The talented creator of The Good Place, Michael Schur, and actor Ted Danson are back together in Netflix’s new comedy, A Man on the Inside. Charles, played by Danson, is a retired widower who starts a new job as a private investigator with the help of his daughter Emily, played by Mary Elizabeth Ellis. The show is both heartwarming and funny. Charles, who is in his seventies, answers an ad for an investigative assistant and ends up working as a spy in a retirement community near San Francisco to look into the disappearance of a necklace. As Charles gets used to his new role and the people he meets along the way, a mix of funny and important moments happen.
Is A Man on the Inside Inspired by a True Story?
A Man on the Inside inspired by a real-life story that took place in Chile. The plot of ‘A Man on the Inside’ sounds like the kind of strange, made-up situation you’d expect from a comedy but the story is based on real events. There are Oscar nominations for the 2020 Chilean documentary The Mole Agent, which the show is based on. Sergio Chamy is an elderly man who is hired by a private investigator to go undercover in a retirement home to look for signs of abuse. The documentary follows him. Chamy’s stories were not only interesting but they also showed the deeper emotional aspects of getting older, being alone and the complicated relationships that form in retirement communities.
The Mole Agent: The Documentary That Gave Ideas for the Show
Sergio Chamy, the main character in the documentary The Mole Agent, goes on a mission that sounds a lot like the one played by Danson in A Man on the Inside. Within a retirement home, Chamy, who is in his late 70s, is supposed to look into claims of mistreatment. He hides in the community as a mole and watches the residents and staff. Eventually, he finds out not only what happened to the necklace but also what the elderly residents really need emotionally.
Michael Schur, who has also worked on Parks and Recreation and The Good Place, was interested in how lonely older people can be, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Schur said that being alone during the pandemic has made people feel even more lonely, especially older people. A Man on the Inside is in many ways a response to the growing number of lonely people. Schur said, “Sometimes when you get older, being alone is more dangerous than an accident or a disease.” Studies have shown that being alone can be just as bad for you as smoking, and the loneliness that COVID-19 caused made this problem even worse for many older people.
Schur and his team, who had worked together on The Good Place before, saw The Mole Agent and thought it could be turned into a scripted series that would be both funny and sad, exploring themes of getting older and human connection. Maite Alberdi—who directed the film and Marcela Santibañez, who produced it, were very involved in the process. They made sure that the adaptation stayed true to the spirit of the documentary while exploring the comedic possibilities of its premise.
Alberdi, who is also an executive producer on A Man on the Inside, remembers how surprised he was to see Ted Danson play Chamy. After the documentary came out, Chamy became a bit of a celebrity in Chile and the idea of Danson playing his role made the Chilean filmmakers happy and proud. “He’s a rock star,” Alberdi said, pointing out that Chamy’s fame in Chile was similar to how excited people were to see Danson play his part.
Making the story into a comedy
The Mole Agent was a documentary that dealt with serious issues. A Man on the Inside, on the other hand, makes those issues more funny. Schur— who is known for his work on The Good Place, thought that the themes of getting older and connecting with others in The Mole Agent were similar to those in his other show. Both stories use humor to talk about serious issues, like how hard it can be to live a meaningful life, especially as you get older.
The funny parts of A Man on the Inside come from how ridiculous Charles’s situation is. Let’s say a retired man in his 70s acts as a spy in a retirement community and tries to solve a mystery involving other seniors. The idea of an old man going on a secret, dangerous mission is naturally funny, but it also shows how silly life can be in a retirement home, which is usually associated with sitting around doing nothing.
But the show doesn’t shy away from the more emotional parts of getting older. The show, like the documentary, looks at how being alone and isolated can affect older people. Schur has said that while doing research for the show, he came across studies that show being alone can be worse for older people than smoking. Even though the show is funny, it also shows the quiet sadness that comes with getting older, especially during the pandemic, which made many older people feel even more alone.
How “The Mole Agent” changed the show
There are some big changes that were made to The Mole Agent in order to make A Man on the Inside a comedy, but the documentary’s influence is clear in many ways. A lot of things about this movie are similar to the original—like the setting in a retirement community—the search for the missing necklace and the older characters having trouble with technology. Additionally, the show maintains the same emotional balance, with serious moments interspersed with funny ones.
Schur also made sure that A Man on the Inside kept the humanistic tone of The Mole Agent. The show not only shows Charles’s investigation, but also how he interacted with the people who lived at Pacific View Retirement Home, giving them interesting backstories and showing that they have a lot to offer as well. The show doesn’t just show these characters as bad guys or suspects in a mystery; it shows them as three-dimensional people with complicated feelings and wants, a lot like the older people who live in The Mole Agent.
Even though A Man on the Inside is based on The Mole Agent, it also has its own plot and characters. The documentary was mostly about Chamy’s experience, but the show adds Charles’ relationship with his daughter Emily to the mix. Emily’s character, who is worried about her dad’s undercover mission but also reluctantly supports it, gives the story another level of depth and lets us look more closely at how families interact.
The success of The Mole Agent in Chile and its move to a TV show in the United States is a great example of how stories with universal themes can connect with people all over the world. A Man on the Inside being turned into a movie by the people who worked on The Good Place was a dream come true for films from Chile. The documentary and the series both have funny and sad parts that show how we all feel about getting older, being alone, and wanting to stay connected to the world around us.
In conclusion, A Man on the Inside is based on a true story. More specifically—it is based on The Mole Agent— a Chilean documentary that shows the real-life experiences of an old man who became a private investigator in a retirement community. The show changes some things about the book, but the main ideas of getting older, being alone, and making connections with other people stay the same. This makes it a touching and funny look at the later years of life.
For more detailed recaps and TV insights, visit otavo.tv.
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