A cash-poor woman with a baby on the way devises an unorthodox way to pay the bills in Margo’s Got Money Troubles
Margo (Elle Fanning), a promising, young college student has an affair with her professor (Michael Angarano) and gets pregnant. Having decided to keep her baby, she leans on her mother Shyanne (Michelle Pfeiffer), a former Hooters waitress, and her father Jinx (Nick Offerman), an ex-professional wrestler, for emotional support. To pay the bills, Margo turns to making adult content for OnlyFans, creating an extraterrestrial persona with the help of her cosplaying roommate Susie (Thaddea Graham). The pieces that comprise Margo’s Got Money Troubles sound eclectic, to say the least, but there is method to this madness. “If I looked at them, I would say, ‘You got to be kidding me that these things would ever go together,’” says Offerman. “But what I love about a great novel and great writing is that it has all of these unexpected colours, moments and shapes. When you put them all together, it’s the stuff of life.
From the first time he read Rufi Thorpe’s novel, it was clear to David E. Kelley — producer of TV classics like The Practice, Ally McBeal and Big Little Lies — what made these strange pieces fit together. “For me, the characters are always the first jumping off point in trying to craft a series. Are the characters fertile? Are they dimensional? Do they make me laugh? Do they make me feel? Do they challenge my own way of thinking? And all these characters did that in the book,” he says. “I really felt their centre and their heart, and I thought, man, if we could bring this series to life in a way that the viewers could feel these characters in a way that I did as a reader, I knew we would’ve succeeded.”
You’re the Worst and Briarpatch producer Eva Anderson felt like the perspective presented by Thorpe, about the brutal reality of the American dream, was something that was missing from the television landscape. “I feel like so much stuff on TV is about people with a lot of money, and this is a story of somebody with limited resources and a baby and a rickety family structure just doing what they’ve got to do to make it in America today,” she says. “Margo is a creative, resilient heroine because she does so much with the hand that she’s dealt.” It was Margo’s determination, and how it impacts those around her, that Bad Sisters actress Graham says stayed with her when she read the scripts. “There is something in Margo that Susie really sees as being unapologetic about what they’re doing: ‘I’m not asking your permission. I’m not asking for whether or not you think this is right,’” says the Irish actress. “There’s a courage to that.”
There is, of course, no Margo without Fanning. “I wish I had something scandalous to say about Elle, but unfortunately she’s heroic,” says Offerman. “I admire the hell out of her. She is so talented. She literally glows. She’s unflappable. She’s such a pro. She’s 28 years old, but she’s the captain of our show. Without her charisma, her chops and her acumen, you don’t make this show.” As executive producer on the project Fanning’s commitment goes far beyond the screen. “When the cameras aren’t rolling, you see this work ethic, this intelligence and this understanding of emotion and of the story and the arc of it,” says Graham. “She’s across all of it and it’s so admirable to watch. We’re quite similar in age, and I just look at her and think, ‘You’re a tangible example of what you can do even at a young age.’”
Although the concept of creating a sexy alien persona to make sexy videos may seem otherworldly, rest assured that its details are grounded in truth. “Rufi spent years researching this book,” says Anderson. “She talked to OnlyFans models. After a lot of failed attempts of tipping women and asking for an interview, s he finally found some people that would talk to her and got a wealth of information that she brought to the writers’ room. She also is a huge fan of ’90s wrestling, so she knows her wrestling backwards and forwards. We wanted to make sure we were getting things like wrestling right. That’s why we had our consultant, Chavo Guerrero. He trained Nick Offerman to wrestle, but he also would check our language and say, ‘A wrestler would never say this.’”
While the role offered Offerman an opportunity to delve into the unfamiliar in terms of Jinx’s professional life, it was clear from the get-go that there was far more complexity to the character than what he presents in the ring. “He’s made bad choices up until this point, and life finally forces him to show up,” says the Parks and Recreation alum. “Through some of his failings, he has to say, ‘Okay, I kind of have no other option, but I’m here. I’m all in now. Maybe not because it was my first choice. It’s not particularly noble, but you got me.’ He’s this influence who has a lot of affection, a lot of positivity and I think positive parenting influence, but he also has a lot of weakness. He’s this counterbalanced guy who you’re not sure if he’s a strength or a liability to your team.”
As the show is already garnering a slew of positive reviews, Kelley hopes that what spoke to him and television critics will also speak to viewers of the show. “I think it’s a family show at its centre and an affirming one at that, where the love that they have for each other and the way that they cling to that love is very gratifying,” he says. “We live in a time, or a world, where people are increasingly becoming disconnected and the connectivity of these characters I found very refreshing, very affirming and very hopeful. It sounds morally sentimental, but by the end of the eighth episode, I do think people will believe in that adage that the road can be extremely rocky, but if love has the tenacity that we hope it should, then it’s going to find its way.”
Margo’s Got Money Troubles, streaming on Apple TV