We chatted with co-showrunner Vera Santamaria about the complexities of building a fake JFK.
If you may win over yourself to take a step back from modern setting , the airport is a magical spot . It is literally a gateway into cloud , over oceans , around the world . journey that used to occupyentire novelsandepic poemshave become daily long - weekend evasion .
But that can also be terrifying , in room both material and experiential : You are volunteering to be launched through the sky in a metal pipe seven miles above the dry land with no control over your destiny , and wow does it ever practice home the fact that the world is expectant and we are small , insignificant , and alone . Such is the backcloth for the excellent new Hulu drachm - comHow to Die Alone , created by and asterisk Natasha Rothwell as Mel , a JFK Airport employee who ’s afraid to fly , and whose near - destruction experience leads her to reevaluate her aliveness , strain to break out of a estrus , and trail her ambition .
Over the course of the serial ’ win first time of year — hopefully the first of many — Mel float through JFK , from the TSA covering area to the macadam , and from massage chairs in the terminal to the underbelly of the drome where they hold mazed and confiscated goods like suitcases and illicit jamón . As Mel endeavors to get her life back on track , make new protagonist , committing some lightweight crimes , and confronting her care of pilot , the show accomplishes an amazing feat — it makes the airport seem charming and fun , a spot you actually want to hang out .
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drome are frightful position , broadly speaking talk . crowd , chaotic , loud , with awful overpriced restaurants and garbage stores ( although … ) and mostly full of people who are impatient , emphasize out , unhappy , and/or bored . And yet the earthly concern ofHow to Die Aloneis populated with charm , wit , and heart , from the sweetly simpatico luggage handlers Shaun and Deshawn ( Arkie Kandola and Christopher Powell , respectively ) to a scene - stealing coming into court from Tom Hearn as TSA Jason .
Co - showrunner Vera Santamaria will tell you that that was n’t an stroke . It was the resultant role of a lot of thrifty inquiry , and personal observation in airports across the earth . They did n’t have specific assignment for research in the writers ' room — no one had to go buy a Koran at Hudson News — but , Santamaria order , there was a general directive to “ keep your centre open , because a story can come from anywhere . ”
Out on the tarmac , for example , where workers have to wear uniform and safety gear wheel , she says , “ they all have a sense of style , even though they ’re all bust a uniform … And I think that was a really fun part of our writer ' way , to be like , ' oh , I just got back from here and have we ever considered this ? ' "
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That research did run to some of the most fun moments of the season , including a typically bonkers appearance from H. Jon Benjamin as The Birdman , an eccentric employee tasked with chasing birds forth from airplane . There is also an epic journey or two into the bowels of the airport on the hunt for contraband , specifically jamón ibérico and an abandoned suitcase . And yes , Santamaria did get to force back the rider transport cart .
The airport is also personal for Santamaria — her comrade and her crony - in - law both work in airports . She bounced some idea off of them , and her comrade even came for a set visit .
And the set itself is passably unbelievable . They did bourgeon some pieces on the tarmac at a modest airport alfresco of Toronto , but much of the interior work was on a use - built set by Production Designer Almitra Corey . They had multiple hall , a big depot , and they made certain all of the signage was perfectly exact . “ We really went to the end to get the inside information correct , ” Santamaria tell .
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One major takeout from all of that research may amount as a surprisal : “ multitude are really make fun when they work at the airport , ” she says .
And yet , even after all that time spent thinking and writing about an airport , Santamaria stay a self - concede anxious traveller : “ I ’m always expecting the worst , ” she says .
She ’s mother some good intellect for that , though . “ I ’ve had a caboodle of airport snafu , ” she says , “ I magnificently once was at the gate for a flight and missed the flight . I saw other people running and I was like , those suckers are late . And then they were calling my name … and I did n’t hear them . ”
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Now when it comes to flights she stay overprepared : “ I just wish to be there super early , and I always have right smart too much stuff , but I involve to have something for emergencies . ” Once , she says , “ I was at LAX when there was a lockdown . And just before I left Toronto to amount to LA , my mom was like , take these Prunus amygdalus . I was like , I do n’t want the almonds . She said ‘ take the almonds . ’ And luckily I did , because I was stuck on that airplane for four hour with no food . I pluck out the almonds that she had forced on me and I was like , God , I got to take heed to this womanhood more . She really nailed it . ”
One other takeout — airdrome massage chairs rule . “ We really relish that massage president on lot , ” Santamaria says , “ I opine every stage set should have that . ”
