If you’ve managed to binge the second season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” since it dropped late Tuesday, then you’ve already discovered series newcomer Zachary Levi is a natural with rapid-fire dialogue. And that skill has earned the Season 2 star his stripes as a new member of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s fast-talking club.
The “Maisel” creator and her husband, writer/director Daniel Palladino, are known for writing quick, witty banter for their characters, and Levi’s Benjamin — a Jewish doctor introduced as a new love interested for Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) in the Prime Video comedy’s second installment — is no exception.
“I think I’m pretty good at the rapid-fire speech. You know, when I don’t stumble over my own tongue, which is easy enough to do,” Levi told TheWrap in an interview Wednesday.
Levi says, “Amy and Dan and that writers’ room, they write just excellent material” and notes there is definitely a particular way that they want that material delivered on screen.
“Not only is it rapid-fire, but they want you to be word perfect as well,” Levi said. “And sometimes the way that they would word things was just really — I don’t know, it felt very counter-intuitive to the way I would word it.”
The actor says the duo were “collaborative” and open to letting him do what he needed to do so he could remember it all — and ended up nailing it on screen.
“I mean, look, I’m fast-talking right now!” he said. (Which he was.)
Benjamin and Midge meet about halfway through Season 2, when both of their families are staying in the Catskills for the summer and their mothers try to set them up.
“It’s a slow burn, you know? Because she’s very bossy, and Benjamin’s just not having it,” Levi said. “People have kind of likened the character to a Mr. Darcy archetype, and I think that’s actually a really good, classic way to explain him. And he’s a progressively-minded guy, particularly for the late 1950s. He doesn’t want just some doting housewife; he wants somebody that challenges him. And Midge turns out to be quite a challenge… as she is to most of the people in her life.”
Watch the fast-talking snippet of our interview with Levi above and check back with TheWrap for the actor’s thoughts on the end of Season 2 (once you are done binging it, that is) and his upcoming DC film “Shazam.”
“Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” Season 2 is streaming now on Prime Video.