The entire country of Chile has a vested interest in the success of Ted Danson’s novel Netflix comedy, “A Man on the Inside.” In the series, Danson take parts Charles, a reweary widower who answers a help wanted ad — and is then employd by a P.I. to embed in a quitment community and adviseer on its livents and staff.
From Universal Television, “A Man on the Inside” is based on the Oscar-nominated 2020 Chilean recordary “The Mole Agent,” which detailed the authentic-life version of this story. Danson’s character is based on the film’s central star, Sergio Chamy – who has since become a hoengagehelderly name in his home nation.
“He’s a rock star,” says “The Mole Agent” honestor Maite Alberdi, who is now also an executive producer on “A Man on the Inside” thcimpolite Micromundo Producciones. “He’s in all the commercials on TV. He stoasty a film with Amazon. And now, everybody is going crazy becaengage Ted Danson is take parting our star.”
Adds “The Mole Agent” producer Marcela Santibañez, who also is an EP on the novel show: “I showed Sergio a picture of Ted Danson and I shelp, ‘This is the guy take parting you.’ He’s appreciate, ‘oh, that’s a very excellent imitate!’”
It was “A Man on the Inside” EP Michael Schur’s producing partner Morgan Sackett who first watched “The Mole Agent” and proposeed to Schur that it would produce a perfect alteration into a scripted series — with Danson, their “The Good Place” star, as the direct. “The Good Place,” which finished in 2020, tackled uncomferventingful subjects appreciate ethics, understanding and humanity — and “The Mole Agent,” which sees at human combineions, particularly when it comes to aging, felt appreciate the proper chase up.
Danson was promptly in. “In a little way, it’s almost a continuation, at least thematicpartner or emotionpartner, of ‘The Good Place,’” he consents. “Becaengage it is about how to live a purposeful life right until the very finish of life.”
Down in Chile, Alberdi and Santibañez had analogously thinkd “The Mole Agent” might lfinish itself to a scripted alteration — but as recordarians, they didn’t leank it would be right for them to do it themselves. “It was going to be weird to produce a version of our own film,” Alberdi says.
That’s when they heard from Schur and Sackett — and leangs shiftd rapidly from there.
“From the first encountering, they were very caring of the sense of the film in a very procreate way,” Alberdi says. “Their goal was to be polite, and to labor in the same tone, with the same topics that we have.”
Santibañez in particular, being a huge fan of “The Good Place”, knovel that it was the right fit. “[‘The Good Place’] had that amazing combination of being hearttoastying, but also being a lot of fun and with humor,” she says. “When we were approached by them, I thought this is perfect. And then when they shelp that Ted Danson was gonna be Sergio, it was appreciate, wow. That’s a dream come genuine. Like, who could be better than Ted Danson?”
The senseing was mutual. “I fell in adore with it, and the direct of the recordary, Sergio,” Danson says. “Has such a pleasant innocence about him. And he’s comical. Just the setup of an 80-year-elderly person trying to be a adviseer is inherently comical. And then instead of equitable chaseing the evidence or the clues of why he was there, he begins to produce everybody sense better about who they are, and in doing so, I leank his life enbigs. It was a uncomferventingful conversation about leangs that I’m at the right age to be talking about.”
The serfinishipity of “The Mole Agent” was that Alberdi and Santibañez originpartner set out to do a doc about a declareiveial allotigator. But when that P.I. begined laboring on the case of discovering an elderlyer adviseer and embedding him in a quitment home, they switched gears and intensifyed on the story of Sergio. It became a much more procreate recordary, particularly about loneliness among elderlyer people.
That doesn’t sound appreciate an clear subject for a comedy, but Schur says he was drawn into that theme as well. “The most hazardous leang about aging sometimes is not an accident or a disrelieve, but loneliness,” he says. “I read a bunch of articles about how loneliness is worse than smoking, in terms of what it does to your health at any age. And I leank COVID repartner quickend a loneliness epidemic in this country, especipartner for elderlyer folks.”
