Since I’m not a fan of lists but can’t seem to stop myself from enumerating the best that cinema and television often have to offer, I’ll try a more scholarly approach today mostly because I’m eager to make a distinction between ‘fantasy’ and ‘epic fantasy’ on the small screen. In a previous article, I discussed some of the greatest film franchises to come out of works penned by J.R. Tolkien and Frank L. Baum, to name but two luminaries of the literary genre we know as ‘epic fantasy’.

For the silver screen, the challenge of adapting such works was gleefully accepted and—on several occasions—stupendously met by talented and insanely brave directors. But as audiences worldwide evolve, so does our appetite for the consumption of ‘epic fantasy’ in larger formats. We want more, even if we get it in an episode-per-week ratio. Give us ten seasons of this marvellously detailed worldbuilding sprinkled with gasp-inducing intrigue, and we’re yours forever. Naturally, the demand for televised ‘epic fantasy’ has grown, forcing screenwriters and showrunners to adapt.

‘THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS’ (2002), ©NEW LINE CINEMA

Personally, I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but I do believe we’re coming up short on the ‘epic fantasy’ genre on TV. There are plenty of ‘fantasy’ series to binge on—‘Charmed’ (1998-2006) and ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ (1997-2003) certainly qualify as decent chunks of a starter kit. If you’re deeper into the scary side of things, the ‘American Horror Story’ (2011) anthology will deliver plenty of genuine goose-bumps and squeals. For anime fans, ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ (2005-2008) is one of the best that the genre has to offer, and let’s not forget Bryan Fuller’s earlier masterpieces, ‘Dead Like Me’ (2003-2004) and ‘Pushing Daisies’ (2007-2009), both brilliant and equally ahead of their time. Yet we haven’t gotten to the aforementioned ‘epics’!

What does make a story epic, after all? Is it the worldbuilding? For that, I’m inclined to consider ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ (1995-2001), the infinitely more successful spinoff of ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’ (1995-1999), as a worthy candidate. Lucy Lawless and Greek mythology combined was a good early recipe. Is it the willingness to cross boundaries and try something bold and modern? ‘True Blood’ (2008-2014) comes to mind—and no, I don’t think we’re ready for a remake yet. Then what is it? The fandom, perhaps, that raises a tale to such high-sounding standards? I would be willing to consider ‘Once Upon A Time’ (2011-2018) for task, then, or better yet, the cult darling ‘Supernatural’ (2005-2020), which boasts a spectacular fifteen-year run.

But no. We’re going elsewhere with this. We’re going farther than we have ever gone before, because the market of ‘televised epic fantasy’ has only just begun to blossom, and it’s mostly due to the sheer size of the oeuvres that are being adapted and repackaged for a broader and more patient audience. Developing such projects demands gargantuan sacrifices of time, money, and human resources—settling anywhere below will inadvertently lead to underwhelming, vapid fluff.

‘XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS’ (1995-2001), ©MCA TELEVISION

‘The Magicians’ (2015-2020): Surprisingly Epic

Learning plenty from her work with Eric Kripke on ‘Supernatural’, Sera Gamble teamed up with John McNamara to bring Lev Grossman’s novels to the small screen. When SyFy decided to invest in this show, they were probably aware of the risks—the raunchy magic tale works differently on the page than it does onscreen, yet even so, ‘The Magicians’ stands apart from the rest of the crowd. Sure, there are things I might have done differently with some of the narrative threads, but still…

Story-wise, it is daring enough to be awarded a tiny ‘epic fantasy’ badge. It’s basically ‘Harry Potter’ but with drugs, booze, ancient gods, and potty mouths. Its worldbuilding is complex and imaginative enough, borrowing elements of Greek mythology and quantum physics along the way. It also has a considerable fanbase to work with. Unlike ‘The Shannara Chronicles’ (2016-2017), which was bland and deservedly short-lived, ‘The Magicians’ survived for five seasons as it pushed its young protagonists into difficult situations that required tremendous sacrifices. In some cases, their choices came at a horrific price.

‘THE MAGICIANS’ (2015-2020), ©NBC UNIVERSAL TELEVISION

‘American Gods’ (2017): Neil Gaiman Done Right

I’m equal parts doubtful and eager whenever a Gaiman project is announced for television. It’s probably because of the emotional investment that I have in his work. Nevertheless, most of his adaptations have not disappointed, least of all ‘American Gods’, which is based on my favourite book. When it comes to ‘epic fantasy’, this story has every box ticked, albeit with one particularly worrying asterisk.

My only issue with the Starz-produced series is the studio’s inability to retain showrunners—thus losing important actors along the way. The first season, helmed by the brilliant Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, did a wicked job of transforming ‘American Gods’ into high-quality television art. But after budget-related conflicts, Fuller and Green were pushed out of the project, which led to Gillian Anderson and Kristin Chenoweth’s subsequent departure. Jesse Alexander of ‘Heroes’ (2006-2010) fame sort-of took over, though it’s still unclear as to the depth of his involvement—which didn’t last longer than the second season, anyway.

