The series The Now has every ingredient for success. The dark comedy is the creation of Academy Award winners Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly and is packed with talent. They even managed to snag Bill Murray for a recurring guest role.
Rounding out the cast, Dave Franco, O’Shea Jackson Jr, Jimmy Tatro, and Daryl Hannah in starring roles. Bill Murray, Alyssa Milano, Pete Davidson, Rob Yang, are featured in recurring roles throughout the series.
Filmed in Vancouver with portions filmed in Illinois, the first season wrapped over 2 years ago.
So what went wrong?
The Now was originally set to debut in 2020 on Quibi, but in October of 2020 Quibi shut down all operations, leaving the series’ release in question.
Soon after, development of the series moved to The Roku Channel, and now, all 14-episodes of The Now are finally available to viewers for free on Roku.
The dark comedy examines what exactly makes life worth living through the eyes of Ed Poole (Dave Franco). For Ed, life isn’t going as he planned. However, a tragic event causes him to rethink his outlook, forcing him to go after what he loves, cherish the people closest to him and to live his life in the present—or, as the title indicates, in the now.
Peter Farrelly stated, “I wanted to make a show about living in the present because I personally have lived too much in the future and the past and I think a lot of people do. We worry about the future, and we have regrets about the past, yet we are only ever living in the now. The future and the past are just concepts, but all life takes place in the present. If you want to make changes in your life you have to make them in the now.”
Bobby Farrelly added, “We knew that we needed a stellar cast to tell this story properly, and that’s what we got. Collaborating with Dave Franco, O’Shea Jackson, Jimmy Tatro, Bill Murray, Alyssa Milano, and Daryl Hannah was an unforgettable experience, and the result is something that we’re very proud of. We can’t wait to share it with everyone on The Roku Channel.”
“I’ve never needed The Now more than now,” said Colin Davis, Roku’s Head of Original Scripted Programming. “This is a show that tackles tough but universal challenges with levity and comedy that only this excellent cast and creators can deliver. The Roku Channel is on a strong path to being the best destination for premium, bespoke, original comedies and The Now more than delivers.”
The interiors scenes of The Now were filmed in Vancouver and the exteriors were filmed in the Quad-Cities area.
The Farrelly brothers traveled around the country exploring locations and chose the Quad cities as the feel they were looking for. The filming was done over three days in November 2019, and featured shots in downtown Moline, Rock Island, Schwiebert Riverfront Park, and Port Byron.
The Now was directed by Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly. It was written by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, Steve Leff and Pete Jones. Steve Golin and Jeff Okin served as executive producers. The series was produced by Anonymous Content. Available in Roku.
SECOND UNIT:
Greg Malone, Indiania – Producer
Mark Schimmel, Chicago – Co-Producer
Normann Pokorny – 1st Assistant Director
Gary Camarano – Northwest IL Film Office
Darius Dawson – Director 2nd Unit, LA based
Jim Timperman – Cinematographer
Chip Eberhart – DIT/Media
