‘Brothers’ Star Holland Taylor on Bringing the Outrageous Ma Mac to Life in Apple TV’s Comedy

Brothers continues to unravel the complicated dynamics between best friends Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, who portray heightened versions of themselves for the Apple TV comedy. Warning: Spoilers for Brothers Season 1 Episode 3!

The plot continues to thicken now that Woody knows there’s a chance he and Matthew could be biological brothers after Ma Mac (Holland Taylor) hinted at a past fling with Woody’s father. Despite his interest in digging deeper, Ma Mac is more than eager to put the subject to rest by trying to convince Matthew it’s time for the Harrelsons to pack up their mobile home and move out.

But that’s easier said than done, much to Ma Mac’s chagrin. Despite going toe-to-toe with Woody over the matter in character, Taylor can’t speak highly enough about her costars, “Woody is the most spirited actor alive, and he’ll just throw himself into anything,” she commends. “I take the lead from those boys. They play what they want, and you adjust to it and bring your reality to it.”

Apple TV

Ultimately, Taylor says that when it comes to Harrelson and McConaughey, “They are both very, very different. Woody is a big reader… he doesn’t have a phone, he doesn’t look at social media, he reads books, and I’m talking books. And Matthew is like a philosopher,” Taylor gushes.

“They both have these wonderfully different characters, and yet they are thick as thieves, and they are like brothers,” she adds.

Whether they turn out to be brothers in the show or not remains to be seen, but considering Ma Mac’s prominent role in the story, we couldn’t help but ask Taylor about stepping into the shoes of the woman based on McConaughey’s real-life mother. “I actually wanted to avoid the source,” Taylor admits about avoiding getting to know the actor’s mom offscreen. “I knew what kind of character she had to be, and I knew the outlandish look of her, and I could envision that… and the outlandish behavior. I didn’t want to talk with her… I knew what was required, and I wanted to bring that to the party myself.”

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What helped Taylor get into character, you might ask? “The hair! I had that wig made,” she reveals. “I wanted it to be this over-bleached blonde, teased, and about three months too late to go to the hairdresser to have her roots done. I wanted it to be a wild mane of hair, and I wanted it to look like she just ran her fingers through it.”

We’d say mission accomplished! While Ma Mac’s goal of getting Woody off of Matthew’s property may not be accomplished, the real winners are the viewers getting to enjoy the comedy unfolding onscreen.

Brothers, Wednesdays, Apple TV