After another hiatus, ‘American Gods’ has finally returned under Charles ‘Chic’ Eglee, better known for ‘Moonlighting’ (1986-1989) and ‘The Shield’ (2004-2008), but even that isn’t without a harrowing loss. According to an expletive-laced video posted on Twitter, Orlando Jones (Mr Nancy) stated that he was fired from the series because the showrunner doesn’t understand his character. According to the actor, Eglee ‘thinks that Mr Nancy’s angry, get s—t done [attitude] is the wrong message for Black America’. Yet when I’m nervous about a Neil Gaiman adaptation, they tell me I’m overthinking…

‘AMERICAN GODS’ (2017), ©FREMANTLE/STARZ!

‘His Dark Materials’ (2019): Now That’s What I Call Epic!

Philip Pullman’s trilogy is one of the best works of fantasy I read whilst coming of age. It’s an ambitious story that follows two gifted children as they wander through a series of parallel universes and fight for freedom and survival against exceptionally dark forces. An especially appealing element is the daemon, a manifestation of the inner-self as an animal being.

Pullman once named John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ among the influences for ‘His Dark Materials’, abruptly rejecting any comparison to C.S. Lewis’s ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’, which he characterised as ‘blatantly racist’ and ‘monumentally disparaging of women’. Needless to say, ‘His Dark Materials’ ascends among the better works of ‘epic fantasy’, and given the author’s direct involvement, HBO’s adaptation does a better job than its feature-length and stale-cotton-candy predecessor, ‘The Golden Compass’ (2007).

‘HIS DARK MATERIALS’ (2019), ©HOME BOX OFFICE (HBO)

‘Carnival Row’ (2019): An Absolute Original

As mentioned earlier, the majority of ‘epic fantasies’ come from literature: the story was first told in print, and there were plenty of pages in which to build an imaginary world with extraordinary creatures inspired by myth and folklore. Yet Travis Beacham and René Echevarria pulled off quite the number with ‘Carnival Row’, which blends the tenebrous murder mystery with a Victorian fantasy realm in a way that just… works without a source material.

Of course, the show wouldn’t have the same appeal without Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne—the latter having grown visibly as a thespian since ‘Anna Karenina’ (2012). Nominated for three Primetime Emmys, the first season has garnered a hefty round of applause, and I dare hope to see the second season exceed those accolades swiftly.

‘CARNIVAL ROW’ (2019), ©AMAZON STUDIOS

‘Game of Thrones’ (2011-2019): The Undisputed Champion

Regardless of what anyone thought about the final season, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s extraordinary ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ novel series is a masterpiece of both television and ‘epic fantasy’. It set a stellar standard to which few, if any others, might ever rise to meet. With such an ambitious source material and HBO’s deep pockets, part of what made the show work was the fearless casting—with the exception of several titular roles, most of the actors were young and fresh-faced when production started, with barely a credit or two to their names. The Stark kids had zero, for that matter.

The first five seasons brought the incredible story of Westeros and the seven kingdoms to life with exceptional detail and an overwhelming love of the cinematic craft—from filming locations to costume and set design, ‘Game of Thrones’ excelled and then some. Given the complex story and multiple main character arcs, the mere fact that D&D pulled it off with barely a hitch was an incredible accomplishment. The first five seasons, however, had the published books to rely on.

‘GAME OF THRONES’ (2011-2019), ©HOME BOX OFFICE/HBO

With extensive assistance from the author himself, the showrunners pushed through seasons six and seven mostly on their own, with an idea of how Martin saw the story evolving across the upcoming novels, ‘Winds of Winter’ and ‘A Dream of Spring’. The series didn’t fumble, managing its extensive load of characters with sufficient grace. Alas, with a fandom accustomed to nothing beneath exceptional writing, Benioff and Weiss self-sabotaged their grand conclusion by rushing toward the finish line. I wasn’t shocked by Daenerys’s psychotic twist—I paid attention since the first season when she didn’t even flinch while her brother had molten gold poured onto his head. I wasn’t disappointed by Bran becoming king, either, nor by Jon’s retreat into ‘the real North’. It sort-of made sense.

But the final season was… rushed. A few more episodes would’ve smoothed things over and tied up several important loose ends. I cried aplenty when Ramin Djawadi’s score, aptly titled ‘The Last of the Starks’, came on, and I bid the young wolves farewell, knowing their adventures wouldn’t end there. To this day, I have yet to watch anything remotely close to the production brilliance of ‘Game of Thrones’ despite its twilight flaws.

‘GAME OF THRONES’ (2011-2019), ©HOME BOX OFFICE/HBO

Of Epics to Come

Given the titanic success of ‘Game of Thrones’ and George R.R. Martin’s forays into ASOIAF-related prequels, it’s no wonder that HBO has been flirting with a couple more titles. Jane Goldman of ‘X-Men First Class’ (2011) repute was initially set to lead a successor show focused on Westeros’ descent from the bright Age of Heroes into the dreaded Long Night—there was even a pilot shot, starring Naomi Watts.

Alas, the higher powers scrapped the whole project and made way for ‘House of the Dragon’, which is due to air in 2022 and chronicles the Targaryen struggles throughout their 300-year reign since Aegon’s Conquest. So far, Matt Smith, Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, and Emma D’Arcy have joined the developing project—the characters they’re set to portray belong to a particular conflict in the history of Westeros, better known as ‘The Dance of Dragons’, which nearly tore the kingdoms apart and decimated the Targaryen’s dragon population. Ryan J. Condal and Miguel Sapochnik will act as writers and showrunners, working closely with George R.R. Martin.

