To know anything about actress Casey Wilson is to know she is a seeker. She loves an astrologer, a healer, a psychic. Tarot card reading? Sure, why not? Weekend-long spiritual retreat with complete strangers? Absolutely, yes please. She is a huge proponent of psychoanalysis; she is endlessly fascinated by cults and cult leaders. And she is a Real Housewives connoisseur—no franchise is beneath her.
So it is quite fitting that her latest gig is on Apple TV’s newest series, The Shrink Next Door, an eight-part adaptation of the real-life, stranger-than-fiction podcast of the same title that swept airwaves when it was released in 2019. She stars as Bonnie Herschkopf, wife of Ike Herschkopf (Paul Rudd), a New York City “psychiatrist to the stars” who, over the course of three decades, bizarrely manipulates his way into the life of his patient Marty Markowitz (played by Will Ferrell), crossing the boundaries of their professional relationship in a myriad of deranged ways.
Bonnie is vulnerable and awestruck by her husband, though she’s not without lofty goals for her own future. “It’s not every day that a part comes that you’re just right for,” Wilson says of taking on the role. “The right age. The right time. The right everything.”
BAZAAR.com spoke further with Wilson in advance of the show’s premiere about her nuanced approach to playing Bonnie, working alongside comedy legends Rudd and Ferrell, and, somewhere in the middle of it all, coming to the astonishing conclusion that Erika and Tom Girardi might just be a modern-day Bonnie and Ike Herschkopf.
Knowing what your interests are, it feels very on brand that you would get involved in this project.
I can't get away from cults. It's so interesting, because this story really is about a cult of one—about how our lives can be influenced by almost anyone we deem to be a person of authority. And a therapist is someone you're most vulnerable with. I have such sympathy for the main character played by Will Ferrell, who is a vulnerable guy. Everyone's just looking to be happier and get some answer to their problems, or some hole filled inside them. And he gets so taken advantage of. It's just, to me, a fascinating story of deception.
I'm curious how the part came to you. Were you familiar with the original podcast and source material?
Of course, I listened to the podcast immediately. I've been in psychoanalysis for 20 years, and I don't even know if my therapist is married. That's the level of boundaries that she keeps. So when I heard that this therapist had moved into his patient's home in the Hamptons, I was like, "Well, I must listen," and I just loved it.
And then [the role] came about, and I had to audition for it, and I really threw myself into it—you could say maybe too much. But I was just like, "I have to be in this." It's not every day that a part comes that you're just right for. The right age. The right time. The right everything. I was just so unbelievably excited to get to be a part of it.
Beyond the premise of the story, what about Bonnie, in particular, seemed compelling to you?
I think she was, like, Ike's first cult member. At least, the way I was trying to play her—I don't know if that's the case in real life, because we actually don't hear much about the therapist's wife. Paul Rudd plays my husband, and she's just obsessed with him and thinks he walks on water. And her disillusionment is so interesting. [The show] spans over 30 years of a marriage, and she's so reluctant to see what's really going on. But I actually think she's straddling both worlds of Will's and Paul's characters. And she also really empathizes with Marty, Will's character. But it just makes me laugh. Like, she thinks that [her husband is] Brad Pitt.
I felt like she was in awe of him. But she also has her own goals. She's a little bit of a moral compass. She questions what he's doing. She knows, but not enough to really go there.
Yes. Michael Showalter, the director, and I, we were talking about her and we were thinking of her as … there is that woman friend, and there's no nice way to say this, but it's almost like they think they've gotten someone above their station, whether that's true or not. Then their friends meet him and they're like, "Sorry, this is the person you've been raving about?"
Michael was like, "She caught him at the right moment." He had just broken up with somebody. She should be with an accountant. Instead, she's gotten mixed up with this guy who, for whatever reason, she thinks is God's gift, which I think happens to people. She feels grateful to be married to him. And so it's hard for her to see his genuine flaws. I do love that with my character, you actually see the kind of cult leader at home. When he puts down his charismatic act, it's just so sad and funny to me too.
You've been doing a lot creatively, from television to films to Bitch Sesh to writing your book. Were you glad to get back into another series? Do you have a favorite medium?
I like acting the most, a million percent. I love writing, and I love podcasting, but I'm really an actress. I'm always cast in comedies and often, like, broad comedies, but Gone Girl or something like this has always been what I've wanted to do more.
