There is much of the cast and crew being like a family

[KBJ]

I was reading a film review on the newly-released documentary Harry Potter 20th anniversary until one sentence caught me out:

Chats among the three main stars, Daniel Radcliffe (Harry himself), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), take place in the Gryffindor common room, there’s an opening set piece in the Hogwarts dining hall, Radcliffe and director of the first two films, Chris Columbus, talk in Dumbledore’s office and so on. It provides a rush of nostalgia only heightened as the enduring affection among them all becomes evident. There is much – rising perilously if perhaps inevitably close to emetic levels – of the cast and crew being like a family. There always is in programmes like this, but at least here it is more than usually justified. The actors famously began working on the franchise when they were children, and their audience grew up alongside them pretty much in real time as the films were released between 2001 and 2011.

To give you more context, I have quoted the entire (lengthy) paragraph above and highlighted the sentence in bold type. I am wondering what the word "much" refers to: is it a pronoun used to refer to the word "affection" in the previous sentence? Or is "there is much of something" a set phrase?

Another question is about the ending part "being like a family": does it function as a modifier for "the cast and crew"?

Thanks in advance!

 

[jutfrank]

It means 'much evidence'. In other words, there is much to see, hear, witness, observe, etcetera.

No, it isn't a modifier. In the documentary, there are a lot of bits where it seems to the viewer that the cast and crew are acting as if they were one big family.