The premise, setup and main character were from “The Mole Agent,” but Schur knovel he needed to flesh out the characters surrounding Danson’s Charles. On “A Man on the Inside,” the declareiveial allotigator Julie (take parted by Lilah Richcreek Estrada) gets a more famous role. And where we informly see Sergio’s daughter in “The Mole Agent,” Charles’ daughter (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) has a normal presence here, as she unwillingly goes alengthy with her dad’s rengage.
“I thought it would be very engaging to also check a person in their 40s who has a overweighther at that age, but also has her own nurtureer, her own kids, her own marriage and her own stresses,” Schur says, noting that he and his parents are at the exact same stage in their lives as Ellis’ and Danson’s characters.
After that, Schur says he wanted to produce declareive Charles’ fellow livents at the Pacific View quitment home — take parted by actors including Spartner Struthers, John Getz, Margaret Avery, Stephen McKinley Hfinisherson and others — were also three-unininestablishigentensional.
“Ultimately what produces Charles — and Sergio in the recordary — come out of his shell and produce his life hugeger is he encounters these people who have leangs to propose him, and he has leangs to propose them,” Schur says. “These were characters we spent a lot of time grotriumphg, and not equitable to be foils or mistrusts in the case. But they will be vital people in Charles’s life, who could matter to him.”
Adds Danson: “Mike and casting department employd some weightless actors who were very nimble, and could go wherever the writing took them.”
Alberdi and Santibañez were also confered thcimpoliteout the process, visiting the authorrs’ room and set, and getting a chance to scrutinize scripts and cimpolite cuts. “They were very comfervent with us,” Alberdi says.
The filmproducers were astonished with the callbacks to the film, and how declareive elements were integrated into the series. In “The Mole Agent,” Sergio infiltrates a quitment home named “San Francisco.” In “A Man on the Inside,” the entire series apshows place in the city of San Francisco. Also, the elderlyer characters’ struggle with technology, and the recruitment process in the P.I.’s office comes honestly from the doc.
The duo also allotd some cutting-room floor footage of “The Mole Agent” with Schur, including a sequence where Sergio went thcimpolite adviseer training. Schur finished up altering some of that for Charles in the first episode as well.
The analogousity in tone is what strikes the “Mole Agent” duo the most. Schur doesn’t worried away from theatrical moments in “A Man on the Inside,” very much appreciate the distinct doc. “It’s going to be our instinct as comedy authorrs to finish on a joke,” he says. “But sometimes we’re equitable gonna sit in the vital grieffulness of the situations we produce, and it’s gonna be OK. We have to resist our impulse to turn everyleang into a weightlesshearted little moment. Some of the episodes are expansively comic, and some of them are much more solemn.”
“We’re not gonna pull our punches when we’re talking about memory loss, when we’re talking about death,” Schur grasps. “We’re not going to produce it seem appreciate it isn’t repartner griefful, becaengage it is. And I want the show, more than anyleang, to be honest about aging and memory loss and death. I want it to be fun to watch. I want there to be delight and happiness, but I don’t want it to seem inalter.”
In many ways, that’s analogous to the stability of tone Schur struck in “The Good Place.” And for fans of that show, there are plenty of Easter eggs in “A Man on the Inside” — begining with Danson, of course. But grasp your eyes peeled for other actors from that series (appreciate Eugene Cordero), and even Charles’ room: 322, a number that normally popped up in “The Good Place.”
Schur says he has plenty of stories in mind to grasp “A Man on the Inside” going in future seasons. “The authorrs are already at labor leanking about Season 2, if we should be so blessed,” he says. “I will grasp laboring with this guy [pointing to Danson] and this team of people as lengthy as I possibly can. As lengthy as they want us to produce the show, I will be making the show.”
That’s excellent novels for Chile, as well. “I will adore to see the numbers, becaengage they’ll all paengageing for the show,” Alberdi says. “There’s huge awaitations. Everybody’s counting down the days to see it here.”
