Megan Stevenson Talks ‘Get Shorty’ and How She Was Inspired by ‘I Love Lucy’ [Exclusive Interview]

If you’re not watching Epix’s new dark comedy Get Shorty, starring Chris O’Dowd as Miles Daly and Ray Romano as Rick, you’re missing out.

The series is inspired by Elmore Leonard’s novel, which was previously adapted as a film in 1995.

Megan Stevenson plays April Quinn, a high-powered studio exec who used to be Rick’s assistant. I recently had the chance to chat with Stevenson about how she get her start as an actress and her role on Get Shorty.

Stevenson went to college to study Communications, but she knew she needed to be in New York so she could be involved in theater.

“I moved to New York when I was eighteen and started going to school there. I didn’t study acting in school, though. I did college totally separate, but I started going to theater school and stuff at night after class,” she said. “I feel like I did the college route for my parents, and I was interested in so many different classes and stuff. I didn’t want to pinpoint myself to theater in school.”

Though there wasn’t an exact moment when Stevenson knew she wanted to act, she was inspired by sitcoms like I Love Lucy and Mary Tyler Moore when she was as young as seven years old.

“I grew up watching I Love Lucy and Mary Tyler Moore with my mom, so I was exposed to these female comedy geniuses at a very, very young age. I still watch reruns of those shows to this day. And then when I got into ballet, I was exposed to the stage aspect and telling a story on stage, and obviously through the body,” Stevenson noted.

“Watching I Love Lucy, I wasn’t just laughing, I was so enthralled by Lucille Ball and wanting to experience what she experienced,” she recalled. “I wasn’t just an audience member enjoying it. I wanted to jump in there and do what she was doing.”

Stevenson’s favorite episodes of I Love Lucy? The Hollywood ones, of course.

“Every episode in Hollywood where there’s something with another big A-list celebrity that she meets and completely makes a fool out of herself — those are all my favorites.”

She also shared two of her earliest experiences in the business. “The first thing I was ever cast in, I was playing Goldie Hawn in an episode of 30 Rock, and it was a little snippet of her from Laugh-In. It was tiny — I said like one line as her. That was my first moment on a set and the whole thing,” Stevenson said.

“Very soon after that, I auditioned for something on tape, which was very normal. At that point, this was probably like nine years ago, everything was filming in LA; there was not a lot filming in New York. I mean there were like four shows. So everything I got put on tape, and it was all sent to LA. I got flown out to test for this ABC Family pilot, and it was very strange because I didn’t even know what a test was. I so green,” she explained.

“I remember my agents had to tell me to like, look cute. To wear makeup and wear an outfit that was cute, because I had no idea,” Stevenson laughed.

“Which is good, because I was very naive and just really enjoying the whole experience of it, and not being nervous at all. I ended up getting the role, which was crazy. I shot the pilot, and they put me up in the Ritz-Carlton when I was in LA, and it was really this dream experience.”

“I, of course in my naiveté, was like, “Oh yeah, this is it. Now I’m in,” she continued. “Then a month later was the time where they had to tell us if the show was getting picked up. And I was fully like looking at expensive apartments to rent in LA.”

“And they had to tell me my role was recast. That whole experience was my first experience really in the industry,” she said. “I didn’t even know that recasting was a thing.”

“So I really did get hit with everything all in one experience,” Stevenson shared. “Of course, it turned out to be this huge blessing, because I had to go through it all. And it was like, ‘Oh, alright. I guess this business can be kind of brutal, and am I really passionate about this?”

When Stevenson first heard about the television series Get Shorty, which was untitled at the time, she knew she wanted to be a part of it.

“I remember loving the movie, and I am a big fan of Elmore Leonard’s writing. But I also knew it was not gonna be like the movie, and the creator Davey Holmes was doing it. I remember they told me, “It’s untitled Davey Holmes, but what it is is Get Shorty,” she recalled.

“When I read it, the writing was so good. It was a very different show. I loved that it was an hour long. I loved that it wasn’t a specific genre,” Stevenson continued. “It’s comedy that made me just laugh out loud at the most absurd times. And the characters were all so so strong.”

“This is a dream for an actor, to be able to dive into material like this,” she said.

As for what we can expect from the remainder of the season, Stevenson said we’ll definitely be surprised. “You’ll never be able to get ahead of the show. I think what this show does in a very good way, is it can kind of lead you to believe something’s going to happen, and then completely shift and turn. You’re left surprised after every episode.”

When it comes to her character, April, Stevenson noted how fun it is that this Type A character has been thrown off course.

“Any time something happens to a Type A person that throws them off their course, it’s always fun to see them really try to stay on their course even though everything they’re doing is not allowing it. What happens to her could happen to turn out to be a very good thing.”

Be sure to catch Megan Stevenson on Get Shorty, airing Sundays at 10/9c on Epix.

Featured image credit: Ryan West

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