This series is the hug you didn't know you needed

BarcelonaThere are series that can be defined by their plot, but there are others that are defined by the mood they generate. Leonard and Hungry Paul, a small British-Irish gem that arrives on Filmin on Tuesday (available in VOSCat), belongs to this latter category. "We wanted it to be a series that felt like a hug, that the viewer felt they were in a slightly magical world, but not too much. That it was an interesting and pleasant world," explains to ARA Andrew Chaplin, who has directed the series based on the book by Rónán Hession (the novel has only been published in Spanish by Alpha Decay). In a way, the tone of the series links it to other happy comedies like, for example, Somebody Somewhere, on HBO Max.

Chaplin admits that, at first glance, the series' plot may seem unremarkable and may even be difficult to explain. Leonard and Hungry Paul are around 30 years old, they are best friends, and they have such normal and ordinary lives that to some they might seem terribly bland. Leonard works in a publishing house, where he ghostwrites for an author specializing in children's encyclopedias. Hungry Paul doesn't have a profession as such and only works once a week as a postman. He doesn't want to do more shifts because he believes he would be depriving other people of the opportunity to fulfill themselves professionally as postmen. The point of connection for both friends is board games. After many years of quiet lives, they both decide to expand their universes a little: Leonard asks a colleague out on a date, and Hungry Paul enters a Chamber of Commerce competition to create a new email signature. "Not much happens and no one has a particularly strong or explosive personality. They are two pretty normal guys, who get along well and don't have major disagreements. In this sense, it's a rather complicated project to explain and it's been a challenge to make it interesting," he points out.

So, in this series there are no big fights or arguments, but kindness and friendliness. "I think these are values that serve as antidotes to modern life. Everything is so polarized and everyone is so anchored in their perspective, that I think it's nice to see good people trying to do things right or trying to be good. It has been very nice to represent a male friendship in a slightly different way than it is usually represented in series. I think kindness is a much undervalued value," reflects the director. In other types of series, the two protagonists, two clearly introverted people, would be the characters who are the object of mockery or bullying, but Leonard and Hungry Paul dodge that bullet. In this regard, Chaplin explains that they made the decision that the world the series showed should be calm and not noisy or flashy. "There is conflict in the series, but it's not with other people, but with themselves," he summarizes.

Narrated by Julia Roberts

One of the surprises that viewers watching the series in the original version will find is the voice of the narrator. It is Hollywood superstar Julia Roberts, in principle an actress quite far removed from a project as apparently small and delicate as Leonard and Hungry Paul. "Through the publisher we discovered that she was a big fan of the book. We contacted her team and she said she would be delighted to be part of it. It took us a few months and it wasn't as easy as it sounds, but in the end we reached her and she responded quickly," explains Chaplin.

Roberts's incorporation took place when the project was already quite advanced and in the editing phase. Chaplin traveled to San Francisco to record the narration with her, a process that lasted one day. "When we worked together, she asked me: 'How do you want it to sound?'. I told her to basically imagine that we were sitting on the sofa watching the series and that she was whispering to me what was happening," he recalls.