Former Degrassi actress Lauren Collins is the star of a new dark comedy set to premiere on Crave in November.
My Dead Mom follows Emmy Shapiro, (Collins), a successful lawyer and seemingly put together Jewish 30-something who, after the death of her mom, finds herself ruminating on her life choices and grappling with unresolved grief. But, as she navigates the nooks and crannies of her inner self Emmy starts receiving visits from her mother’s ghost.
Bolstered by a curious premise and placed in the safe hands of director Chandler Levack, Collins told Now Toronto that My Dead Mom is peppered with comedic turns, playfully woven between beats of sincerity.
@nowtoronto Former 'Degrassi' actress Lauren Collins talks about her role in new Crave comedy 'My Dead Mom.' https://nowtoronto.com/news/former-degrassi-actress-stars-in-new-crave-show-about-daughters-relationship-with-dead-mother/
♬ original sound – Now Toronto
Its heart, according Collins, is drawn largely from the creator Wendy Litner’s (How To Buy A Baby) real life experiences with grief and loss.
“I think this is really vulnerable for her to share this story and these feelings. And, you know, of course, she does it with humour,” Collins said.
The show, which stars Megan Follows (Anne of Green Gables) as Emmy’s mother Fern, while explorative and sufficiently lighthearted, doesn’t shy away from bitterness either.
“She [Emmy] obviously has very conflicted feelings about her mother, but she does love her,” Collins explained.
This tension sits at the crux of the story, and according to Collins, shapes the image of Fern that the audience meets, one that is summoned by Emmy’s memory and that embodies her deepest insecurities, which can be traced back to her own doubts about motherhood.
“I think for Emmy, it’s about can I do this without her? Can I do this because of her? I think that’s a huge question mark for her,” Collins said, adding that despite their contentious relationship “there was something about it that she misses.”
Though My Dead Mom’s salient thematic elements are universal, the show also addresses culturally specific experiences that Jewish viewers may resonate with, like the opening scene of episode 1 where Emmy and her family are at her mother’s unveiling, a graveside religious ceremony for the formal setting of a loved one’s monument at the cemetery.
Collins told Now that when many of her Jewish friends saw the show they were taken by its ability to capture their own lives.
“A lot of my Jewish friends were like, ‘Oh my God. Well, yeah, this is me.’”
Collins says she is more nervous than normal for this show to premiere because of how personal it feels to her; having lost her father in her late twenties.
“I hope people like it. I hope it resonates, and I hope, I hope people enjoy it,” she concluded.
My Dead Mom airs Nov. 1 on Crave
