“Santa Clarita Diet” season 2 launches on March 23rd.
The Knockturnal’s OJ Williams scored an interview with Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant of Santa Clarita Diet. In Santa Clarita Diet, Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore) are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenaged daughter Abby (Liv Hewson), until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending their lives down a road of death and destruction…but in a good way. Picking up right where we left off, Season 2 of Santa Clarita Diet finds the Hammonds trying to adapt to Sheila’s now-advanced undead state — even though she’s desperately working to hold on to her suburban lifestyle and not be defined as just another monster. Unfortunately — while the family has become markedly better at murder — the number of missing people in Santa Clarita is starting to pile up and it’s no longer going unnoticed. Meanwhile, the Hammonds are chasing the source of the virus so they can stop it from spreading and save humanity — which seems important. Through it all, Sheila and Joel are grounded by their unconditional love for one another. Sure, being undead — or loving someone who is — isn’t always easy, but don’t all relationships have their challenges?
The Knockturnal: What do you guys admire the most about each other?
Timothy Olyphant: Oh, you want me to start? Please, allow me. And I’ve said this before – she knows this – she is, to me, just one of the most authentic people that I know on and off camera. And her willingness to embarrass herself take after take; her willingness to just put it out there and I just find that to be just refreshing. It’s very rare. And she’s a gamer; she just shows up. She can be covered in blood; there’s no bitching. I think it’s just very rare and very refreshing and a pleasure to be around.
Drew Barrymore: Tim is very real. He’s very professional. There’s no drama or bullshit about him. He’s a genuinely good person. A family man. Someone who talks to everyone.
Timothy Olyphant: It feels like this is an episode of Dr. Phil, where now what we’re gonna get to is the problem.
Drew Barrymore: We just have fun. And we try really hard. And I have worked with people who like, don’t know their lines or just act like it’s a whatever and it affects you. You’re like “oh shit, am I an idiot for caring?” Like, Tim really cares. I really care. And I think we both have deep admiration and respect for our creator Victor. So we’re like a little triangle and it’s just a good environment. It’s happy. And we get to do crazy shit which is so fun, you know? It’s not a boring day of work on our set. It’s like, we’re doing crazy things. We’re saying crazy things. We’re laughing – it’s a comedy at the end of the day. But it’s also – we, I think first and foremost for all of us, our families are first and we are making a show about this family trying to function.
The Knockturnal: What about the Hammond family attracted you to the part?
Timothy Olyphant: First of all, I knew before this specific show came my way, the idea of doing a ten episode half-hour, you know, comedy on one of the streaming networks or cables is very attractive. Just from a lifestyle point of view, I was like that idea of doing ten episodes half-hour – I just felt like that would’ve been a fun thing, but then you’re trying to find the right thing. So when I first read it, I found it to be this wonderful contradiction. It was both fresh and gory and outlandish. And at the same time, it felt very old-fashioned and very grounded. And when I first sat down with Victor, my only concern was where is it going. Is it going to settle into something? When he told me it was about a marriage; when he told me it was about a family, I was like “oh”.
Drew Barrymore: I just thought, when I read it I was like: “whoa, this is very different”. And it was such good writing. I think everything starts with the writing. And then when I met Victor, I was just like: if I walk in the room and I have to meet this guy who wrote this wonderful thing; if it’s someone who’s gonna be dark and an auteur or wants to make it dark or take it dark, I was like I’m so out. I just don’t want to do that with my life. But here I met Victor who is this wonderful family man and really sweet and kind. He talked about the optimism of the show and how we can do all these things but we still like these people and they’re not arguing and at each other’s throats. I was just so into the tone he was pitching, so I went on the ride and then Tim – I knew Tim was doing it – so I was like, I feel I could do that with him because just knowing him as an actor I can see how he can pull off all those tones. But there was an optimism and a likability factor that Victor was going though and so I was excited to try it.
The Knockturnal: So it hit all the check marks for you guys?
Drew Barrymore: It did.
Timothy Olyphant: Without question.