‘House of the Dragon’ isn’t the only project in the pipeline, either, as HBO has recently greenlit a TV series adaption of ‘Tales of Dunk and Egg’, a spinoff following Dunk and Egg on their adventures throughout Westeros before they became known as Ser Duncan the Tall, Commander of the King’s Guard, and King Aegon the Fifth. Little is known about the project at this point, but I’m certainly looking forward to it. I need an ASOIAF fix, stat.

‘HOUSE OF THE DRAGON’ (2022), ©HOME BOX OFFICE/HBO

Following the cinematic success of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, Amazon Studios decided to try their hand at a prequel by enlisting the talents of J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay to bring the Second Age of Middle-Earth to life for the streaming giant. It’s been in the works for a couple of years now, with casting that took place around the world and extensive negotiations with the government of New Zealand. Filming began last February in Auckland, listing Robert Aramayo, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Ian Blackburn, and Maxim Baldry among the actors involved.

Ultimately, these are exciting times… There is plenty of room for ‘epic fantasy’ in the land of TV. The stakes were set high—very high, actually, and that’s a wonderful starting point. May the upcoming series soar beyond what has already been aired and may no other showrunner ever rush and pull a D&D ever again.

Unlike its predecessor, ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ (2018), Mike Flanagan’s signature second instalment focuses less on the dread and more on the emotional side of things. The ‘it’s not a ghost story, it’s a love story’ phrase has been around for quite a while, and it takes on a meaning of its own in ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ (2020). The original, ‘every love story is a ghost story’, can be found in a letter that David Foster Wallace wrote to the late Richard Elman back in 1986. Both expressions could easily fit within the walls of Bly Manor and make perfect sense.

I do enjoy the ghostly anthology style, and here’s to hoping that Mr Flanagan will undertake other such projects in the future. There are so many haunted places in this world, and so few artists who are truly equipped to tell these stories with adequate profundity and emotional intensity… it would be a shame not to produce more of this stuff.

‘THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR’ (2020), ©NETFLIX

While I understand that Bly Manor may have disappointed some viewers who previously applauded Hill House, a fraction of the blame can be placed on the marketing department. We went in expecting something else, but I found strange enlightenment in the end, an ‘Aha!’ sparkle that brought me back to the ‘love story, ghost story’ trope above. Truth be told, no respectable haunting was ever a gory horror tale with blood and guts and jump-scares. Ghosts are fingerprints of the past in our collective folklore, spectres who are unable to let go, even in death, and some of whom are able to influence the world of the living.

It means we have to deal with sadness, remorse, longing, and other equally consuming feelings that we experience in the presence of death and the absence of those we loved and lost. Therefore, a true ghost story has multiple dimensions. A good ghost story is able to break your heart, and Mike Flanagan does it in two different styles with both Hill House and Bly Manor. The former explores the grief and bitterness that suicide leaves behind. The latter studies love and its dysfunctions as they unravel under the influence of a spirit whose rage binds everyone to her. Both have mysterious, almost-sentient houses as leading characters.

‘THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR’ (2020)

Mike Flanagan has become a master of the genre with both limited series, but also with his work on Stephen King’s ‘Gerald’s Game’ (2017) and the more recent ‘Doctor Sleep’ (2019). His writing style has an almost poetic depth I’ve only seen in Shirley Jackson and Henry James, which is probably why he resonated so beautifully with these illustrious authors’ works. The focus is never really on the actual ghosts. After all, they tell the same story—unresolved issues, the inability to move on, the violence of their death which caused a bruising of the very fabric of existence… it’s always a broken heart at the centre of a haunting, somehow. No, the focus is on the living and on how they cope with loss, with misery, and with the supernatural elements that they never wanted to believe in.

‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ simply does it with a sweeter tone. The ghosts have a more personal autonomy than those of Hill House. The living and the dead collide, repeatedly, between the walls of the English mansion, its rooms seemingly larger at night—as if the house itself inhales deeply and holds its breath until the light of morning. There is poetry in Carla Gugino’s storytelling monologues. I was pleasantly surprised by its added value, in fact, as I am not really a fan of narrators in moving pictures. Her repetitions have a dramatic effect, evoking the very loops of post-existence that ghosts seemingly go through. I doubt the series would’ve had the same effect without her. Sometimes, telling adds value to showing.

‘THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR’ (2020), ©2020

Some things could have been done differently, sure, but I wouldn’t dare dissect the series down to its bones for this because the transgressions are minimal, at most, and splendidly overshadowed by the extraordinary performances of its actors. Keeping in line with the anthology format we’ve seen before in Ryan Murphy’s ‘American Horror Story’, there are returning cast members who’ve changed their residence from Hill House to Bly Manor. Each of them is exceptional and remarkably versatile.

Victoria Pedretti brings tears to one’s eyes as Dani Clayton, a young woman struggling with her sexuality and a tragedy she feels personally responsible for. Her intensity is only matched by her emotional palette. Few manage to express true and unexpected terror when locked in a closet—few manage to make the viewers themselves take deep breaths to fight a growing sense of claustrophobia, of walls closing in. Dani is also at the centre of the love story that is the hidden heart of this series, able to explore the payoff after having endured incommensurable horrors at Bly Manor and able to bid her lover farewell when the time comes to carry the curse back to its roots.

