Brow Beat

How the Director of The Americans Pulls Great Performances From His Cast

Keri Russell, Holly Taylor, and Matthew Rhys in “A Roy Rogers in Franconia.”

Patrick Harbron/FX

Each week on Slate’s TV Club Insider podcast, June Thomas sits down with the creators, cast, and crew of The Americans as they reveal behind-the-scenes details about the making of the FX drama’s fourth season. 

In this installment about Episode 412, “A Roy Rogers In Franconia,” producing director Chris Long joins June Thomas and showrunners Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg to discuss his unique process for getting the best performances out of actors. Plus, Costa Ronin (Oleg) stops by to talk about his big scene with Stan Beeman from last night’s episode.

Note: This podcast contains spoilers and is meant to be enjoyed after you watch the episode. New episodes air Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on FX.

Podcast produced by Henry Molofsky.

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or with our RSS feed.