Image via Apple TV+
Joseph Gordon-Levitt made the TV show he always dreamed of making with Mr. Corman. After decades of acting, he set out to write, direct and star in a 10-episode comedy-drama that is a vivid depiction of what it’s like to live inside the mind of a lonely, 30-something man battling anxiety. While most shows distract viewers from their own thoughts and realities, Gordon-Levitt’s Josh Corman serves as a vessel for self-reflection that makes viewers face their own inner turmoil. Other movies and TV shows such as The Sopranos, Ted Lasso, and In Treatment feature characters who are struggling with panic attacks and different mental disorders that are deeply affecting their day-to-day lives. While we see many of them exploring their feelings, thoughts, and emotions with a therapist, we don’t really get to explore what happens inside of their minds when they’re experiencing these episodes. Josh is a fifth-grade public school teacher, who lives in a cozy apartment with a roommate named Victor (Arturo Castro) in the San Fernando Valley in California. His life is seemingly calm and normal, but reflecting on his failed music career and his relationship with his ex Megan (Juno Temple) leaves Josh full of angst. The regret he feels because life didn’t turn out the way he wanted is a feeling many people his age can relate to.
The show goes from following his mundane human experience to entering a fantasy world with larger-than-life dreamlike sequences that take place solely inside his brain. The show’s over-the-top fight scene alongside Bobby Hall (a.k.a. Logic), a musical number between Josh and his mother, and a recurring meteor that only he sees provide viewers with a look inside his mind. Those moments are a portrayal of what our brains are capable of in order to protect us from our own realities and how they can also terrorize us whenever we encounter a trigger. Gordon-Levitt knew that these scenes are what sets the Apple TV+ project apart from other comedies and dramas of this sort. “From the beginning, I always wanted the show to feel what it’s like to be inside a person’s head,” Gordon-Levitt told Complex ahead of the show’s season finale airing Friday, Oct. 1. “A lot of movies and shows show you something more objective and the audience becomes more omniscient. That’s of course one way to tell a story. But for me, that doesn’t feel that much like real life, because in real life we never get to go outside of our own heads. We only ever see the world through our two eyes and that’s it.”
In Episode 3 titled “Happy Birthday,” there’s a moment where Josh wants to tell his mom he loves her but he struggles to get the words out. Instead of letting the audience decipher the conflict Josh is feeling in that moment, Gordon-Levitt showed the intensity of it through a mom and son dance number the character creates in his mind. “Those fantasy sequences are moments inside a person’s head when real life doesn’t feel real. We all feel feelings that are so big or hard to explain. If someone on the outside from a more objective point of view saw you right then, they might not notice that anything extraordinary is happening, but on the inside, what you’re really feeling is crazy,” he added. “If you just show what happened in real life, it would last a couple of seconds and you might not even notice it, but that’s not what it feels like inside of his head. What it feels like is a grand musical number where they’re singing and dancing across the rooftop of his childhood home. All of the sequences, that’s what they are. It’s when Josh’s feelings are bigger than what reality can communicate.”
One look at the #MrCorman hashtag on Twitter and it’s clear that these scenes are resonating with viewers. People are thanking Gordon-Levitt for creating the show and for truthfully depicting what it’s like to deal with anxiety. “It’s been fulfilling to see the audience’s reaction. A lot of people have been saying to me, whether in person or online or whatever, ‘I’ve never seen anxiety portrayed so honestly before.’ People are saying things like, ‘It feels like I finally feel seen,’ or, ‘I can see myself in this story.’ That has been really meaningful to me,” the 50/50 actor said. “I have a number of people in my life who I’m really close with, and I really care about, who struggle with anxiety. And by the way, I think everybody does. It’s an incredibly common thing. One out of every 6 people in the United States is going through a diagnosable anxiety disorder. And that’s just the diagnosable kind.” He’s right. Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health concerns in the country. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, more than 40 million adults have been diagnosed with one. That’s nearly 20 percent of the population.