‘THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR’ (2020), ©NETFLIX

Kate Siegel returns as Viola, the angry and faceless spirit at the root of this nightmare—the former lady of Bly Manor who found herself betrayed and enraged beyond the grave. Her vicious circle break hearts, over and over, as she goes through the motions and consumes everything in her path, even when there is no one left to remember her. Viola is proof that there is nothing worse than being forgotten. Not even death is worse than vanishing into the dark recesses of human history.

Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Henry Thomas came back, as well, as Peter Quint and Henry Wingrave, respectively. One is a deeply flawed but passionate man, and the other… well, they’re more or less the same, actually, despite their financial and societal differences. Carla Gugino is a delightful presence, her deep voice and melancholic gaze working seamlessly as a thread that pulls everyone and everything together.

‘THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR’ (2020), ©NETFLIX

Benjamin Evan Ainsworth and Amelie Bea Smith are both extraordinary as the children of Bly Manor. These sterling thespians are able to build their characters into three dimensions that mercilessly punch holes through one’s stomach. Miles and Flora are both odd—I believe they were written as such, while also trying to stay at least partially true to their age. It’s not an easy task to accomplish, but they both come through quite nicely. They’re ‘perfectly splendid’.

Rahul Kohli as Owen is a dollop of kindness and hope that is desperately needed, particularly in the darkest of times. His love story is the saddest, too, once you realize that he will never be able to bring it to a positive conclusion. But frankly, the true star of Bly Manor and a breath-taking performer that deserves her own crown is T’Nia Miller as Hannah Grose. Hers is the hardest tale to tell. It starts and ends in tears, yet it is filled with love and hope and mountains of empathy strangled by threads of lost time. If anyone ever wondered what being a ghost might feel like, Hannah is an exceptional point of reference.

‘THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR’ (2020), ©NETFLIX

The lasting impact of ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’, much like its predecessor, comes from the brilliant combination of image and production design. The haunted house takes centre stage, of course, and to achieve a troubling effect evoking of Hill House, Mr Flanagan brought Patricio M. Farrell and art director Hugo Santiago back for Bly Manor. The ghostly Easter eggs, the period pieces, and the spine-tingling details… it all adds up to that subtle dread that’s meant to erode the resolve of everyone involved—characters and viewers alike.

To further strengthen the end result, Flanagan worked with Maxime Alexandre of ‘Annabelle: Creation’ (2017) fame and James Kniest, previously known for ‘Annabelle’ (2014). In an interview with Variety, Mr Kniest addresses the importance of using Hill House as a roadmap for Flanagan’s second Haunting foray.

‘THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR’ (2020), ©NETFLIX

Most of the story’s tone is eloquently captured in the screenplay and through the actors’ performances, but the style and camera language had to also match. With each Haunting, the camera work begins with static and symmetrical angles, gradually evolving into a more fluid and almost organic motion—we saw it in the funeral home with the Crains, and we see it again through the layers we peel away at in Bly Manor. The dark aesthetic delivers stupendously as the truth is gingerly revealed, painting tragedy with a fair palette.

‘THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR’ (2020), ©NETFLIX

At the end of the day, each viewer will make up their own mind regarding ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’. They may voice discontent and point to insufficiencies whilst praising ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ as the superior of the two. It could go the other way around, as well. Or, better yet, each series will stand alone and with its distinctive set of features, while both pay homage to some of the best ghost tales ever written.

Whether it’s a love story or a ghost story or somewhere in-between, one truth remains. Our fascination with death and whatever might come afterwards is a timeless and endless source of hope and heartbreak.

And what a scrumptious hidden gem this is! Parody meets ridicule, and they’re both wrapped up in layers of spoof propaganda, mystery, and action, sprinkled with some comedy and sharp enough sneers to make Ronald Reagan and Nicolae Ceausescu and Mao Zedong cry somewhere deep in the beyond.

Amazon Studios’ ‘Comrade Detective’ (2017) is the show we never knew we needed in these trying times, as people throw words like ‘socialism’ and ‘communism’ around without fully understanding their meaning and complexity. And considering that it was mainly aimed at an American audience, I’d say creators Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka do a fine job of delivering not only the definitions but also the extremes of two political tenets that have been warring for decades: Communism and Capitalism.

‘COMRADE DETECTIVE’ (2017), ©ALEXANDRU IONITA/AMAZON STUDIOS

Pretending to be found footage of an ‘80s cop buddy TV series of the Romanian Communist era, ‘Comrade Detective’ has been curated and dubbed to fit more modern times. It also features a few hilarious introductions from Channing Tatum, who is also executive producer, and author Jon Ronson.

With a throng of beloved comedy actors dubbing the Romanian characters involved and accompanied by what I can only describe as the most decadent and cheesiest soundtrack, the show packs a funny but bitter pill to swallow. It makes light of both sides in terms of politics and ideology. The West versus the East wrestle behind the Iron Curtain of ‘80s Bucharest, Romania, where a killer wearing a Reagan mask wreaks havoc through the city and even through the ranks of local police.

