Producer Matthew Baer Discusses Dealing with Depression in “Merv”

Matthew Baer is known for producing films such as Unbroken (2014) and Jack Frost (1998). His newest film, Merv, follows Zooey Deschanel and Charlie Cox as they care for their depressed dog. In the process, they discover that they need healing more than he does.   

Merv is Baer’s second Christmas movie. His first was Jack Frost, which had a tremendous afterlife. Even if people don’t recognize him from Unbroken, they frequently express their love for Jack Frost. “It’s been a long time,” he said. “[That] was in 1998, so I’m happy to be back after a long dry spell [of Christmas movies].”  

The idea of a separated couple who share a beloved pet (Merv the dog) drew him to the story. It took 11 years for the film to be produced. At the beginning of production, “that concept was highly unique.” It was fascinating to him that a dog could be as important to people as a child. But COVID led to an increasing number of couples adopting dogs. Afterward, many of those couples split up. Now the concept of sharing custody of a dog is a societal norm.  

“The timing of the gestation of Merv in my life is pretty wild, and I think the idea of having a movie that is timely as far as how the audience is going to look at it, that doesn’t happen every day.”  

It was important to Baer for the characters, including Merv, to have “fully rendered arcs.” Those are the movies that stick with him the most, the ones with characters who experience a journey.   

After Baer’s father passed, he suffered from severe depression, and he wanted to explore that topic in Merv. Dogs do get depressed and are prescribed Xanax. The psychological link between Deschanel’s character and Merv the dog, Baer and director Jessica Swale decided, would be their shared depression. Baer hopes this film helps people going through depression find ways to overcome it.   

On a lighter note, Baer said the holiday movie he feels most connected to is Jack Frost, his 1998 classic starring Michael Keaton. That film creates an instant connection between him and the people he meets, many of whom watched it with their families when they were younger. He produced that movie around the time he became a father, which adds another layer to his connection with it.   

Baer said he was one of the only people working on Merv who didn’t own a dog. Through the process of creating Merv, he discovered that unfiltered love is what drives “the passion and commitment to people with their dogs . . . . The amount of connection and love that goes on is as strong as humanly possible.” The innocence of that relationship makes it a “vestige of purity in friendship and love. That dynamic is sure in short supply when it comes to . . . the way humans are behaving towards each other.” In his family, it has become a joke that every dog they see is Merv.  

But despite all of the moving relationships he’s seen between people and their dogs, he still refuses to get one. He said the love others receive from their dogs, he gets from his sons and his wife. Though he admitted that he would be a great dog grandfather if his sons ever chose to adopt one.   

There is another reason Baer has never owned a dog. When he was 10, a Doberman bit him. While he has completely healed from that psychological scar, his childhood cat, Marshmallow, was a good enough pet for him. Baer fully dedicates himself to everything he does, and he has never felt a desire for a dog strong enough to be able to commit to raising one the way it deserves.   

Baer hopes Merv “brings a family together to witness a story that is about family . . . . Love and family come in different forms, but when glued together, they can change the world.”    

Watch Merv on December 10^th, 2025 on Amazon Prime!