‘Friends From College,’ Netlifx’s new eight-episode series created by husband-and-wife team Nick Stollerย and Francesca Delbanco, premiered last Monday at AMC Loews 34th Street.
The show follows forty-something couple Ethan (Keegan Michael Key) and Lisa (Cobieย Smulders) as they reconnect with college friends and fall into a web of complicated relationships with one another. We caught up with the cast and creators on the red carpet.
Nat Faxon
Can you tell me about the character you play?
NF: I play one of the friends from college. When I was growing up they were called trustafariansโbasically kids that had a ton of money and no real goals in life. They always were able to do whatever they wanted, party all the time, and never get a real jobโmaybe they had an office at their fatherโs company, but never really wentโand then probably grew up and felt guilty, like they probably should have done something more meaningful with their lives.
Was there any room for improvisation in the script?
NF:ย I would say we always tried to do a few takes where we stuck to the script and tried to get what was on the page correct, or at least close to. The writing was so strong on this show that it felt like an injustice to improvise, to change it up for no reason really. When itโs already really good you kind of just should do it the way itโs written. But that being said, I will say Nick is incredibly loose and fun and is not strict at all when it comes to saying the words exactly, so it was a good mix. I would say weโd get a few takes that were on script, and then we would do some fun, kind of where it loosened up. I think probably the final product ended up being a little bit of both.
Do you still keep in touch with your friends from college?
NF: Yes, I do. I have a good group of friends who I still keep in touch with pretty regularly. Hopefully theyโll enjoy this, you know, and see themselves in some of the parts.
Jae Suh Park
Can you tell me about the character you play?
JSP:ย I play Marianne, and sheโs kind of the bohemian of the group. She doesnโt believe in marriage, she doesnโt believe in monogamy, lives in the same apartment she did when she was in college. Sheโs an artist, an actress.
What do you like about filming in New York?
JSP:ย Not having my child with me? [laughs] No, Iโve never lived in New York long term, so it was really fun because I was able to go back and fourth quite a bit. I stayed in Brooklyn, I was in midtown, I was in Long Island. I was able to enjoy so much, so that was really fun for me.
What was it like working with this incredibly talented cast?
JSP:ย Iโve been telling people itโs kind of like weโre in the Super Bowl of comedy. Iโve never been a series regular on a show, so I feel like I was accidentally thrown in. I was Rudy, and then I just kind of had to make due with it. But everybody was so amazing and so wonderful and so supportive that it was just wonderful and so much fun.
Nick Stoller and Francesca Delbanco
What was it like working with Netflix?
NS: Itโs been awesome. Theyโre really hands off and very supportive. The notes they give, they say you can take it or leave it, but their notes tend to be really helpful.
FD:ย They really trusted us to make the show that we wanted to make and set out to make, which is kind of incredible. And they just let it unfold that way. But then they would read scripts and say, โJust so you know, this is how we feel about this character,โ and they were always right.
NS:ย When we went to them, they were like, โWeโll make it.โ There wasnโt like the process of writing a pilot and then making the pilot. They were just like, โWeโll make the series.โ
FD: Thatโs like your fantasy as a writer.
Whatโs the dynamic like working together?
FD: We really enjoyed it. The first season was kind of a breeze in that way. We definitely challenge each other, and have some ideas that are exactly the same and some that are really different, and it seems like hashing it out is a useful way to come up with something that will be interesting .
Do you approach making shows and film in a different way?
ย NS: Not really. This is a longer story that weโre telling, so itโs like a movie is two hours, this is four hours. We treated it exactly like a movieโwe wrote everything before we shot, we had rehearsals like a movie, we cross boarded everything so we shot out of order. We basically treated it like a movie.
Annie Parisee
Can you tell me about the character you play?
AP:ย I play Sam, and she is in a moment of perhaps self-revelation after a lifetime of arrested development.
Do you find you can relate to that at all?
AP:ย Aspects of it. I mean, God, I hope I donโt have it as bad as she does [laughs]. But I can relate to that feeling of just not wanting to grow up, like not wanting to be at the moment where it all starts to count, and then suddenly realizing, โOh, Iโm already there, and Iโve been there for a while.โ
What do you like about filming in New York?
AP:ย Well I live here, so it makes it really easy and convenient for me. But also I had a couple of iconic New York filming moments. Once we shot on the steps of the Met, and it was just gorgeous, and there was a scene that we shot in the middle of Park Avenue late at night with the steam rising, and you can see the MetLife building in the background. I was like, โWow, this is my life. I get to do this.โ
Do you have any upcoming projects?
ย AP:ย I just did a project with Jeff Daniels called The Looming Tower.
Keegan Michael Key
Do you still keep in touch with your friends from college?
KMK:ย I keep up with a few friends from college. I have college friends and graduate school friends, and I try to make an effort to stay in touch with them. My best friend from college, her three children are my godchildren, so I spend time with herโsheโs going to come see me in Hamlet in a couple of months. Itโs all about who you make an effort with, because you know how you find that sometimes youโre friends with people youโre around? And then you move away and you go, โOh, thatโs too bad. Oh, maybe we werenโt that great of friends.โ
Who are you in the group? Whatโs that dynamic like?
KMK:ย Iโm never the planner. Somebody else organizes, and then I execute. So like, โOK we got everyone in the party. Now Keegan, you take over and make sure everybodyโs happy.โ Thatโs my job.
Are you at liberty to tell me anything about Predator with Shane Black?
KMK:ย [Pantomimes a nervous glance over his shoulders, around the room] I think that people find the original Predator to be very clever and funny. I think if you were to watch this movie next to the old Predator, you would find that thereโs two to three more laughs. I can tell you that. Iโm trying to think if thereโs another subtle way I can tell you anything else, but I donโt think there is. Thereโs just a lot more there to enjoy.
Cobie Smulders
I loved you in Literally Right Before Aaron. What an amazing, charming movie.
CS:ย Oh! You saw that?
What was it like being part of this ensemble cast?
CS:ย It was stupid, so stupid, because everyday we would be onset, and right before we would roll it was like we were already doing a scene cause we all got along really well. Nick Stoller is amazing at hiringโlike, I think he has a no asshole policy, because itโs really hard to get a group ofโhow many of us are there? Eight? Seven?โand none of us are jerks. I mean maybe Iโm a jerk. I donโt think Iโm a jerk, but thatโs hard for me to make a judgment call on. But nobody Iโve worked with is a jerk, and I think that that is so important when youโre doing an ensemble. You have to genuinely like each other and be entertained by each other.
All episodes of ‘Friends From College’ will be available on Netflix on July 14th
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