Curb Your Enthusiasm nearly killed (fictional) Larry David
Executive producer Jeff Schaffer reveals the 11th season finale could have been very final
To anybody planning a heist to liberate Batgirl off the HBO servers, grab the “Larry died” Curb Your Enthusiasm cut while you’re at it, will you? The Emmy-nominated season might have ended peacefully (at least, as far as Curb goes), but since executive producer Jeff Schaffer is “always thinking, ‘Hey, what if this is it?,’ they filmed a very final potential finale before deciding to come back for a 12th season.
In the premiere opener, a would-be robber drowns in David’s pool, leading to an escalating series of shenanigans throughout the season. As such, “I knew that we were going to end it with Larry falling into a pool because there was no fence,” Schaffer tells The Hollywood Reporter.
“I know I say this all the time, but every season is the last season. And I wanted to prepare as if it was the last one. So Larry kept falling into that pool without the fence and banging his head [for the scene]. We actually have a shot after he’d fallen in, of the still pool with just the envelope floating in the middle, and maybe adding one bubble.”
The writer says he “had to at least prepare” for the scene “to be the last one ever,” and “This one lent itself too perfectly. We just got high and wide on the pool, with one light shining on it and the envelope floating in the middle. And we said, ‘OK, if this is how we go, this is how we go!’”
That’s not how Curb went, of course, but even if it was the end David might not have approved such a grim (albeit hilarious) ending. Asked how the Seinfeld creator felt about the potential drowning, Schaffer reveals: “He said, ‘I’m not ready to die.’” Long live Larry!