Mark and Jay Duplass talk about their first TV series, Togetherness, which takes a humorous look at middle-age angst. Steps have been taken to avoid any mix-ups distinguishing the voices when the tape is transcribed – but the Duplass brothers, Mark and Jay, assure me that whether they're discussing their films or anything else, they do not care which name is attached to a quote.
“We share the same brain,” says Mark.
Well, that’s obviously an exaggeration but, at any rate, they do seem to enjoy free access to each other’s brains.
“We are both obsessed with the human condition,” says Jay. “And we’re constantly in conversation about it.”
The conversation continues as they discuss their first TV series, Togetherness, a comedy that debuted in January on HBO in the United States and is broadcast on OSN in the UAE.
It is well worth catching up with. Funny, painful and (for a certain demographic) all too relatable, it exudes the singular voice of this hydra-headed duo whose many hats include writing, producing, directing and, in Mark’s case, headlining.
He plays Brett, a sound engineer and family man who has hit a wall in his career and his marriage. His wife, Michelle (played by Melanie Lynskey), feels imprisoned as a stay-at-home mum.
Also in the mix is her sister Tina (Amanda Peet), a wayward hottie who ends up in their Los Angeles home after leaving Houston. Rounding out the domestic quartet is Mark’s best friend, Alex (Steve Zissis), an out-of-work actor who is crashing on the couple’s couch.
“The more messed up we made them, the more it gave us to love, and root for, in them,” says Mark. “They are trying very hard to be good people, spouses and parents, and to support each other – but then they feel like: ‘I need to get the [heck] out of here. I need some space.’ That’s how Jay and I sometimes perceive our lives.”
The Duplass brothers grew up in New Orleans and started making films at a young age.
Early on, they were bewitched by the work of the filmmaker and actor John Cassavetes and his brooding cinéma-vérité style.
"But we also loved Dumb and Dumber," says Mark. "We see the seriousness and gravity in things – but we also giggle. That combination of the sad and the funny is what we do." After struggling through their 20s, they scored a hit in 2005 with their first feature film, The Puffy Chair, which they jointly wrote, directed and produced, with Mark as its protagonist. It was followed by such films as Cyrus, starring John C Reilly, Jonah Hill and Marisa Tomei, and Jeff Who Lives at Home, starring Jason Segel and Ed Helms.
Then this fraternal order – Mark now is 38, Jay is 41 – took on the topic of middle-age angst.
“By then, each of us was married with two small kids,” says Jay, “and everyone was like: ‘You have it all: a beautiful family, a career, a wonderful house.’ But in our minds was: ‘I’m sleep-deprived. I don’t have two seconds to myself. My life is dominated by a tiny little being who wakes up every two hours’.”
“All we wanted,” Mark says, “was to be sleeping on someone’s couch, then wake up and binge on Netflix.”
Not the sort of thing you could say to most people. Certainly not to Steve Zissis, their close friend since high school, whose youthful promise thus far had gone unrealised, both romantically and professionally.
“He was dreaming about how beautiful our lives were,” says Jay with a laugh, “but we were thinking: ‘He can sit down and eat a sandwich without being interrupted 15 times in a row’.”
Togetherness began to take form, with Zissis as a key element: "It's been part of our life's mission to show the world how amazing he is," Jay explains.
An essential part of the Duplass ethos, brotherly love, exists in the friendship between Brett and Alex. Alex and Tina are bonded by the fear of life passing them by as each approached the big four-oh, while Brett and Michelle bear the crush of being overcommitted adults.
“We were looking at both sides of the same coin,” says Jay. “It seemed to form a critical mass of desperation – and so much comedy!”
Production of the first season of the show took a year, complicated by other producing ventures, as well as Mark's role in the long-running FX comedy The League, and an on-camera debut for Jay as one of the children of transgender dad Jeffrey Tambor in the Amazon comedy Transparent.
Their pace hasn't slowed. But amid the rash of future projects, they aim to shoot season two of Togetherness in the spring, when they'll resolve the cliffhanger that concludes the first season.
“We thought we knew what would happen,” says Jay. “But when we started talking about season two, it started changing.”“We know all of season two now,” says Mark.
“We talk about season three sometimes,” Jay says. “That’s not smart because we’re not picked up yet,” Mark says. “But we can’t stop ourselves.”
• The third episode of Togetherness will be broadcast on OSN First Comedy HD at midnight on Tuesday, April 21