- Title: 'The Last Man on Earth' star Will Forte on living through a real-life pandemic
- Date: 9th April 2020
- Summary: INTERNET (APRIL 6, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, WILL FORTE, SAYING: "The process is like a mixture of doing a movie and doing a TV show. The way we shot it was just like you shoot a movie. Everything was on location, you'd go and do all the scenes at a particular location and move onto the next one but the structure of it is a teeny bit more like a TV show but instead those act breaks that lead into commercials will just be - they'll have good juicy cliffhangers."
- Embargoed: 23rd April 2020 21:42
- Keywords: Flipped Quibi Will Forte app coronavirus filming mobile pandemic television
- Location: INTERNET; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS; WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES;
- City: INTERNET; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS; WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES;
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Television
- Reuters ID: LVA005C8RUS0D
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Will Forte is no stranger to pandemics. He wrote, produced and starred in 'The Last Man on Earth', a television series about a man trying to cope with being the sole survivor of a deadly pandemic.
The show, which lasted four seasons, saw his character try and navigate the world after the pandemic. However, filming the show didn't prepare him for sights in the real world during the current coronavirus outbreak.
He told Reuters in a video conversation, "It seems like it would be exaggeration when we were doing it on 'Last Man on Earth' but when we were going to shop for supplies so you we could quarantine or shelter in place, it was shocking how close to that part of it we were. Thankfully it doesn't seem like this is going to get to a point like 'The Last Man on Earth' did with that much of the population die out but it's the eeriest, saddest, most frustrating time right now."
Forte is once again playing an anti-hero in new Quibi show 'Flipped', about a narcissistic couple who set out to become the next home renovation television presenters only to stumble on a hoard of cash hidden away by the local mob.
The episodes on Quibi only last for around 7 minutes, so it was very different from doing regular television shows for Forte.
"The process is like a mixture of doing a movie and doing a TV show. The way we shot it was just like you shoot a movie. Everything was on location, you'd go and do all the scenes at a particular location and move onto the next one but the structure of it is a teeny bit more like a TV show but instead those act breaks that lead into commercials will just be - they'll have good juicy cliffhangers," he said.
For Quibi, the show is shot in both landscape and portrait, depending on a viewer's choice.
He said "For 'Flipped', the show we did, all we're doing is the horizantal and vertical are showing different angles of the same scene but I think they have the technology so that if you're watching horizontal, you're watching the show as is and then if you flip it vertical, there's some completely different element happening. It really is beyond my mental pay grade."
The mobile app has launched during the coronavirus lockdown, giving people something else to watch while in isolation.
Forte said "When it comes down to it, right now tonnes of people are forced to stay at home looking for something to do so the fact that this is coming out in this period, I would think it would be helpful but again it's really hard to think about this stuff when this stuff is happening out there where medical professionals need PPEs and people come in and need ventilators. That's where most of my thought has gone."
(Production: Rollo Ross) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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