HBO unpacks trailer for Neighbors, Josh Safdie and A24's latest voyage into American weirdness
Armed with real stories of real neighbors in ongoing disputes, Josh Safdie, A24, and HBO's Neighbors is a far cry from the Seth Rogen-Zach Efron comedy that shares its name.
Breakout the binoculars because HBO has a new weirdo-gawking anthology series moving in called Neighbors. Somewhat in line with the premium cable and streaming service’s other show about observing the overtanned American underbelly, It’s Florida, Man, which is kind of like Drunk History but about those unpredictable, gator-lovin’ Floridians, Neighbors takes real-life neighbors involved in ongoing disputes and puts them on television for all to laugh at. Unsurprisingly, produced by the modern kings of casting non-actors who threaten trained actors (among other, more severe allegations), Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein, the show tells stories of Bad Neighbors from around the country. Here’s the trailer:
And the synopsis from HBO: “A new HBO and A24 late-night series, NEIGHBORSexamines stories of absurd, outrageous, and dramatic real-life residential conflicts from a wide range of larger-than-life characters across the United States, opening a verité portal into the lives of contemporary Americans. Each episode introduces a new set of neighbors in the heat of their grievances, uncovering spirited disputes about property lines, animal ownership, and even a yellow Speedo. Directors and emerging talents Harrison Fishman and Dylan Redford filmed for over two years, traveling across the country and fully immersing themselves in these neighbors’ lives to capture an unfiltered and intimate portrait of everyday people and document the fundamentally American pursuits of life, liberty, and property.”
In the trailer, these neighbors appear to be reenacting elements of their community quarrels. Still, series co-director Harrison Fishman assures verisimilitude fanatics that these armed, surveilling homebodies are the real deal. He and his team hunted down these fracturing cul-de-sacs on the never-ending freak show on social media. “The biggest thing we sought with all of these stories was active, ongoing conflicts. We wanted everything to feel like it was happening in real time, to put the viewer right in the middle of the conflict and get to know these people deeply,” Fishman says. “Our casting team did everything under the sun to find neighbor disputes: reading local newspapers around the country, searching small claims court databases, neighborhood Facebook groups, going down all social media rabbit holes on TikTok and Instagram, in addition to posting flyers in person all around the country.”
HBO unpacks Neighbors on February 13 at 9 p.m. ET.
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