Hilary Lewis 
Why Amy Schumer’s ‘Life & Beth’ Is a TV Show Not a Movie
Amy Schumer’s latest project Life & Beth has been described as “deeply personal.”
But the actress-comedian didn’t just draw on her own experiences for the narrative details of the Hulu dramedy, about a woman who reexamines her painful adolescence when she returns to her hometown after an unexpected tragedy. She also used her own life to determine the format for the half-hour series.
“I was just paying attention to the way I was watching things and observing content,” Schumer told The Hollywood Reporter when launching Life & Beth about why she chose to tell this story as a TV show instead of through a movie, like her loosely autobiographical 2015 comedy Trainwreck. “One night my husband and I were like, ‘Oh, we don’t want to watch a movie; it’s too long.’ But we wound up watching that Ricky Gervais show After Life, and we watched like three hours of that or something. So I was like, you know, I’m enjoying bingeable things right now. And I think one of the criticisms about this show is that it feels like a movie, like a long movie, and that’s kind of what I was capable of making. I just wanted to tell this story in the way that I’ve been consuming content.”
Related Stories
Schumer’s longtime collaborator Kevin Kane, who co-stars and serves as an executive producer on Life & Beth, indicated that the project’s format evolved from the story they wanted to tell, including the dual timelines following Schumer’s Beth as an adult and a teenager, with the younger version of her character played by Violet Young.
“It was the first time we ever worked on a narrative television show and we just wanted to try to make the most of the venue,” Kane said, when speaking to THR recently at the premiere.
Schumer’s mom read every script and watched every episode of Life & Beth, and the actress-comedian has a strong relationship with her real-life sister Kim Caramele. But the actors who play Schumer’s character’s mom and sister, Laura Benanti and Susannah Flood, respectively, insist they are playing fictional characters.
“I’m not playing Amy Schumer’s mom,” Benanti added. “I’m playing Beth’s mom. We talked a lot about this character in particular, but I am in no way playing Amy’s real mom.”
Flood shared, “The character I’m playing is not Amy’s sister but, of course, Amy totally shared a lot of dynamics that she goes through as a sister. I share dynamics that I go through in my sisterly relationships. She was totally welcoming of any collaboration about the character and we kind of threw stuff at each other.”
While Benati’s Jane is seen throughout the series in flashbacks, she also plays a key role in the tragedy that serves as the catalyst for Beth’s self discovery.
As for why she chose that specific incident as the galvanizing moment, Schumer referred to the branch-breaking visual metaphor at the end of the show’s first episode.
“What doesn’t bend breaks,” Schumer said. “Her whole life and her relationship with her mom reach this breaking point.”
Life & Beth was recently renewed for a second season, offering an opportunity to answer some lingering questions from season one, including what may have influenced Beth’s sister as she grew up.
When asked what could have caused an apparent change in that character’s temperament from childhood to adulthood, Flood said, “I imagine any number of things about what that specifically could be, but I’m kind of waiting for Amy to write that. I want her to be able to tell me what that is.”
Still she offered, “I think probably the shit hit the fan. I think that what we see is Ann has this eccentric spirit, and she’s a spirited child, she has a natural capacity for joy, and then something happens that makes it a lot more difficult to access any of that.”
All 10 episodes of Life & Beth’s first season are streaming on Hulu.
Related News & Content
-
How to optimize ‘select found_rows()’ query? Several ‘high load average’ alerts daily
How to optimize 'select found_rows()' query? Several 'high load average' alerts daily,I have 5,000 regular posts, 6,000 posts in one post type and 2,000 posts in another post type. Needless to say, that has made the wp_posts table quite large. Not to mention, I have custom taxonomie... -
How to Use JSON With AJAX?
How to Use JSON With AJAX?,I've defined a PHP callback function to handle the communication between server-side and client-side: function json_render_modal_body() { check_ajax_referer( THEME_PREFIX . '-modals', 'nonce'... -
Filtering context for render_block function
Filtering context for render_block function,I am trying to use render_block within a function called from the WP admin via AJAX The render_block returns null/empty however if I run my function using the wp hook returns the rendered HTML for ... -
How do I hide submenus from the top menu bar?
How do I hide submenus from the top menu bar?,My website is wiki-style and has a lot of pages that should only be reached through links on other pages. Having these all accessible from the top menu bar under their respective headings leads you... -
Register users without confirmation
Register users without confirmation,I'm looking to register users without requiring confirmation of their emails (and even better, no password when they register). Basically, I want them to subscribe their mails using wp registration -
How to use AJAX in wordpress front end?