‘COMRADE DETECTIVE’ (2017), ©AMAZON STUDIOS

Enter Gregor Anghel, splendidly portrayed by Florin Piersic Jr. and voiced by Channing Tatum, and Iosif Baciu, played by the uber-talented Corneliu Ulici and voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. One is a jaded detective who doesn’t always play by the rules, but he’s eager to avenge the murder of his dear colleague, Nikita Ionescu, at the hands of the Reagan killer. The other is a more empathetic and eager police officer who transferred from the countryside to the big city in order to avenge the murder of his dear childhood friend, Nikita Ionescu, at the hands of the Reagan killer. Their different personalities collide and become homogenized by their deep Communist values and their disdain of Capitalism.

Directed by Rhys Thomas of ‘Saturday Night Live’ fame, the series is a surprisingly tasteful pastiche that sort of claps back at the likes of ‘Red Dawn’ (1984) and ‘Rocky IV’ (1985) which, according to Mr Gatewood, was essentially propaganda in the United States at the height of the Cold War. Mr Tatum went on to remember his own childhood in the ‘80s, where virtually every movie had a Russian villain. With ‘Comrade Detective’, the writers decided to show the world what life would have been like for the ‘other side’, for the dreaded ‘Commies’—in an anything-but-serious fashion whilst also delivering a remarkably poignant message for America and the West, in general.

‘COMRADE DETECTIVE’ (2017), ©AMAZON STUDIOS

From an ideological perspective, both political establishments get skewered in this series. Russian Communism, for its indoctrination and often absurd, bloody extremes despite its otherwise good intentions, and American Capitalism, for its hypocrisy and lack of self-control, for its greed and absence of social justice. In the end, both dogmas are the villains, and their representatives are simply doing the best they can with what they are given, genuinely believing that their path is the righteous one. Though it pretends to portray the real Communist society of Romania from that period, ‘Comrade Detective’ treads gently when it comes to character development. Credit where it’s due, as Gatewood and Tanaka do a surprisingly good job of portraying a world that very few in the West ever got a chance to truly observe.

‘COMRADE DETECTIVE’ (2017), ©AMAZON STUDIOS

Of course, there are plenty of bloopers and minor inaccuracies, but I’ll forgive it all for how the writers treat their characters from beginning to end. There are twists and there are plenty of turns—not to mention questions. The villain is the psychopathic embodiment of American Capitalism, but we also get a reluctant yet helpful hand through Jane, Secretary-turned-Ambassador for the United States in Bucharest.

There is also a plethora of the chucklesome and the chilling along the way, too. While American viewers might find themselves forced to peer into an exaggerated mirror that shows the ugliest side of their culture, Romanian viewers will have a hard time letting go of the bitter taste of nostalgia. Few people miss that decade.

‘COMRADE DETECTIVE’ (2017), ©AMAZON STUDIOS

In terms of performances, Mr Piersic Jr. and Mr Ulici are exquisite loyal Communist cops with smart-ass jabs and multifaceted pasts. Olivia Nita is an intriguing Jane, additionally spiced up by SNL alumna Jenny Slate’s dubbing. And speaking of voice acting, this series managed to put together an impressive cast that includes Jason Mantzoukas, Fred Armisen, Chloë Sevigny, Nick Offerman, Beck Bennett, and Daniel Craig, to name but a few. The Romanian actors are equally stupendous—I was particularly impressed by Diana Vladu’s Sonya Baciu, Iosif’s loving and fiercely Communist wife. A Mexican proverb says that the house does not rest on the ground but rather on the shoulders of a woman—it certainly applies to Sonya.

With a score composed by Joe Kraemer of ‘Jack Reacher’ (2012) fame, ‘Comrade Detective’ aims to immerse its viewers into the gritty atmosphere of an era long gone. Quality-wise, the series is infinitely better than what Romanian studios would’ve been able to produce at the time. Sam Goldie, better known for his work on ‘Green Zone’ (2010) and ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ (2001), is the cinematographer in charge of rendering this delightfully fun morsel of lampooned propaganda. Worth noting here that the team behind this project, beginning with the writers and going all the way into the set decoration and costume departments, never aimed to spoof Communism as Americans but rather imagined themselves as the Communist Romanians who “created” it.

‘COMRADE DETECTIVE’ (2017), ©AMAZON STUDIOS

A tip of the hat goes to Dan Toader, production designer, also known for ‘What Happened to Monday’ (2017) and ‘The Sisters Brothers’ (2018). Drawing from reality and his own memories of the Communist period, Mr Toader finds the appropriate design and colour tone to make ‘Comrade Detective’ just a smidge more realistic. I find it easier to believe the story and its anything-but-subtle characters when everything around them reminds me of my own childhood.

But all the talents involved aside, I would like to go back to the idea behind this witty production, which was so simply and eloquently described by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in an article penned for IndieWire. It ‘isn’t only making fun of Eastern Bloc Communism. It takes a few shots at Western Capitalism, but in my opinion, that’s not it, either. There’s a different “ism” that I think it’s really getting at—tribalism.’

And in that sense, he couldn’t be more right. Yes, we can make fun of the silly woollen hats and the preposterous propaganda and the appreciation of televised chess matches as though they were Superbowl Sunday games, and we can make fun of the overweight Americans gorging on hamburgers and the summarily dressed American women who snicker at the ways of these backwards Communist ‘pieces of scum’, but we’d be blind to the bigger picture. Both sides wholeheartedly believe that their culture is the best and that everything else isn’t just wrong. It’s evil.