The actor has been open about dealing with anxiety, but he knows that others’ symptoms are much heavier than his. “I have my own anxieties. I even once went to a doctor to talk about it, and what I’m feeling would not be categorized as a diagnosable anxiety disorder, but there are still feelings I wrestle with,” he said. “I think probably a lot of people out there are on the same boat as me. So I wanted to do an honest portrayal of that in this show.” Unlike other shows, Mr. Corman’s take on mental health issues is subtle, quiet, and realistic. Gordon-Levitt felt a responsibility to portray anxiety accurately so he reached out to a professional for help. “I spoke to another doctor, a neuropsychologist, not about myself, but about this script when we were writing the script and getting ready to shoot it. We wanted to make sure that from a scientific perspective, we were above board,” he shared. “Her name is Dr. Gina Grimshaw. She’s a doctor in neuropsychology and I asked her, ‘What is the biggest thing that you want to make sure Hollywood doesn’t get wrong with this?’ And she said, ‘My hope is that this doesn’t stigmatize people’s anxiety, but rather it normalizes people’s anxiety because it is so normal.’”
Sometimes it is difficult for people to understand how a person who seemingly has everything in control, is employed, and lives a privileged life can still struggle with mental health issues. Their solution or advice to someone dealing with anxiety or depression often turns into toxic positivity, claiming that positive affirmations, prayers, or practicing gratitude can be a quick fix to an actual medical diagnosis. “Historically, there’s a real stigma about anxiety. People are afraid that if they talk about their anxiety, they’ll be told, ‘Hey, quit whining. Buck up. Just get a grip. Have a positive attitude. It’s not that bad.’ Those aren’t productive things to tell somebody who’s feeling anxiety,” the Inception star said. “It’s really great that in today’s culture, we are making important steps forward in destigmatizing it. But you can see, even in the public discourse, a lot of that stigma still rears its ugly head. People do say, ‘Ah, quit whining.’” Josh might not have a giant support system, but the few people he does have do their best to help, and it’s a reminder that sometimes we also have to reach out and ask for help. “I hope that Mr. Corman can be one small contribution to a conversation that’s moving us forward towards a culture where we’re there for each other, and we’re there to support each other and be kind to each other. Rather than saying, ‘Hey, it’s not that bad.’ We can say something like, ‘Is there anything I can do to help you?’ Or, ‘Would you like me to just sit here with you?’ There are more helpful and sensitive things that we can all do to support our neighbors, our friends, and our family members who are going through this.”
As Josh is scrambling to get a grip on his symptoms and figure out the appropriate treatment, his roommate Victor has his back. In one of the most heartwarming and hilarious scenes from Episode 2 titled “Don’t Panic,” Victor turns himself into a human weighted blanket to comfort his friend. “Victor, he’s just the most lovely and kind friend. That’s not to say that he doesn’t make mistakes. Some of the stuff that Victor does as he’s trying to help Josh is probably not so helpful even though he’s doing his best, but ultimately what he does right, is coming from a place where he really does care about his friend and he’s there for him. He’s not just telling him, ‘Hey, this isn’t a problem. You should stop complaining.’ He doesn’t say any of that. He’s there for him like, ‘Let’s talk about it, I want to help you,’” Gordon-Levitt says. “Not all of his help is probably exactly the right help. He’s just not a doctor. He’s just doing his best. And that’s part of where some of the humor comes from, of course. I think we all, or many of us, have someone in our lives that’s really there for us that really loves us. And if we’re not afraid to talk about how we’re feeling, they will be there for us.”
Mr. Corman addresses childhood trauma and how it is likely to resurface down the road if it’s not dealt with head-on. Without revealing any spoilers, much of Josh’s anxiety stems from his familial issues. Throughout the season, Josh gets panic attacks when he believes he’s seeing a meteor falling from the sky, which is connected to his tumultuous relationship with his father. “There’s the meteor motif and whenever he sees a homeless man that looks anything like his dad, he’s always scared. He has an irrational phobia, and it’s not entirely irrational, because his dad is an addict. He’s always scared that at some point, his dad’s just going to turn up dead,” the actor explains. “So anytime he sees a homeless man who could at all resemble his dad, even from a distance, it stops him in his tracks. And he feels this old feeling that comes from the chaotic childhood that he had with his father.” Mr. Corman doesn’t have any big plot twists or shocking moments, but as it progresses viewers see why Josh is the way he is, and the creators tie it all together through symbolism, using cinematography and music to get their point across.
