Dan Levy reveals true story behind Good Grief sex toy scene

Dan Levy has spilled the true story from his 20s that inspired the hysterical sex toy scene in his new Netflix film Good Grief.

Levy’s debut feature film is a beautifully devastating look at starting fresh after unimaginable heartbreak, and the chosen family who help us through – but it’s not without its laugh-out-loud moments.

For example, one scene sees Levy’s character Marc and his friends Sophie (Ruth Negga) and Thomas (Himesh Patel) reflect on his bizarre discovery when he first moved into his London flat.

Marc smiles and reminds his friends that it was a “homemade dildo”, seemingly left behind by the previous tenants, that he had found, inciting squeals and chuckles from Sophie and Thomas.

It turns out that that really did happen to Levy when he first moved to London in the early 2000s.

In an interview with Netflix, the Canadian actor spoke about how his time in London inspired different elements of his directorial film debut.

“I have a lot of very fond memories of London. I lived here in my early 20s,” he recalled.

“In fact, there’s a story that made its way into the movie that I wrote for the three of us to reminisce on.”

Sitting next to co-star, Himesh Patel, he explains: “I think I was 20 and I found an apartment. I was cleaning the apartment and I pulled the bed out from the wall and I felt something thump behind the bed , and I didn’t have my cleaning gloves on but I thought it was the bottle of cleaning solution. 

“And I went to reach for it – this is an inappropriate conversation – but I went to reach for it and I felt something phallic in nature slip out of my hands. 

“I looked over the bed and it was a perfume bottle that someone had wrapped in a condom to, I suppose, enjoy themselves with. And that was my first real London memory and I’ve loved it ever since!”

The Schitts Creek star had previously spoken about this unsettling discovery in a 2021 interview with Metro.

Levy explained that he had moved from Canada to London shortly after leaving college in 2005, and resided in the city for six or seven months in the hopes of getting some space from a “tricky romantic situation”.

“I always had a highly romanticised fascination with England,” he said at the time. “Notting Hill and Bridget Jones are my favourite movies.”

When it comes to romance, Levy has shared that he tends to have more luck in the UK.

Speaking to the Table Manners podcast, the actor revealed that he’s certain he’s “going to find love” in London.

“I had the best time,” he told hosts Jessie and Lennie Ware.

“I date a lot in England, but I don’t date a lot in America. I don’t quite know why but I have to go back [to London] because that’s where I’ve had the most successful dates. It’s where I’m going to find love.”

In Good Grief, Levy plays Marc, who is learning to start anew after his husband (played by Luke Evans) dies in a car accident. 

After making a shocking discovery about his late husband, Marc takes friends Thomas and Sophie with him to Paris to unpack a devastating secret about the man he loved.

Good Grief is available to stream now on Netflix.