This story about Lizzy Caplan and “Fleishman Is in Trouble” first appeared in the Limited Series/Movies issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
At first glance, Lizzy Caplan’s character from FX on Hulu’s “Fleishman Is in Trouble” could be seen as an alternate-universe version of herself, right down to the name. As Libby, Caplan plays the best friend of Toby (Jesse Eisenberg), a newly divorced man looking to recapture some normalcy in a life that refuses to cooperate. Libby is not only the narrator for the entire series but also serves as a sounding board for a friend liberated from a flagging marriage. Plenty of Libby’s attentiveness stems from the character’s avoidance of her own issues, including a stagnating career and a marriage that she’s happy not to discuss whenever the opportunity arises.
To be clear: That does not reflect Caplan, who, unlike Libby, is thriving professionally and personally. She and her husband, actor Tom Riley, welcomed their first child in 2021. So Libby’s existential crisis is unfamiliar to Caplan. And yet, there was still a lot for the actress to identify with.
“I know plenty of people who are so emotionally intelligent and yet have no idea what’s going on in a very basic situation,” she said. “I identify with that completely. There’s a line in the series that’s something like, ‘How could I be this old and still be this baffled?’ I completely relate to that.”
“When I was young, as a teenager, I thought I knew everything. I thought, Oh, I’m in my 20s, I’m in my 30s, I understand the world. I understand my place in it,” she continued. “I didn’t have any idea when I was young. Only now, when I’m 40, I realize, oh, God, I had no idea what I was doing.”
The clarity of Libby’s voice, as interpreted by Caplan, comes from Taffy Brodesser-Akner, who created and wrote the limited series adapted from her novel of the same name. Caplan felt connected to Brodesser-Akner from the get-go, but that wasn’t the only aspect of Fleishman that spoke to her.
“I became enthralled with Taffy from our very first conversation,” she said. “I could tell we saw the world in a similar way and in the end, that made it even more appealing. But I was also excited by the idea of getting to be in something that felt so, for lack of a better word, adult. I don’t read much stuff like this. And yet, the films and shows that I watched when I was young, that made me want to do this for a living, were about people living and talking about what they find difficult about that. And then the writing is as wonderful as Taffy’s? To me, that’s the dream job.”
Sometimes, though, landing a dream job means missing out on a dream reunion. Fans of the cult comedy series “Party Down” were disappointed to learn that Caplan wouldn’t be starring in a long-delayed third season, released in February, due to scheduling conflicts with “Fleishman.” She did manage a cameo in the finale, but was still heartbroken to miss out on the full experience. “The only way this two-year period gets an absolutely happy ending is if ‘Party Down’ gets an additional season, which I feel like they really should!” Caplan said. “I couldn’t believe how much I loved the reboot because I was bracing myself for whatever feelings I might have about it— jealousy, what have you. But I just loved it so much.”
Choosing between “Party Down” and “Fleishman” was, she said, a “very scary, horrible decision, especially because I’d just had a child and everything felt super seismic and monumental. It was one of those experiences that don’t come along that often, and we had been talking about reuniting for so long. And then it was actually happening. At the same time,” she said. “I just knew I had to do ‘Fleishman.’ I’m happy with the decisions that I made, but I’ll truly only be happy if there’s a ‘Party Down’ Season 4.”
Read more from the Limited Series/Movies issue here.
