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#Afterparty review series#
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We wanted to use the storytelling conventions of those genres to let us have a window into these characters’ inner lives. We’re sort of stealing all their best ideas and putting them into one thing. We’re big film buffs, and it’s all done with love and admiration for how other people have found interesting ways to tell stories. So there were a lot of conversations like, “Is this going to be a “Fast & Furious,” or a “John Wick,” or a classic “Die Hard” action movie?” We never wanted to make anything a parody or a spoof. Like, there are a lot of different types of action movies. There are a lot of different subgenres within these genres. The trick with this stuff is that it’s mass entertainment, but you never want it to feel mass-produced.ĭid you go back and take notes on films from all of the different genres? I always like receiving a gift from filmmakers, something physical that’s had that level of attention, as opposed to something that feels clean and manufactured. We thought, “Why not add one more production challenge on top of it?” Making a show where every episode is its own little movie, each episode is shot with different lighting, lensing, costuming and music is a huge production challenge. But, on top of that, for the uber-nerds, there are a lot of little details in the set dressing, signage and other hidden messages that, if you decode them, give you hints into who did or didn’t do it. You don’t need to freeze-frame and solve these things to figure out whodunit that’s all there in the narrative.

Because it was a puzzle of a murder-mystery, we thought it would be really fun to add some hidden Easter egg-style clues, codes and ciphers for people to solve, as a bonus.

MILLER This is a crazy thing because we are crazy people. Should viewers be looking for those throughout? In an animated episode, there’s a quick sight gag about Easter eggs. We follow that story to where it wants to be its best self.

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You jumped into this live-action project right after finishing an animated one, “Into the Spider-Verse.” Do you approach those two mediums differently?ĬHRISTOPHER MILLER We’re always trying to take a story and figure out how to make it something new and add something to the conversation. These are edited excerpts from the conversation. The puckish pair discussed switching gears, sweating the details and getting a second chance to make a good impression.

#Afterparty review series#

Lord and Miller talked recently about “The Afterparty” in a joint video interview from their respective Los Angeles homes, where they’ve been preparing “Spider-Man: Across the Universe (Part One)” for an October release, as well as scripting and animating the reboot of their early-aughts animated series “Clone High” for HBO Max. Nearly every episode revolves around a different partygoer’s account of the night’s events and is presented in a style that reflects that character’s personality: a sappy rom-com for Richardson’s lovelorn alumnus who is pursuing an old crush an absurd action flick for Barinholtz’s emasculated ex-jock a psychological thriller for Glazer’s paranoid valedictorian who fell from grace. “We’re all stars in our own movie,” the detective tells the suspects, and the series literalizes the point. Tiffany Haddish plays a Columbo-style police detective who’s sizing up the crime scene. With an ensemble cast that includes Ike Barinholtz, Ilana Glazer, Sam Richardson and Ben Schwartz, the series revolves around a high school reunion that ends in death. Now, they’re injecting mirth into murder with their new series, “The Afterparty,” whose first three episodes premiere Friday on Apple TV+ (the remaining five episodes will air weekly). The Machines,” which turned a terrifying technological singularity into a heartwarming family adventure. They also produced Netflix’s animated Oscar contender, “The Mitchells vs.

#Afterparty review tv#

They helped to transform the lesser-known comic book character Miles Morales into an Oscar winner with “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” They found laughs in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, with the Fox sitcom “The Last Man on Earth,” and in an earnest ’80s TV drama, with the “21 Jump Street” films. The creative tag team - who often swap writer, director and producer hats - gave staid plastic bricks an awesome makeover in “The Lego Movie” franchise. Over a wide-ranging 20-year career, Lord and Miller, who first met at Dartmouth College, have demonstrated a unique knack for finding fun, clever stories in some of the least likely places. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller know how to turn nearly anything into a good time.