read and went, ‘Oh, I guess I’m saying that!'” Bomer saeid. “I’ve never been on a show where I’ve read the scene,and then in real time gone,’Oh,wait,no,no,I’m actually doing that.’ But also, at the same time, I feel like we’re in such good hands.”
He continued, “That’s why the show, for lack of a better term, gets away with this stuff as it’s done, in such a careful, tasteful manner. But it’s brave and it’s rule-breaking and it’s pushing limits. and I think that’s why everyone’s excited about it.”
Bomer confirmed he wasn’t new to the set when this realization occurred. “No, that would be a different story!” he said.”but we’d shot some stuff,so I knew everyone by then!”
The series has garnered attention for its bold editing choices,including a cut from a sex scene directly to a breakfast scene featuring oysters. Bomer attributed this to the vision of showrunners Mickey and Konrad.”It is [wonderful]! And that was in the script. So it’s really testament to Mickey and Konrad knowing exactly what kind of show they wanted to make.”
