‘Good Grief’: Dan Levy Copes With a Devastating Loss in His Feature Directorial Debut

More than three years after the series finale of Schitt’s Creek, creator and star Dan Levy is back to warm our hearts with another lovely story about family. Netflix has released the first trailer for the new movie Good Grief, in which Levy pulls triple-duty as writer, director, and star.

Levy, who won an Emmy for directing Schitt’s Creek, makes his feature directorial debut with Good Grief, a new Netflix movie about discovering the importance of found family while dealing with an unimaginable and sudden loss. Netflix has revealed the first official trailer for the film, which arrives in select theaters on December 29, followed by a streaming release in January.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly ahead of the trailer’s release, Levy explained the personal loss and experiences that inspired him to make his first feature film. “I lost my grandmother toward the tail end of the pandemic, and I was in a very strange headspace in terms of feeling the weight and the profound sense of tragedy of what the COVID pandemic had done for all of us, while at the same time trying to honor the passing of someone who meant so much to me,” he told EW, which notes that Levy also lost his dog around the same time. “It was hard for me to feel the specificity of loss when all I was feeling was grief for so long. It was that conversation that really expedited the concept of the movie.”

Good Grief stars Levy as Marc, an artist who illustrates children’s books and lives in London with his husband Oliver, played by Luke Evans. When Marc suddenly dies on the eve of the couple’s annual holiday party, a devastated Marc embarks on a trip to Paris with his best friends, played by Ruth Negga and Himesh Patel. “Having written 80 episodes about an actual family, I felt compelled to tell a story about found family and the importance of it,” Levy told EW about the film, which also stars Celia Imrie, David Bradley, Arnaud Valois, Emma Corrin, and Kaitlyn Dever.

Here’s the official synopsis for Good Grief, courtesy of Netflix:

Marc (Daniel Levy) was content living in the shadow of his larger-than-life husband, Oliver (Luke Evans). But when Oliver unexpectedly dies, Marc’s world shatters, sending him and his two best friends, Sophie (Ruth Negga) and Thomas (Himesh Patel), on a soul-searching trip to Paris that reveals some hard truths they each needed to face.

Netflix will release Good Grief on January 4 following a limited theatrical release on December 29.

(featured image: Netflix)