LOS ANGELES — Laura Dern and her father, veteran actor Bruce Dern, are in a room together and, within minutes, the stories begin.

There was talk about the advice he received from the giants that orbited his life — like Elia Kazan, whom Bruce studied under at the Actor's Studio in New York. Bruce — whose family included prominent politicians, businessmen and a poet — was moving to L.A. in the 1960s, and the legendary director told him, "When you get out there, no one's going to give a f— about who you are or what your name is or anything."

There was talk about his best Dernsies — the term coined by his longtime friend Jack Nicholson to describe Dern's habit of going off script to find authentic moments for his characters: "They're not just a pat on my back. They're just 17 years of playing the fifth cowboy from the right. I never had more than five lines in a whole movie," Dern says, sprinkling examples from films including 1978's "Coming Home" and 2019's "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" throughout the conversation.

Bruce is 87 now. With an acting career that has spanned more than half a century in films like "The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant," "The Great Gatsby" and "Nebraska," he has a lot of stories to tell. And there's more ahead. While many would relish slowing down, he's still pushing himself creatively — this time with help from Laura, who has forged her own acclaimed career in film and television as an actor and producer.

Laura and Bruce mine their tender bond as father and daughter for "Palm Royale," Apple TV+'s vibrant and outrageous 1960s-set comedy. Based on Juliet McDaniel's novel "Mr. and Mrs. American Pie" and adapted for television by Abe Sylvia ("George & Tammy"), the series revolves around the exploits of social climber Maxine Simmons (Kristen Wiig). She's desperately trying to earn a spot on the social ladder in the glamorous and exclusive community of Palm Beach, Fla., where her estranged and now-comatose aunt-in-law (Carol Burnett) ruled for decades. There, Maxine encounters Linda Shaw (Laura Dern, who is an executive producer on the series), a feminist activist and owner of a bookstore with a past she can't fully escape; and her rich father, Skeet (Bruce Dern), who is ailing while his wife, Evelyn (Allison Janney), vies for Palm Beach's top spot in the social hierarchy.

It's the first time — officially, anyway — the Derns are sharing the screen.

From a hotel room in Pasadena, the father-daughter duo discussed how "Palm Royale" brought them together, the art of not rehearsing, and the Dernsie that made it into the show. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Q: I'm surprised it took this long to have you two share screen time in this way. How did this come about?

Laura: It was a dream to finally get to work together. We've thought about it for a while. The gift of being a producer is you can be involved early in decisions, in the process of developing the characters, and what part to play. Abe had this brilliant idea of this other character, Linda, that had not been in the book, to really speak to a lot of the themes that I wanted to talk about. We thought, maybe there's background that involves the family. That's when Jayme Lemons, my producing partner, was like "Family? Is it a dad?" Because they all knew how we'd always longed for this.

When [Abe] pitched the idea of this relationship, I called Dad, who was working on two movies, because he never stops and is deeply sought after. I felt a little shy as a producer, because I didn't want you [turning to Bruce] to feel like you had to do it. It was like, "is it a waste to finally work together and only have you a few scenes? Or are we going to jump at doing what we've wanted to do, certainly, my whole life?" Dad was so supportive and game and willing. I think it gave us a wonderful journey to explore deep themes about sins of the father, grief, ego and privilege.

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