How did Shrinking level up its Emmy nominations this year? The Apple TV comedy’s below-the-line team has thoughts.
Starring Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, Lukita Maxwell, Christa Miller, Jessica Williams, Ted McGinley, Michael Urie and Luke Tennie, the show follows grieving therapist Jimmy (Segel), his mentor Paul (Ford), and their tight-knit circle of friends and patients.
For production sound mixer Anna Wilbourn, Shrinking use of practical sets means getting creative behind the scenes, which in turns affects the sensibilityh . “In Jimmy’s kitchen we can’t remove the walls, we can’t enlarge the space so we have to cram all these cameras and our boom operators into the tight space to make sure we can collect everything we need to get,” Wilbourn revealed during the recent Gold Derby x Apple Artisans event.
Among all the technical feats, one quiet moment stood out for Wilbourn. “When Michael Urie’s character and Devin’s [Kawaoka] character have a baby, that night when Harrison first comes in and meets the baby and we had pretty much the whole cast in the room,” she says. “Harrison is sitting on a seat and being handed the baby and when he said, ‘Enjoy the ride, kid.’ Let me tell you, not a dry eye in the house. That was one of those moments where you just catch your breath and you can’t believe you are sitting where you are sitting.”
Foley mixer Alex Jongbloed says it’s important to make sure every scene feels grounded. “Foley is like the recording and implementation of every day natural sounds that really bring the post sound audio and the dialogue recorded all together and make it feel really lived in and natural, which I think in Shrinking is extremely important because you are rooted in comedy and tragedy back and forth between those two,” Jongbloed explains.
“That element of humanity and realness that foley is able to provide like the wedding scene where you are hearing the footsteps of everyone dancing and having a good time. It all just makes it feel more alive. I think that’s what lets an audience really sit in and experience the show rather than just watch it.”
Casting director Debby Romano and associate casting director Daniel Schwab were tasked with finding actors capable of holding their own with the likes of Segel and Ford as the tone of the show shifted between drama and comedy.
One of this year’s notable guests was comedian Sherry Cola, doing some career-best work as a depressed patient. She made an immediate impression during her remote tryout. “Sherry wanted to do a Zoom audition and she came in and was instantly the most lovely person and so warm and she talked about how important it was because she is known in the land of comedy, to do something more dramatic, and she was like, ‘I am game, please give me direction I am ready. I’m here to make this sing,'” Romano says.
“She really wanted to be there and do the work,” Schwab adds. “She put in the work and the preparation, and she was just so lovely that it was really such a special moment for everyone.”
For Schwab, the heart of the series relies heavily on the emotional binds of the core cast. “I think of the moments between Jason and Lukita as they have lived through their grief on the show and there’s beautiful moments of levity and beautiful moments of sadness. The show is full of tiny moments that are so impactful.”
This article and video are presented by Apple TV.
