Kaitlin Olson on Seeking Validation in this Season of Hacks

We were recently joined by Kaitlin Olson who plays “angsty teenager in a grown woman’s body” DJ Vance, on the Max dramedy series Hacks.  Olson got an immediate sense of her character’s need for validation upon reading the script through DJ’s fraught relationship with her mother, comedienne Deborah Vance (Jean Smart).  Playing an “over-the-top ridiculous” character who is also grounded in very real emotion and a rather sad backstory, Kaitlin used the innocuous things DJ invests herself in with 110% commitment (such as rock tumbling) as a way to show how deeply she seeks validation from her mother: “Negative attention is better than no attention.” Olson credited having Jean Smart as a scene partner as an instant elevator of her work, noting how nuanced and cutting Smart’s performance is as a detached matriarch. In juxtaposition to the cutthroat nature of her character, Smart often rushed to the monitors after a scene to watch Olson’s work, which Kaitlin highlighted as creating a “lovely” supportive environment. Olson delighted in playing some “big wins” for DJ this season, relishing in moments where her character seemed doomed to fail, and resolved to “do it anyway.”  

Watch the full conversation below.

A dark mentorship forms between Deborah Vance, a legendary Las Vegas comic, and an entitled, outcast 25-year-old comedy writer.