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Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Dan Levy (‘Schitt’s Creek’) Goes His Own Way

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Lemonada Media

Society & Culture, Film Interviews, Tv & Film

4.81.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2024

⏱️ 62 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Over the past decade, writer and actor Dan Levy rose to prominence for his work on Schitt’s Creek. After co-creating the series with his father, Eugene Levy, he turned to a more personal project.

Said project is his heartfelt directorial debut, a film entitled Good Grief (4:40). At the top of our conversation, Dan shares the origin of this story (13:22) and we discuss the importance of friendship (15:18), his experience working as a director (18:30), and a pivotal, full-circle moment from his time in London (20:32). Then, we discuss how he charted his course as a co-host on MTV Canada (28:00), the red carpet experience that clarified his path forward (35:22), and his ultimate arrival at making Schitt’s Creek (37:40).

On the back-half, we unpack the pure, timeless nature of the hit series (45:25), Dan’s journey to making Good Grief after the show’s momentous conclusion (49:15), a powerful scene from the film (52:18), the universality of loss (56:40), and the responses that encourage him to continue creating (1:00:00).

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Pushkin. This is talk easy. I'm San Fr actor, writer, and director Dan Levy.

0:46.0

In his early 20s, Levy began his career as a television host on MTV Canada,

0:52.0

but throughout his nearly decade long stint on television, he always

0:57.0

harbored other more creative aspirations. I think there was always a part of him that wanted to do the work he saw his father doing throughout his childhood.

1:07.0

His dad, of course, is the great Eugene Levy of SC TV Fame.

1:12.0

And so eventually, together, Dan and his dad would create the hit program, Schitz Creek.

1:19.0

The series following the once wealthy Rose family as they navigate their descent into poverty,

1:25.4

arrived on the CBC and pop TV in 2015.

1:29.9

Six seasons later, it gained widespread recognition and went on to make Emmy history

1:36.0

winning a total of nine awards, the most ever for a comedy in a single year.

1:42.0

But now Dan has recently returned with a new project called Good Grief, in which he plays

1:47.8

an artist grappling with the loss of his late husband.

1:51.8

Together, along with his two best friends, he ventures to Paris to try to start a new. Here's a clip from the trailer.

2:00.3

I've been reading that the brain is like a muscle.

2:04.0

That's why getting over a death is so hard.

2:07.0

Because your brain has been trained to feel things for a person.

2:12.0

When they go away, your head is still operating under the impression

2:16.0

that it should feel those things for that person,

2:19.0

like muscle memory.

2:22.0

I think we'll hold off on the wheel today.

2:25.0

Do I look older to you I feel like I've aged a lot?

2:32.0

Yes, your husband just died.

...

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