Victories tend to be short-lived in the world of “Veep,” the HBO comedy starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a US vice president struggling for political relevancy.
So while her chief of staff, Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky), may have earned a big win by recently wrestling away the campaign manager’s job from office nemesis Dan Egan (Reid Scott), it’s anyone’s guess where she stands at the end of Sunday’s Season 3 finale.
“I’m enjoying it for now,” Chlumsky tells The Post. “As the person who plays [Amy], I’ve got to stay present and make sure she’s doing her job as best she can. As an audience member, nothing’s sacred. The one thing I’ll say about this week coming up is none of us really knows where the wind is blowing, campaign-wise.”
Brooklyn resident Chlumsky, 33, earned an Emmy nomination last year for her role as Amy, the practical-to-a-fault chief of staff in VP Selina Meyer’s (Dreyfus) office. Season 3 saw her get passed over for campaign manager, then ruthlessly take it by leaking controversial comments written by Selina’s personal trainer to the press — and watching Dan implode.
“I so enjoyed all the different places that she had to go this season,” Chlumsky says. “Having someone with that kind of laser focus of what she wants was really driving for me. And then to . . . see how she deals with failure. It was such an ephemeral kind of place because she still had to do her job well as chief of staff, but at the same time she was just kind of a broken gal for a little bit.”
Having someone with that kind of laser focus of what she wants was really driving for me.
- Anna Chlumsky
In two back-to-back episodes airing Sunday at 10 p.m., a newly empowered Amy and the rest of Selina’s staff discuss how to make the VP more folksy — “It is really delicious seeing her put on a fleece and mom jeans,” Chlumsky notes — and juggle official obligations and campaign appearances three days before the New Hampshire primary.
Though the premise (and title) of “Veep” would be compromised if Meyer actually wins the presidency in future seasons, its star thinks anything is fair game.
“As far as storywise, I certainly think she could win. Crazier things have happened — we all saw Florida,” she says, alluding to the controversial 2000 presidential election. “We see plenty of candidates that seem less-than-qualified winning.”
By the time Season 4 airs, the real-life political world could be in the midst of a Hillary Clinton candidacy — but Chlumsky doubts that would affect the storylines for “Veep’s” own female presidential hopeful.
“We’ve been very specific in not sending up any one particular politician or any one particular person’s story,” she says. “Whoever the candidates are will be fun to watch as citizens. But I can’t imagine it would affect anything they’re planning on writing.”