Dan Levy Says Pitching Netflix a Drama After ‘Schitt’s Creek’ “Could Not Have Been Easy for Them”

Schitt’s Creek was a certified cultural phenomenon, earning critical raves, nine Emmy Awards during its final season and massive ratings for Netflix when it migrated to the streamer from its original home at Pop TV. The series also delivered a curious situation for co-creator, show runner and star Dan Levy when he brought a follow-up project to Netflix in the form of a dramatic feature film debut called Good Grief.

“This movie came to be when I was experiencing some loss and some grief in my own life and was asking a lot of questions and didn’t know what to make of those feelings,” Levy explained Tuesday at the premiere of the film at Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre. (Though he didn’t mention it on stage, Levy lost his grandmother during the pandemic.) “When you’re a writer, sometimes all you can do is put pen to paper and hope that something happens, hope that you can make sense of it all, and so that’s what I did.”

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He then took the finished product to the streamer where he had a production deal. “I walked into Netflix and I pitched them a drama after Schitt’s Creek, which could not have been easy for them. And yet they said yes. I know it wasn’t what they were expecting, but supporting a writer’s desire to expand the scope of their work is a profound act of generosity and encouragement,” he praised of the team there by singling out senior executives Ted Sarandos, Scott Stuber, Niija Kuykendall and Cassidy Lange “and everyone else at Netflix who helped get this film made and out into the world.”

Levy, who stars in the film opposite Ruth Negga, Himesh Patel and Luke Evans, describes his big-screen debut as “a love story about the importance of friendship.” It casts him as Marc, a man who finds himself suddenly dealing with the tragic loss of his larger-than-life husband, Oliver (Evans). He leans on his two best friends (Negga and Patel) and they set off on a soul-searching trip from London to Paris.

“I love movies that take me to different cities, and I wanted that for this film,” Levy told THR. “I wanted this film to be an experience for a viewer where they feel like they could put it on every New Year’s Day and escape into London, escape into Paris and escape into these beautiful interiors that we’ve built. There’s a lushness and beauty to the movie that I knew I wanted from day one, even though it’s sad. That’s part of the alchemy of it. Even when you’re going through such pain, there’s beauty, comfort and community all around you if you open up to the fact that grief doesn’t have to be such an isolating experience.”

Good Grief opens in select theaters on Dec. 29, and will release globally on Netflix on Jan. 5.

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