From show creator Annie Weisman, the Apple TV+ original half-hour dark comedy series Physical is set in San Diego in the 1980s and follows Sheila Rubin (brilliantly played by Rose Byrne), an internally tortured and unhappy woman who maintains the facade of a dutiful housewife while supporting her husband (Rory Scovel) as he pursues a spot on the state assembly. Deep personal demons and an unhealthy relationship with her own self-image unexpectedly send Sheila straight into the world of aerobics, as she sets her sights on finding success as a female lifestyle guru.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, writer/executive producer Weisman talked about how this show and character evolved, wanting to be brutally honest with the storytelling, the fear in sharing a story that comes from such a personal place, why Byrne was perfect for Sheila, the collaborative process for figuring out what the final scene of the season would be, and having a lot more story still to tell.

Collider: You’ve previously said that you wanted to write about this character in this period of time, but how did this specific character come about? Was she someone who was fully formed in your head, as we see her now, or did she evolve in any way?

ANNIE WEISMAN: She definitely evolved. I wanted to write about this time period of this shift in the community between the ‘70s and the ‘80s, and I wanted to tell a story in this space of fitness culture. And then, I just really wanted to explore my own struggle with a really difficult eating disorder in my adult life. I just came up with this idea of this woman who was trapped in her marriage and in her own head, discovering a really unique source of empowerment through this newfound trend of aerobics.

There are really two versions of this character, the version that we see from who she presents and then what she thinks of herself. What are the biggest challenges in centering a story around a character that we are simultaneously learning about, through both her external and internal life?

WEISMAN: That was a big part of the goal with this show. For me, I wanted to accurately depict how I felt in the world, often really divided between what I showed people and how I felt on the inside. The goal on the page was to really be brutally honest about how different my thoughts were from my external appearance and actions. It was one thing to get it down on the page, but then it was another thing when we actually started to get it on camera. It was a big and really fun challenge to figure out how to shoot it and depict it. Like you said, she really is playing two roles. She’s playing the really effortless seeming woman on the outside, and then someone entirely different on the inside. So, even down to how he would shoot the scenes and whether or not we would have someone standing there saying the voice-over during the scene, and then the process of actually recording it afterwards with Rose, it was like a sculpture, where you’re building all these layers as you go. It was really rewarding, and really creative and fun, to collaborate on it with her. She was very game to not only do what was on the page, but embroider it with all of her own insecurities and doubts. It turns out everyone has a bully on the inside, even Rose Byrne.

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Image via Apple

How difficult is it to be so brutally honest on paper? Is it easier when you can put it behind the character and convince yourself that it’s not you?

WEISMAN: Yeah, I think it is. That being said, it took me years to write this script. I didn’t wanna tap into this stuff. It was painful and there was a lot of fear around it. I think the difficulty is the fear that, if you tell the truth, people will reject you or people will see who you really are and it’ll define you. That is really the thing that was holding me back. But that is a lie that the illness tells you. Any mental illness tells you a lot of lies, so it can stick around, and one of them is, “If you share this, everyone will run away.” It’s really the opposite. If you share the truth, people run towards you because they recognize it in themselves too. It’s a shared human experience. I’m really glad that I got over that fear because it has been a salvation to tell the truth and to have it be seen by others and recognized. It’s really comforting.

What was it like to start getting feedback on it, from the network, from putting the cast together, and from the directors?

WEISMAN: It’s just so gratifying because it’s something I was really ashamed of, for so long. And so, now, to feel like there are all of these interesting creative people that not only accepted it, but want to add their own, perspective to it, it’s really a gift.

Personally, I think Rose Byrne is the perfect casting twice for this. She’s truly fantastic in it. What was the thought process for casting her, other than her being fabulous in every way? Why was she perfect for this character?

WEISMAN: I agree with you, I think she’s perfect. I can’t picture anyone else in it, ever. It was just knowing the range that she has, having seen her in dramatic roles, and then also hilarious ensemble comedy parts. So, it was knowing the range that she’s capable of, and then it was just giving her the opportunity to bring those layers together in one part, which I hadn’t really seen him do before. She’s thrilling in this part because you’re seeing her firing on all cylinders.

