Hungry for romance
Australian-made rom-com series Wolf Like Me is a love story with a surprising twist that reflects how scary a new relationship can be, writes Lauren Mitchell
FIT’S ABOUT PUTTING YOUR FEARS ASIDE AND JUMPING INTO THE UNKNOWN WHEN IT SEEMS UNBELIEVABLY FRAUGHT WITH DANGER, AND CHAOS, AND ALL OF THOSE THINGS
inding love isn’t easy these days. It can get pretty complicated when we all bring our own set of baggage to a new relationship. That’s where Wolf Like Me, a fresh and subversive romantic comedy series from Little Monsters writer-director Abe Forsythe, comes in.
The show, a genre-defying and heartfelt drama produced by Jodi Matterson (Nine Perfect Strangers), Bruna Papandrea (Big Little Lies) and Steve Hutensky (The Dry) is based on Forsythe’s own life experiences as a 40-something single parent.
Josh Gad stars as Gary, a widowed dad living in Adelaide who’s been very unsuccessful in his attempts to find love again, mostly because his focus is always on connecting with his 11-year-old daughter Emma (Ariel Donoghue).
When Mary (Isla Fisher), a dynamic and mysterious stranger, crashes into their car, she forms a sudden and strong bond with anxiety-stricken Emma that leaves Gary speechless.
Several coincidences and chance meetings later, it becomes clear that something between
Mary and Gary is meant to be, but Mary has a complicated history of her own and is wary of bringing someone into her life.
A romantic lead role isn’t where viewers would usually find Gad, a Broadway star who’s known for his work on comedy series Avenue 5 and The Comedians and – perhaps most famously
– as the voice of snowman Olaf in Frozen, which is exactly why Forsythe cast him as Gary.
“I worked with Josh on my last movie, so I got to know him really well, and I knew what a fantastic actor he is, but also what a great father he is, too,” Forsythe told journalist Berge Garabedian.
“Just knowing that I hadn’t seen him play something like that before – dramatically, he’s such a great actor.
“I’m a big believer that in order to be good at comedy, you have to be dramatically sound as an actor. These aren’t the roles that you would be expecting to see them in, and a big [part] of this story is about subverting expectations and to not judge a book by its cover.”
For Fisher, it’s likewise a welcome departure from the ditzy love interest roles like Wedding Crashers and Confessions of a Shopaholic that she’s typically cast in.
“The idea of playing, you know, in a sort-of genre-bending piece, is obviously something I’ve never been offered before,” Fisher told Stan’s Renee Bargh.
“I loved how beautiful these characters were, how flawed they were.”
Playing opposite Gad sweetened the deal for the Australian actress, who jumped at the chance to work alongside her friend.
“I knew that we’d have a great time, and obviously when you play in a love story, you need to know the chemistry’s there and I felt secure that I could pull that bit off,” she said.
That chemistry between Mary and Gary is evident from their first encounter, and continues off-screen.
“I came on board after Isla, and quite a big part of the reason why I wanted to do it was because I had been obsessed with Isla for years,” Gad confessed to Bargh.
“I had wanted to work with her forever – we were actually looking at another project together. And, then this one sort of happened and I read the script and just fell in love with it, fell in love with the idea of working with her, with Abe [Forsythe] again, after Little Monsters, and it was just, it was easy.”
The third and final piece of the casting puzzle was Donoghue, who portrays Gary’s daughter Emma with vulnerability, but also a wisdom beyond her years. Forsythe went through an extensive process to find the right actor for the role.
“She’s got a face that, you put the camera on her, and it’s saying so much without doing practically anything,” the filmmaker said.
“It’s kind of scary, actually, how much the camera picks up and how little she does, particularly because she’s only 12 years old.”
Forsythe directed the trio to play Wolf Like Me straight, as an earnest love story, but there is a piquant twist hidden in plain sight that brings plenty of comedy to the situation. It’s a secret best kept under lock and key for viewers, but helps make sense of celebrated comedy-horror filmmaker Forsythe’s sudden and surprising move into romance.
“The more seriously and dramatically they play the material, the funnier it becomes once you realise what they’re actually dealing with,” Forsythe said.
However, it takes some time for the twist to be revealed, allowing Mary and Gary to explore their newfound bond and the incredible set of circumstances they find themselves in.
“For me, to be honest it was about withholding it for as long as possible,” Forsythe said.
“At the end of the day, it’s meant to be something scary, but I think that there’s something quite beautiful about it, as well.”
While it turns out that Mary and Gary’s relationship has some pretty uncommon and extreme hurdles in their way, the series still shows a remarkably relatable courtship process.
“I think it’s a drama about the obstacles, or the baggage, we overcome to enjoy a romantic relationship and feel vulnerable and safe, having intimacy with another person,” Fisher said.
“It’s about putting your fears aside and jumping into the unknown when it seems unbelievably fraught with danger, and chaos, and all of those things,” Gad added.
“These two, from their first chance encounter, it’s like fate is putting out a hand and reaching in and forcing them together to allow both of them to come out of their shells.”
Wolf Like Me, streaming, Stan