More money more problems—or something to that effect. In Apple TV+’s latest series, ‘Your Friends and Neighbors,‘ the lifestyles of the rich and affluent are examined from within, but with a bit of a unique—and illegal—twist.
Starring Jon Hamm, Olivia Munn, Amanda Peet, Hoon Lee and Mark Tallman, the new series was created, written, produced and directed by screenwriter/novelist Jonathan Tropper. The show follows Coop (Hamm) as he comes to terms with his ex-wife (Peet) cheating on and then leaving him for one of his ex-best friends (Tallman.) While he’s dealing with the fallout of his personal life, his professional life also begins to spiral when he loses his job. From there on, he resorts to stealing from some of his fortunate friends (and neighbors), but he begins to stumble upon a lot more than he bargained for.
Throughout the show, we’re introduced to a dynamic group of characters with a lot to show off—and a lot to hide.
“Having come up as a novelist, I’m used to developing very detailed backstories, because in a novel as opposed to a screenplay, you can write the backstory into your narration,” explains Tropper.
The writer/director has delved into the writing world with books like ‘This is Where I Leave You’ (which was made into a 2014 film) and a few different hit shows, like the Cinemax television series ‘Banshee.’ Having worked in the field of both novels and scripts proves to be an asset for a character-driven story such as this.
“[It helps] coming up with really fully fleshed out characters, their full backstories and thought out descriptions of their world, the world they live in, the home they live in, their bedroom, what they look like—just being a little more detail oriented and going a little deeper,” Tropper continues. “In novels, you can write 500 or 400 pages, and you can spend the time that you can’t spend on a screenplay. But it forces you and keeps you honest, because you really have to know your characters well for a novel. And I think that comes over into the screenwriting side in a good way.”
Most of the characters in ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’ have their own personal problems outside of Coop, but it’s all intertwined. Samantha (Munn) is going through a tricky divorce herself and trying to figure out her new “situationship” with Coop—and she happens to be old friends with both him and his ex-wife, Mel (Peet.) And Mel herself is still struggling with being in a new relationship, raising her two kids, and still having to run into Coop with the cloud of residual feelings still hanging over them all.
“It was really fun that the divorcees are still carrying a torch for each other in a weird way. That was really fun dynamic. And even though they’re both happily having sex with other people, I liked the idea that there’s unfinished business there. I thought that was really fun to play,” says Peet.
Throughout the series, we see Samantha and Mel try to balance the changing dynamic of their own friendship with their new relationships. And where that fits into their tight-knit circle.
“You first meet my character when she is going through just an incredible personal upheaval. She’s in the middle of a bitter divorce and she’s also in a secretive relationship with her best friend. There’s just so much mess that’s happening inside of her and there’s no one to lean on because the man that she’s in this secret relationship with, he’s got a million things on his mind too,” adds Munn.
“So she’s going through so much and has no one to lean on. And at the same time, she’s trying to scheme and figure out how to get herself back to ground level. I was really interested in playing someone who has so many things happening beneath the surface… So many things that are panicking her, but she’s got to keep putting on a happy face and not letting anyone know how horrible things are getting.”
‘Your Friends and Neighbors’ takes place in the affluent Westmont Village in New York, a town inspired by the Westchester suburbs that Tropper himself lived in for years, and its also where the show was shot.
“I lived in Westchester for 15 years, I enjoyed living there. There’s an aesthetic that also extends to the people living there. You see people out jogging in their Lululemon, and you see certain outfits they wear and the cars they drive,” explains Tropper. “Whether people know it or not, they’re conforming to a certain aesthetic—and that’s true of any neighborhood and any community. This happens to be the one that I’m very familiar with, and it’s one that I felt was ripe for setting a show.”
One of the interesting aspects of the new series comes from the inner monologue of Coop. Both Tropper and Hamm spent a lot of time developing that voice to be a tool for the story, rather than an added element to guide audiences.
“Originally that evolved because I’m a big fan of the noir movies from the 60s—Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade. What I always loved about the voiceover in those movies is how jaded and detached it was…something horrible could be happening on screen, but this voice was smoking a cigarette somewhere else. I wanted to give a voiceover to the show that helps set the tone of [it] so that no matter what was happening on screen, no matter how frantic Coop was, how much trouble he was in, there was a calmer, more detached Coop who could make observations,” explains Tropper.
“The reason I hesitated to do it is because I don’t like shows or movies where the voiceover explains what you’re not able to convey visually. Then it feels like a crutch. So to me, and Jon polices this very carefully, too — the voiceover has to be adding something. It has to be adding texture, and in a sense, it has to become a slightly different character than the Coop you’re seeing on screen.”
Over the course of ten episodes, audiences will get to see Coop try and navigate his new-found stream of income, and the price you pay for trying to fly under the radar in a community full of secrets and intricate relationships, whether they add to the illegal plot or not.
“I’m a big fan sometimes of conveying male friendship on screen,” finishes Tropper. “I don’t think there’s a lot of it. And the Coop, Barney (Hoon Lee) and Nick dynamic was really fun to explore. How do these men get vulnerable with each other? How do they talk to each other? What are their comfort levels of exposing themselves to each other emotionally? None of that plays a major role in the a story per se…but it was all really fun to write and to produce and to direct.”
The nine-episode season of ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’ will debut globally on Friday, April 11 on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes, followed by one episode weekly through May 30.
