In Showtime’s Episodes, an English writer couple come to the States to make an American version of their hit TV show, only to have their worst fears come true: The studio insists on casting a Hollywood cliche—a cocky, clueless actor—as the lead. In a clever bit of casting, the lead is played by Matt LeBlanc, who plays himself, playing off his hunky-but-dim Joey persona on Friends.
Episodes is now in its third season, and along the way the key art and publicity images—shot by Jim Fiscus—have had fun with the show’s premise. For season three’s key art, the concept was to show the Matt LeBlanc character on the red carpet, getting bombarded with tomatoes because on the show “he’s constantly messing things up,” says Jim.
Were the tomatoes really flying at the actors? No. But Jim saw to it that their reactions were real. “I was running the camera with my right hand and throwing tennis balls with my left hand, and I was smashing an apple box with my foot to make them flinch. At one point, Matt said, ‘Jim’s like a one-man band!’
“We just laughed the whole time,” Jim continues. They’re a fun group of people.”