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How difficult was it to then populate the rest of this world, knowing that she was at the center of it?

WEISMAN: It was great because it was a really high bar. We had this phenomenal actress, so they had to go toe to toe with her. So many wonderful people came to us because they wanted to work with her. Not only is she such a skilled actress, but she also has a really well-known reputation for being the coolest person ever to work with and just being a joy to be around. It brought a lot of people towards us. We had a real embarrassment of opportunities to cast people. Finding the guy to play her husband, unapologetically, it’s the role of her husband. She is the star of the show. There was no question about that. So, we had to find somebody willing to stand in her shadow a little bit. Rory Scovel is somebody that I’m a huge fan of his stand-up comedy. He came and auditioned for us because he wanted to show that other side of himself that he hasn’t really got the chance to show, with his dramatic capability. When people are truly funny, they can also break your heart. It reminds me of seeing Adam Sandler for the first time in a dramatic role. Who knew there was that darkness under the light? Of course, there is, because that’s what comedy comes from. It comes from pain. He’s just great in this role. It’s really fun to see him.

There’s a lot of really difficult and challenging things in this story, from having the look of the aerobics and how that’s captured on film, and also representing the scenes with her, eating all of the food. How do you feel about how it all looks now?

WEISMAN: Starting with Craig Gillespie on the pilot, I just felt like we were really on the same page, in terms of how we wanted the show to feel, visually. We wanted it to feel like it was constantly in motion and very much from her perspective, so that you were inside the turmoil of this person. We were able to maintain that, visually, through the show. Part of that was just having our director of photography, Paula Huidobro, staying with the show and maintaining that feel. Getting to make the show with these kinds of resources and collaborators, I just felt like it was phenomenal not to have to make any compromises, from what it looks like visually to the music, which plays a huge part in setting the time and the place.

Representing an eating disorder is hard to do, especially for people who haven’t experienced it or don’t understand what that’s like. How important was it for you to have the emotion of that come through?

WEISMAN: That was the most important part to me, to accurately represent the feeling that I had, at my worst in an eating disorder. The disorder behavior was a place to contain unbearable feelings. It was a place to go when feelings became unbearable. That was what was important to me. More than the action and more than the behavior, it was about getting the emotion right. Because it’s my own experience, of course, I wanna be honest and sensitive, since I know what it’s like when people get it wrong.

Did you have a map for the season, from day one, that you completely stuck to, or did that change along the way?

WEISMAN: We definitely had a map. I had a sense of where we wanted her to get. Things that shifted were because of these actors in these roles, like Dierdre Friel playing Greta. She was just so warm and surprising and engaging that we leaned in a little more to her storyline because you wanna spend more time in her presence. There were things like that, that we would emphasize or spend a little more time on. But we definitely had a sense of where we wanted her to get.

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Image via Apple TV+

How did you decide what you wanted the final scene in the final episode of the season to be? It’s certainly one of those memorable moments that I’ve been thinking about since I watched it. Was that the ending that you always saw, or did it take some time to get there?

WEISMAN: It definitely took some time to get there and was a real collaboration within the writers’ room. Without being too spoilery about it, I knew, in a broader sense, where I wanted her to land, but how we got there and the unusual way it happens, I certainly didn’t have from the beginning. That was something that came out of this wonderful group of writers that I got to work with. That’s one of the fun things about making a TV show. You get to work with so many great collaborators, and these other writers and other minds come up with ideas that I wouldn’t have necessarily. It wasn’t a straight line from where we started.

How much of this woman’s story do you have in your head?

WEISMAN: We have a lot more stories to tell. We know that there is this transformation in culture happening and transformation in her happening, and it feels like we’re just at the beginning of it. I’ve always wanted to tell a story with a lot of honesty, about how it’s not easy to become empowered. There are a lot of obstacles and a lot of backlash. As much as she’s been emerging out of her husband’s shadow, he’s not gonna let her go so easily. So, I think there’s a lot more track ahead of us.

Physical is available to stream at Apple TV+.

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