From the very beginning of “Hacks,” creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky knew where they wanted the show’s finale to take place: Paris. At the top of their wishlist, of course, was filming at the Louvre.
After all, it’s the best-known art museum, and houses the world’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa. So there was no question, they needed the Louvre to be in the “Hacks” farewell — the perfect place for Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) to bond.
“We scouted the Louvre, and let me tell you, it was freaking incredible,” says cinematographer Adam Bricker. “We were alone in the Louvre for an afternoon on a day they were closed — and oh, it’s cool. That scene was going to be so pivotal for us!”
The series finale of “Hacks” ends with a shot of Deborah and Ava walking down the Las Vegas strip, with big smiles as they plan a new comedy special. But in real life, the final scene filmed for the entire series took place at the Louvre, where a tiny crew, the producers and Smart and Einbinder experienced the show’s final wrap.
What made it all the more special and emotional was the fact that they got to film in the Louvre at all.
Production at the museum had been confirmed — but then, on Oct. 19, four masked thieves marched into the museum — in broad daylight, as it was teeming with visitors — and in fewer than eight minutes, ran out with some of the French Crown Jewels.
“We were going to shoot at the Louvre, and things seemed to be going fine,” Aniello says. “And then there was the heist.”
Bricker says it was around the time the show was shooting its “Amazing Race” episode when the production news out of Paris turned grim. “We heard that it just wasn’t going to be possible for us to shoot the Louvre, and we should start looking for backups,” Bricker recalls. “It was such a bummer, but film production in general is really challenging. This show has had its challenges, and things have always sort of broken the right way for us.”
At the Louvre, protocols were being tightened after the heist. Says Statsky: “It was essentially a question of management and what their policies were, and what they were going to allow in terms of outsiders coming in and doing things that are not typical day-to-day operations at the Louvre. So obviously in terms of letting in a film crew, it was a no-go.”
The production team began scouting other museums and landed on the Palace of Versailles, which is nice — but it was no Louvre.
From there, the show went back and forth for weeks: Maybe a deal could be worked out with the Louvre, maybe not. A possibility of returning to the Louvre would emerge, but then a new hiccup would squash it: The Louvre employees went on strike over working conditions and pay. Then, the Louvre president got in hot water (and indeed, eventually resigned in February). But then another opening emerged — enough that “Hacks” canceled its deal with Versailles, angering that museum in the process.
“I don’t think the three of us are allowed at Versailles ever again,” Statsky says.
As management at the Louvre couldn’t make up their minds, the clock was ticking. The remaining “Hacks” crew in Paris was scheduled to leave, but Aniello, Downs and Statsky convinced studio Universal TV and their streamer, HBO Max, to extend their trip — even without knowing if they’d ever end up inside the Louvre.
That included Smart and Einbinder, who also stuck around while the crew waited. “So we’re hanging around Paris, and by ‘hanging around,’ I mean we’re editing from a hotel room the entire time,” Aniello says. “We owe a huge credit to HBO Max and Universal, and our production staff, who really trusted us a lot to get this made and done. For us to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to be here in Paris until they let us shoot this crazy scene,’ is asking a lot of production. I cannot honestly speak highly enough about our corporate overlords.”
In the end, the Louvre had met its match in Aniello, Downs and Statsky, who wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Says Bricker: “We just kept pushing, and Jen, Paul and Lucia were relentless in their pursuit of protecting the creative integrity of the show. Finally, we learned we were going to be able to shoot in the Louvre — but under very strict limitations. We roll deep, and there are so many incredible artists that work on the show . Our crew size is in the hundreds, and we were only going to be allowed to bring 12 people to the Louvre if we were going to shoot this.”
That meant getting creative. “All technical stuff that we were figuring out, like what the approach would be on set with the lighting,” Bricker says. “But it was ultimately a question of how many hands do we have to carry this stuff in in one go. Usually when we arrive on set, there are these incredible riggers that have pre-set things for us. But here, like, everything would need to be hand carried: the camera, the lenses, the lights, just by the 12 people that we’re going to be able to enter.”
Bricker says it felt like being back in film school: “Paul was carrying a lens case, and he, Jen and Lucia were going to have a makeup bag, and do touch-ups on Jean and Hannah if they were needed. Everyone came together to make this really special thing work out.”
Says Smart: “They were like a dog with a bone, and they just kept begging and begging and the museum finally said, ‘OK, but you can only shoot in this little section of the museum while the museum is open.’ We were originally going to have the run of the place after hours. They said, ‘No, while the museum is open, you can shoot in this these two areas.’ So we faked the scene with the Mona Lisa.”
Indeed, Smart and Einbinder had to be superimposed in front of the famous painting in that scene. The museum was open as they shot, but the “Hacks” team was allowed to be in a cordoned-off area to shoot. “Hacks” First AD Jeff Rosenberg structured the afternoon to make sure it would work.
“We had enough time to make the scene special, and to do multiple takes,” Bricker says. “But we’re always moving very quickly, and we’re very efficient. That’s how we’ve been working for seven years.”
The producers all held the clapboard at one point to commence action on a scene — and Bricker says each of their slates was “pretty emotional. And then we finished, and Jeff Rosenberg called wrap, and I told them to keep the cameras rolling. Jen, Paul, Lucia, Hannah and Jean had a big group hug in the middle of the Louvre, and then we all got together. It was very special.”
Smart also remembers that scene fondly, as she recalled in Variety‘s April 8 cover story: “We said, ‘I love you,’ and cried… Me and Hannah, we were the only cast members there, and we’re sitting in this giant room with these 40 foot high paintings. A lot of the Dutch masters. We’re laying on this leather bench looking up at the ceiling, this hallway room with huge, high ceilings. And we’re ad libbing. She’s asking me if I’m going to donate my body to science. We’re just making up crazy shit. It was kind of fun to end it that way.”
Aniello says ending on such a quiet note with a skeleton crew felt like a poetic way to go out. “We started with just the three of us, and then we ballooned into this huge, amazing world of writers and actors and cast and crew and executives and marketing people and post and all these people,” she says. “Then as we are ending the show, we’re wrapping out L.A. crew, we’re wrapping out Vegas, we’re wrapping everyone out, and then it comes back to just being very, very few people again. It was just like a natural way to end it, really.”