Anna Chlumsky talks about Veep Season 5, Amy's relationship with Selena

Anna Chlumsky is an Emmy-nominated TV and film actress popular for her roles in My Girl, In the Loop and HBO series Veep.

Anna Chlumsky was a child actress who starred in 1991's My Girl and its sequel, with popular child actor of renowned movie Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin. She eventually took a break from acting to go to college and work in publishing, but returned to the performing arts with a string of successful, independent movies and landing guest spots on hit TV shows like 30 Rock, White Collar, Law & Order and Hannibal. After being part of the ensemble cast of In the Loop, she has received three consecutive Emmy nominations for her role as chief of staff Amy Brookheimer in the comedy series Veep.

Her starring role in Veep as the uptight campaign manager of the troubled Vice President has seen her attain much critical and mainstream recognition.

As Season 5 begins, it’s the morning after the election – where do we find Amy?

Well, she’s in the same costume. It’s very ambiguous and unclear for her right now. I think that she likes to tell herself that she can stay away from this whole Selena mayhem, but of course, was she ever going to be able to stay away? This is also a historical moment – a tie-break is unprecedented, so someone like her, who has such an addiction to being in the place - in the room where it happens, to quote one of our beloved musicals now – I think that she finds it nigh on impossible to stay away.

It’s very unhealthy, isn’t it, but she can’t help herself?

Completely unhealthy. There’s nothing healthy about the life she leads. That last half of last season was kind of like rehab for her, and this is the time when rehab’s over and you go back to your old neighbourhood. Can she be in her old environment with the old friends, and still remain sober? Prospects don’t look too great for that recovery.

Watching her and Selena embrace at the end of last season, you realise that there is a huge level of dysfunction there, but that they need another, right?

That’s exactly it. The best way for me to put it is that they share an intimacy with one another – and they’re both so career focused that they’re not really going to achieve that intimacy with any other person, other than each other. And so even though they’re not friends, and they’re not family - they’re none of these traditional healthy relationships that we like to think of - they do share that. And so, of course, if they’re away from one another, there’s a void.

(Cast of Veep)

Is it possible for Amy to imagine her life not working in politics?

I think that she has, in every realm of her life other than work, terribly low self-esteem. So I think that staring at any kind of life other than politics, for her, is like staring into an abyss - it’s just vacuous and frightening. Poor thing. I always say she’s in her own Greek tragedy - that’s how classically trained actors can do this job. Like me. I’m just doing Cassandra.

What sort of feedback do you get from the public? I would imagine people don’t especially want to see themselves in Amy.

It’s incredible. I get people, from all industries, who are like, you don’t understand, I’m Amy! And I just go, oh god. They’re identifying with this character that I play, so that’s great. Because we’re giving them somebody who they can identify with. But at the same token, I’m like, oh my gosh, please go home and get some sleep. I get very maternal very quickly when somebody tells me that. I’m like, oh, hon.

In the real-world election, the situation has frequently reached peak-crazy of late. How does that affect the show? Do you really have to up your game to sufficiently spoof it?

I personally think it just gives us an enormous pat on the back for calling it like it is for so long. I think that there’s an element of ‘told you so’, every time, you know, a candidate says something completely off the beam. We’ve been writing characters like this for so long. Our social media people have a quiz, a game of who really said it. It’s not an easy game.

Do you think there is anyone in office in politics who is actually functional? Do you think the Obamas are just a hot mess underneath this sheen?

Are any of us really completely functional? I do think that who we have right now are reasonable, at least. And, I think that’s part of the trouble right now - I think some of us have grown to take that for granted. Because we forget what an anomaly this last administration has been.

Obviously you and Amy have nothing in common - she’s firmly single and you’re very happily married. Do you think it’s hard for women in politics to combine these things, or do you think it’s just Amy’s particular dysfunction that she’s not managed to get those elements of her life together?

I think it’s certainly not easy. However, I’ve met plenty of chiefs of staff and plenty of special advisors who do have families, so yeah, I think we’ve got to blame Amy on this one.

Veep Season 5 airs on Star World Premiere HD on every Wednesday at 10:00 PM.