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Say what you will aboutManiac, but it doesnt lack for ambition.
What do you see as the divergence point between our world and the world of the series?
Its not completely divorced from us: like, you have somebody singing Sting in it.
Clearly some of our history overlaps with their history.
Is it like, in the 80s, we stopped inventing things?
Patrick Somerville: Something happened in the 90s.
Cary Joji Fukunaga: There were culture references that take place in culture now that we took out.
For example,Madagascar.
We took it out.
You referenced the movieMadagascar?
Fukunaga: At one point, yeah.
Somerville: AndOrdinary Peoplea little bit too.
The break that we always talked about was somewhere in the early 80s.
Fukunaga: Or potentially 90s.
Whatever our IBM era was, we were kinda looking at.
But there are nods to it.
When Annie says, I got a van.
I got a man who has a van.
Somerville: At one point, she was watchingTakenearlier in that episode and she got that idea from it.
I think, too, its also just sort of figurative.
Its all just dressed up in a different way.
Hopefully, its relatable to now.
Fukunaga: That was the idea.
How did you approach that topic?
Fukunaga:Thank you for sharing that.
From the very beginning, we were like,We cannot set this in a mental hospital.
We did not want to make mental illness the butt of a joke by any means.
Somerville: My wife is a psychotherapist and my dad was a neurologist.
My wife was a consultant on the show, too.
What struck me was that the series isnt exactly anti-therapy or anti-medication.
Somerville: Anti-quickness, and anti-easiness, I think, too.
You have these characters who, by the end, realize that it is a long process.
Being aware of that gradualness is important for mental health.
Somerville: And people who know that youre worried about that, too.
So, I want to talk about something just as serious: the SuckBot.
Fukunaga: No, you mean the SuckTube.
Fukunaga: The PoopBot is for the sanitary stuff and the SuckTube is for … other stuff.
Somerville: We didnt do the SuckBot yet.
Fukunaga: The SuckBot is in development.
Then they really built it.
Fukunaga: Never going to clear SuckTube.
Somerville: And then SuckTube cleared [snaps] like that.
Fukunaga: So when it came down to functioning, we were dealing with 1980s technology.
Was it going to be a 5.25-inch floppy?
We decided to go with the bigger floppy.
How did you put together the stand-alone episode with the lemur caper?
Fukunaga: The lemur thing was probably the quickest and fastest-accepted idea.
Fukunaga: Also, infusing energy.
Its a purposely slow beginning to immerse the viewer in the world without necessarily bombarding them with exposition.
When you dont have exposition, its a little slower getting into it.
We knew that there needs to be a payoff for that, too.
We had to increase the energy and the pace with which the episodes are going to roll out.
Annies emotional life would be put on the table.
I love that episode because it hides it until she gets to that scene.
And it happens so seamlessly.
Shes talking, and all of a sudden, shes talking about Annies life, not Lindas.
Somerville: Thats Emma.
Emmas performance in that scene …
Fukunaga: I think it was just one take.
Somerville: She just crushed it.
She just got it.
When she does, you dont tell her a thing.
What was the most challenging delusion to pull off?
Fukunaga: I think the seventh and eighth episodes were really the toughest ones to pull off.
Those are the elf ones?
Fukunaga: Yeah the elf, and also Owen in the Mob family.
Those are tough because at that stage, what exactly does confrontation mean for them?
What has GRTA mapped out for them?
That gets so hyperintellectual that it takes away from the enjoyment sometimes.
It just had all of these obstructions, in terms of the execution and writing of it.
Somerville: Not to mention to keep it fun.
Thats the core terrors you associate with mental illness, but its supposed to be fun.
That was a lot to do at once.
Especially in that episode to check that that we stayed closer to a realism vibe.
What sticks out in your mind about working with Sally Field?
Fukunaga: How down she was to kiss her son.
Somerville: More than down.
She was pushing for more!
Fukunaga: Her first day was actually voicing GRTA live.
I like doing sound live on camera.
I dont like someone trying to record it later.
Somerville: A gentleness.
Well, she had to be a computer that can fall in love.
Its always a joy to watch people that are so pros.
She knows what she is looking for and hones in on it and does it.
Fukunaga: What was that moment in episode five where she has the book?
I needed her to do something and I didnt even tell her.
Somerville: She knew what you wanted before you even said it.
Fukunaga: She knew what I wanted before I even said it.
And it was like six in the morning by the way, we had been shooting all night.
Somerville: It was a gift from Sally Field.
She arguably has the best line in the entire show: Gas up the Miata.
Somerville: Thats a Cary Fukunaga line.
Oh really, that was you?
Fukunaga: That was actually my … its a nod to people I know.
Somerville: Specific people?
Someone said that before?
Fukunaga: No, I just know a lady.
She does a lot of film screenings in New York and she has a Miata.
Why all theDon Quixotereferences?
Cary, did you have a particular shot that made you shout, Yes!
Somerville: Cary Fukunaga does not go, Yes!
Or hell say, Yeah, thats good.
Fukunaga: Usually, Im like this.
[Sighs, places his head in his hands in exasperation.]
But seriously, was there something especially hard to pull off?
Fukunaga: Strangely, some of the smaller things.
Just weird, balletic, micro-moves.
How about the uninterrupted shootout sequence?
Fukunaga: No, we did that in like four tries, five tries.
Fukunaga: Yeah, we had rehearsed it a little bit, but …
Somerville: There arent cuts.
So thats not CGI wizardry?
It really happened in single takes?
Fukunaga: Oh yeah, but thats exhausting.
You cant really do it much more than that, so it is what it is.
Cary, you just got tapped to direct the new James Bond movie.
What will you be looking for in a Bond villain?
It just felt like Jed is so emotionally tone-deaf.
It was the perfect song for him to sing to his future wife that is mildly imprisoning.
Owen can see that and its just the straw that breaks the camels back.
Holy crap, I totally didnt make that connection.
Somerville: Shes heard that song a few times.
Fukunaga: Yes, shes heard that song a few times.
Somerville: Thats real acting for her to be, like, into it.
The show is very dense with references and world-building.
Do you have a detail that you hope people will notice, but think they wont?
Somerville: I do, for sure.
Nobody is ever going to notice it.
It got zero laughs when we watched it in London.
Cary was trying to take it out of the show for months.
I was like,Youre leaving it!
Fukunaga: Thats compromise, man.
