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This story contains spoilers for the ninth episode of<\/em> Hacks season 4<\/em>.<\/p>\n For decades, Julianne Nicholson<\/strong> has showcased her dramatic chops in projects that range from devastating (Mare of Easttown<\/em><\/a>) to unsettling (Blonde<\/em>) to archly imposing (this year\u2019s Paradise<\/em>). So it feels like something of a miracle she was even considered to play \u201cDance Mom\u201d\u2014yes, this is the only name she gets\u2014in the fourth season of the Emmy-winning comedy Hacks.<\/em> The wild role has Nicholson trying out broad physical comedy, a bizarre wardrobe, increasingly heavy drug use, and some truly ridiculous\u2014or hell, maybe brilliantly avant-garde\u2014dances.<\/p>\n \u201cI never get a chance to do anything funny<\/a>, and I\u2019m always trying to do something different,\u201d says Nicholson as we begin our conversation. That\u2019s an understatement: Her bouncy, tragicomic TikTok star has been one of Hacks<\/em>\u2019 most delightful surprises this year. When she was first asked to appear on the new late-night show hosted by Deborah Vance (Jean Smart<\/strong><\/a>), Dance Mom was a true small-town fish out of water, all smiles and bewilderment.<\/p>\n But by the season\u2019s penultimate episode, she\u2019s passed out on a production lot, unable to perform unless she gets a bracing portion of fresh cocaine. \u201cThat song comes on, and you just have to go for it,\u201d says Nicholson. \u201cGo as big as you can. But also, she\u2019s very serious. She\u2019s still trying to do a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n Vanity Fair:<\/em> Did you have a sense of why they wanted you for Dance Mom? As far as I know, it\u2019s unlike anything you\u2019ve ever done.<\/strong><\/p>\n Julianne Nicholson:<\/strong> Correct, that\u2019s true. I think they were fans of my work and I remember them saying they wanted it grounded in a real person\u2014bless them for having the imagination to think of me for that role.<\/p>\n You prepared for the role by going down a TikTok rabbit hole. Did you gain an understanding of who this person is and how to play her?<\/strong><\/p>\n I felt like I did, yeah. It\u2019s such an interesting mash-up of a woman in this time of her life and just how she\u2019s dressing, how she\u2019s moving, the joy that\u2019s in there\u2014but what else is going on? Of course, we take it to the extremes. [Laughs<\/em>] But I felt like I didn\u2019t have an understanding of who she was at first. I wrote to my agent, like, \u201cIs there going to be a choreographer?\u201d A lot of women who do this online, they were dancers or they do cheerleading or they had some past in choreography execution\u2014I do not have that.<\/p>\n The Hacks<\/em> production found two people in England, where I am living right now. One of them just popped out for me: this fantastic young choreographer named Corey Baker.<\/strong> I would go up to London twice a week, and it was like I was suddenly a dancer. I was like, \u201cIs that my plan B? Is that my fallback plan?\u201d<\/p>\n The first thing we did was just play a song, and I danced to it to get over the embarrassment or any self-consciousness or whatever. I pulled up a RuPaul<\/strong> song, I can\u2019t remember which at the top of my mind, but I just danced. And Corey was like, \u201cGreat, now let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n Did you have a favorite wardrobe item?<\/strong><\/p>\n There was a denim jacket with footballs on it. [Laughs<\/em>] And I loved all her colors. I liked her lacy bobby socks. It\u2019s also hard to beat the scrunchie, and in the end, that dress with those silver boots and the cowboy hats. I loved all the appliqu\u00e9s, and the bright colors, and all the way, way, way too tight jeans and maybe even the jeggings. They all had to have stretch. Of course, I still had to be moving.<\/p>\n