It was announced in September 2019 that Gordon-Levitt would be directing, writing, and executive producing the series along with A24. Production kicked off in March 2020, but after three weeks of filming in Los Angeles, production was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In that downtime, the actor decided to rewrite the script. “We didn’t originally write the show to include the pandemic. We were in the middle of shooting it when the pandemic arrived and shut us down. We decided to rewrite and incorporate, and that was a decision that we came to after a lot of thought. We didn’t want the entire show to be set during COVID, that seemed like that’d be too much. But we also thought, ‘We can’t just ignore this.’ I think some shows can. Some shows can totally get away with [it] because some shows are more escapist. They’re not necessarily trying to show you real life. What it’s like to be a real person in the real world,” he shared. “That’s very much the whole thing that we’re going forward with Mr. Corman, is being as honest as we can be about what it feels like to be a human being in the world right now. It didn’t feel right to just ignore.” The last three episodes are set during the first couple of months of the pandemic, and only one episode focuses on it entirely. “It’s crazy to watch that one now because it does feel like history,” he says. “It feels like so long ago, when really it’s only a year and a half ago.”
Shows that are rooted in real-world issues can also have a way of making viewers feel exposed when they see parts of themselves in the characters. Episode 8 titled “Hope You Feel Better” focuses on the start of the pandemic when Josh heads to his childhood home to stay with his mom Ruth (Debra Winger) for some time. Watching Josh learn how to interact with his mom as an adult on a daily basis again felt so personal, relatable, and intimate, especially since it’s an experience many people lived through last year. That kind of real-time storytelling of a historical moment in time can be tricky, and Gordon-Levitt looked to other directors for inspiration. “Some of my favorite movies, they do that. They’re both timely and timeless. One of my favorite filmmakers is Hal Ashby. Hal Ashby made a bunch of movies that influenced Mr. Corman, like Harold and Maude or Shampoo or Being There. But he also made a movie called Coming Home, about a Vietnam veteran coming home to the United States. That movie was made while that was still happening. You watch it now though, and it doesn’t feel like it’s not relevant anymore. It managed to find that sweet spot between being really timely and about its time, but also timeless in the way that any great work of historical fiction can do. That’s what we were aiming for.”
Gordon-Levitt has also been on TV since the ‘80s, acting in shows like Family Ties and Roseanne, and his lengthy film résumé includes Inception, (500) Days of Summer, and The Dark Knight Rises. In that time, he made sure to absorb as much as he could from the industry so that one day he could make a show like Mr. Corman, and Apple gave him the liberty to do so. “It’s a very fulfilling thing. It feels in a lot of ways, like what I’ve been wanting to make since I was a teenager. Finally getting to do it and put it out there and seeing it exist. I have to really give a lot of gratitude to Apple for letting me make something that’s clearly not exactly a normal TV show and really indulging the sensibilities of me and my particular tastes,” the actor said. “Whether it’s my taste in movies, my taste in music, or my taste in comedy. They really gave me the creative freedom to make something that I personally just think is very much to my own sensibilities. And that’s really admirable.” Gordon-Levitt says that Apple as a company has historically focused more on “backing the voice of humans’’ and not just on numbers and trends, and he believes they’re using that same approach with Apple TV+. His name, talent, and experience in the industry surely had a lot to do with the company choosing to invest in his idea, and he realizes how fortunate he is. “They put that trust in me and I’m very grateful that I got to make my show and break a bunch of rules and do things that normal TV shows don’t do. I really liked the thing that we got to make.”
As a child star, Gordon-Levitt was not satisfied with just being an actor. As he got older, he wanted to get behind the scenes and try his hand at every aspect of TV and filmmaking. Understanding that there were multiple layers and steps in storytelling led him to write, direct, and produce Mr. Corman. “I just always really loved the whole process ever since I was a little kid getting to act on sets. I just loved being a part of this huge team, but everybody has a job to do. And if anybody doesn’t do their job, it impacts everybody,” he said. “I always just found the totality of it really fascinating. I always loved learning about all the different elements. I was never one to just show up.” Anyone can edit video right from their iPhones these days, but he felt so limited back then watching the pros at work using expensive equipment he didn’t have access to. So the actor bought himself his first Mac for his 21st birthday to teach himself how to use Final Cut Pro, and the rest is history. He refers to learning how to edit as “the tipping point” that led him to leave Columbia University to explore different layers of his artistry. “Editing is so fun. It’s not for everyone because it takes a lot of work and it’s very meticulous. But if you like filmmaking, try editing. It’s the most fun,” Gordon-Levitt told Complex. “It’s one of those things that absorb you. When I taught myself to edit, I dropped out of college and decided, ‘Alright, I’m going to try to get back into acting because I want to make movies. I want to do this.’ It took a while, but I finally got to do it.”
Mr. Corman’s Season 1 finale is now available on Apple TV+.