Alex Buono and Rhys Thomas (‘Documentary Now!’ showrunners): ‘I’m hoping there is room for a pretty silly absurdist comedy’ [Exclusive Video Interview]’
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“For the most part, it is dramatic and fairly dark,” declares Alex Buono about the new limited category “Documentary Now!” has been moved to for the Emmy Awards. He continues, “There is a lot of murdery, dark, bleak storytelling in this category. I’m hoping there is room for a pretty silly absurdist comedy. His fellow showrunner Rhys Thomas adds, “We’re campaigning on a platform of joy, if you’re a fan of happiness you’ve got to vote for ‘Documentary Now!’” Watch the exclusive video interview above.
“Documentary Now!” is an IFC and AMC+ comedy show, under the guise of a series featuring acclaimed documentaries. Dame Helen Mirren introduces each feature, which is a mockumentary parodying a real-life documentary. It means each episode has a distinct shooting style and story. The series was created by Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers and Thomas, with Buono and Thomas serving as directors and showrunners. The most recent season features performances from Cate Blanchett and Alexander Skarsgård.
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For each of its three previous seasons, “Documentary Now!” has been nominated in the Variety Sketch Series race for the Emmys. This month, Gold Derby broke the news that the parody-of-an-anthology series, is having to submit in the Limited and Anthology Series categories. This is after the Academy rejected an appeal from the “Documentary Now!” team to compete in the revamped variety race.
Buono admits, “It’s an episodic anthology series, so I get it. The variety series category has always been a little fluid in terms of what exactly that means. If you read the definition now, its hard to understand why we are or not appropriate in that category. But we are embracing the new category and hoping for the best.” Thomas says, “They are all tough categories. We were always up against ‘SNL’ and have always been the little engine that could. I think we are just shifting over to being an even smaller underdog.”
The season opens with a two-part episode called ‘Soldier of Illusion,’ written by John Mulaney. It partly parodies the “Burden of Dreams” (1982) documentary about Werner Herzog chaotically making the film “Fitzcarraldo” in the Peruvian jungle. In ‘Soldier of Illusion,’ a visionary director ventures into the Russian Mountains to film a documentary on the Dushkir people and a CBS sitcom called ‘Bachelor Nanny.’ Buono says, ““It was by far the hardest couple of episodes to produce. John Mulaney put Rhys and I in the exact same position of having to create this show in this extreme environment. We were trying to build a three-wall sitcom set on the side of a mountain” Thomas agrees, “It was one we entered naively. It turns out keeping three set walls up when you are in a bowl at the bottom of a mountain, exposed to weather, is not an easy feat.”
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