Simon Kinberg & Audrey Chon also talk about their experience working with Colin Farrell as their lead actor and fellow executive producer.
[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Sugar.]
The Big Picture
- The Apple TV+ series ‘Sugar’ is a genre-blending private detective story with secrets and reveals, promising an intriguing second season if that were to happen.
- The script by Mark Protosevich captivated executive producers, leading to delicate decision-making on reveals and character development.
- ‘Sugar’ showcases L.A. with homage to classic films, while Colin Farrell’s involvement and collaborative input make the series unique.
On its surface, the eight-episode Apple TV+ series Sugar is a private detective story wrapped in film noir with an air of mystery surrounding it. John Sugar (Colin Farrell) takes a case for legendary Hollywood producer Jonathan Siegel (James Cromwell) to find his missing granddaughter, but as he attempts to uncover what happened, it also brings previously buried secrets to light. And as you follow the investigation, it becomes apparent that there are things going on with Sugar that have a deeper explanation and that are slowly starting to reveal themselves.
After making Invasion together for Apple TV+, executive producers Simon Kinberg and Audrey Chon reteamed for Sugar. Lovers of genre-bending stories made the project a no-brainer, but that didn’t make it any less of a delicate dance when it came to the right time to peel back the layers and make those shocking reveals, leaving everything in a place that would definitely make for an interesting second season.
During this interview with Collider, Kinberg and Chon talked about how this script came their way, the interest in telling a detective story where who the detective is plays into the mystery, making audiences first fall in love with Farrell’s character before revealing the big secret, the role Los Angeles plays in the story, and having Farrell as a collaborative partner. They also discussed how a possible second season would be a deeper personal exploration for John Sugar.
Sugar (2024)
Private investigator John Sugar examines the mysterious disappearance of Olivia Siegel, the granddaughter of a legendary Hollywood producer.
- Release Date
- April 5, 2024
- Cast
- Colin Farrell , Nate Corddry , Massi Furlan , Bernardo Badillo , Sydney Chandler , Dennis Boutsikaris
- Seasons
- 1
- Creator(s)
- Mark Protosevich
EPs Simon Kinberg & Audrey Chon Got Involved with ‘Sugar’ on the Strength of the Scripts
Collider: What made you want to get involved with this project? Was it a pitch? Was it a script? What sold you on this?
SIMON KINBERG: We got sold on the page. We were sold on a script by Mark Protosevich, the creator of the show, who wrote the first couple of episodes that we read. He and Audrey [Chon] go back a long time together, so he sent her the scripts that he’d been incubating and working on for a very long time, and she loved them and gave them to me. We immediately got involved and built it from there. That’s how it all started, with just some scripts that Mark had really put a ton of time, love, and effort into, and you could feel it on the page.
Audrey, when it’s somebody that you know, do you worry that you’ll read the script and hate it?
AUDREY CHON: Honestly, you always want it to be great. I was like, “This is my friend. I’ve worked with this person for a long time.” I want the response to be positive, but I read it without any bias and it truly exceeded any of my expectations. You’re thrilled when you have something that good land on your desk because it’s so rare.
‘Sugar’ Provides an Appealing Opportunity to Blend Different Genres and Ideas
There are so many layers to this and so many different things working that any one of them could have been a really interesting show. Did this feel like something that was going to be impossible to figure out how to tell people about or explain in any way?
KINBERG: Yeah, we felt that way too. We felt like part of the opportunity of it was that it was doing so many things at once. My favorite shows, movies and books manage to do a ton of different things at the same time, like blend genres, cross-pollinate different ideas, and have different types of characters, and this did that. It’s a story about Hollywood, it’s a detective story about a missing person, it’s a mystery of who the detective himself is, with a big reveal that will hopefully shock, but at the same time, make audiences feel like, “Oh, my God, I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming. It feels inevitable.” So, it was doing a lot and it required a lot of very talented people that we got to work with, like (director) Fernando Meirelles and, obviously, Colin [Farrell], and Amy [Ryan] and Kirby and James Cromwell. It was an extraordinary group of actors. It was my favorite type of thing, which I call a bargain. I started it with bargain songs, which is like when you’re hearing a song and, all of a sudden, the bridge turns into a different song, and you get four songs for the price of one. I like bargain shows and bargain movies where you get more than just one thing.
