{"id":493187,"date":"2026-06-10T22:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T22:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/493187\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T22:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T22:01:08","slug":"the-morning-show-director-mimi-leder-on-tackling-deepfakes-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/493187\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Morning Show’ Director Mimi Leder on Tackling Deepfakes, AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cThe Morning Show<\/a>\u201d Season 4 tackled everything from deepfakes, Olympic doping scandals, media mergers to AI doubling as people\u2019s therapists. For director and executive producer Mimi Leder<\/a>, the show\u2019s staying power is in capturing the zeitgeist.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe show is about the moment we are living in, which is dramatic. It\u2019s tumultuous,\u201d Leder tells Variety\u2018s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay. \u201cThe world just throws stuff at us. We almost have to subtract what the world is throwing at us and see how it fits organically into our characters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing the UBA-NBN merger, one Season 4 storyline follows anchor Alex (Jennifer Aniston) getting deepfaked, which threatens her public image and career. \u201cHow do you shoot that, by the way? We had to figure that out,\u201d Leder said. \u201cI had to watch a deepfake and that was really challenging because that\u2019s something you don\u2019t ever want to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTackling so many different issues is what Leder loves about the show: \u201cIt\u2019s so messy and our characters are so ambitious.\u201d With the deepfake storyline, for example, Stella (Greta Lee) and Alex\u2019s different viewpoints are pitted against one another, reflecting the real world conversations people are having about AI\u2019s use in society.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the show\u2019s main cast of Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and Billy Crudup have stuck around since Season 1, this latest season introduced Marion Cotillard (who had never done TV before) as the villainous board president Celine Dumont.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe was an extraordinary person to work with because she was speaking in not her first language,\u201d Leder said. \u201cShe really got the intonations and she really got the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCotillard binged the entire show in three days and was a fan, Leder recalled. \u201cEverybody, including her, was nervous on her first day because we were working with France\u2019s biggest star. Just the body of her work is so extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTangcay pointed out that Leder is the first female graduate of AFI Conservatory\u2019s cinematography program. After finishing school in 1973, she went on to direct episodes of \u201cThe West Wing,\u201d The Leftovers\u201d and \u201cShameless,\u201d as well as films like \u201cDeep Impact\u201d and \u201cOn the Basis of Sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI just walk around telling stories and doing my thing. When that question is asked of me, it really does make me think. I think the best way I can carry on is to do good work, and to do honest, authentic work and tell stories that are fascinating and interesting that people want to see,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I think about it too much, it feels like a huge responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Leder doesn\u2019t give any specifics on Season 5, which is currently in production<\/a>, there\u2019s no doubt the show will continue to explore the issues affecting journalists and media consumers today: \u201cThere is not a shortage of stories to tell and Season 5 is going to be a big one. It\u2019s going to be a wild ride.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Morning Show\u201d Season 4 tackled everything from deepfakes, Olympic doping scandals, media mergers to AI doubling as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,23374,12896,211734,282],"class_list":["post-493187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mimi-leder","tag-the-morning-show","tag-the-morning-show-conversation","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}