Like all of you, I constantly hear about fantastic shows that I need to watch. I’d argue there has never been so much incredible content on television due to the myriad of streaming channels producing movie quality series. And while you can only watch so much…I want to strongly recommend Chris Miller’s The Afterparty, which is now streaming on Apple TV+.
If you haven’t heard of the series, it’s a murder-mystery comedy set at a high school reunion afterparty where each episode features a retelling of the same night told through a different character’s perspective. But because this is Chris Miller and Phil Lord, they had to raise the bar, so each episode has its own unique visual format and film genre to match the teller’s personality. One episode is a musical. Another is animated. While another episode is told like the lead is in an action movie. In addition, on top of the brilliant format, you’ve got terrific performances from the entire cast, and scripts that will keep you guessing.
I really can’t recommend this series enough.
Shortly after seeing seven of the eight episodes, I got to speak with Ben Schwartz about making the series. During the fun interview, he talked about why he was so excited to work with Lord and Miller, if he correctly guessed who the killer was before reading the script, his fantastic chemistry with Sam Richardson and how he was a fan before he stepped on set, and the awesome songs in his musical episode. In addition, he talked about how excited he is to work with Nicolas Cage in Chris McKay’s Renfield (Cage plays Dracula!), and what someone should watch if they’ve never seen his work.
Finally, for fans of Sonic (Schwartz voices the character), he talked about the sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and why he’s excited for people to see it:
“The second movie is just epic. It’s huge, it’s big, it’s enormous, it’s exciting, it’s what happens when your first movie does well, you get to make an even bigger one for your second one. It’s exciting, it’s a big old studio movie, so I’m really excited for people to see it. The expansion of the world comes in our characters. There is Tails now. There is Knuckles now. And Jim (Carrey) is on point of course. It’s really good and it’s epic and I’m so excited for people to see it cause it’s awesome.”
Watch what Ben Schwartz had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about. The Afterparty also stars Dave Franco, Ike Barinholtz, Zoë Chao, Tiffany Haddish, Ilana Glazer, Jamie Demetriou, and John Early.
Ben Schwartz
- If someone has never seen anything he’s done, what is the first thing they should watch and why?
- When he was cast on The Afterparty how much did Chris Miller tell him about the full arc of the series and who was the killer?
- Why he was so excited to work with Lord and Miller.
- How the songs in his musical episode are fantastic.
- What it took for him to learn how to sing and dance.
- His fantastic chemistry with Sam Richardson and how he was a fan before he stepped on set.
- What was his favorite episode and genre that wasn’t his own?
- How he didn’t guess the killer before reading the script.
- How excited he is to work with Nicolas Cage in Chris McKay’s Renfield and how the script is fantastic and so funny.
- What can he tell fans about Sonic 2?
