To many, Rachel Brosnahan playing a rising stand-up comedian on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel seemed like a natural fit – but according to the actress, not everyone felt that way about her.
During the Prime Video show's FYC event on Thursday, Brosnahan appeared on a cast panel, where she disclosed how she "spent the first couple years of my career being told I was not funny."
"It wasn't like an insulting thing. It was really just a lot of people who were professionals kind of saying, 'You might want to head in a different direction.
Maybe consider something over here,'" she said at the event, which was held at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, New York. "I think it's been a really challenging and really incredible exercise over the last couple of years."
Brosnahan, 31, then said she's "eternally indebted" to series executive producers Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino "for saying yes and taking that kind of chance on someone" like herself.
"The day I found out I was going to be their Midge, [I] lost a role that morning because I wasn't funny enough," she recalled.
"They wanted someone funnier."
Rachel Brosnahan Pulled a 'Drowned Rat' Out of Her New York City Toilet
Elsewhere during the panel, moderator Danny Strong recalled a conversation he had with Amy and Dan about the challenging process of casting Brosnahan's character, protagonist Miriam "Midge" Maisel.
"I was having dinner with them in the early part of the casting process.
The article is not finished. Click on the next page to continue.
The article is not finished. Click on the next page to continue.
Next page