×

Michael Ealy dishes on Netflix dark comedy ‘The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window’: ‘It is a satire’

By Danielle Long and Jason Nathanson Jan 27, 2022 | 5:00 AM


COLLEEN E. HAYES/NETFLIX

It may be the longest Netflix title ever — the show The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window, debuting on Friday, tells the story of a woman who witnesses a gruesome murder, or did she?

Don’t think this is just another psychological thriller, though. Michael Ealy, who stars in the film along with Kristen Bell, tells ABC Audio that the title should be a hint that the show doesn’t take itself too seriously.

“The shortest way to describe it is a satire on the psychological thriller genre itself,” he explains. “I think the title, The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window, I mean you can’t say that without kind of smiling, right? You can’t say that without kind of questioning what am I getting myself into?”

Even though Ealy describes the show as a satire, he admits that after filming one rather gruesome scene early on, he wasn’t exactly sure how it would play out. 

“I remember shooting it and being like…is this going to be funny?” he recalls. “It’s so tragic and you’re like, is it OK to kind of laugh at this? I mean, really?”

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window, which consists of eight 30-minute episodes is perfect for bingeing, according to Ealy, because even though it’s a satire on the genre, it’s very subtle.

“I got through the first one and was like, wow, this is intense. Got through the second one, it was like, wow, this is intense,” he says. “The third one is when you start to feel like you’re being taken, you know, a little bit to the left here. And then from there you’re just on a rollercoaster.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.