NEED TO KNOW
Longtime couple Michelle Pfeiffer and David E. Kelley work together for the first time on Margo’s Got Money Troubles
Kelley tells PEOPLE that Shyanne, the former Hooters waitress and mom to Margo (Elle Fanning), was a role that Pfeiffer was intrigued by because of the famous restaurant chain
The first three episodes of Margo’s Got Money Troubles are now on Apple TV
The minute David E. Kelley finished reading Margo’s Got Money Troubles, he knew he wanted to cast his wife Michelle Pfeiffer in the adaptation.
Kelley is the showrunner of the Apple TV series based on Rufi Thorpe’s 2024 novel, and he tells PEOPLE there was one detail about the character of Shyanne — a former Hooters waitress who shares daughter Margo (Elle Fanning) with ex-pro wrestler Jinx (Nick Offerman) — that made his wife agree to the role.
“When I read this book, I only saw Michelle,” Kelley says. “So I came home and said, ‘Look, we’ve all read it. We all think you’re right for it. Would you consider it?’ And as soon as she heard it was someone from Hooters, for some reason that spoke to her.”
Pfeiffer, 67, then read the book “and she was in,” Kelley, 70, says.
As for why he could only picture his wife of more than three decades playing Shyanne, Kelley says, “I think we all do that when we read books. We sort of unwittingly or unconsciously have a prototype. And, of course, since we’re in the film business and the adaptation business as well, we probably just instinctually do that anyway, ‘Who could play this part?'”
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Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer in “Margo’s Got Money Troubles”
Credit: Apple TV
Kelley previously joked that Pfeiffer was someone he’d “vowed never to work with” at the 2026 Apple TV Press Day, per The Hollywood Reporter.
He also playfully described her agreeing to star in the series as “the second luckiest ‘yes’ I’ve gotten from her,” referring to her saying yes to his proposal and marrying him in 1993.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles marks the first time the couple has worked together, and Pfeiffer said during a panel ahead of the show’s SXSW premiere that she “had nothing to complain about, truly.”
“It was actually one of the best productions I’ve ever worked on. It was honestly so beautiful,” she said. “And the scripts were so — obviously, you can tell how amazing they are. These characters are so beautifully drawn. The cast, not only are they unbelievably talented, but they’re such great people. We had so much fun together.”
She said that she learned that her husband — with whom she shares two kids — “likes you to take all of your questions to the director, and I’m fine with that.”
Pfeiffer said she “knew I was going to love Shyanne, and I do. I had so much fun playing her and working with this one … working with these amazingly talented people and my husband.”
The first three episodes of Margo’s Got Money Troubles are now streaming on Apple TV, and new episodes drop Wednesdays.
Read the original article on People