‘Sugar’s Big Twist Completely Changes the Show
It also adds a whole new layer to the series’ noir leanings.
Were there a lot of conversations about when to reveal things and how much to reveal at any given time? Throughout the season, were there any major changes made?
CHON: There were conversations about having the reveal happen sooner or later. The most important thing for us was to bring the character of John Sugar to life and have people experience that. We chose where the reveal happened, so they could fully experience him without any of that bias, but then also experience him more knowing it too.
How Did That ‘Sugar’ Reveal Evolve?
How did you decide what he really looked like? Was that something that evolved throughout the process?
KINBERG: It definitely evolved as we were dialing it in. Any time you’re making a decision that big and it involves things that are extra, you end up working with a lot of artists to make sure that it feels like it remains true to the essence of the show and also still feels grounded and relatable. It’s a show that invites you to fall in love with John Sugar, and if anything’s gonna push you out of that, then we’ve made the wrong choice. And so, it was a very delicate process of dialing in and modulating something that would still feel like it was within the grain of the show, even as we were doing something bold.
Even when you learn the secret, it doesn’t really overpower what you’re watching and you almost have to remind yourself of it because it is more subtle.
KINBERG: That’s cool. That’s the highest praise for that transition.
Colin Farrell on THAT Shocking ‘Sugar’ Episode 6 Reveal
The question of what’s really going on with John Sugar has finally been answered.
How did you want to represent Los Angeles in this? It feels like we’re also constantly reminded of the location, just by seeing him driving around in a convertible. Was it important to always keep the location a present aspect of the story?
KINBERG: Yeah, it was critical, and really hard. Audrey and I are both from Los Angeles, strangely, because most people who live here are transplants and come from somewhere else. I’ve really only been able to shoot in Los Angeles one time in 25 years of making movies and shows. It’s such a precious thing when you get to do it, and to do it in the film noir detective genre, whether it was L.A. Confidential or Chinatown, or many other examples. We were trying to balance finding locations in L.A. that were homages to some of these old movies and other things that we love while also exposing audiences to a whole new side of L.A. in the bright sunshine that they maybe haven’t seen before. It should make you, as a native Los Angeleno feel like, “Oh, yeah, I know those streets,” but it should also be like, “Oh, but I’ve never been there before. Where is that? What neighborhood is that?”
Was it always Colin Farrell that you wanted to partner with on this? Is that part of what helps get a project like this made, considering that it’s a bit more complex and complicated?
CHON: Yes, absolutely. You want the right support for the show, both creatively and from a budget standpoint, and when you have a star like Colin that people feel confident in, it definitely helps you get greenlit.
Apple TV+’s ‘Sugar’ Avoids the Noir Genre’s Greatest Pitfall
Let’s all be a little more like John Sugar.
How involved was he throughout the production? What was it like to have him there?
CHON: He was embedded in every aspect of the show. We hired him before we even set it up at Apple. We talked about the creative approach to the show with him. We hired Fernando Meirelles with him. We hired our departments and Adam Arkin, our other director, with him. And once he found his character, he talked to department heads about it. He infused his idea of Sugar and the story into the fabric of the show, every day. Through production and post, he was always giving notes and feedback, and was literally involved in every integral part of the show.
KINBERG: I can’t imagine anyone else playing the part now, and I do think it plays on so many of his different strengths. Maybe he’s used some of them in different movies over his career, but I’m not sure putting all those things together – the leading man side and the character actor side, at the same time – he’s ever been able to do quite like this.
With a Second Season, ‘Sugar’ Would Dig Deeper Into John Sugar’s Psyche
The end of the season resolves one mystery while leaving other things open. If you get to do another season, do you think it would be a more personal exploration, especially now that we do know some of the history of what’s going on with these characters?
CHON: Absolutely. At the core of the show, it really is exploring John Sugar’s character. The plan is to continue surprising audiences and go deeper into his backstory, and deeper into just who he is and his psyche and everything that makes him tick.
Sugar is available to stream on Apple TV+. Check out the trailer:
This article was originally published on collider.com