‘COMRADE DETECTIVE’ (2017), ©AMAZON STUDIOS

It’s enough to take a look around today and see how polarized the world has become. The Left versus the Right. Labour versus Conservatives in the United Kingdom. Democrats versus Republicans in the United States. Naturally, no one really likes the politics of life in this day and age, yet it has all become an integral part of our existence. We forget that what we do and who we are—regardless of our creeds and affiliations—wasn’t always this, and it won’t always be this, either. Policies change. The world itself changes.

And though ‘Comrade Detective’ addresses a society that is no longer there, we can’t help but look at it as a thinly veiled warning. It won’t be the resurgence of Communism or the malignancy of out-of-control Capitalism that will destroy us. It will be the aforementioned tribalism and our growing inability to look beyond our bubbles. In that sense, the series does raise a few queries.

How much of what we believe is actually ‘right’? How wrong are we in our ways, and we didn’t even know it? Given what a complicated year this has been thus far, I say it’s time we consider finding answers to these questions.

Or so I feel, at least, upon watching Aaron Guzikowski’s masterpiece on HBO Max. I have not been this excited about a sci-fi series since ‘The Expanse’ (2015), and for good reason. ‘Raised by Wolves’ (2020) is a story about humanity’s last chance at survival after nearly destroying itself. The root of the problem? Religious fundamentalism injected into an authoritarian state versus atheist militias that are willing to become the very monsters they fight against in order to defeat their enemy. But there is more to this than mere concepts of extremism and advanced artificial intelligence.

This is also a story about children, for they are the future.

‘Raised by Wolves’ follows two androids tasked with establishing a human colony on planet Kepler-22B. All they have is a space pod with advanced technology and a handful of human children they must raise in an atheist manner, much like the androids’ ‘creator’, Campion Sturges. While Father is a state-of-the-art service humanoid, Mother is a repurposed Necromancer, a veritable killing machine with a wide array of deadly abilities. Due to her reprogramming as a nurturer, however, Mother doesn’t remember her downright murderous past as a weapon in the hands of the Mithraic, the religious zealots who practically destroyed Earth. She does rediscover the aforementioned abilities, and so her character arc begins as she is tested in her mission to protect the children.

‘RAISED BY WOLVES’ (2020), HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

Kepler-22B is not a welcoming planet. It is mostly arid, with freezing nights and deadly creatures lurking in the darkness. Worse even, the androids fail to raise all the children they brought over from Earth. Some succumb to incurable illnesses, while others perish in tragic accidents. Only one, named after Campion Sturges, survives. He becomes a key element as two different worlds begin to collide right in front of him, threatening to change not only his views but also how he perceives life.

The Mithraic have caught up, now docking their enormous Ark into orbit. They have resources, a military force and advanced technologies, and conflict quickly erupts when Mother retaliates and nearly obliterates the entire fleet while taking a handful of children away to replace the ones she lost. One can rarely observe a finer metaphor to address a mother’s grief.

‘RAISED BY WOLVES’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

Enter Marcus and Sue, two Atheists posing as Mithraic soldiers, desperate to get their son back from Mother’s clutches. It becomes increasingly hard to root for them once it becomes clear that all Mother wants is to fulfil the original Campion’s dream of a better humanity—a world where no religion exists. Her sole objective is to raise children into worthy humans.

It becomes a battle for our very souls as we begin to see the flaws in our species, so eloquently portrayed by the Mithraic against the sweet and ignorant innocence of younglings. Between them, Mother and Father struggle to do the right thing, shocking us with their ability to learn, to protect, and to love. This complex series is insanely ambitious and downright mind-blowing on multiple levels, and I cannot recommend it enough.

‘RAISED BY WOLVES’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

Aaron Guzikowski is no stranger to bold and compelling projects. Better known for penning the screenplays for ‘Papillon’ (2017) and ‘Prisoners’ (2013), the American director has been a showrunner before with ‘The Red Road’ (2014-2015), starring Jason Momoa. Through ‘Raised by Wolves’, however, one can see his spectacularly steep learning curve. It is an impressive accomplishment, to say the least, made even more important with the involvement of luminaries such as Ridley Scott, who also directed the first two episodes.

At the heart of every good film or series is a good screenplay, and it is truly a delight to follow ‘Raised by Wolves’ as it smashes through pretty much every barrier of its genre. Its rhythm isn’t frantic because the story has time to develop, easing us into this strange world much like Mr Scott’s ‘Prometheus’ from a few years back, but it’s not too slow, either. There is hardly a moment where one might get lost. Its threads are loose but gradually coming together in a splendid weave as the religious (Mithraic, worshipers of a deity named Sol), the atheists (Marcus, Sue, Mother, Father), and the non-religious (young Campion) are forced into a series of situations that bring about change on a deeper, fundamental level. When this is over, when we reach the final conclusion, no one will be the same again.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of ‘Raised by Wolves’ is how far the writer is willing to go with an AI’s ability to understand and experience love. For us, humans, it is a sentiment brought on by social interaction and hormonal reactions. What is it like for Mother, one wonders? Her feelings are clear and undeniable. Her emotions raw despite her otherwise strict programming. Mother’s journey from former villain to a hero for her children is truly a splendid feat of screenwriting.

