FilmmakerPaul Feighas made a lot of comedies over the years—and female-driven comedies at that—but most of his stories aren’t so concerned with romance. His most recent feature, 2019’sLast Christmas, was his first fully blown romcom (of sorts), but by and large Feig has eschewed romance because, as he puts it, he’s more interested in “what makes a fully formed person.” And that’s exactly why he sparked toSam Boyd’s idea for a TV series calledLove Life.
TheHBO Max original series(which will be available at launch on May 27th) starsAnna Kendrickas a woman named Darby. Each episode follows a different love or relationship in Darby’s life, and by the season’s end, we’ll find out who she ends up with. The show was pitched as an anthology, following a different person each season from their first relationship to their last, but what setsLove Lifeapart is how it uses this conceit to develop the character at its center. This is as much a coming-of-age story as it is a romance, and it’s no coincidence that the significant others of the story come and go while Darby remains ever compelling, ever evolving.
While appearing on the latest episode of our extended remote interview seriesCollider Connected, Feig explained how that hook is what drew him to produce the HBO Max series through his Feigco Entertainment production company:
“Yeah that was the hook that Sam originally brought to us when he pitched it to us, and I thought it was great. What’s great about television versus movies is TV gives you the time to really explore depth in a way that you’re able to kind of do puzzle pieces and leave breadcrumbs in one place and bring them forward to another thing, and that’s what I liked about this because that to me is so much about what makes all of us the people that we are. Unless you’re a lucky one who meets your sweetheart in high school and you marry them and you die 80 years later, most of us it’s this slow attrition of ‘Oh I think I like this’ and ‘Oh actually I don’t’, and something happens and how it affects you and how it makes you cautious or what makes you reckless. All of those things add up, and so I thought, ‘This is such a great way to tell a love story about one person’.”
Feig added that he also liked the mystery aspect of the story, and revealed that as a producer on the show, Kendrick infused the story with some of her own personal experience:
“What I also like about it—if you notice there’s not a lot of romance in my movies. I’m not so much hung up on romantic comedies as much as I am about what makes one person into a fully functioning person. That’s what I like about this is that even though it’s about her kind of looking for a relationship, it’s about her trying to become whole. She has such a great relationship with her friends, it’s such a great cast, and it’s just how does this all add up to making a person into who they are. What I also loved about it is it’s almost like a comedic murder mystery (laughs). You don’t know who she’s gonna end up with, so it could be somebody she met in the first episode, it could be somebody she meets down the line. We liked it in New York City too because you’re in a city where you’ll interact with people and where you’ll run into people, whether you want to or not. And the last thing I’ll say on that is Anna Kendrick is so spectacular. She was involved as a producer pitching a lot of ideas as far as things she’s been through in relationships and things she’s observed.”
As for his approach to producing versus directing, Feig says he sees his role as lifting up someone else’s voice:
“It’s fun. I’ve learned over the years from producers I’ve worked with that I don’t want to micromanage. What my job as a producer is is to find the material, find the best people for it or making sure that the people who brought it in know what they’re doing, and then basically get out of their way… I’ve had so many times when things are brought to me or we’re in development or somebody writes something and I’m kind of like, ‘I wouldn’t have done it that way, but I think what you’re doing is cool because it’s your voice.’ I think what you’re doing is cool because it’s your voice, and I don’t want to cut off your voice. If I’m directing I want it to be my voice, if I’m producing I want to facilitate that person’s voice.
That was whatLove Lifewas, and same withZoey’s Extraordinary Playlistwhich I produced. We were brought amazing ideas, made sure that the people that wanted to do it were great, shepherded them with ‘here’s what we think, take it or leave it but go and do your version of it.’”
In fact, Feig didn’t even feel the need to be on set that often as the show as shooting:
“WithLove Lifewe had Sam Boyd and Bridget Bedard who ran the show. They’re really, really smart and they just knew what they wanted to do, and then Dan Magnante who heads up TV at my company, he was on the set every day watching things, and I was watching dailies. I visited the set a couple of times, but I didn’t feel I needed to. I was in post-production onLast Christmasanyway. But again it’s just kind of like let these gret people do what they do, and if you need a course-correction or you need a note or to intervene, then you get in there. But let those voices ring.”
Be sure to check out what Feig had to say abouthis time onThe Officeand thepossibility of aBridesmaidssequel, and check out the full hourlong interview below!
