Still Up Producers On Cast Chemistry & Oddball Inspirations In New Apple TV+ Series

Still Up follows the late-night exploits of two chronic insomniacs: Lisa, a free-spirited illustrator, and Danny, a socially anxious journalist. Although they’ve never met in person, Lisa and Danny have become very close friends who speak frequently as the only people awake at night in each other’s lives. The pair have many adventures together in the late hours, but their nightlife and close relationship begin to cause problems in their daytime lives.

Still Up was created by Steve Burge and Natalie Walter, who also wrote the series with Bryce Hart. The new AppleTV+ series is directed by John Addis and produced by Phil Clarke, Paul Schlesinger, and Arabella McGuigan. Still Up stars Antonia Thomas, Craig Roberts, Blake Harrison, Rich Fulcher, Samantha Spiro, Lois Chimimba, and Luke Fetherston.

Related: How An AppleTV+ Show Got Away With Using An iPhone Camera To Film An Entire Episode

Screen Rant spoke with Phil Clarke, Paul Schlesinger, and Arabella McGuigan about their new AppleTV+ series, Still Up. They praised the stars, Antonia Thomas and Craig Roberts, as well as their chemistry. They also shared what inspired Still Up and some of the hilarious oddball characters Lisa and Danny come across in their late-night adventures. Note: This interview was conducted during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and the show covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in both unions.

Phil Clarke, Paul Schlesinger & Arabella McGuigan Talk Still Up

Screen Rant: As a night owl myself, I completely related to this show, but even more so with the amazing characters in this show. I love this show. Look, the show’s loosely based on Steve Burge and Natalie Walter’s kind of relationship and experience in real life. Paul, can you kind of expand on that a little bit?

Paul Schlesinger: Yeah. They met working together on a radio series. She’s an actor as well as a writer. Steve was the writer of that series, and they continued to communicate, and they used to have these regular chats during the night because they were both insomniacs. It was kind of a friendship, but not a romantic one, but a friendship. That kind of was the germ of the idea from which Still Up came and developed into the series we now have.

Arabella, talk to me a little bit about Craig Roberts’ performance as Danny, because I love this character and he brings so much to that role. Can you talk to me about Craig and working with him on that role?

Arabella McGuigan: Yeah, I mean, I don’t think I’m putting words into his mouth, but Craig will probably say, “I am this character.

Paul Schlesinger: He actually did say that.

Arabella McGuigan: He really honestly said that. I didn’t make it up.

Paul Schlesinger: A lot of them like to say that to get the gig, but I believed him.

Arabella McGuigan: He did say that. There is something you get straight away when his instant approach to it, even in the pilot version, which forms a part of episode one. He walks into the room with a kind of nervous energy to Danny and that sort of restless twitchiness that informs all of his self-deprecation that he then brings to it.

He’s kind of correcting himself all the time. He’ll say something and then question whether what he said was the right thing to say. As a character, he overanalyzes everything, which almost paralyzes him and makes him incapable of seeing through some of the most simple tasks. There is the twitchy anxiety that Craig brings to it then becomes this lovely vulnerability from him that I think makes everyone, I hope, will make everyone wish for the best for him.

Lisa realizes that it’s a role that she can have that is stepping in to try and make his life better. Not by imposing herself on him, but by some quite practical steps, which then give us quite a lot of nice story.

Yeah. The funny thing about this show too is every single character in this show is charming and lovable in their own unique way. I also do want to talk about Antonia Thomas because she is incredible as well as Lisa, and she’s so charismatic in this role. Phil, can you talk about what she brought to the role that wasn’t necessarily on the page?

Phil Clarke: Yeah. No, definitely. I think it’s like Craig, both of them bring that extra thing. Both Craig and Antonia are actors who, when they read a script, a lot of really good actors, they read a script, it’s great. When she reads a script, there’s always something more there. She brings another layer. I think what she did brilliantly was it’s a very difficult character to play because we the audience could very easily take against her.

She’s already in a relationship, she has a child, and yet she sort of, what is going on with Danny? Why does she need to do that? I don’t think she ever loses our sympathy. She inhabits the character so well that we understand how conflicted she really is. Then there are moments where she’s also, there’s a danger in her character that she could sort of just be a sort of cipher in a way. We see her, she’s quite feisty, she’s contradictory. She’s sometimes brave. She has a lot of different facets to her character, and I think she sort of portrayed them really well.

