Is ‘A Man on the Inside’ Based on a True Story? Here’s What To Know

Ted Danson and Michael Schur are back and this time, they are telling a true story… sort of.

In their new Netflix comedy, A Man on the Inside, the duo — who previously worked together on NBC’s The Good Place — reunite to tell a heartwarming and hilarious tale of a retiree who picks up a unique hobby in his old age: private investigations.

In the show, Charles (Danson) is encouraged by his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) to find some way to fill the days left wide open after the death of his wife. Turning to the classifieds, Charles discovers a posting for an investigative assistant in his seventies. Once hired, he is instructed to go undercover inside a San Francisco-area retirement community to look into the case of a priceless missing necklace. It’s the kind of hilarious and unbelievable story that makes you think, “Who comes up with this stuff?” But here’s the thing: this happened in real life too. 

Is A Man On The Inside Based On A True Story?

A Man on the Inside is loosely based on the 2020 documentary The Mole Agent, about an elderly man who goes undercover inside a nursing home to investigate concerns raised by the family of a resident. While the Netflix show kicks off with the son of a Pacific View Retirement Community resident (played by Schur-universe staple Marc Evan Jackson, nonetheless) looking into the disappearance of his mother’s priceless necklace, the real story is a bit darker. 

In The Mole Agent, Sergio Chamy –  the man hired by a PI and the inspiration for Danson’s character – is tasked with looking into the potential mistreatment of a patient inside a Chilean nursing home. During his time in the elderly community, Sergio encounters a cast of eccentric characters – including one woman who becomes intent on marrying him – and dozens of others who have been overlooked by society in their older years. 

While the documentary concludes with Sergio reporting back to his private investigator contact that he hasn’t witnessed any mistreatment, the general sentiment of the film is that those in the nursing home are lonely and just looking for someone to see and hear them. Cue the waterworks. 

It was such a powerful film that it became Chile’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2021 Academy Awards and received a nomination that same year for Best Documentary Feature. (It lost the Oscar to the Mads Mikkelson mini-masterpiece Another Round.) And it clearly found an audience with the creator of The Good Place, who is no stranger to bittersweet comedies that make us question our limited time here on earth.

Decider spoke with Schur ahead of the show’s release on Netflix and asked about what inspired him to hold onto the more tonally serious bits from the original source material, as opposed to a straight comedy.

“The documentary is very funny, but also it does not shrink away from confronting serious subjects, aging and memory loss and illness and the power of community to help people,” Schur said.

“We just tried to stay true to the documentary because I really feel like the documentary kind of nailed it in terms of what matters. What is worth talking about with folks at the age that Sergio was in the documentary,” he added.

Where To Watch The Mole Agent Documentary

As of press time, The Mole Agent is currently available to stream on Netflix (synergy!), in addition to streaming for free on the FAST channel PlutoTV. It’s also available to rent on a number of platforms.

The Mole Agent and A Man on the Inside are currently streaming on Netflix.