How to use AJAX in wordpress front end?,I have two inputs in an HTML Widget block on a post. What I need to do: send the inputs (from the html widget) value to AJAX, construct and execute a query, render a table with the results back on ... -
Display posts from Custom Post Type, group by term, arrange term groups and arrange items within groups by menu order
Display posts from Custom Post Type, group by term, arrange term groups and arrange items within groups by menu order,I have a Custom Post Type 'my_cpt' and a custom taxonomy 'types' which has several terms, all of which have posts. I want to do is be able to control both the order of the groups (terms from my cus... -
How do I know if the custom theme is a child theme or a full-custom theme?
How do I know if the custom theme is a child theme or a full-custom theme?,Inherited a custom built WordPress site. How do I know if the theme it uses is a child theme or a full-custom theme? I would like to delete the unused themes for security and to free up space, but ... -
getEntityRecords/useEntityRecords: How to use CPT metadata?
getEntityRecords/useEntityRecords: How to use CPT metadata?,I use getEntityRecords as described in the official data API tutorial (https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson/retrieving-wordpress-data-records/). I.e.: const [searchTerm, setSearchTerm] = useState... -
Carol Kirkwood stuns in figure-hugging dress amid BBC Breakfast technical chaos
Carol Kirkwood stuns in figure-hugging dress amid BBC Breakfast technical chaos,CAROL Kirkwood stunned in a figure-hugging dress amid a technical blunder. BBC Breakfast was flung into chaos this morning after a string of sound issues. However Carol, 61, was all smiles as she p… -
Families ‘to sue prison’ where loud inmates ‘terrorise kids’ with screaming
Families 'to sue prison' where loud inmates 'terrorise kids' with screaming,Residents living next door to a new prison who say their kids have to sleep wearing headphones and some leave during weekends due to the racket are threatening to sue the prison service -
Doctor Strange’s Secret Wars Role May Be More Important Than You Thought – Looper
Doctor Strange's Secret Wars Role May Be More Important Than You Thought - Looper,According to entertainment leaker Alex Perez, Doctor Strange will find himself confronting his inner struggles as he headlines "Avengers: Secret Wars." -
I’m a clown for not trying Korean beauty secret for glowy skin sooner – don’t worry, I’m not putting cheese on my face
I’m a clown for not trying Korean beauty secret for glowy skin sooner – don’t worry, I’m not putting cheese on my face,A BEAUTY influencer has regrets about not trying out Korean beauty advice for glowy skin sooner. Although the trick can look a little strange at first, she assured viewers that she was not putting … -
“Not every artist deserves to be rich”: Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows on Spotify revenue and why Web3 is the future
“Not every artist deserves to be rich”: Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows on Spotify revenue and why Web3 is the future,Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows has shared his opinion on the difficulty of making money through streaming platforms as an artist, arguing that “not every artist deserves to be rich”. -
‘We are at risk’ – health expert in urgent warning for Irish people over Easter
‘We are at risk’ - health expert in urgent warning for Irish people over Easter,AN URGENT warning has been released to those jetting off over the Easter break. With measles already on the rise, there is an increased risk of a more widespread outbreak in the coming weeks. Trave… -
Black Holes Are Even Weirder Than You Imagined
Black Holes Are Even Weirder Than You Imagined,It’s now thought that they could illuminate fundamental questions in physics, settle questions about Einstein’s theories, and even help explain the universe. -
The odd history of on-hold music
The odd history of on-hold music,We've all been put on hold when we've tried to reach someone. Have you ever thought about the music that plays while you wait? -
‘What Jennifer Did’: Netflix doc explores shocking Ont. murder-for-hire case
'What Jennifer Did': Netflix doc explores shocking Ont. murder-for-hire case,Most of Jennifer Pan's entire life was made up of lies. When her parents began to catch on, she decided to bring in hired hitmen. -
Carlo and Charlie’s real-life chemistry sparks in Third World Romance
Carlo and Charlie’s real-life chemistry sparks in Third World Romance,Real-life sweethearts Carlo Aquino and Charlie Dizon make their much-anticipated film debut together as they topbill the Black Sheep and Anima’s romantic movie, Third World Romance, which serves as the closing film at the Cinemalaya 2023. -
Stray Kids' Album '5-STAR' Attains Highest 1st-Week Sales in Hanteo, Surpasses THIS 3rd-Gen K-pop Group | KpopStarz
Stray Kids' Album '5-STAR' Attains Highest 1st-Week Sales in Hanteo, Surpasses THIS 3rd-Gen K-pop Group | KpopStarz,Stray Kids have reached another milestone in their career with third full-length album "★★★★★ (5-STAR)." They have also surpassed THIS third-gen K-pop group.#StrayKids #5STAR #Hyunjin #Felix #BangChan #LeeKnow #IN #Han #Changbin #Seungmin #JYPEntertainment