That night when she goes out and gets drunk in some ways because of the situation she’s in, and then he has to come and somehow rescue her. I think that could have been a moment where you would lose sympathy with her. You just think, oh, come on, get yourself together. Get yourself home, but you’re totally sympathetic to her. Everyone’s going, yeah, go out. Go on Danny, leave and save her. I think that’s a lot to do with how she plays it.

Let me ask you this, Paul, because Danny and Lisa’s friendship feels so lived in, and at times it feels like I’m eavesdropping on a conversation just with friends. Can you talk to me about how they built that chemistry when the majority of the time they weren’t even in the same group? Because their chemistry is amazing.

Paul Schlesinger: I agree with you. I mean, I’m glad you think that too. Yeah. I mean, one of the challenges is that we, as you can understand, we’re filming the same scene not just twice, but twice often separated by many weeks. You’d have one conversation out in the middle of the woods and then you had to… If that was Antonia out there, and then Craig would pick up his side of the conversation three weeks later in the studio. As you probably know, the rhythm of a scene, it’s always about people playing off each other.

The way we got around it was actually their idea and a bit of brilliant technology where they were able to hear the other side of the conversation. If the actor that wasn’t on camera would play the scene as if they were on camera. I think that gave it a naturalness, but all credit to the actors, because that’s quite hard to achieve and they did it brilliantly.

When it’s late at night, you see all types of characters that come out, and this show has no shortage of that. Arabella, by the way, Catman, I love that dude. I love the Catman guy. Arabella, can you talk to me about casting some of these guest stars in these amazing roles?

Arabella McGuigan: Yeah, I mean, they are. Some of these, because they’re only one episode, it’s crucial that you really get it right, but they are kind of a gift to cast those people. Because quite often some very established talent just find a click with that character and they are free enough to come do it. That has meant we’ve had some really super experienced and brilliant performers for those characters. I think, we worked with an amazing casting director called Lauren Evans, who also cast Sex Education and has a brilliant, throw the net wide approach to lots of this casting.

Often, we were brought people who we don’t know at all for these roles. It’s brilliant that everyone above us was supportive of that. In all of it, we were looking for people who very quickly could access what’s really the nub of how is that little character going to become memorable, and how do they feel like they very genuinely fit into the lead characters’ journeys. There’s some brilliant small roles in there.

I mean, Daniel Mays, who lots of people will know, played alongside a newer actor called Elisa Ridaylay, and the two of them are a great couple in this show. They brought a smattering of something that’s a different world entering into Danny’s Flat. It’s been a very satisfying process and hopefully they are little comic and emotional gems for people.

Phil, let me ask you this. I love John Addis as a director. I think he did such a brilliant job at this show. What did his directing style add to this show? Because he also kind of makes London a character in this as well.

Phil Clarke: Yeah, I think that’s right. We’re sort of delighted because John previously had, I was going to say only, but that’s not the thing. He came to Paul’s attention actually from filming a short film that was BAFTA nominated and Paul sent it to him.

Paul Schlesinger: Lucky Break.

Phil Clarke: Yeah, we loved and I loved it, and so we got John in and I think what he has done brilliantly is bring movement to what could be a static show. I think he did that brilliantly. He was great with the cast. What also he’s done very well is his use of music in the show as well is very integral to the way, as it was in his film, Lucky Break. John brought a lot to the party. He really did.

Arabella McGuigan: John’s also and editor, he comes from an editing background, although his directing experience up to date had been short, he’s a very experienced editor who previously has been in Wes Anderson’s team of editors. He shot it like an editor. He always had an eye to how am I going to cut this? I mean, that helps in terms of the economy of shooting it, but also means he’s already got a plan for how we’re going to stitch it together. I think that has really added to the style.

Phil Clarke: A good example is the scene in the chemist, actually in the first episode. That could be a really static scene with her just sort of hanging around, and it’s all that movement and the little business and the things she’s doing. That all comes from John. It’s really well, we’re delighted what he did.

About Still Up

Bonded by insomnia, best friends Lisa and Danny stay connected to each other late into the night and find their way through a world of wonderfully weird surprises as their relationship deepens.

Still Up will debut on Apple TV+ on September 22.

Source: Screen Rant Plus