‘RAISED BY WOLVES’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

The performances are simply out of this world. Amanda Collin and Abubakar Salim as Mother and Father, respectively, are the heroes that nobody saw coming. It’s impossible not to root for Mother when she is willing to sacrifice herself in order to teach Winta McGrath’s young Campion that violence—though a defining trait of her original design—is not and should never be an option. It’s hard not to love Father for how hard he tries to make everyone happy, teaching the children to survive in a harsh environment while figuring out ways to please his otherwise dangerous partner.

Travis Fimmel of ‘Vikings’ (2012-2017) and ‘Warcraft’ (2016) fame is a beautifully troubling and imperfect Marcus. Niamh Algar is Sue, who does the best she can with what she believes and what she is given. They’re both Atheist Militants pretending to be Mithraic after facial reconstruction surgery. They killed Paul’s parents and took their place on the Ark. It was the only way that they could survive. Prior to their arrival to Kepler-22B, survival and revenge had been their core objectives, but after spending thirteen years in a virtual simulation coma, both Marcus and Sue have become attached to Paul, sweetly portrayed by Felix Jamieson.

To make matters worse, not only has their ‘son’ been taken by a seemingly lethal Necromancer, but Marcus is hearing the god Sol’s voice in his head—this, in turn, bumps him up the hierarchical ladder within the surviving Mithraic cluster that is determined to turn Kepler-22B into another Earth, complete with churches and strict religious traditions.

‘RAISED BY WOLVES’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

The children stand out on their own, most of them torn from a zealous cradle and taught by androids, of all things, about compassion, fairness, and mercy. Each of them has a story to tell. Campion is confused by this concept of Sol as the supreme entity but eager to do right by others. Paul wishes to please the parents who have spent most of his life ignoring him, prior to the Ark. Tempest, brought to life by the talented Jordan Loughran, has to deal with an unwanted pregnancy after she was raped during her virtual simulation coma. Aasiya Shah’s Holly and Ethan Hazzard’s Hunter are more bound to the Mithraic than they are to their new android parents. Naturally, betrayal turns the tides and breaks many hearts as the viewers helplessly watch the past repeating itself.

Of course, none of this would be as profoundly arresting without the spectacular camerawork. Mr Guzikowski employs the talents of three stellar cinematographers for ‘Raised by Wolves’, each of them leaving an imprint on their respective episodes. Ross Emery, better known for his work on ‘I, Frankenstein’ (2014) and ‘The Wolverine’ (2013), is responsible for five chapters, including the pilot. Eric Messerschmidt of ‘Mindhunter’ (2017) and ‘Legion’ (2018) renown delivers a visceral vision through three episodes. A noticeable surprise comes from Dariusz Wolski, who has returned to work with Ridley Scott again after ‘The Martian’ (2015) and the epic ‘Prometheus’ (2012).

‘RAISED BY WOLVES’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

Also from the ‘Prometheus’ era, Marc Streitenfeld signs the series’ score alongside Ben Frost, the latter known for his more sombre work on ‘Dark’ (2017-2020). Everything about ‘Raised by Wolves’ is meant to stir a certain set of emotions, and I dare say it’s a successful endeavour, considering that the opening theme alone is capable of encompassing everything good and awful about us in just a handful of lyrics.

With Tom McCullagh of ‘Game of Thrones’ (2011-2019) and Chris Seagers of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ (1998) signing off on the production design, alongside talented art directors such as Jonathan Hely-Hutchinson and Fiona Gavin, the world of Kepler-22B is as intense and as dreary as the writer intended. It was entirely shot in Cape Town, South Africa, with the production team taking advantage of the country’s breath-taking views, some of which are seamlessly incorporated into the setting. One can’t help but applaud the elegant minimalism of sci-fi elements against the wilderness of an unknown and fundamentally hostile realm. It serves as a metaphor for our condition, as well—try as hard as we’d like, with or without religion, we’re all but fodder for the stars.

‘RAISED BY WOLVES’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

Ultimately, ‘Raised by Wolves’ may be perceived as polarizing by religious and atheist viewers alike, though perhaps more by the former than the latter, but the series only has our truth and our violent history to work with. Billions died and more keep dying in wars fuelled by religion and supremacy of one kind or another. Should a cataclysmic event appear on the horizon of our collective existence, how will we survive? If we’re given a second chance at life, what will we do with it?

In Mr Guzikowski’s extraordinary sci-fi drama, these are the very questions that Mother and Father are trying to answer. It’s a rather disappointing conclusion to say that I expect more from the androids than I do from the humans, but given the current climate in which our world festers, perhaps our greatest hope really does lie in our scientific accomplishments. The series serves as a clear warning about the dangers of extremism in every form, religious and atheist alike.

The ultimate threat to humanity, then, is not artificial intelligence like some great minds of the 20^th century have warned. Ideologies are.

HBO have truly outdone themselves this autumn. There are several shows I’m already raving about, of which some I will cover in heartfelt reviews over the next few weeks, but one has managed to stand out from the very first episode: ‘Lovecraft Country’ (2020). I waited until episode five so as not to get ahead of myself and fall for the good-for-the-first-three-episodes-only trick. The gods of television have been kind, however, so 2020 isn’t entirely in the gutter.

I’m a huge fan of genre storytelling used to explore the unpleasant parts of a nation’s history. Damon Lindelof did a splendiferous job of it with ‘Watchmen’ (2019), which recently garnered a record number of Primetime Emmy nominations—twenty-six! There is simply something about weaving elements of uncomfortable truth into a series otherwise designed to thrill people. It’s the cold shower that no one asked for, yet everyone welcomes at the end. In that sense, Misha Green’s ‘Lovecraft Country’ is an astonishing work of televised art.

