“Ozark” star Jessica Frances Dukes was not about to let the New York City subway system derail her audition for the part of FBI agent and forensic accountant Maya Miller.
In an exclusive interview with Page Six, the actress tells us how intensely she prepared for the no-nonsense role, which stars opposite Jason Bateman (Marty Byrde) and Laura Linney (Wendy Byrde), whose characters get caught up in a complicated money-laundering scheme that takes their family to the Ozarks.
“I was a fan of the show before I got the audition, so I had watched Seasons 1 and 2 probably multiple times because I’m a huge Jason Bateman fan; I’m a huge Laura Linney fan. So I was like, ‘I’m studying,’” Dukes, 43, recalls of the four-season Netflix drama series.
While she “watched the first season for fun,” Dukes tuned in to Season 2 to “study” and “absorb.”
The actress — who is set to star in the upcoming post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama series “Earth Abides” — admits she couldn’t believe “when the [‘Ozark’] audition came in,” telling us her reaction was a resounding “nahhh.”
But she thought to herself, “I’m going to go anyway. I’m going to go in this room. I’m going to kill this audition.”
Not only was Dukes “late for [her] audition because of the trains in New York,” but she was also not dressed the part.
“I had to go in, and I think I had, like, a fro-hawk and some leather tights and, like, this jean trench coat — looking nothing like Maya Miller. And I had to do my audition like that,” she remembers.
But Dukes — who got her start in live theater — was confident in her preparation and abilities, telling us, “I did the work. I knew the show so well, and I just was like, ‘I know I’m talking to Jason Bateman in these scenes. I know who Marty is. I watch him so much. I got this.’”
The actress says she “got the call like a month later.”
As if the news itself was not enough to celebrate, Dukes was told that Agent Maya Miller had gone from a recurring role to a series regular, as she recalls showrunners saying to her, “We’re ready to go on this journey with you.”
Dukes — who is currently filming Season 3 of the historical drama series “The Gilded Age” — gushes that filming “Ozark” was “one of the best experiences of [her] life.”
It was also one of the most humorous. Despite the “heavy” nature of the show, Dukes reveals that behind the scenes was pure comedy.
“It was the funniest set ever,” she says with a laugh, calling Bateman, 55, the “king of comedy.”
“Exactly what you feel when you watch him is who he is. When you walk on set, there is no ego. There is no ‘I’m better than.’ He is such a family sort of guy,” Dukes adds of Bateman, going on to share that “Laura is really funny,” too.
According to Dukes, the communal joking and laughing would last “all the way up until, ‘Action!’”
Though it wasn’t necessarily a funny memory, there was one particular scene with “amazing,” “career-goal” Linney, 60, that Dukes refers to as one of her “favorite moments as an actress.”
“It felt like every day with her was a masterclass,” Dukes marvels. “We had a scene. She just walked in, and she goes, ‘I’m gonna do this a few different ways.’ And she walks out of the room, and I’m like, ‘OK.’
“And we do the first take, and she does it like the sweetest person in the whole wide world. She walks out of the room, [and] they yell, ‘Cut!’ I’m like, ‘OK, great.’ [They yell,] ‘Action!’ She comes back and does it like the Wicked Witch of the West, and they yell, ‘Cut!’ And she goes out. And then she comes back, and they do it again, and she’s, like, selling me cookies! And I was like, ‘What just happened?’”
Dukes explains that her theater background allowed her to be “open and just react” to whatever way Linney decided to approach the scene.
“That’s the best scene to watch is when somebody is not planning or acting,” Dukes says, calling the experience “just wonderful.”
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