Interviews take place in an undisclosed Los Angeles studio surrounded by tented trailers. The set is sparse—just a table and two chairs in front of five cameras that are virtually operated by crew members who sit in another room and can’t hear the conversation. “It’s a very private experience for them, so that they can be free,” Falchuk tells Vanity Fair from the Montecito home he shares with Gwyneth Paltrow, whom he wed in 2018. “This is one time in your life you can really, really be naked about you.”
Falchuk’s producing partner Mikkel Bondesen first approached Danish TV and radio host Mikael Bertelsen about adapting his original concept, known as Det Sidste Ord (which translates to The Last Word in English), for American audiences. Bertelsen serves as a consultant on the Netflix series, which premiered last October. The 55-year-old Falchuk, who’s created multiple scripted shows with Ryan Murphy, previously said that “death has to be real” for prospective participants. Since work on the project began a few years ago, Falchuk confirms, seven interviews (including Dane’s and Goodall’s) have been filmed, with more in the works. But the identities of those interviewees are shrouded in secrecy, as is much of the process around this strange but profound endeavor. If obituaries and tributes eulogize people after they have gone, says Falchuk, then Famous Last Words is a “groundbreaking” (Paltrow’s word, not his) alternative that allows celebrities to set their own terms. Even so, it’s a concept that begs a lot of questions, only some of which Falchuk can answer.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Vanity Fair: I imagine that when you set out to do this project, you have an abstract idea of the interviews one day being released. But what has it been like, in reality, to share Eric Dane’s and Jane Goodall’s final thoughts with the world so soon after their deaths?
Brad Falchuk: Obviously, it’s complicated, right? Because there are these beautiful messages that people impart. I get to hear all this great wisdom and humanity, and I really want everyone else to hear it—but I never want anyone else to hear it because it means something sad has happened. But I also know I’m delivering a message from them that they wanted me to, so that makes it a little easier.
Prior to this series, you haven’t spent a lot of time in front of the camera. Why was Famous Last Words the right time to change that?
I’m not comfortable in front of the camera. I don’t like that kind of attention. I like my anonymity and the quiet of my life. The price I had to pay for being able to have this experience with these people and be the person they trust and deliver these messages was that I’d have to be on camera. I was willing to pay that price because this felt so profound and sacred, and because I didn’t want to have to trust anybody else with that. Fortunately for me, there’s no one else in the room. So it’s always a lot easier when there’s no cameramen or anybody in the room watching.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk attend the New York premiere of Netflix’s The Politician in 2019.Taylor Hill