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Don’t be fooled by the title, the characters in the new Apple TV series Maximum enjoyment guaranteed They don’t always encounter the most interesting situations.
During an Apple TV press day in Santa Monica in February, actor Charlie Hall, who moderated a discussion covering the show’s lead talent, laid it out simply by detailing the questions raised by the David Rosen-created series: “What would you do if you were blackmailed? Would you be embarrassed? Who would you tell? Would you tell anyone? Would you immediately give in and pay people? Would you call the police? Or would you get revenge?” More like a guaranteed major upset, right?
“Fortunately, I didn’t have to answer those questions for me or my character,” Hall noted while sitting next to Rosen and co-stars Tatiana Maslany, Jake Johnson, Brandon Flynn, and Jesse Hodges. “But these are the questions our main character, Paula, has to answer in this series. When she starts chatting online with a cam boy, she finally feels seen, that they have a connection. Then things suddenly and quickly spiral out of control when she is blackmailed.”
Maximum enjoyment guaranteed It follows newly divorced mother Paula, played by Maslany, as she falls into a pit of blackmail, murder and youth football after becoming involved with a young boy played by Flynn. Amid a custody battle and identity crisis, Paula begins her own investigation, one that could uncover a larger conspiracy while also holding the keys to rebuilding her family and her sense of self. Murray Bartlett, John Michael Hill, Kiara Hamagami Goldberg, Nola Wallace and Dolly de Leon round out the cast.
The 10-episode series, produced by Apple Studios and Counterpart Studios, is written, showrunner and executive produced by Rosen (sugar), directed and executive produced by David Gordon Green. Other executive producers include Simon Kinberg and Audrey Chun for their genre films under a first-look deal with Apple TV, and Bard Doros for anonymous content.
“Basically, I wanted to write a show about someone who goes through the seconds in life. Not the first seconds. There are a lot of shows about firsts — first job, first love. But what happens when those things don’t work out, and the existential angst you feel inside? And then try to, you know, portray that through a real thriller from the outside,” Rosen explained of how he came up with the concept. “This was a kind of directing, like Hitchcock, where an ordinary person is drawn into a crazy, seedy world.”
Rosen also explained that although many of the characters act in selfish or questionable ways, “there are no villains. Everyone wants their own things, you know?”
As for why Maslany wanted to, the actress said that playing Paula “seemed very different” from other famous projects she’s been involved in. “I always go with my gut, and this had a lot of questions. I felt like I wanted to know more about Paula.” “I didn’t understand it right away, and that’s what made me love it. And I felt like that was kind of where Paula’s journey ended up being.” [of] Who am I? Am I reinventing myself? How do I build my life now that everything is broken?
Although she is devastated by the divorce, Paula’s life is turned upside down when she becomes involved with camera boy Flynn. When asked about his preparations, Flynn, who joked that as an actor he is already a camera boy “in some ways,” revealed that he had been working on another project with similar themes. “Oddly enough, I was developing this adaptation of a book called Rent boy By Gary Indiana. The film is set in the 1990s and revolves around a con man. So, I’ve been delving into the world of hustlers and all the different routes it’s taken since the ’90s, and the cam boys have been a part of that.
Standing by what Rosen said about the lack of clear villains on the show, Flynn agreed that his camera boy might not be a typical bad guy. “There was a world when we started, I didn’t know all the answers to Trevor and how it was going to unfold. My job was really just to show up and act the scene seriously, which was mostly that he’s a good guy. He just listens.”
Find out what when means Maximum enjoyment guaranteed It will debut with the first two episodes on Apple TV on May 20. New episodes will then be released from Wednesday until July 15.
