“Palm Royale†is a dazzling rags-to-riches journey that has Kristen Wiig portraying Maxine Simmons, a ray of sunshine with a gift for gab who cleverly weaves her way into the glitz and glam of Florida’s high society, circa 1969. “Visually, we tried to not impose the camera too much onto the actors,†says cinematographer David Lanzenberg, who referenced the photography of Slim Aarons to create a vibrant, period-defining color palette. “We shot most of the first two episodes with a single camera to try to keep the attention on the performance and lighting to one camera. The focus let the actors really work within the frame.†In “Maxine Saves a Cat,†just when things are looking up for the former beauty queen, her world comes crumbling down with an eviction notice. The plot twist has her doing a splashy runway walk into a hotel pool wearing a vintage canary yellow gown. “The story of Maxine is almost an accident happening in slow motion, which is fun and exciting, but this is the one moment where you really feel there’s a fragility to the character,†Lanzenberg says. “To quote director Tate Taylor, she’s washing away her sins and floating away.â€
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