Olivia Munn didn't always like directors' suggestions on how her character on The Newsroom should be, and when that was the case, she consulted the HBO show's creator and writer Aaron Sorkin.
In a candid chat with HuffPost Live, the 34-year-old actress recalled a specific instance in which she was encouraged to "take the girly route" and "smile at smirk" at her onscreen boyfriend Thomas Sadoski.
"I felt like, just because you're in a relationship doesn't mean you have to start being like, all giggly and girly," she said.
She didn't feel this submissive approach went along with how her character had been portrayed "the other two seasons," she said, so she checked in with Aaron to see if she should tone down her performance.
"He was like, 'One hundred percent not. Do not,'" she told HuffPost Live, "and we were always on the same page and then he would come up and back me right away...When you have him backing you—that meant everything."
She recalled one director who "pulled me aside and said, 'Olivia, the thing is I'm the director, so I have to look at the entire rainbow...and you're bringing something but I don't think you realize maybe how you're coming off...."
"I go, 'Oh, so do you don't think I realize how my choice are coming off?'" she said. ''How am I coming off?''"
When he said, "Aggressive," Olivia was quite pleased. "I go 'Great! That's exactly what I wanted,'" she said, "and that was it!"