A Man on the Inside stars Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Lilah Richcreek Estrada talked about working with Ted Danson in the Netflix comedy show. The duo also talked about family relationships and becoming rivals with someone whose personality is too much like your own. Inspired by the documentary The Mole Agent, the series is now streaming on Netflix.
“Retired professor Charles (Ted Danson) feels life has nothing new in store for him. A year after his wife’s passing, he’s become stuck in his routine and grown distant from his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis). But when he spies a classified ad from private investigator Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada), he’s inspired to roll the dice on a new adventure. Charles’ mission: to go undercover inside the Pacific View Retirement Home in San Francisco and solve the mystery of a stolen family heirloom,” says the synopsis.
“Everyone, residents and staff alike, is a potential suspect, and it’s up to Charles to solve the case without landing on the radar of Didi (Stephanie Beatriz), the all-seeing, all-knowing director of Pacific View. But keeping a low profile proves difficult as the affable Charles quickly endears himself to his fellow residents. Being a ‘man on the inside’ sends Charles on an exciting journey that makes him realize there’s a lot more life left to be had — and allows him to reconnect with Emily in the process.”
Tyler Treese: Mary Elizabeth, I wanted to ask you about working with Ted Danson, who plays your dad, because later on, the show really gets surprisingly emotional. You both just really knocked it out of the park. How is it bringing that connection there? Because you can tell that they haven’t been the closest father and daughter, but there’s just a genuine love there.
Mary Elizabeth Ellis: What a delight as an actor to be paired with Ted Danson and to be told like, “Great, go build a relationship where he…” I mean, don’t we all just want Ted Danson to be our dad? Yeah. He’s so wonderful, sweet, gregarious, and self-deprecating with his humor. He’s just an absolute delight to be around.
So I feel like the luckiest lady in the world that I got to do that. And yeah, you’re right. The show is a comedy, and it’s held in this optimism and joy, but there are real things that we’re talking about. It’s hard and scary to get older, but it’s also the best-case scenario, right?
Lilah, I love the early montage of you teaching Ted how to be a spy. These are just such funny scenes. How was it filming those sequences?
Lilah Richcreek Estrada: Oh my God, so much fun. One of the scenes we shot day one, that was the first scene of the series that was shot. So it was really fun because we got to shoot it in order too. So when we were shooting that stuff, I didn’t know Ted very well, which just helped play into the thoughts of just like, “What are you doing? Like, are you serious?” So much fun. I mean, it’s so goofy and silly and light and easy to watch, you know? I really enjoyed that sequence in particular, but just all of it.
Yeah, there are some good early laughs that really get the viewers hooked on A Man on the Inside.
Mary Elizabeth, the three actors that play your young sons in this show are just so hilarious. They’re little scene-stealers. How is it working with that group? They just nailed it.
Ellis: Aren’t they? Absolutely incredible, and they immediately felt like brothers. They were ribbing each other, giving each other grief and punching each other and stuff. They’re so perfectly teenage boys. Like calling your mom “dude” and not being able to find the peanut butter and jelly that’s immediately in front of your face, such a teenage kid thing to do. They were amazing. Eugene Cordero, who plays their dad, is just a comic genius. So great. So easy, so fun.
Lilah, you have some really great scenes later on with Stephanie Beatriz. It’s just this, this clash. You’re both these fiery characters, so it’s really fun to see these intense moments. What stood out about her as a scene partner?
Estrada: Oh, Steph is so good and so, so locked in. Her character is so much like Julie that I love when they go head to head because I think that’s what drives the other one crazy about each other. We’re very alike, very smart, in tune, and intuitive, and it’s now messing with what we’re doing. But also, you’ll see at the end that there is an acknowledgment of like, “Yes, it drives me crazy, but I see you.”
Ellis: And also never come back.
Estrada: And also never come back. Yeah. But Steph is just so good as Didi. She’s great. She brings so much warmth, and she really walks this beautiful line of also being fierce and warm. She’s great.
Thanks to Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Lilah Richcreek Estrada for taking the time to talk about A Man on the Inside.
