In the FX series “Fleishman Is in Trouble” (on Hulu) adapted from the novel by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, a doctor in New York City named Toby Fleishman sees his life as a husband and father upended by divorce. Then his ex drops off their two kids a day earlier than planned in their custody arrangement — and promptly goes missing. Toby is inconvenienced but not especially worried at first, and finds some solace with two friends from his college days, including Libby, played by Lizzy Caplan. She provides the wry voice-over that guides the viewer through the series and she’s reached a point in life where she’s just as discombobulated as Toby. A one-time magazine writer, she’s now a dissatisfied stay-at-home mom in New Jersey.
Is there something surreal about playing a character whose name sounds almost exactly like your own? Caplan laughed. “I guess technically we’re both Elizabeths too. But I think it was more annoying for the crew, who kept screwing it up and then feeling bad about it, even though it’s the least offensive thing ever.”
Caplan has had many high points in her career — her resume includes roles in everything from “Mean Girls” to “Party Down” to “Cloverfield” to “Masters of Sex” — and when asked about a low moment, it was a scene from Showtime’s “Masters of Sex” that came to mind.
In the series, she and Michael Sheen starred as real-life sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson.
My worst moment ...
“This was Season 3, which was not our strongest season — like, objectively and for some very valid reasons that are not worth getting into now. It was not as refined, let’s say, as the first couple seasons.
“So, it was summer. We were deep into shooting the season and one weekend Annaleigh Ashford, who is amazing and lovely and was on the show, she was doing a cabaret show in Las Vegas. A bunch of us decided to go. My birthday was that upcoming Monday and it was also the very early days of dating my now-husband. We wanted to go have this fun, early birthday Vegas weekend.
“It was a perfectly debauched weekend and then we flew back to L.A. Sunday night and I was in pretty rough shape. Very hung over. Like, Vegas hung over. And then Monday morning, crack of dawn, I had to be back at work.
“We were shooting in Griffith Park all day. It was easily 100 degrees outside. So hot and there was not a lot of shade and I was still feeling pretty bad from the night before. Exhausted, nauseous, overheating in all those wool clothes that people wore back in the '50s, with 30 undergarments underneath.
“And I’m also dreading the scene we had to shoot that day. I had been trying to convince myself that it wasn’t going to be as bad as I feared because this is a respectable show! The setup of the episode — I have never watched this nor will I ever watch it — was that esteemed sex researchers Masters and Johnson are called to the St. Louis Zoo because their gorilla just won’t mate and (the zoo staff) are tearing their hair out and they need help. And who are you going to call? Sex researchers.
“Somehow Masters and Johnson come to this realization that this frigid — I don’t even know if you can use the word ‘frigid’ for a male gorilla? — but this frigid gorilla needed motivation to get there. So my character, Virginia Johnson, does the most obvious and logical thing, which is to expose her breasts to the gorilla to inspire him to mate.
“When I tell you the amount of times we tried to push back on this storyline (laughs) to no avail. So here we are on set, it’s happening.
“And I remember this very, very vividly: I was feeling physically terrible, but also a deep, deep, deep embarrassment. I think it was hour 13 of what ended up being a 16-hour scorching hot day. And I’m unbuttoning my blouse to show my boobs to a man in a gorilla suit. And also, please don’t forget: It was my birthday.
“The camera was focused on my back, so you didn’t see nudity. You see me from behind, opening my blouse — I’m 90% sure it was only from the back. Again, I haven’t seen it. From my understanding, I wasn’t showing nudity, but it was very implied. And nudity was not uncommon on that show.
“So I remember looking over at the camera guy and I just saw the pity on his face as he’s mouthing: ‘I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.’ And he was actually a camera guy on ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble,’ so we were just reminiscing about this.
“So I do the thing and I’m filled with a deep guttural shame — I didn’t want to do it but I had to do it. Then (laughs), the man in the gorilla suit — who is the only person on set having a worse day than me because it’s a billion degrees outside and he had to spend the whole day in this gorilla suit — he, in character, reacts to this display and then the gorilla is in fact inspired (laughs) by a human woman flashing him her breasts.
“And then the guy proceeds to go and start mating with the female gorilla.
“But the really crazy thing is that the guy in the female gorilla suit? That was the male gorilla’s actual son.
“So he had to look at me, and then make his way over to his son and pretend to mate with him.
“And I just wanted to walk into the ocean and die. That was the worst moment I’ve ever had at work.”
Did Caplan feel like she was allowed to push back and express her concerns?
“Yes! Working on that show was one of the most collaborative experiences, which was probably why this felt extra strange. There were things that pushed my level of comfort, but certainly, it was all my own choice and I was aiming to push it. I was never pushed by any producers to do anything I didn’t want to do — up until this point. There were a lot of times on that show where I had to steel myself in my trailer beforehand for scenes that I really believed in, but I was never pushed into doing anything. Which is why this felt like such an anomaly.
“When I signed up for this show, I had a pretty good idea of what might be involved. But it’s safe to assume that I did not anticipate I would be asked to show my breasts to a man in a gorilla suit in order to inspire the gorilla to mate.
“But also that’s what made everybody so sad. This was a show that was so respected and deservedly so. This is one of the jobs I’m most proud of ever, I’m so happy I was in this show. But there was something stinky about this third season. And to all of a sudden go from this lofty level of prestige to flashing your breasts to a gorilla — that feels like a pretty steep drop.
“The scene was made up, I say that with 99% certainty. I think they really were asked to go to the zoo, but I highly doubt — because it doesn’t even make sense! I don’t think this is how animal psychology works. I have no degree in animal husbandry, but I think it’s safe to assume this was a flight of fancy from some writer.
“Michael Sheen was as horrified as I was, if not more so somehow. Nobody wanted to look anybody else in the eye the whole time (laughs), it was horrifying.”
The scene left a bad taste in her mouth. Was there a mental process of letting it go so Caplan could return to work the next day and move on?
“For sure. And it was so clear that everybody — the crew, who feel like the true team you’re playing on — we all felt the same. I couldn’t wait to get to a point where this was funny. But in that moment, it didn’t feel funny to me at all.
“I was probably a little more afraid to speak about this thing, even in a joking way, at first. But we had to do some press pretty soon after and Michael Sheen just went right into how stupid this gorilla thing was (laughs).
“I can’t imagine what this was like for the two guys in the gorilla suits. And they were clearly the best in the business. They were great at being gorillas! But you need therapy after that.
“I just imagine them driving home in complete silence (laughs) not knowing how to process the day.”
The takeaway ...
“Perhaps we should employ the use of female breasts to solve all the world’s problems. Female breasts will heal the world — or at least, the world of the frigid gorillas in 1950s St. Louis.
“When I heard about this column, I knew there was no other story that would hold a candle to the level of deep shame I felt. I was feeling anger when I got home at the end of that day, but my boyfriend and I had this dinner reservation, and by the time we went to dinner, I was a shell of a human. It was definitely a memorable birthday.”
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