Netflix announces new Chicago-set series 'Easy' from filmmaker Joe Swanberg
By Nina Metz
Chicago-based filmmaker Joe Swanberg, who is making a series about a group of Chicagoans "as they fumble through modern maze of love, sex technology and culture." (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Joe Swanberg, the filmmaker who made his name with small indies and more recently with wider-seen films such as "Drinking Buddies," is making a Chicago-set series for Netflix.
Earlier this year there had been sightings of Swanberg and crew at work filming around town but this is the first confirmation from Netflix of the series, called "Easy," which will debut later this year.
Netflix is describing it as an "anthology series that explores diverse Chicago characters as they fumble through the modern maze of love, sex, technology and culture."
The show joins the growing number of series based in Chicago, including the NBC-Dick Wolf trio of "Chicago Fire, "Chicago P.D." and "Chicago Med" (with a courtroom-focused backdoor pilot set for this spring as well) and Fox's "Empire."
Another streamer is set to film in town later this spring, as well: The Amazon series "Patriot" from Chicago writer-director Steve Conrad ("The Secret Life of Walter Mitty").
And this month there are also three network pilots shooting in Chicago: "The Exorcist," "A.P.B." and "Zoobiquity."
As for Swanberg, this isn't his first go at a series. In 2008 he and wife/fellow filmmaker Kris Swanberg made "Young American Bodies" (which aired on IFC and can be watched online here), and it followed many of the same themes as those embraced in "Easy."
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The Netflix series has an eight-episode order. Swanberg, who is based in Chicago, is the writer, director and executive producer. The cast includes frequent Swanberg collaborator Jake Johnson ("New Girl") as well as Orlando Bloom, Malin Akerman, Michael Chernus, Marc Maron, Elizabeth Reaser, Gugu Mbatha-raw, Aya Cash, Dave Franco, Jane Adams and Hannibal Buress.
Swanberg's next film to hit theaters will be another Chicago-shot project called "Win It All," which filmed in town last summer with Johnson.
nmetz@tribpub.com
Twitter @NinaMetzNews
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Dick Wolf