Ability to swear not a prerequisite but it helps on set of Veep

BANFF, Alta. – It’s not a requirement that you know how to swear but it doesn’t hurt on the HBO hit series “Veep”.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is wrapping up her second season in the lead role of U.S. Vice President Selina Meyer in the satirical comedy series.

Louis-Dreyfus was at the Banff World Media Festival to receive the inaugural Variety TV Impact Award.

After a wildly successful run on “Seinfeld” and a five year run in “The New Adventures of Old Christine” she took on the “Veep” role after being hooked by hearing it was about an “unhappy vice-president”.

The language and the colourful phrases are not for family viewing but Louis-Dreyfus said it seems to work.

“It is fun to play. They’re very creative in their swearing and there’s some wonderful phrases that have come out of the last two seasons,” she said Tuesday.

“What I think is really lovely about the swearing on our show is it helps underline and highlight behind the curtain and in front of the curtain,” Louis-Dreyfus explained.

“I think one never thinks about these people we often admire behaving in such a way. I think it helps highlight the theme of the show.”

With a career that includes three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and five Screen Actors Guild Awards, Louis-Dreyfus, now 52, thinks she has a pretty good feel for how successful the show could be.

“From a creative gas tank point of view, you do sometimes sense how much energy you have left to tell this story. I think there’s a lot of story left to be told . We’ve just begun to scratch the surface which is a thrill.”

With just two episodes left in the show’s second season, she wasn’t about to spill any details about the finale or next season other than to say “there’s going to be a big change…of sorts.”

Preproduction work is already underway for season three and rehearsals begin next month.

She’s thrilled about working at HBO and praised the network for allowing the show to explore its creative freedom.

Louis-Dreyfus said sometimes shows end before they should.

“Christine quite frankly ended too soon and there was a lot of story we could have still told and Seinfeld ended appropriately so. We could have gone another season but getting out when we did was wise.”

There was no intention of using former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin as a model for the show. But Louis-Dreyfus told reporters on the red carpet she’s been asked that a lot.

“A lot people assumed I would be doing a Sarah Palin impression or a parody of sorts but i wasn’t worried about because I wasn’t,” she said.

“Sarah Palin is an extremist. She’s on an extreme side of the aisle. Selina is not. She’s a straddler of the aisle.”