What if a person fell on hard times and felt the pressure to keep up?
When they met, Hamm was on board and would ultimately join as executive producer.
Watch on Deadline
JONATHAN TROPPER: Thats not an accident.
Jon Hamm in ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’Apple TV+
Were you inspired by the time you spent living in Westchester?
TROPPER:I dont live there now, but I lived there for about 15 years.
Ive set some of my books in similar neighborhoods.
Jonathan Tropper at Deadline’s preview screening event for the Apple TV+ series ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’Rich Polk
And as a novelist, living among finance people, I didnt have that level of income.
So I always knew I wanted to do a show set there.
DEADLINE:If you dont live there anymore it’s possible for you to skewer those people?
DEADLINE:So when did you first light on the kernel of the idea of your protagonist?
And somebody who suddenly could not maintain the status might be tempted to maintain it in other ways.
And it would really be kind of easy if you were willing to just forget the rules.
So, it felt like something somebody really desperate might do.
DEADLINE:I cant imagine anyone else pulling off this character other than Jon Hamm.
TROPPER:Me too.
Its one of those things that shouldnt have worked out but did.
DEADLINE:You talk about people following the wrong script and waking up to that in midlife.
I really felt like there was a little bit of Lester Burnham fromAmerican Beautythere too in Coop.
TROPPER:American Beautydefinitely a touchpoint for this.
DEADLINE:Yeah, I really felt that.
So then you think, What is it that Im doing?
And thats the classic midlife crisis.
TROPPER:Yeah, its the quiet desperation of the upper middle class.
Its been done since Henry James, right?
Its been done forever.
I think theres much more rawness to the notion of you dont have forever to get it right.
DEADLINE:Yeah, its terrifying.
Jons playing two roles, basically.
TROPPER:It made me so happy to hear you say that, but yes.
Voice-over is a very specific thing.
I think he has the omniscience of having been there already, but hes future Coop.
Is he talking to you from the Riviera or from a jail cell?
We have no idea.
DEADLINE:Youve been renewed already for Season 2.
Do you know how this ends?
We developed the idea of what the voice-over is going to do in the writers room.
Sometimes that would stay, sometimes wed have to reimagine it post writers room.
And by the time we got to the studio, Jon had had time to think about it.
It was tricky to figure out all the tenses, we had to play with the tenses a lot.
And wed work on that largely on the day in the studio.
TROPPER:Theres a really good literary trick for doing that, and its called casting Jon Hamm.
The way he handles being hit on for example.
He doesnt do any of the things that a less likeable man might do.
And thats when we first know, Oh, this is a good guy.
This is not your typical guy.
TROPPER:Thats a constant battle, and there are certain things weve institutionalized into the show that help.
For instance, his sister.
This is a guy who takes care of his grown sister.
So its just about picking moments to show the person he was on his way to becoming this person.
And then in the moment theres always tempering the dialogue is he too harsh here?
Is he not harsh enough?
And its an ongoing conversation.
And I started thinking about who I really admired.
I thought she just conveys instant empathy, instant sympathy, and instant buy-in to how complicated she is.
And her line delivery is insane.
And then Olivia, ever since Id seen her inThe Newsroom, Ive been dying to write for her.
DEADLINE:Im obsessed with how she played her character inThe Newsroom.
And I love the idea of the beautiful woman whos also a neurotic, insecure mess.
But wed been put in touch then.
And then when I was thinking about this character, she just seemed perfect for it.
DEADLINE:And I love Hoon Lees character of Coops friend and business advisor Barney so much.
TROPPER:I never do a show without Hoon since my first show.
I think the end of Season 1 ofYour Friends & Neighborswas our 85th episode of television together.
We did four seasons ofBanshee, three seasons ofWarrior, one season ofSee, and thenYour Friends & Neighbors.
He has such a giant brain.
And thats why I always write a role for Hoon.
Let me tell you something, its a tall order.
TROPPER:He took us the longest to cast.
We went through everybody.
We could find somebody really sexy who might not be funny.
We could find someone really funny who you dont buy as sexy.
We needed to believe this is somebody Mel would be in a relationship with.
And it was a lot of work to find him.
We ended up finding him in our backyard in Brooklyn.
DEADLINE:Youve said youre working on Season 2, what do you want to achieve with it?
And weve written most of the episodes.
We go into production three days after the show comes out, so were ready.
DEADLINE:Is everybody coming back?
I really hope so.
TROPPER:Everyones back, yes.
Im a big believer in not flushing the format too early.
So, weve got to figure out how this evolves for him in Season 2 and then 3.
And our plan is definitely not the Walter White plan.
Hes not becoming a criminal kingpin.
The idea is more about hes being liberated, and so whats the next stage of his liberation?
DEADLINE:How did you feel when you got the writing job on this new installment?
DEADLINE:And what about working with Shawn?
So we were like two giddy boys who were given the keys to dads car.
Weve been having a blast doing it.
DEADLINE:I wanted to ask you aboutLuckyas well.
You have so many great things coming up, but what can you tell me about that?
TROPPER:Were in the middle of shooting here in California.
DEADLINE:Im glad youre shooting in California.
And it was just a real surprise to me.
I mean, its very different from things Ive done, so Im very excited about it.
Your Friends and Neighborsis on Apple TV+ from April 11.
