Bringing sex, drugs and F-bombs to CBC
Four in the Morning creators surprised public broadcaster green-lit adventurous show
With its sex scenes, drug use and salty language, the creators of the edgy new CBC-TV comedy series Four in the Morning admit they were surprised the public broadcaster gave it the green light.
Creator/showrunner Ira Parker says his first thought when they got picked up was: “How the hell are they going to let us? The first episode, we’re dropping F-bombs all over the place.”
“I remember our first meeting with the CBC: ‘I have an episode where I want them to do a whole bunch of blow. Is that OK?’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, sure, go for it. That’s fine.’
“We snuck — actually never mind, I’m not going to go into the thing we snuck in,” he adds with a laugh. “We’ll let them discover that.”
Debuting Friday at 9 p.m., Four in the Morning follows four 20-somethings and their amped-up adventures at said time of day. The cast includes Lola Tash, Michelle Mylett, Daniel Maslany and Mazin Elsadig.
“It surprised all of us that CBC bought this show, but what’s been really amazing and gratifying is the support that we’ve got from them,” says producer Ari Lantos, known for his work on the Oscar-nominated 2010 film Barney’s Version.
“They’re actually letting us do everything that we wanted to do in the show without putting any limitations on us, creatively.”
Tash plays sassy firecracker Mitzi alongside Mylett as her soul-searching pal Jamie. Meanwhile, Maslany’s character Bondurant is a passionate and theatrical trumpet player, and Elsadig plays aspiring novelist William.
Cameras follow the four fast-talking friends as they hang out at a diner and at home, attend parties and stroll the streets and streetcars of Toronto.
The millennial-geared series is highly stylized with a surrealistic feel at times, as a talking pig haunts trou- bled Mitzi.
Parker admits he loosely based some of the characters and offbeat storylines on his own experiences.
“This has been like going to a therapist for the last eight months,” he says with a laugh.
In one of the episodes, for instance, William throws all of Jamie’s stuff off a balcony, something Parker once did. “I remember — oh my God — I did this to an ex-girlfriend once where I grabbed all of her (stuff ) that was in my place while she was there, her suitcase,” he recalls, “and I busted out through the patio door and I didn’t realize it was still closed. So I went right through the door and then I felt like such an idiot afterwards.
‘”I’m like, ‘Well, I have to continue doing what I’m doing,’ and I just tossed everything over the balcony.”
Pavan Moondi directed and shot each episode overnight, between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.
“There was a certain amount of freedom about being up that late and where your brain goes when you’re on that nocturnal schedule,” says Maslany, who took a concoction of vitamins B12, D, C and cod liver oil (“Great for fish burps,” he jokes) to stay healthy.
“I think we were able to tap into a surrealist mindset for this very surreal show.”