Actor and filmmaker Mark Duplass is perhaps best known for playing morning TV news producer Chip Black on the Apple TV + series The Morning Show, now in its fourth season, but he's been making films and TV series of his own for years now. He's also been open over the past few years about his struggles with anxiety and depression. His latest series, The Long Long Night, in which he stars alongside actor Barret O'Brien [who also directed the series] looks at men's mental health issues. It'll be screened at the Carmel International Film Festival later this week. I spoke to Duplass ahead of the festival, and he began by describing the plot of the series—-and a note—the topic of suicide does come up in our conversation:
"What does it mean to be a white man in your mid 40s where you really want to be a good ally to society, but you're not sure how to do it without taking up too much space or do it in the right way. And these guys are a little bit on the hapless side of things. They decide the only thing they can do that won't further harmfully impact the earth or society is to check into a motel room and kill themselves...and it's a comedy.
I think in the process, [the characters] discover maybe there's some latent mental health issues that they hadn't quite dealt with. And that's part of the fun of the show is them unraveling all of this."
Click the audio player at the top of this story to listen to the interview or read the highlights below.
Why Duplass has been very public about his mental health journey over the past few years, and how it makes its way into his art:
Dylan Music: you've been pretty vocal about your own mental health struggles over at least the last few years. And I just want to say thank you for doing that. Thanks for giving it a space out there for people. [Especially with] the traditional cliche about [men] having to be stoic and keep all your emotions inside and not talk about and deal with it. Did you kind of channel some of that stuff that you've been so publicly advocating for and talking about with mental health into The Long Long Night?
Mark Duplass: Yeah, [it's] definitely a part of it, you know, and it's been a part of what I've been doing for a long, long time. It's just something I've been dealing with for a while. And to your point about, you know, it being sort of an old trope that guys keep it inside and feel like they need to be stoic. I really thought we were past that point. But it wasn't until I started going public with my own mental health struggles that I realized so many people still feel [especially men] that they just can't say anything. So that was a real surprise. It's made me feel, I guess, even more emboldened to be more public with it and put more of it in the art when it makes sense. You know, I'm not looking to make anything preachy. I don't really have anything to say about what the solution is. I just want to talk about it.
Actor and filmmaker Mark Duplass will be screening his series "The Long Long Night" during the Carmel International Film Festival, which runs from October 2nd through the 5th at the Golden Bough Playhouse. KAZU is a co-sponsor of the event. If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts, help is available at the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, 988.