From creators Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck and directed by David Mandel, the HBO limited series White House Plumbers follows former CIA agent E. Howard Hunter (Woody Harrelson) and former FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux) on their seemingly impossible journey into the Watergate scandal. Not exactly the most astute masterminds, the political saboteurs wholeheartedly believed in their strongly held convictions to an extent that ultimately led to their own downfall as criminals.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, executive producer Mandel (Veep) talked about not telling the typical Watergate story, the differences between this real-life story and the fictional Veep, illustrating the desperation some people have to get power, the biggest point of no return for these guys, and what Harrelson and Theroux brought to this unusual dynamic.

Collider: I went into this thinking that I would be watching a historical story, but there’s something weird and just a bit off about it, which I enjoyed.

DAVID MANDEL: I don’t wanna sound like a lunatic here, but there’s a reason I’m the director of it. Going in, from the beginning, this wasn’t your typical Watergate story. We knew that part of what was great about this thing is that it is funny and different and weird. I like to call it a really funny tragedy. From the get-go, that was my job, bringing this very specific story about these two guys and telling this Watergate story in a way you’ve not seen it told, about the guys you’ve never been told about. So, I’m totally excited that it hit you in that way.

Woody Harrelson as E. Howard Hunt and Justin Theroux as G. Gordon Liddy in White House Plumbers
Image via HBO

Most storytellers and filmmakers, after doing something like Veep and having such success with that, would probably avoid doing another political project, but here you are. Did you ever hesitate because of that, or were you just too interested in doing this to even be concerned about that?

MANDEL: It’s funny, I know they’re the same, in the sense that they’re about politics, but they’re so different to me. On just a simple level, obviously, this is a real story versus making up Selina. This was a chance to tell a real story. I love Veep, and I love everything I got to do on it, but that was a comedy. We brought drama into it, but that had jokes. Here, while it’s, as a said, a funny tragedy, there’s never really a joke. So, I know what you mean, but at the same time, for me, they’re incredibly different, in their own way. Now, I will tell you that when people start asking me, “What’s your next political thing?,” I do start to go, “Okay, maybe it’s time to do some sci-fi, or something.” I see them very differently, even though it’s me and there are actors that I used in both of them, but they’re doing different things with a different take. So, to me, they’re incredibly different, but I get it.

What struck you as most funny about these people and this entire situation? Were there specific aspects of it that just gave you a little chuckle at the absurdity of it all?

MANDEL: By the way, this is a similarity to Veep, in that it’s a show about people that are desperate to get power, and the only way you get power is proximity to power. To me, the more desperate they get, the funnier they are. The desperation is funny. That being said, when I was reading about the multiple break-ins, you’re just like, “They broke in four times? They broke in once, they planted the bugs, they got away with it, but the bugs didn’t work and all they got was some secretary talking about Shelley Winters?” That’s insane. Those little real world details made me chuckle so much that I was just like, “We have to do that.” That’s what was so crazy about it.

Woody Harrelson as E. Howard Hunt and Justin Theroux as G. Gordon Liddy in White House Plumbers
Image via HBO

These two guys should have been relatively respected career men. Downfalls this spectacular don’t just happen overnight. What do you feel was the biggest wrong turn for these guys, that just stepped them past the point of no return?

MANDEL: What’s so funny is that, when you met them before Watergate, Hunt had this long, distinguished, maybe sometimes evil CIA career, but he was a very longtime, distinguished spy who had been put out to pasture. He was a has-been, in some ways, desperate to get back. And Liddy was desperate to be important. Liddy wants to be famous. Liddy wanted to be a super spy. That combination was like nitroglycerine. It was a had-been and a never-was, desperate to be important again. But honestly, there’s that moment in the third episode, when they’ve broken in three times, and Hunt knows they should not go back in again, but they want him to go back in. They’re walking by the Lincoln Memorial, and they sit down and Liddy is begging him. Liddy exposes a little of himself and talks a bit about his own life, and Hunt knows he shouldn’t. He knows it’s bad, but he goes back in. That is the point of no return where, as bad as things were, things get really, really bad. That’s the shift where, I don’t wanna say it gets less funny, but you start to realize that you’ve been laughing at this thing, and all of a sudden, now lives are being lost, people are going to prison, the worm turns, and it gets, I hate to say scary, but it does get a little scary. That is the moment of, “Holy crap.”

Everybody in this cast, from top to bottom, is terrific, but it’s particularly fascinating to watch Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux together, at the center of this. What was it like to direct these actors and watch them do their thing? What did you most enjoy about the dynamic that Woody and Justin brought to this?

MANDEL: I had never met either of them or worked with them, but I was a huge fan, obviously. Both of them have a long resume of comedy and drama. Woody did Cheers and Kingpin, but then also True Detective. It’s pretty incredible. And it’s the same thing with Justin. You get The Leftovers, but he was also a screenwriter on Tropic Thunder. Those are crazy combinations, to begin with. So, knowing that we were gonna do this thing that had this unique tone and knowing that these guys were comfortable with both, that’s part of why I wanted to do this, from the beginning. But what was so fascinating was that parts of them are very similar to the guys they play on the screen. Woody is world-weary. He’s seen it all. He’s had such a long career. With Justin, there’s an element of a little bit of peacocking to him, in the way that Liddy liked the way he dressed. I think Justin would accept the fact that he’s a handsome guy. And so, what was fascinating to me was that these guys weren’t that far from their characters. At the same time, they have this incredible friendship that’s a teasing friendship, off camera, so I wanted to get them in front of the camera and just play with it. In certain places, I’d say, “No, it’s okay, just let it go further,” and we’d push and experiment. These guys were so open to getting it right and to play with it. You don’t often get opportunities like that.

White House Plumbers airs on Monday nights on HBO and is available to stream at Max.