How to die alone Follow Mel, a lonely employee of JFK airport who is stuck in a rut in her life, having never experienced love and given up on any dreams she may have. Everything changes when a near-death experience forces you to reevaluate your life, opening your eyes to endless possibilities. Mel takes charge of her life and refuses to settle for anything less than the life she wants and deserves, even as obstacles pop up in front of her.
How to die alone was co-created by Natasha Rothwell (Wonka, Sonic the Hedgehog 2), who also stars in the series, and Vera Santamaria (Bojack Horseman, Orange is the New Black). Rothwell leads a phenomenally funny cast that includes Conrad Ricamora (Fire Island, How to get away with murder) and Jocko Sims (New Amsterdam, Last ship). How to die alone Strikes the perfect balance between deeply funny comedy with visceral moments of an existential emotional journey and characters that audiences can engage with.
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Screen Rant Interviewed Vera Santamaria about her new Hulu comedy series How to die alone. She broke down what her extensive experience in comedy television series brought to the series and how she balances humor with serious emotional themes. Santamaria also shared how she hopes the series impacts audiences, and what setting the series at JFK airport adds to the story.
Vera Santamaria takes a deep dive into flour and its flaws for How to Die Alone
"Bring more of what's maybe internal and make it external and really make flour a little more flawed."
Screen Rant: Vera, I love this show. Absolutely incredible. I feel that Mel is one of the most relatable characters I've seen in such a long time, and she has such an inspirational journey. How did you and Natasha Rothwell collaborate to create Mel's character and her journey of self-discovery?
Vera Santamaria: I started with what she had in the original DNA of her script, what she wanted to do this very specific exploration, and I think she would say so herself that the thing I brought to it is diving deeper. Bring more of what is maybe internal and make it external and really make flour a little more flawed.
Because Natasha herself is such a strong individual, and so it was a part of her life that was perhaps more in her early twenties where some kind of mistakes were made and pulling out of the corners of your life what you want better. Forget just to make sure that flour was flawed and made mistakes that kind of made us want to look away.
I think that for me is part of my favorite characters, so it really was a little bit of me poking and prodding and going into the corner of your life where you're like, don't look there. I was like, yeah, but let's look there because that's the piece we all relate to.
The show is hilarious, but it also deals with some pretty serious topics. We talk about self-worth personal growth, mortality, love. How do you balance the comedic element of the show with the more serious introspective moments, especially considering Mel's life-changing journey?
Vera Santamaria: I think we have the ace in the hole which is Natasha Rothwell. I think knowing that she's going to be the person who performs all the delicate moments, you know that she can pull off comedy and drama in the same breath. So when you have that piece, it really frees you to write what you want and reflect.
I think what people are saying is it feels like real life. We've all had that moment where something amazing and something terrible happens at the same time. I think just knowing that she was the person who was going to say the words, embody the character, that's what made it kind of [so we were] Able to walk that very polite tone.
How to Die Alone co-showrunner hopes it "makes you approach the world a little more lovingly"
I love that this is set at JFK airport. I am a frequent flyer, and it is interesting to see an inside look at some of the workers who are there, because most of them are almost never seen. Now as a co-showrunner, what is your approach to building the world around Mel, especially the setting of the JFK airport?
Vera Santamaria: Yes. I think the thing I did was draw more from her original show at the airport. I knew that the airport was going to be a central part of the show, and if that was going to be the case, and we were actually going to set a lot of scenes there, we were going to have to bring her love interest into the workplace as opposed to being in An apartment in Queens.
So what we're really building on is what the airport has in itself, which is that it's a community unto itself. You have the traveling people, but then you have the people who are moving luggage or making the food. There's so much going on there. So really to build the world and show the unseen parts of JFK, I was able to draw from my own life.
I have several family members who work in airports, and I know there's a whole underworld out there that people never talk about, so that's really been my main MO to make sure we have a really healthy workplace where we can put many, Many scenes and have many, many interactions.
Like I said before, I think Mel is such a relatable character. What do you hope viewers take away from Mel's story, especially regarding the themes of self-worth and personal growth?
Vera Santamaria: I hope people see this as a show that is original and singular in voice. I want people to go around thinking about the performance, thinking that they laughed a lot, but a topic was explored that they are still thinking about.
That for me is the best thing that can happen when you watch a TV show is that it kind of shifts your mind, makes you see people differently, makes you approach the world a little more kindly sometimes. That would be my biggest hope for me when people watch the show.
"Jealousy is a very valuable emotion" when following your dreams
"If you've forgotten how to dream big, I'd say maybe look at these things [where] You're like, 'I wish I had that.'"
Mel is described as someone who has forgotten, has a dream, what advice would you give to people who may feel similar in their own lives?
Vera Santamaria: Oh, that's a good question. I think this is sometimes a strange advice, but we've all experienced jealousy, and I think jealousy is a very valuable emotion because sometimes it tells you, I'm jealous of this thing because I secretly want it, but I'm not Dreaming big enough to actually achieve the thing that man can have.
Sometimes I think we throw some emotions as bad hideaway emotions. I can say, if you have forgotten how to dream big, I would say maybe look at the things that sometimes you are like, I wish I had that, or why did the person have that? That can be a good hint about something that deep down you want.
Sometimes it's just the emotion of jealousy, and that's okay too. But I think really after this thing that we throw away is like, oh, that's a feeling I shouldn't have. But it's like, well, ask yourself why do you have that feeling? Maybe the person has that thing that you are too afraid to say that you want.
About How to Die Alone Season 1
Melissa is a neurotic fat black woman who has never been in love, but after a brush with death she wants to settle for anything less than the life she wants, which leads her to become "that whore" no matter what.
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How to die alone Debuts on Hulu on September 13.
Source: Screen Rant Plus