When you ask the creators of “The Sticky” what led them to their comedic adventure series about a maple syrup heist gone wrong, they have two words: dumb luck.
“My sister happened to marry a Canadian. If that didn’t happen, we’d all be in a different room somewhere,” co-creator Brian Donovan told TheWrap. Over cheese and crackers one Christmas, Donovan first heard of the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist, a very real theft that happened between 2011-12 when roughly $18.7 million Canadian dollars’ worth of syrup was covertly stolen from a storage facility in Quebec.
“I immediately texted Ed [Herro] and we got working within a week, because it’s such a great story,” Donovan said.
But to make their Prime Video series, the duo needed to rewrite history a bit. “The real crime was pretty boring. They just very slowly and methodically stole syrup, and got caught. That’s not great TV,” Herro told TheWrap. “We took the big headline, then we just said, ‘Here’s new characters, here’s our world,’ and had fun with it.”
What follows is a sharp and speedy dramedy that combines the snappier parts of a Coen brothers movie with great bumbling performances from Margo Martindale, Chris Diamantopoulos and Guillaume Cyr. The series centers around Remy (Cyr), a dim-witted security guard who realizes he’s the only one protecting millions of dollars of syrup. When Remy finds himself connected to showboating mobster Mike (Diamantopoulos) and vindictive farmer Ruth (Martindale), the syrup industry will be changed forever.
Martindale’s spitfire Ruth was the first character the duo created. A tough farmer, Ruth serves as both the mastermind of the operation as well as its emotional center as she schemes to help her comatose husband. “There’s a lot of my mom in Ruth. My mom’s a real pain in the butt,” Donovan joked.
Martindale was on board with the project as soon as she read its script. “I thought it was fantastic and extremely different from anything I’ve done and a whole new world. It’s a dark comedy that should be emotional, but also, I hope you laugh,” the esteemed character actress told TheWrap.
But the reason “The Sticky” landed in Martindale’s lap in the first place is because of its A-list executive producer, Jamie Lee Curtis. Her involvement came down to the series’ production company, Blumhouse Television, Donovan said. Both he and Herro praised Curtis as an excellent and helpful collaborator who asked to be involved “as much as possible.” That passion even led to the duo rewriting a male character for her.
“She had one condition, which is, ‘I need to flirt with Margo on camera.’ We said, ‘Deal, you can do that. That’ll play just fine.’ And then she was in,” Donovan explained.
“She is so much fun that it’s absurd and so fantastic in this and so supportive as an executive producer,” Martindale added, noting that their scenes together were “kind of electric.” “She’s a force, I’m telling you. She comes in with guns a-blazing, if you know what I mean, and she’s ready to play.”
Donovan and Herro are hoping this will only be the beginning for “The Sticky.” “We have five seasons where these people change, people die. Things will not be the same, hopefully, by the end of all five,” Herro said.
“It’s one thing to steal maple syrup, but that’s not the end of the job. There’s a lot that goes into it after that and there’s so many different criminal components that are so interesting,” Donovan concluded — and one of those elements is the role the mafia has in the real Montreal. “We can’t wait to delve into that.”
“The Sticky” is now streaming on Prime Video.
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