We filmed it for six months, right in the heart of the pandemic, over Christmas last year in L.A., and it was strange to hear things like "epicenter of a virus," and then go into a building with 200 people. It was a bit scary. And by that, I do not mean on any level to suggest we were facing anywhere near what frontline workers were facing, but it was an intense experience. Kathryn [Hahn] said this when we got cast, she was like, "This will be a bond for the soul, working with these people." And it was.
Did you feel like working during that time kind of gave you any sort of new appreciation for everything? I would imagine feeling like, "Wow, we did it."
Oh, my God. Yes. I'm so happy everyone was healthy and safe. And I think, mainly for me, I have two small kids. I was home with them for so long. It was just, frankly, nice to get to go back and be creative, and do what I love. You can't act by yourself. And so, just to get back to work, my happiness level raised exponentially. I was lucky enough to be able to stay home, but then I was ready to get out there. I'm so social.
I mean, look, I don't want to say I'm a hero, but I heard this pandemic was very hard on extroverts.
What kind of research went into playing Bonnie? Is she somebody that you had access to?
I do know women who operate from a place of just being so grateful for what they have. And I don't mean, like, gratitude is great. I mean, they almost seem to feel as though they don't deserve anything, and so they're happy to have crumbs. I find that to be very sad, but she's also very sweet. I tried to approach her with a sweetness of someone who is watching their dreams being shattered and trying to remain positive.
I tend to be cast in a lot of hopeful, positive roles, but I also think no one is just, like, giving up in the face of things. I think everyone's always trying to stay hopeful and positive. So to me, that's an interesting character, because more and more evidence is mounting that her husband is not who she thinks he is and is, in fact, a bad man, and yet she's just staying positive. She's got kids. She's just still hoping it's going to work out.
I don't watch the Housewives, but I do read Page Six; it's my number one news source. So I'm watching your show thinking, Is this an Erika and Tom situation? This dawned on me, and I just needed to know what you thought.
I think these marriages exist all over. I was listening to this Super Soul Sunday podcast with Oprah yesterday. The episode was called "Whispers." And it was so interesting. It was about when something bad happens, like you lose your job, you're cheated on, we like to think, "Oh, my God, this came out of nowhere." But she was saying there are so many whispers along the way. It's almost too painful to listen to our intuition sometimes, because we cannot imagine the alternative, which is getting out of these situations.
I'm someone who just acts. If I feel something, I'm gone. I move. That's one thing I'll say for myself. I'm not going to suffer quietly. So it was interesting to play a character to whom, ultimately, being married means more than leaving. And Paul is such an amazing actor. I mean, he's playing this role as such a charismatic leader that it was quite easy. It's like, "Oh, yeah, he's so charming."
I know you love a healer. So in watching this show, and knowing what I know about you, have you ever been duped?
Of course. I want to believe. Like I said, I'm a huge optimist and a very positive person. I am also an actress, so I'm open to the possibilities. And I actually think there are so many healers who help you.
But I think I've been in many cultlike experiences in my life, be it Flywheel, or whatever the hell. We can all look around at some point and be like, "Am I in a cult of the Housewives? Am I leading a cult about the Housewives?"
I have always wanted to be a cult leader. I think I would be great.
I mentioned this in my book, but one time, a girlfriend gave me a certificate for a psychic, a baby psychic. He's not a baby himself, but he communes with your baby while you're pregnant over the phone from Long Island. So there's a lot at first that would give one pause. I was pregnant, and I asked if my son was in touch with my mom, who had passed. And he said they had met, but they weren't that close. I was like, "This is insane."
What do you hope people will take away from the show?
Obviously, first and foremost, I hope they'll be deeply entertained, and I think they will be. I also think it's the best performance Will and Paul have ever given. It's kind of a mystery. There’s kind of a true-crime element to it, genuinely, but it's also funny, so the tone is great. But also, I think there's something powerful about a true story. You really couldn't make this up. It just gets wilder and wilder and darker and darker.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Andrea Cuttler is the Entertainment Director of Harper’s BAZAAR , where she oversees all things film, television, and celebrity. When she’s not watching her DVD of Indian Summer for the 27th time, you can likely find her at one of the same three restaurants in the West Village.
