Chuck Lorre is breaking new ground for himself withThe Kominsky Method.
The Kominsky Methodpremieres Saturday atAFI Fest in Los Angelesat 7:30 p.m. Read on for more.The Kominsky Methodhits Netflix on Nov. 16.
Theres so much that goes on as you watch your body decay.
Credit: Mike Yarish/Netflix. Inset: Jason Kempin/Getty Images
So that was the impetus.
Well, youre obviously finding the humor in that process here.I hope I did!
But its interesting the way you speak about it, since the series is still comic in many ways.Absolutely.
There are health issues and losing loved ones.
But to watch this happening to all of us….
Sooner or later, we all have this experience.
Internally, you dont feel your age.
Everybody pretty much agrees with that.
That collision of perception is, I hope, where some of the comedy comes from.
Netflix gave me a great deal of freedom.
You only have a little less than 22 minutes for a half-hour show.
The first episode ofKominskyis 32 minutes long, and nobody at Netflix blinked.
Its not a relevant factor.
They just want you to tell a good story.
The freedom of having no time constraints was wonderful.
The story has a different flow and tempo without commercial breaks.
And there are no barriers to language.
Well, you did have a Netflix show prior to this,Disjointed.
Michael and Alan have such great chemistry in this show.
These are two men that Ive been a fan of, watching their work for 50 years.
Thats really when I became aware of both actors, back in the 60s.
It was astonishing to get to work with them and watch them work up close.
Theres a level of mastery with both men thats remarkable.
It was a great learning experience for me to watch them work.
Like, Holy mackerel, these two gentlemen are actually saying what I wrote!
[Laughs]
You mentioned learning experiences here.
In that way, theyre very much part of the show.
The audience is part of the storytelling when you work that way.
When you take that out and youre shooting it like a movie, there are different rhythms.
The camera can get much closer than it would in a situation comedy.
I learned a lot.
I also wanted to ask you about the romantic element of the show.
I wanted her smarter than him in many ways, stronger and more grounded.
Maybe a character he can learn from.
