What is the opposite of error? That’s what Netflix achieved Monday night by taking over L.A.’s most iconic restaurant, Max & Helen’s, on Larchmont Avenue, for an intimate introduction to the streamer’s new crime comedy series. Big mistakes.
The typical wait for a table at Nancy Silverton and Phil Rosenthal’s neighborhood restaurant still stretches well over an hour (if not closer to two), but with Netflix taking over the host stage for the special tastemaker event, influencers, stars, and select press have slipped through the door only to run into a slew of Max & Helen celebs at the dinner table. The menu included grilled cheese, fries, sourdough pancakes with maple butter, beef sausages, BLTS, cinnamon rolls, and the famous Silverton cookies, some with names customized to match the show’s characters and plot (such as Trusted Accomplices, Sweet Regrets, and Casting Decisions).
Bites aside, the main attraction was the delicious conversation between creators Dan Levy and Rachel Sinnott, but even they acknowledged the feat of getting a seat. “Guys, how happy are we that we’re all finally here?” Sinnott asked at the start of the nearly 40-minute conversation before praising the waffle while Levy called the grilled cheese one of the best he’d ever eaten in front of a crowd that included Dylan Efron, Grimes, Keri Kinney Silver, Lisa Rinna, Harry Hamlin, Natasha Lyonne, Sarah Levy, Zoe Lister-Jones and others.
Although they shared show-creating duties, Sennott was tasked with moderating the Q&A and asked Levy how he came to helm the show, executive produce and star in the eight-episode series, his first work under an overall deal with Netflix for Not a Real Production Company. but Big mistakes It marks his second original script series after that Schitt’s CreekThe cultural phenomenon that ran for six seasons and won four Emmy Awards at the 2020 ceremony including Outstanding Comedy Series.
Big mistakes It follows Nicky (Levi) and Morgan (Taylor Ortega), two “very helpless brothers” who find themselves in over their heads after Morgan steals a necklace from a local store to give as a gift to their grandmother on her deathbed. Once an angry store clerk discovers the missing diamond necklace, Nicky and Morgan are drawn into the world of organized crime. Blackmailed into taking on increasingly dangerous missions, they fail clumsily, falling deeper into chaos they are not equipped to handle. Laurie Metcalfe, Jack Inanen, Puran Kozum, Abby Quinn, Elizabeth Perkins, Jacob Gutierrez, Joe Barbara, and Mark Evanier also star.
Use cenote Schitt’s Creek As a starting point for her first question by asking Levy how he came up with the idea for a crime thriller from such an “amazing, huge, successful, award-winning show”.
“Well, a lot of time had to pass,” Levi replied. “When the show ended, there was an immediate conversation like, ‘What are you going to do next?’” It turned out he didn’t like that question, calling it “a terrible way to do business.”
“God forbid I fall asleep,” he joked. “For me, it was like I needed to take a minute because I knew what the show meant to me and I knew what it meant to other people. And you have your own show, you’re very proud of what you do, and if you’re lucky enough to get, in our case, six seasons of a TV show, you walk away from that really proud of what you did. And jumping into something else, it’s almost a disservice to the new project because you’ll constantly be comparing it to the project that came. Before, you needed the dust to settle.”
As the dust settled, Levi wasn’t staring at the wall while eating a grilled cheese. He’s stayed busy with other projects, creating and hosting an HBO Max series Big lunchacting in projects such as idol (with Sinnott), Sex Education, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Smurfs, Unfrozen and The haunted mansion. He also wrote, directed and starred in it Good griefA Netflix film about grief and friendship. But he eventually turned his attention toward creating another comedy series by asking himself: What scripts am I not reading?
“He’s apparently gay. He would never play in an action movie,” he said of challenging himself to play against stereotypes. “So, I was like, ‘Let’s make a move. Let’s make it funny and let’s create a genre that’s funny and exciting and suspenseful and fun. I’ve always had a phobia of being blackmailed into organized crime. Don’t ask me why. I think it stems from the fear of getting caught.”
This evolved into an idea involving family dynamics, which he explored to award-winning results Schitt’s Creek. “Well, why don’t we tell a new family story? And I knew I wanted it to be a brother-sister dynamic and you’re the only person I wanted to work with on this.”
They formed a bond on HBO idol – When Levy mentioned the show’s title, Sinnott joked, “I remember that,” and didn’t go into detail — despite their short time together. “We only spent four days together, but I loved everything you did like crazy and I respect you so much,” Levi explained. “I remember bringing up the idea to you and saying… Anyway, I thought maybe we could collaborate on this and I said, ‘I’m in.’”
Levy said they spent six months writing Big mistakes Together via Zoom, and eventually coming together in person for about five days. They hit the pilot within a day. “I remember we had a lot of coffee, too, and I brought weird granola bars to your house. But I felt very inspired,” Sinnott said. “And then we got to the end of the day and started playing music.”
Sinnott said she was influenced and inspired by Levy’s influences and his detailed research on small-town residents who found themselves blackmailed into organized crime. (I also loved his use of Katy Perry’s “Firework,” which Levy miraculously said they licensed to use in the show.) To add authenticity to the show, they teamed up with a crime expert. “Having a professional is very helpful,” Sinnott said. Levy finished with this thought: “He doesn’t just say, ‘Yes that makes sense, but here are three other ways this person could die.’ And she says, ‘Well, I didn’t think about that but now that’s on the table.’”
What Levy left off the table is bad manners. “The family group is also difficult, because you want the right people for the job and part of that is the gut instinct that says, ‘Do I like this person?’ Do I want to spend a long period of time with this person? Are they generous in spirit? Are they able to leave their ego at the door? Are they going to be annoying on set? Even if this person is right for the job, if I feel like they’re going to make people’s lives hell on set, I’m not going to hire that person. It’s not worth it.”
It is clear from the conversation that Levi came to Big mistakes Not wanting to make anything of his own.
“I knew I wanted it to feel cinematic. I knew I wanted the score to be really intense and it was just about lightening the performance and making sure we earned our laughs and making sure that when the crime happens and the tensions are high and the excitement is there, we go there,” he said as the conversation ended. “How would you, in the darkest depths of your soul, react to this? Because that’s the greatest connection the audience will have with this show, I hope, like, what am I going to do?”
Find out when Big mistakes It premieres April 9 on Netflix. See more inside Max & Helen’s Monday night below.
