All that GLITTERS

Hollywood stars LAURA DERN and ALLISON JANNEY on a period comedy exploring the price of living the high life

What would you be willing to sacrifice to get to the top? This is the question at the heart of Palm Royale, a glossy new underdog story taking us to Florida's sun-kissed Palm Beach in 1969 to follow one woman's desperate mission to cross the impermeable line between the haves and the have-nots.

Launching with a triple bill, Apple TV+'s 10-part comedy sees ambitious Maxine Simmons (Bridesmaids star Kristen Wiig) try to infiltrate 'the most-exclusive club in the world' Palm Royale. Standing in her way is a perfectly coiffed collection of glamorous socialites, led by formidable Evelyn Rollins (The West Wing's Allison Janney).

Among the other characters Maxine comes across are activist Linda Shaw (Jurassic Park's Laura Dern), wannabe queen bee Dinah Donahue (Leslie Bibb), manicurist Mitzi (Kaia Gerber), women's-rights campaigner Virginia (Loot's Amber Chardae Robinson) and mixologist Robert (singer Ricky Martin). There are also guest turns from Carol Burnett (Annie), Laura's film-star father Bruce Dern (Nebraska) and Josh Lucas as Maxine's husband Douglas.

TV Times caught up with Oscar-winners Allison, 64, and Laura, 57, for a video interview to find out more...

Laura, you're pulling double duty as an actor and an executive producer on Palm Royale. How did you approach the show?

LAURA We developed the project over five years, focusing on Maxine and the amazing characters in this world that exploded off the pages of Juliet McDaniel's novel [the series is inspired by 2018's Mr. and Mrs. American Pie]. It was then about creating the antithesis of that world, so I worked with showrunner Abe Sylvia to explore my character, Linda.

So I was a producer first in helping build this world, then being an actor let me be part of the fun and was the icing on the cake!