Seth Rogen And Rose Byrne Didn't Want Platonic To Misdirect Audiences
It's been nearly a decade since Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne first partied down as a married couple in the raucous 2014 comedy "Neighbors." If you caught the duo in that flick, you know their comedic chemistry is pretty much second to none, a fact more than confirmed in the film's 2016 sequel, "Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising." The pair are at it again in the AppleTV+ comedy "Platonic," though the chemistry is restricted to the titular sort this time.
The series finds Rogen and Byrne portraying Will and Sylvia, former childhood friends who reconnect as adults years after a major falling out. That relationship reconnect is every bit as funny and heart-wrenching as you might think, though some "Platonic" viewers have been surprised it never veers toward the romantic. Per the "Platonic" stars' comments to The Hollywood Reporter, ensuring the series never toyed with viewers' expectations by alluding to a potential romantic entanglement was no easy feat, with Byrne confirming, "It was a constant checking in about it."
Rogen quickly agreed, telling THR, "Yeah, it was on a scene-to-scene basis — making sure that [friendship] was the prevailing sentiment and to not play into misdirection." The actor went on to note they were constantly re-evaluating everything from dialogue to scene blocking to ensure nothing romantic was ever implied. "We were always like, we have to make it clear that this is not a part of the show," Rogen said.
Platonic takes a dramatically different approach to the will they or won't they format
As Seth Rogen went on to say, keeping romantic tension completely out of the "Platonic" equation was a very specific narrative decision, telling THR, "We knew that you would relax into the show more and just enjoy it and laugh if you knew that wasn't a part of the tension." And that approach required a fair amount of flexibility from cast and crew even while on set. "You're shooting it and you're like, 'Oh, this looks a little romantic and we shouldn't do it like that,'" Rogen said.
Rose Byrne would also add that "Platonic" was of specific interest to her as she's been one half of such a relationship herself. "I have a friendship with a guy who we were very, very close," she said. "Nobody could believe that we were platonic friends." In the actor's eyes, the multi-episode "Platonic" felt like a great opportunity to really examine what such a friendship between a man and a woman might actually look like.
In Byrne's estimation, "Platonic" also still indulges in the "will they or won't they" formula, but in the context of friendship. "I feel like it's sort of a will-they-won't-they be able to find their friendship again," the actor said. And watching Byrne navigate that titular entanglement with her old "Neighbors" co-star could not be more of a joy.