Set in 1969 in California’s San Fernando Valley, “Government Cheese” is a surreal, comedic study of a newly released convict – David Oyelowo’s Hampton Chambers – trying to make a better life.
Hampton’s dream is with his invention, a self-sharpening drill useful in construction. But everywhere he goes, there’s a struggle. The series becomes a unique portrait of a Black family.
Oyelowo, 49, has steered “Government Cheese” as executive producer and star. “This first came to me as a short film that Paul Hunter had written about six years ago. I remember opening the script and not moving from the place I stood as I read it.
“Because I was just so taken aback that I was reading something the likes of which I had never read before. A character I’d never really seen before. A tone that I couldn’t really find a comparison for.
“So it didn’t take much for me to sign on.”
But working seven years to make “Cheese” happen – how do you keep the faith? Is everything in movies and television like that?
“Gosh, well, keeping the faith is something that you simply have to have in order to be a storyteller in this industry. It’s a very expensive industry,” he acknowledged. “It’s very expensive to get TV shows and films made. So, to prove that your 60-page pilot is worthy of millions of dollars of investment takes tenacity. Takes ‘stickability.’
“That is something, for better or worse, I’ve had to employ in my career. I’ve had several projects that eventually came to fruition after five, sometimes 10, years.”
As for the distinctive tone of this “Cheese,” “I’d say it’s fairly surreal to see frogs leaping over a pole or having a flood the likes of which you might equate to the Bible. Or having Hampton be swallowed by a fish.
“Those are all fairly surreal circumstances to find yourself in, and his own personal relationship with God really touches on the surreal. In that it doesn’t necessarily feel rooted in anything that is what we maybe can traditionally call the Christian religion or other religions people may follow or adhere to.
“It’s something that feels entirely unique to him. But it’s definitely a guiding principle in his life. As for the reality that we’re alluding to, it’s tied to whimsy, to it being fantastical.
“That’s because it’s based on Paul Hunter’s childhood. So there’s something to be said for it being seen through rose-tinted glasses in a way.
“That, to us, felt like a great way into the tone of the show: Have a slightly romanticized view of this family at this time. But also rooted in reality alongside that.”
“Government Cheese” streams April 16 on AppleTV+