'Stick' on Apple TV+: Marc Maron helped shape most emotional scene with Owen Wilson, pushing for fewer jokes

Yahoo

a day ago

For weeks, the most popular show on Apple TV+ has be Stick, starring Owen Wilson, Peter Dager, Marc Maron, Lilli Kay and Mariana Treviño. It's a story about a washed-up ex-golf pro, Pryce Cahill (Wilson), who sees potential in young protégé Santi Wheeler (Dager), and wants to train him to be the next great golf superstar.
Many have found similarities between Stick and another Apple TV+ hit, Ted Lasso, with both shows including an appealing mix of heartwarming moments, hysterical comedy and sports. Stick adds to the existing catalogue of shows that are simply sweet and hopeful stories. Additionally, it features a robust ensemble cast, each with their own interesting character arcs to explore.
But of course, the show comes with the added pressure for much of its cast to beef up their golf skills.
"I love being bad at things, and I love growing and getting better at things," Dager told Yahoo Canada. "As an actor, that's kind of what you dream about. You want to go somewhere else to portray a certain character. You want to learn."
That includes a particularly fun moment when Owen's character Pryce is trying to teach Zero (Kay) about golf, to become Peter's caddie.
"I was along for the ride with Zero there. I was really just learning, learning about golf," Kay said. "I think for me, it was just so much fun because that was the beginning of my falling in love with golf, and I think it was the start for Zero as well."
Santi reconnects with his estranged father
As we approach the season finale this week, the penultimate episode ends with Santi's estranged father, Gary (Mackenzie Astin) showing up at the PGA tournament, opening up space to really dive into the trauma that Santi holds from his father, who we know is the person who both initially made Santi interested in golf, and also resulted in him staying away from the sport for so long.
"That was the most exciting part ... to earn your way to those last episodes, to be able to go and live through that as Santi," Dager shared.
"The cool thing about the show is you learn all the way up until the end. It's entertainment, but you're also being informed about these characters, and everything is getting deeper and deeper and deeper, and you get to learn a whole new layer about all of them."
And of course a core part of this relationship is how it impacts Santi's mother Elena (Mariana Treviño), and how she responds.
"Peter was very engaging, ... since the beginning, day one, he had sent [me texts]," Treviño said. "He was like, 'Hey, I'm going be your son. Let's have coffee.' So he really made an effort to connect ... and to introduce himself."
"And in my case it was wonderful, because I arrived late because of a problem I had with my passport, it was lost right before getting into the plane. So I was a bit nervous and flustered. And once I got to set and there was Peter, and he's so mature and he's so loving, and we just connected instantly."
Establishing a 'believable' friendship with 'organic' comedy
A particularly entertaining element of the show is the friendship between Pryce and Mitts (Marc Maron), brilliantly established at the beginning of the season by a great scene after they orchestrate their betting scheme at a local bar. The two have a conversation in Pryce's car, where Pryce tells Mitts he can "ease up" talking about his as a failure, but Mitts says the details are important. It's a really effective bit of banter to understand this relationship.
"Owen and I, we connected pretty quickly," Maron said. "And the interesting thing about that scene is that I'm him a little bit, I'm getting out my own petty anger at my best friend."
"There was a lot weighing on that scene, because when we entered it the big question was, is it going to be believable that these guys have known each other for over 20 years? And there was just something that we clicked into. ... I'm glad you like that scene, because they were all, I wouldn't say worried about it, but it was a big test of the believability."
The balance that Stick strikes between comedy and emotional moments is an aspirational goal for many, as it's executed so successfully in this show. Reflecting on that achievement, Maron really saw that combination the first time he read the scripts and looked at the characters Pryce and Mitts.
"These guys are traumatized by grief, and ... a lot of what defines them as aging friends is this unspoken connection to a true sadness. ... I think both of them ... are doing all they can to to avoid those feelings," he said. "The reason it works is because it's organic, because there's a tension within them that seeks release, and the process of them doing that together is comedic."
"When we end up having this fight that is almost ridiculous, the arc of that fight, where I'm pushing him to own his grief, and then for us to get into this scuffle, and then just end up laying there, ... that is funny. But it's not a joke funny, it's all sort of true to the characters. And I was very vigilant about the writing in that and making suggestions around beats that were diminished by a joke. There were a couple of scenes where I'm like, you don't have to button this with a joke, you can let this feeling be its own thing, and it's going to be enough. So I was aware of that because the comedy was organic."