Comedians, actors and interviewers Marc Maron Have always had a lot on his mind. If you have ever seen his stand-up, you have received a full dose of his biting reflections on anxiety about the world and his place in it. However, this has always been to some extent a performance that he worked for over months in places across the country to get ready for a special.
In Steven Feinartz’s Documentary ”Are we good?“(Playing Tribeca Festival on June 14), we not only see Maron chip away at this process but glimpses the man behind the joy while trying to mourn and use his art as a way to process the loss of his partner: the late, great filmmaker Lynn SheltonWho died in May 2020. The result would be his special 2023, “From Bleak to Dark”, which Feinartz also directed and saw Maron struggle with how to get involved in this loss and find a way forward. While he has always been vulnerable in his action and soon16 -year -old “WTF” podcast, which released a camera into his life off the stage as this was a new territory.
The documentary, which premiered in March at SXSW, demanded that Maron give a high degree of access to his life. This is something, on typical maron fashion, he mumbles humorously all around film. In an IndieWire interview after the Austin premiere together with Feinartz, Maron talked about this experience and how his way into stand-up special offers differs from most.
“My process goes through these things to perhaps no laughter or not really has a way to make it fun or a review to things. To see that part of my process, which is not a standard stand-up process, (is there) I knew I would go into (the documentary) that told the stories (would) be emotionally charged, and I had no real control.” “But I knew that being public with the emotions would eventually allow me to settle in it, and if I believed in the comedy’s ability to raise these feelings to something common and fun, if not moving, that it would reveal itself on stage. So we had to do it.”
Feinartz said that the movie was about counting when they went without any perception. In total, the duo shot for three years when Maron worked with his special and tried to find out life after Shelton and wondered if it was even his place to talk about her loss at all. The art of performing on stage is familiar to Maron, but in the case of ”Are we good?“He often forgot that the camera was even there and went into his home and life as he went through the stages of grief.
“For better or worse, the work I do is generally quite sincere and personal. The real question becomes” How do you do this? When do you do it? “The choice to make A podcast section days after (shelton) diedMy producer was like, “We never have to do a podcast again if you can’t handle it.” And I’m like, “I don’t know, I think it’s pretty important to reveal this process in a way.” Because everyone goes through it. In one way or another, you can’t go over grief, and it’s something that people don’t really talk about, “Maron said.” Part of what I was thinking is that I owe myself, and exactly what I do as an artist or artist is to have a general experience with this. ”
Maron first met Shelton when he made a podcast episode with her in 2015. Together with developing a relationship together, Shelton also directed Maron in section of the TV series ”GLOW“His special“ end times fun ”and her last movie”The value of confidence. “This connection would not have happened without the podcast, and in early June, a few months after we spoke, Maron announced that his audio show, which he started in the early days of the medium in September 2009, would end in the fall in the middle of” burned out. “
During our interview, Maron shared how he struggled with how much he would talk about his grief process in the documentary, knowing that Shelton’s death is not his alone to mourn.
“I had a pretty short time with Lynn. We really started just, and she has had a deep impact on the film community, the art community in Seattle; she has a family that I didn’t really know,” Maron said. “What do you do in relation to the fact that you are not the only one who grieves, you are just the one who is public and how do you respect it?”
When it came to their creative partnership, which reached its peak in “The Sword of Trust”, where Maron played the lead role while Shelton wrote and directed and made a brief look himself, gave the process of working together on him the confidence to put on more actors forward. (Since Shelton’s death he has had roles in films such as “To Leslie” and “The Order” and shows as “Reservation Dogs.”)
“She believed in this talent that I had that I didn’t necessarily believe in,” Maron said. “When I think about acting or when I do, I think a lot about her and her belief in me, because her belief in me kept me going in the specific zone.”
While he acknowledged that he is a bit “stubborn” when it comes to getting a direction, he said that Shelton was still getting a kick from him and that the two would share laughter when he worked.
“Her sensitivity about naturalism and spectacle was something that inspired me and helped me to it. Even though I was resilient and I would be cranky. She would be like,” Can we make a new take? “And I would be like” why? “She would say,” Just rely on me. In the end she was right, and I trusted her. “
Maron said he is now looking at directing a project based on his long -standing friend Sam Lipsyte’s latest novel, “No one left to come and look for you”, which he and Lipsyte have collaborated on.
“We are moving forward with it, but you know it’s a long process, and hopefully we will see it through. That’s the plan,” Maron said. “You have to find out how to find the time for everything and still have a life. With the director, it’s just one of the things I’ve always been curious about, and I always wanted to try it.”
When it comes to Shelton’s films and her artistic heritage, Maron said that there is an undervalued work that still reasoned for him years later.
“I really like the movie she made with Jay (Duplass),”Outside“Said Maron.” She got a big deal out of Edie FalcoAnd I really think the movie is not talked about … she was a real artist, and she had a real sensitivity about what she wanted from a scene. ”
As our conversation ended, I asked Maron about the final in “Sword of Trust”, where his character visits Shelton’s character’s home and leaves her groceries without saying anything.
“It was a powerful moment because there were a lot of emotions there that was genuine,” Maron said. “It felt very connected. But yes, leaving the groceries at the door, it is heavy … her best work was really ahead of her, and what we would be really before her.”
“Are we good?” Screens June 14 and 15 at Tribeca Festival 2025. It is currently seeking US distribution.
