Nine Perfect Strangers, starring Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon, Luke Evans, Regina Hall, and Samara Weaving (among many others), is now streaming on Hulu. The series is the latest from acclaimed writer David E. Kelley and director Jonathan Levine.
ComingSoon’s Jeff Ames spoke with director Jonathan Levine about the series, working with the amazing ensemble cast, including the great Michael Shannon, and even delved into his time spent alongside acclaimed filmmaker Paul Schrader.
Jeff Ames: Before we get into Nine Perfect Strangers, I just want to ask what led you to the world of filmmaking?
Oh, gosh. I mean, I always wanted to be a filmmaker as far back as I can remember. I was always thinking in terms of movies and thinking in terms of storytelling. I just started thinking with a soundtrack — you know, when you’re a kid and you just put on your Walkman and you act like you’re in a scene from a movie in a way. That’s sort of what I was doing. Then at some point, I realized that there’s a job there. And you know, throughout high school and college I made movies. And then I went to film school and then I’ve luckily been able to do it ever since I was really young. And it’s kinda the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do.
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So, you worked as an assistant with Paul Schrader, correct? What were some of the directing techniques you learned from him that you’ve been able to apply to your career?
Oh, man. I mean, I was getting him coffee. [Laughs] Here’s what I would say about Schrader, who is one of my favorite filmmakers and who was a really great boss to me, even though I was a pretty shitty assistant to him — I was bad. [Laughs] It wasn’t like he was going to pull me aside and give me some like, wisdom about directing. It wasn’t like that. But I think I would just observe him. I would observe the way he stood up for what he believed in. I would observe the way he would show cuts to people every week. He would just say, “Hey, does your friend want to see a movie?” He was making Auto Focus at the time. So, I would bring friends to look at Auto Focus. I guess I sorta quietly clocked that that’s something a filmmaker did is get feedback on their work and get feedback in a very democratic way. I don’t know why he cared about what my 25-year old friend thought about Auto Focus, but he certainly did. And it helped him make the work better.
It was incredible to just watch him. And he’s such a big personality. I don’t know if you’ve ever talked to him or met him. I would just kind of observe him working. It was like I was studying him a little bit. He had such a reputation for being a volatile auteur, but he was really just a very down-to-earth, grounded, nice human. And he was very generous to me with his time and just a really good guy and a fantastic filmmaker. I don’t know if you’ve seen First Reformed, but that movie blew me away.
Have you found your style or your niche as a director? Or is that something that’s continually evolving?
I think a little bit of both. I think that certainly, I have a point of view and a perspective on what I do. And I think that I definitely approach things in a way that is specific to me. I think I have a tone that I feel very comfortable with, and it’s often a kind of weird tone. It’s often kind of a unique tone. And as far as the visual style, I think that was what I really loved so much about doing this show is you’re here, you’re doing it. So, day in, day out, you’re just shooting. There’s the sheer volume of it … you start to get so sick of making decisions that your critical brain stops and you’re very much just going on your gut and your instinct. I think that would allow me to move the camera around more. That would allow me to do scenes in longer takes and that would allow me to push boundaries tonally. I think that yes, one style is a constantly evolving thing. I don’t think that I graft an overarching style onto anything. I think I usually try to have it rise as an organic kind of dialogue with the material. What I really loved about the freedom of doing something like this is that I was able to assert a style more than I have been in a very long time.
What drew you to Nine Perfect Strangers? Were you familiar with the book?
It started with a script and it started with the people I knew that were involved. I was such a huge fan of David E. Kelley and such a huge fan of Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy. I was lucky enough to read that first script and I just fell in love with the characters and the town. And that’s where it started.
On this show, as you mentioned, you’ve got Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon … you’ve got so many great actors on the show. Did having so many veteran performers make it easier for you as a director?
Well, that’s interesting. I think the thing that attracted all of these people to it was — first of all, the characters are just beautifully articulated by both in the book and in David’s script. Actors love working with David because he just writes these three-dimensional flawed, funny people. And that’s always something really exciting for an actor to play somebody who has a flaw, to play somebody who has wit. All of these characters do have a certain sharpness and an intelligence to them. It was incredible to be able to get all these amazing people together.
Was it easier having them? Well, it’s certainly easier because you have so many talented people around you who understand story and storytelling and the rhythms of being in a group scene and the rhythms of being in a one-on-one scene, and all these things make it easier. It’s still very intimidating for me to have to look around the room in a group scene and see Regina Hall, Michael, Luke … it’s like Murderer’s Row, like 27 Yankees, you know? And I’m the manager. It was just always a wonderful — at the end of the day, they’re people, right? I think what makes it easier is when you’re working with good smart people and no matter what, no matter the level of fame, or no matter their resumes, they’re all good, smart people who value collaborators, who I love to work with.
