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‘Florida Man’ Goes Way Beyond The Meme
“The brightest sun casts the darkest shadows.”
April 12, 2023
‘Florida Man’: Release Date, Teaser Trailer, Showrunner Interview - Netflix Tudum
We’ve all seen the meme. We’ve all seen the headlines about a seemingly singular “Florida man” breaking laws in the most creative ways imaginable: “Florida Man Arrested for [fill in blank with wild crime, possibly involving alligators].”
A new limited series, Florida Man, comes to Netflix from Jason Bateman’s production company, Aggregate Films, and it digs way deeper into the swamp than any news snippet or viral meme can.
Who stars in Florida Man?
Edgar Ramírez stars as Mike Valentine, a recovering gambling addict who reluctantly returns to his home state when mob boss Moss (Emory Cohen) sends him to find his missing girlfriend, Delly (Abbey Lee). In the scorching Florida heat, Mike gets caught up in situations that would put some of the best “Florida man” memes to shame, while also nativating complicated relationships with his father (Anthony LaPaglia) and ex-wife (Lex Scott Davis). He finds out that he can’t quite escape the hometown he tried to leave behind.
Learn more about the stars in our cast guide and see them in action in the gallery below.
How Florida is Florida Man?
Very, very Florida. Creator and showrunner Donald Todd knows his subject intimately — he was born and raised in the southernmost US peninsula. “As I grew up, I never stopped thinking about why Florida is Florida,” he recalls. “Florida is a thin layer of porous crust on top of a hundred feet of water, and it’s maybe a few feet above sea level… it might all sink. So when you feel that everything is temporary, you take what you can when you can get it. A ‘Florida man’ is someone who’s proudly independent and doesn’t live by your code, which means he doesn’t live by any code.”
Donald Todd and Edgar Ramírez
Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix
Where can I watch the Florida Man trailer?
The full trailer introduces you to a man stuck between two different lives. That's what fascinated Todd and Ramírez most about Mike Valentine, an ex-cop and ex-gambler who’s trying to make good but who’s still indebted to a mobster. “And that’s the most dangerous place anybody can be,” says Todd, “especially if you’re going to a place that’s not gonna give you any guidance morally. Mike feels that he’s a hero and just needs one more day to prove it… then one more after that.”
The central question of Florida Man is: “How did we get here?” “[People] laugh at the mug shots and the headlines,” says Todd, “but what’s the story behind the meme?” Meme aside, the Sunshine State is unlike any other, and it’s the perfect backdrop for a character-driven thriller. “The brightest sun casts the darkest shadows,” Todd says, “so people can hide in shadows. All of that creates an ethos that’s perfect for a bright and noirish crime story.”
What is the Florida Man release date?
Your ticket to the Sunshine State will come in like a hurricane on April 13.
More on Florida Man
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Showrunner Donald Todd reveals who the real hero of ‘Florida Man' was all along.
“The Florida I know is very much a pulpy state,” says creator Donald Todd.
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