*The Apple TV Plus limited series “The Shrink Next Door” marks the onscreen reunion of Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd.
Audiences that loved the duo in the hit comedy “Anchorman” are in for a different type of experience! This series is inspired by actual events and based on the podcast of the same name.
“The Shrink Next Door” tells the story of a charming psychiatrist, Dr. Isaac Herschkopf (Rudd), and his longtime patient Martin “Marty” Markowitz (Ferrell).
What starts as a seemingly run-of-the-mill situation turns into a manipulative and dysfunctional relationship that spans 30 years.
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Ferrell and Rudd discussed coming together again for the project and the slightly different approach to these real-life characters with EUR correspondent Jill Munroe.
Fans will be excited to see the two of you back together on screen, is that what attracted you to the project?
“Oddly enough, it happened simultaneously,” said Ferrell, “We both were told to listen to this podcast. Paul had been suggested to it by Michael Showalter – he’s one of the producers, and he directs the first four episodes. My agent said you might want to listen to this; there’s talk of making it into a show. And then I heard Paul was interested, and he heard I was interested, so we thought, let’s just do it together. We hadn’t worked together in a long time. So it was great to work with Paul again and to be able to dive into something with a friendship behind it, which allowed us to tackle some intense scenes.”
Did you approach the characters any differently because this is based on real people?
“I think we were both aware of that and wanted the tone to be believable,” said Ferrell. “We worked with dialect coaches. I had the benefit of actually getting to meet and talk to the real Marty. Paul got to meet him too, and we were all entertained by him at his house in the Hamptons for a day, which was fantastic. But yes, we had the burden of making sure it felt believable and not arched.”
Rudd added, “and Marty was able to provide us with a lot of information. A lot of photographs, some videos, things we could use to try to create the characters we were playing. When you’re playing two characters that grow very close over many years, there’s something really nice about getting to do it with Will, who is a good friend of mine. We both felt a bit more comfortable doing it because we like hanging out and are friends.”
The eight-episode series also stars Kathryn Hahn as Marty’s sister Phyliss and Casey Wilson as Bonnie.
“The Shrink Next Door” debuts November 12, only on Apple TV+.
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