How difficult was this particular production? Because I read during COVID, you were forced to move the production to Australia. Were there other challenges that you faced during filming?
You know, the filming was — beyond the arduousness of one person doing eight episodes — filming was quite uneventful in that way. I mean, yes, we had to move to Australia, but I think the other way to look at it is we were lucky enough to be able to shoot in a place that was relatively untouched by COVID and do our thing, and even just the gratitude we had to be working while the world seems to be falling apart around us.
No, I think that actually made it feel easy. You know, when you’re doing what you do and you love what you do, it’s easy for us to kind of fall into patterns of feeling sorry for ourselves or get caught up in our own worlds. It’s very hard to think, “Oh my God, I’m lucky to be making something. I’m very lucky to be where I’m at. Look at what’s going on in the world!” I think that we had that perspective and that level of gratitude and that just made it a joyful experience.
Did the series give you an opportunity to step outside of your comfort zone and try something different that you hadn’t been able to try before in previous films that you’d worked on?
Oh, certainly! When you’re making a movie, you have a short story to tell and each scene needs to move the story forward. Basically, you don’t necessarily feel the freedom to take chances, especially in the way you execute a scene. What we were able to do filmically, especially in the later episodes, and cinematically with how we’re moving the camera and longer takes and pushing the envelope in that way, I think was really, really fun for me. It’s interesting because it didn’t feel like leaving my comfort zone. It just felt like I got bored with the way I was doing stuff. So, I tried something new and when that worked, I tried it again. And that’s a really, really cool opportunity.
As you’ve stated, the characters in the series are amazing. Do you think that’s what makes this story and this series so intriguing for audiences?
It’s certainly something I love about it. What I love about David’s writing, what I love about these performers is they’re all people we can connect to you and we can access, and they all have problems that we can relate to whether or not we’ve had the same experience or the same problems ourselves. I think what’s so great about this cast is, everyone’s got comedic chops, everyone’s got dramatic chops, but everyone has an inherent likability to them. I didn’t even realize that’s what we were assembling until very recently. I just, you just like everyone and you relate to everyone and you empathize with them. And that was really important to me, that we understood their problems and empathized with their problems and that we connected their yearning. But yeah, I think that is one of the great things about the show is that it’s filled with so many fun funny, sweet, relatable people. We took this humanistic approach to these people, and that was really important to me. The actors are so incredibly beautiful in their roles that it really complimented what I was trying to do as a director.
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Shout out to Michael Shannon, that guy continues to just amaze me with everything that he’s able to do. I don’t mean to single him out from the rest of the cast, but I’m a huge fan of his work.
Yeah, I had worked with him for like four days on The Night Before, and this is not a self-aggrandizement, but I think for me, it’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever seen him in because I just think he’s so funny in that movie. I did not know him at all. I guess I knew him enough and we had a good enough time that I could reach out to him. But in that movie, he’s kind of a comedic version of the persona that you sort of think of him as — this very intense individual.
In Nine Perfect Strangers, this is a completely different thing. This person he’s playing is nothing like him. The fact that he is able to both mine that for humor and pathos is mind-blowing to me. To make it feel like a real person. He makes it seem effortless and yet I can see he’s working so hard. There’s no one who’s more rigorous and disciplined than Michael Shannon. To me, it’s like just an incredible magic trick. I think he is one of the finest actors in the history of the world. I got to know him, and I just love him as a person. I mean, he is an intense guy. So, on The Night Before I was quite intimidated by him. And then just by nature of working with someone for 98 days on Nine Perfect Strangers, you get to know that person; and he was really my ally in the trenches. I just grew to love him. He was so respectful and supportive and such a great collaborator and just always thinking about the whole group. He’s one of the best people I’ve ever had the privilege to work with. And I think what he’s doing here is incredible. The way that he’s kind of navigated this character is just a beautiful thing. He was so important. I think that whole family, it was so important to all of those actors to accurately portray the pain this group is going through. really, some of the favorite stuff in the show.
What are you most excited for audiences to see in Nine Perfect Strangers?
Gosh, I don’t know. What I love about it is not just the characters, but how entertaining it is. People can sit down and watch this thing that is just wildly entertaining and goes in directions that you could never, ever predict. I think that’s what I’m most excited about is to see how people react to the twists and turns, not just in the story, but at the tone and how ambitious it is. It’s very exciting for me to be able to just show it to people and hopefully they fall in love with the characters and hopefully they’re a little bit surprised at the directions it goes in.
