Ben Stiller and Jessica Chastain’s divorce drama

Ben Stiller is in New York filming a new Apple TV+ series, The Off Weeks, with Jessica Chastain and Arian Moayed, which is how I learned that he is not expected to direct episodes of Severance for season three. Instead, Kogonada will take over directing duties.  Low key incredible?

Ben Stiller is a good director, but Kogonada + Severance seems like a match made in heaven. Kogonada made After Yang, one of the best sci-fi films in recent years, with a top-tier sci-fi dance break. Maybe we’ll get a killer dance break in Severance!

 

Anyway, The Off Weeks is a divorce drama about a divorced dad (Stiller) falling for a mysterious woman (Chastain) during the “off weeks” when he isn’t directly parenting his children. I’m really just here for Arian Moayed, who played Stewy in Succession, one of the few people I did not want to be eaten by a shark. The series also counts Michael Showalter as a producer, who we have established is a cool and good filmmaker. I tend to have little patience for white guy divorce dramas, but Michael Showalter, Jessica Chastain, and Arian Moayed might be enough to get me involved with The Off Weeks.

But The Off Weeks also has a backstory that could be a divorce drama unto itself. The series was created by writer and filmmaker Alissa Nutting, from a script by novelist Dean Bakopoulos. Nutting and Bakopoulos used to be married, and while they were married, they co-created the series Made For Love, starring Cristin Milioti and Ray Romano, from a novel written by Bakopoulos. So, two writers were married, they co-created a TV show together, got divorced, and now she is making a new show, a divorce drama, from a script her ex wrote about divorce. Mess! Take it straight to series!