Marc Maron and Mariana Treviño may have gotten along immediately with each other, but to bring their inimical dynamic to life in Apple TV+‘s Stick, they got to have some fun with the journey.
Chatting with DECIDER about their new golf comedy series, the actors shared that finding the right tone for their characters’ relationship required them to play around with headbutting.
“I think we definitely hit it off as people, but at the beginning, you are protective of your character a bit, but we knew the score. We knew that I was a stubborn guy and she was a hardheaded person,” the WTF with Marc Maron Podcast host said. “But pretty quickly in that second episode with the comedy that happens there, you have both of those characters kind of start to break down and you can see how they are kind of meant to connect in a deeper way.”
In the show, the actors play Mitts (Maron) and Elena (Treviño), two individuals whose paths only cross thanks to Santi’s (Peter Dager) talent for golf and Pryce’s (Owen Wilson) insistence that he could be the sport’s next big thing. Whereas another show might not even have Maron and Treviño’s characters interact, Stick gives them one of the best dynamics in the series.
For Treviño, a Mexican-born actress who previously starred alongside Tom Hanks in A Man Called Otto, it’s much more fun to suss out a relationship through disagreement than it is to immediately find an amicable dynamic. Both are fun but one is definitely better than the other.
“It’s a good way to start bonding because it’s good to get in with a head bumping. And there’s so much comedy in two people being angry on their own or grumpy on their own side and stubborn and then just getting with the head bumps to crack the wall,” Treviño said.
She added, “And there is just something so human and inherently funny about a situation like that, I think. It’s a good way to meet someone and get something truthful and authentic and seep through and connect.”
Check out Decider’s full interview with the actors below.
DECIDER: I have to say that I found this series absolutely delightful and it made me want to pick up a club for the first time. Did it have the same effect on you? How much experience with golf did you each have coming in?
MARC MARON: I had friends who played. I had a lifetime of dismissing golf. And then as I got older, I understood why people liked it. And then I got cast on a golf show so I had to kind of get up to speed. I didn’t have to golf much, but I had to know enough to be convincing as a guy who knew golf. But on the course, when we were out there, it’s hard not to start hitting balls around. And some company sent me a bunch of clubs so I’m ready to go. Whether I will or not — I don’t know if I have the patience for it — but I didn’t know much going in.
MARIANA TREVIÑO: Yeah, me neither. The reference that I had is every time I came to the U.S., somebody asked me somewhere, “Are you related to Lee Trevino?” So there was a name that was in my mind bouncing through the years. And I was like, “OK, so who’s the Trevino?” I looked him up and I saw his story, which was a great inspiring story. And years after I’m in this show and I was like,”Okay, so that was like a little clue, a little echo of what was going to happen.”
MARON: The universe was talking to her.
TREVIÑO: Yeah, a little thread.
As two golf newcomers, then, what was it that made you want to say yes to this show? Was it the script or was it the idea of getting your first experience with this sport?
MARON: Well, I don’t know that that was it. I was apprehensive about it, because when they offered me the role, I’m like, “I don’t really know about golf.” And they’re like, “Doesn’t matter, it’s about you. It’s your personality. It’s you and Owen.” And that was really the selling point is that the ensemble cast, everybody was so good. The scripts had a lot of emotional weight and some humor to it and working with Owen and then meeting Mariana and everything. It was really an opportunity to do you know, a show that had a lot of heart and a lot of fun.
TREVIÑO: Yeah, definitely the script. When I got it in the audition, it caught me instantly, the type of humor. I was like, “This is really well written, so I hope [I get cast].” And when I was cast in the show, which was like this big, beautiful surprise, and then I knew all the actors attached, and Mark, and as you say, Owen, and it was like — it’s been just such a pleasure to do an ensemble piece like this, where we start in the community, building the webs of how we’re bonding. And I love the idea of the RV that is like this moving home that we’re taking the little bits and pieces of what’s left of our home, each character, and just building a makeshift home that’s gonna travel and take us on a journey of self-discovery.
I love the playground of the RV, too. It really gave the space to create different dynamics, like that of Mitts and Elena. How did you guys find that with each other?
MARON: I think we definitely hit it off as people, but at the beginning, you are protective of your character a bit, but we knew the score. We knew that I was a stubborn guy and she was a hardheaded person. But pretty quickly in that second episode with the comedy that happens there, you have both of those characters kind of start to break down and you can see how they are kind of meant to connect in a deeper way.
TREVIÑO: And it’s a good way to start bonding because it’s good to get in with a head bumping. And there’s so much comedy in two people being angry on their own or grumpy on their own side and stubborn and then just getting with the head bumps to crack the wall. And there is just something so human and inherently funny about a situation like that, I think. It’s a good way to meet someone and get something truthful and authentic and seep through and connect.
The first four episodes of Stick are currently streaming on Apple TV+.