Read the Jan. 13, 2008 interview in The Desert Sun.
Extended version:
Matthew Perry told director Harris Goldberg, "I need to meet you right now."
In Hollywood speak, that usually means in a few weeks, but Perry was being literal.
The former "Friends" star had just read Goldberg's script for Numb. The film focuses on a screenwriter who, following a bad marijuana trip, begins to feel disassociated from the world around him, hindering him from a relationship with a newly found love interest.
"(Perry) wasn't my original choice," said Goldberg. "I was going for a dramatic actor, but he was so passionate." The two spoke about the lead role for four hours during that first spontaneous meeting, as Perry identified with the character's crisis. And he was not the only one.
"When I finished the screenplay, it was the weirdest thing," said Goldberg. "People were calling me not so much about the screenplay but to tell me about their own experiences."
Goldberg became personally affected by the same disorder as Perry's character after Hollywood took a toll on the Canadian following years of writing big studio comedies such as Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo and Without a Paddle.
As an athlete he never abused drugs, but in Los Angeles he began to smoke marijuana every month or so to relax – until the day he had a terrible reaction that would not end.
"I had a chronic feeling of being detached and dreamlike," Goldberg said. "My anxiety level was so high that I began to feel disassociated, and I didn't know what was going on."
He flew around the country to find someone who could help him overcome this problem, and after trials and errors with various forms of therapy and medication he discovered Dr. Daphne Simeon at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She conducted a four-day study that included taking hourly readings of his cortisol levels for 72 hours. The author of Feeling Unreal: Depersonalization and the Loss of Self was able to provide a name for his problem: depersonalization disorder.
"This thing was almost the king of them all," said Goldberg. "The ultimate defense mechanism for so much stress if you have a predisposition to it."
Goldberg said that most people he knows in Los Angeles have panic attacks. "L.A.'s sort of a focal point of stress," he said. "Everybody wants to be successful and there aren't that many stars; the glut of people is tremendous."
"Everything is kind of illusory here, and you never know how real projects are," Goldberg said. "When I finished Numb I didn't think anything was going to happen with it."
In fact, he initially wrote the story as a cathartic exercise. "I didn't mean for it to do anything," he said. "Ironically, it has resonated more than anything that I have ever done."
However, seeing his life played out before him was a bit awkward. "It's weird when you write something autobiographical for an actor," Goldberg said. "Matthew would ask 'What was this like?' but I would try to get him to use his own experience."
He had to convince Perry to tone down the humor. "All I would ever have to say to him was 'Less,' " he explained. "Comedians usually have a handful of things they know they can get a reaction from that's very safe. When I finally got him to trust me, I got him to stay in that small space of acting."
Goldberg is looking forward to attending the Q&A sessions following both Palm Springs International Film Festival screenings of Numb. During the film's premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, he expected few people to stay after the credits rolled.
"Nobody moved," he said. "100 hands came up, and instead of asking about the movie, I realized I had somehow touched people beyond just entertainment."
"There is a sense that I'm not the only one," Goldberg said. "It's kind of a relief."