"Once you begin to appreciate the, structure of the mind, there's no reason anything about us can't be changed. Pain can be destroyed. The mind can be solved." This is Maniac. This psychological dark comedy-drama web miniseries created by Patrick Somerville, directed by Fukunaga, and based on the Norwegian television series of the same name by Espen PA Lervaag, Håakon Bast Mossige, Kjetil Indregard, and Ole Marius Araldsen. It follows two strangers who are drawn to a mysterious pharmaceutical trial that will, they're assured, with no complications or side-effects whatsoever, solve all of their problems, permanently. Things do not go as planned.
In late March 2016, it was announced that Paramount Television and Anonymous Content were producing a television series with Fukunaga at the helm. Alongside the initial series announcement, it was reported that Emma Stone and Jonah Hill would executive produce and star in the series. The series was then being shopped to various networks and was searching for a writer. Less than a week later, it was announced that Netflix was finalizing a deal for a straight-to-series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. In late October 2016, it was announced that Patrick Somerville would write the series. By mid August 2017, Justin Theroux, Sonoya Mizuno, Gabriel Byrne, and Sally Field rounded out the cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in late November. Filming took place in New York City. In late July 2018, it was announced during the annual Television Critics Association's summer press tour that the series would premiere on September 21, 2018.
The series stars Stone, Hill, Theroux, Mizuno, Byrne, and Field. The journey is aided immeasurably by the casting of Hill and Stone. Their dark, sensitive eyes and a probity about them that wins you to their side. Stone is wonderful as a downer spirit that's surprisingly funny and human. She hasn't had such a meaty role in a while, and she plays it just right. Hill nails the part, winning audience sympathy from the opening moments. It's rarely a compliment when I refer to an actor as straitjacketed, but the straitjacketing of Hill and Stone is fiercely poignant. You see all that manic comic energy imprisoned in these ordinary yet messed up people, with the anarchism peeking out and trying to find a way to express itself.
Propelled by Somerville's smart, imaginative script and Fukunaga's equally daring directorial touch, Maniac is a twisty yet heartfelt look at love and the mind. It's amiable, and it does a surprisingly good job of sidestepping psych ward comedy clichés, but given its talented cast and directors, the series should be more than just mildly entertaining. This is a cerebral, formally and conceptually complicated, dense with literary allusions and as unabashedly romantic as any movie or series you'll ever see. The formidable Fukunaga/Somerville/Hill/Stone collaboration works marvel after marvel in expressing the bewildering beauty and existential horror of being trapped inside one's own addled mind, and in allegorising the self-preserving amnesia of a broken but hopeful heart.
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