(Daughter Sarah, 34, also starred.)
“Fortunately it turned out to be the former.”
So great, in fact, that the Canadian-born seriesswept the comedy categoriesat the 2020 Emmys.
Saty + Pratha for EW
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Who was more excited on Emmys night?
DAN LEVY:I think physically, me.
I haven’t watched it back because I’m scared of just how excited I was.
Saty + Pratha for EW
It was a very physically cathartic experience.
I think I did a lot of jumping up and down.
DAN:I was more excited for other people.
Saty + Pratha for EW
In fact, I believe what I said to you is, “I will not win.
I hope you will.”
EUGENE:Oh, maybe that was it.
DAN:That’s what I said.
EUGENE:That was it.
I heard it wrong.
It was an exciting day.
Let’s go back to the beginning.
How didSchitt’s Creekstart?
I said, “Yes.”
It wouldn’t matter what the idea was.
And slowly but surely, things started to unfold.
When did you realize, okay, we have a family business?
That was the beginning of this thing moving forward like a well-oiled machine.
On set and during the entire process, I think it was a very professional relationship.
It wasn’t really like, are the families kind of putting together a show?
EUGENE:I… was not aware anybody was looking at me.
DAN:Everyone was looking at you.
Will you work together again?
EUGENE:That may happen down the line.
But I think that this lad here is now spreading his wings and flexing.
He’s got a thousand ideas that he’s ready to do.
I hope that we can continue to find a story to tell maybe in the future withSchitt’s Creek.
Eugene, do you agree?
Or are you already thinking about how you collaborate withCatherine O’Haraagain?
EUGENE:Yeah, that’s true.
DAN:We need to wait 80 years, I guess.
That might not work for me necessarily, but I get it.
How do you express affection for each other?
Are you a huggy family?
DAN:Not anymore.
EUGENE:Not anymore, and not now.
Now the show’s over because we’re not getting along at all.
DAN:No, I meant because of COVID.
EUGENE:I actually miss those hugs.
I don’t think we necessarily go too much over and above.
It’s not an enmeshment situation.
EUGENE:I don’t finish every conversation with “Love you!
I feel that we know the love is there.
DAN:I’ve never had to prove myself.
And I think for a lot of people, they don’t get that support from their fathers.
EUGENE:Well, that was always there from your mother and me.
Dan,you tweetedabout one of the international distributors having cut some of the gay kissing out.
DAN:It was a promo that was sent to me, out of India.
For me, it was a responsibility to investigate and get to the bottom of what was going on.
It was necessary to call it out.
We saw this happen also afterRocketmancame out in that case,airline editswere cutting out gay scenes.
How much do you two get to control that process as the show goes into syndication?
DAN:Listen, we have a hand in every single part of this show.
We are protecting the show as much as we possibly can.
We approve every piece of merch.
We are approving every single cut.
Eugene, you moved the family from Los Angeles to Toronto to help your kids have a normal life.
EUGENE:It was a frightening prospect to raise our kids in Hollywood.
How old were Dan and Sarah when you started to get an inkling that they had more theatrical inclinations?
EUGENE:They would be putting on shows almost constantly.
Daniel was the ringleader.
Sarah was too young she just did what she was told by Daniel.
He would more or less produce the shows.
That was when I first realized there’s some talent there.
EUGENE:I sat back.
DAN:I never gave you the option to give me that advice.
And he did actually have it.
I honestly didn’t know whether there was a future there.
I never once thought when I was in high school plays that I could do this for a living.
And the same thing with my kids.
But it was certainly something that brought a lot of joy and excitement to our young lives.
You don’t perform as children consistently if you don’t like it.
EUGENE:That’s the key point.
Some people like performing because you like the attention that it gets you from the people watching.
He wasn’t doing it for the attention.
EUGENE:Always just a fun kid, a caring kid.
He developed a great sense of humor, I guess around maybe 14.
Just like, “Wow, where did that come from?”
That was an awakening for me: There’s a funny mind in there.
Dan, when did you understand what your dad did for a living?
I, from a very young age, had a really hard time with attention from strangers.
EUGENE:But we didn’t know that at the time.
We would always wonder why he walked six feet in front of us.
Didn’t really understand why.
It was a blessing in a way, because I didn’t have the time to overthink anything.
Are there any situations that you as an actor feel are out of place?”
And we had really meaningful conversations that helped really inform those characters from day one.
Smash cut to the first day on set.
I learned my lines, and I knew how I wanted the character to look.
You absolutely have to wear your glasses."
And I was like, “Nope.
I’m not wearing my glasses.
I will not wear them.
I’ve talked to the wardrobe team.
We’re not wearing the glasses.”
It became a trendsetting thing.
I thought it was, why are we not playing into that?
This is what you’re known for, I thought.
What’s a time when you gave each other feedback on your performances?
That was the first note he’d ever given me.
I remember, my first reaction was, “What?!”
You’re talking very, very, very quiet."
He was like, “Well, this is feeling goofy.”
And I was like, “Trust me, on camera it doesn’t look goofy.
We’re just going to need you to go double as fast.”
It was this whole thing, which I could understand.
When somebody says, “Could you play it bigger or play it faster?”
Going back and forth, I understood how that could be funny.
The good thing is that ultimately you’re dealing with somebody who has great comedy instincts.
It’s always comforting to know there’s somebody on the floor you trust.
It’s a rare experience to work with your kid on a job.
I don’t know who else [has done this], certainly not in this business.
DAN:On Golden Pondwas a recent example.
That was a great example.
DAN:I also feel like the entire Wayans family works together all the time.
That’s a huge family, so respect to them.
EUGENE:Again, those are brothers.
I guess the Marx Brothers worked together.
The Ritz Brothers worked together when they were working.
Brothers working together might be different than a father/son working together or a father/daughter working together.
Dan, what’s the most surprising thing you learned from Eugene in the course of making the show?
The ripple effects of that create a safe space.
It allows for a level of creative freedom.
I would rather shut a production down than work with an actor that is absolutely maniacal.
It’s not worth it.
I don’t care who they are.
I don’t care how good they are.
The process of making whatever we’re making is the majority of the experience.
How is your relationship different now?
EUGENE:Considerably worse.
We worked well together.
DAN:You might call it estranged.
For my dad and my sister and I to have these performances immortalized is a fun little gift.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
