Will Forte, D’Arcy Carden Lead Aussie Crime Comedy

The Aussie Crime Comedy “Sunny Nights”, roll out on the London TV Doosenenen after a lock on the Berlinal Series market and follows the American brothers and sisters Martin (Will Forte) and Vicki (d’Arcy Carden) while they try to richly Hit in the Spray Tan company – only to fall deeper and deeper into the Sydney underworld.

Made by Nick Keetch and Ty Freer and produced by Jungle Entertainment and Echo Lake Entertainment, the series will be broadcast later this year on the Australian Streamer Stan, with Cineflix rights that treat international distribution.

Director and Showrunner Trent O’Donnell – maker of “No Activity” and veteran of “New Girl”, under countless other credits – produced and all eight episodes produced and helped. Variety Speaked with O’Donnell prior to the London screening.

How did this project come to you?

I read the pilot for the first time in 2020, when I was in Calgary, stayed in a hotel during a quarantine of two weeks and immediately thought of Will and D’Arcy. That same day I both sent a message and to my surprise they were both part of the show! However, it was a long journey. These projects often warm up, feel like they are going to happen and cool down. This cycle lasted about four years until everything came together at the beginning of 2024. Amazing, both agreed to come to Australia, and we were allowed to make it.

Let’s dig in that. What specific elements in each role have you let Will and D’Arcy think?

I had just worked with Will on ‘no activity’ and I loved the experience. He is a master in mixing comedy and vulnerability, and he excels in playing people who struggle to keep their heads above water, and that is exactly how you would define his character here. Martin is essentially a good guy who makes a mistake, and everything runs from there, so Will’s physicality and his credibility made him really important.

As far as d’Arcy, I worked with her on “The Good Place” and on a small indie film. She is one of the sharpest, funniest actors there are, and she has this dark comic lead that fits perfectly with the Vicki character. Vicki is the wilder, more impulsive that Martin often leads astray, and I saw D’Arcy effortlessly embody that.

How did you make the project of yourself?

It was about finding the right tone. I got inspiration from the Coen brothers, which excel in capturing the specificity of a place and time. I wanted to balance the cinematic grandeur with a rapid comic dialogue, knowing when I had to let the visuals speak and when the dialogue had to shine. Of course I didn’t go on my way to give a tribute; Instead, I concentrated on combining a dramatic criminal story with high effort with my comfort zone-performance-driven comedy and dialogue.

How would you define that specific tone?

I like to push the comedy as far as possible without losing credibility. I am fascinated by real people who almost seem too bizarre to be real, and I wanted to record that here. The tone is about creating these cartoon characters while keeping their actions well -founded, without doing things only because of a joke. Of course, in moments of darkness, people tend to crack, so I wanted to think That. This show is more rooted than my previous work, which has been more absurdist or network style comedy. Here everything comes from the characters and I wanted to keep empathy everywhere.

The central comic starting point of the show revolves around Spray Tan. What makes that principle so rich for telling stories?

Spray Tan is a vanity product, but it also serves as a metaphor for the characters. Martin and Vicki try to reinvent themselves, just as the product promises to do. It is a subtle parallel – they sell a product that gives people incorrect trust while they have difficulty retaining their own facades. We did not hit the subtext too hard, but it is there and adds depth.

How does the series build in the course of eight episodes without giving away too much?

Martin and Vicki, despite their efforts, sink deeper into trouble and have to step further out of their comfort zone to get out. They are in worlds that they do not know, which leads to some really dramatic and even scary moments. But the comedy comes from how they respond to these situations – often laughing at them the next day or even at the moment. The humor is usually derived from the characters and their interactions instead of jokes or punchlines. It is very much about the dialogue and the small, refined moments.

How so?

During the rehearsals, for example, D’Arcy began to do this thing where she would drop the character of Will in the notes out of frustration, as an annoying brother or sister. Will would shine back and say, “Come on, we are brother and sister!” It was a small, improvised moment, but it felt so true. There was also a large part with Willie Mason, an ex-Rugby League player, where d’Arcy does the same, and he looks at her and says: “Are you not a brother and sister? What do you do about touching your brother It’s not right!

You have worked in Hollywood for more than ten years before you returned to Australia. Was that the result of the growing opportunities in the Australian industry?

Absolute. This show feels like the highlight of everything I have learned in the US that I moved to America because I wanted to work full -time in comedy, not just commercials or a few episodes a year. Working on shows like “New Girl” was like attending an American film school – I had to look at other directors and learn from them. Returning to Australia, I wanted to bring that experience home and make something that could compete internationally. This show was an attempt to combine what I learned in America with Australian talent and tell stories.

Australia has emerged as an important production hub, especially during the pandemic. Do you think that “Sunny Nights” can be emblematic for a new wave of Australian shows that mix locally and international talent?

I hope so. Since I arrived in LA for the first time, I have noticed that actors are now more open to working in different countries. This shift is due to various reasons, including political – many people in America don’t mind leaving now – and so I hope that this show can act as a calling card for Sydney.

We have tried to show and move a wide spectrum of the city to give a real sense of space. Moreover, the crew here was incredibly invested and everyone was enthusiastic to tell this story. We had to be – because if we would give Will and D’Arcy a bad time, they would run home and tell everyone: “Don’t shoot in Australia!” I like to work in America, and I also like to make things in Australia, so it is extremely exciting to mix those two voices. If we can create a positive experience for international talent, this will only attract more.

Interesting is that the series never becomes a fish-out-of-water type thing.

If someone who travels quite a bit between America and Australia, I really don’t think our countries are so strange. To be honest, we are really not that far apart in many ways! A joke about all our differences would have just felt a wasted opportunity instead of something much funny.