Rose Byrne interview: ‘Platonic’ and ‘Physical’
Rose Byrne is closing one chapter of her career and opening another as her comedy series “Physical” came to an end after three seasons, allowing her to move on to “Platonic,” both on Apple TV+.
“I feel grateful to talk about the work, you know that the strike, we couldn’t really talk about season three of ‘Physical,’ which was such a shame because I’m so proud of the season and it’s our finale,” she tells Gold Derby.”I feel excited to be able to discuss the projects, and they’re so very different, both of them. It’s fun to be part of such different shows.” Watch our full video interview about both shows above.
“Platonic” reunites Byrne with her “Neighbors” co-star Seth Rogen, about former childhood best friends who reconnect as adults and try to get past the rift that led to their falling out.
SEE Seth Rogen (‘Platonic’): ‘Seinfeld’s’ Jerry and Elaine ‘set the benchmark’ for ‘dynamic’ friendship
“I wasn’t confident that he would say yes,” she says of Rogen hopping on board for the new comedy series. “He’s such a busy guy and he wears many hats, but it just became apparent when we started talking about who could be good. And then I kind of just went big and sort of was dreaming, aiming, reaching for the stars a little bit. I felt we had such a great chemistry on ‘Neighbors,’ and this was similar, but also very different in that we wouldn’t be a married couple. But I think already having that shared history on screen gently lent itself to this believability that we had a really long friendship, and the show lives and dies on the chemistry of Sylvia and Will and the audience willing to believe that they have this history together. I knew Seth and I could kind of bring that organically.”
Byrne also serves as an executive producer on “Platonic,” and it was important to her that the show remain true to the title. “The show is about really trying to make the audience laugh, but grounded in a very specific time of life for both of these characters and examining a friendship that was once something that has really changed, which I think it happens in life, and you don’t often see it portrayed on the screen as much, particularly between men and women,” she says. “It’s something that is, not to be cheesy, but platonic. There is really no tension, sexual tension at all.”
In “Physical,” Byrne played Sheila, a woman struggling in her life as a quietly tortured housewife who finds an unconventional path to power through an unlikely source: the world of aerobics.
“It was bittersweet,” she says of the series finale. “I loved that character. I became very close with Annie Weisman and Stephanie Laing, our showrunner and our exec producer and director. And it was really bittersweet. That was a very rich character and I felt very lucky we got to make that show and became very close with all of the cast. So it’s definitely been a bittersweet thing to come to an end.”
The actress hopes the series meant as much to viewers as it did to her, stating, “I didn’t want to prescribe how someone wants to feel or not feel, but from my end what’s been a lovely gift is people in recovery from many things have approached me about the show, not just people recovering from EDs (eating disorders), but whether it’s drug addiction or sex addiction or gambling addiction. I’ve had people come out of the woodwork and say how they could relate to this, that how addiction manifests itself and how it can manifest itself in your narration in your head. And so that was really always really moving to me.”
The series finale of “Physical” aired September 27, 2023. “Platonic” has been renewed for season two, with the release date still pending.