Before I dig into what makes me love this show so much, I think a small disclaimer is required for those unaware of the series’ source material. While its title and genre melange bring up plenty of Lovecraftian references, the show doesn’t have much of the master of horror’s actual writings at its foundation. ‘Lovecraft Country’ is based on the eponymous book by Matt Ruff and can be considered an homage to H.P. Lovecraft, at best, as a dark fantasy experiment aiming to combine the depiction of racism in America with spine-tingling fiction and a handful of borrowed shoggoths. Critically acclaimed, the book was bound to reach the screen eventually, considering its multi-layered offer of magic, human nature, and blood-pumping frights.

‘LOVECRAFT COUNTRY’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

There were many ways in which the show’s narrative and overall performance could have gone awry. Its success might have something to do with Misha Green’s decision to collaborate with Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams on this project. The former has already made an indelible mark with deliciously frightful works such as ‘Get Out’ (2017) and ‘Us’ (2019), and the latter is a household name in everything sci-fi and utterly fantastic, best known for ‘Star Trek’ (2009), ‘Super 8’ (2011), and ‘Lost’ (2004-2010), among others. ‘Lovecraft Country’ therefore got off to a formidable start.

The story follows Atticus Turner and his closest friends and family as they grapple with the discovery of magic and occult brotherhoods in the midst of Jim Crow America. From the very beginning, we’re treated to remarkably strong and three-dimensional characters faced with insanely difficult challenges—and that’s before the monsters even show up. What I appreciate most is the apparent irregularity in the narrative thread: if episodes 1 to 2 gave us a thorough introduction into the Sons of Adam lodge and Atticus’s connection to them, for example, episode 3 focuses mostly on Leti and the haunted Victorian mansion she buys on Chicago’s North Side, while episode 4 pulls the story back on the Sons of Adam and Atticus’s determination to learn magic so that he might use it to protect those he loves, and episode 5 takes us closer to Ruby as she gets to experience life in the skin of a white woman. There are so many shades of weird and spooky, repeated viewings are a must!

‘LOVECRAFT COUNTRY’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

Where the writing is concerned, multiple influences can be identified in the series’ screenwriting. H.P. Lovecraft aside, I’m reminded of Alan Ball’s ‘True Blood’ (2008-2014), given the infusion of sex, mysticism, blood, and oh, so much gore. The story is solid, with good source material and excellent character development—I love each and every one of them intensely. Atticus brought ghosts of the Korean War with him back to America, distraught by the realization that he, too, is capable of inflicting harm and pain and death upon others. Worst of all, he’s more like his father than he’d thought, and that becomes his shadow. Montrose is a complex man, to say the least, struggling with a murky past, his own sexuality, and his lethal, desperate desire to keep magic out of his son’s reach, the very son he beat the living daylights out of as a child.

Leti is young, the element of arousing innocence that finds unexpected courage in the face of mortal danger. She’s the balancing force against Atticus’s rage, and the superb portrait of a strong black woman in defiance of America’s white dominance of the Jim Crow era. Ruby is the older sister, a spicy combination of resentment and deep emotional hurt—she has seen and endured plenty more than her lighter-skinned sister, and she has stories of her own to tell. Even Christina Braithwaite and William are fascinating forces of disruption, while Hippolyta and George Freeman bring a sprinkle of wisdom and maturity to the boiling pot, despite the tragic end to their decades-long love story.

‘LOVECRAFT COUNTRY’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

The performances are absolutely stellar from top to bottom. Jonathan Majors as Atticus Freeman is beyond compelling. Better known for ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’ (2019), Mr Majors’s star is rising fast, and it is easy to see why as he breathes his whole life into Atticus. Jurnee Smollett takes everyone’s breath away as Leti Lewis, bold and perhaps a little reckless but eager to live a full life and do the right thing. Yes, the world is full of creepy and awful things—particularly people, though Leti pushes forward and does whatever is humanly possible to save herself and to help others.

In a spectacular contrast, Michael Kenneth Williams of ‘The Wire’ (2002-2008) and ‘Boardwalk Empire’ (2010-2014) gives Montrose a plethora of sides for the viewer to study. He’s the former abuser, the looming father figure that Atticus tried his best to step away from yet ended up being a lot alike. He’s the man learning to love another man after years of hiding his true self in a society that doesn’t look kindly on LGBTQ people. He’s the saboteur who knows more than he is telling us and will even kill to keep magic out of his son’s reach—not because he doesn’t want Atticus to have some kind of advantage against the white oppressors but because he knows… he has seen what such power will do. His apparent antagonism makes sense once you understand the trauma he survived prior to his rescue.

‘LOVECRAFT COUNTRY’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

Aunjanue Ellis, better known for her role as Madeleine Hightower in ‘The Mentalist’ (2008-2015) and as Sharonne Salaam in Ava Duvernay’s ‘When They See Us’ (2019), delivers a rendition in ‘Lovecraft Country’ like nothing I’ve seen before. Her Hippolyta loves Courtney B. Vance’s George Freeman deeply, but she is forced to adjust to life without him practically overnight. She tries to understand what happened. And while Atticus, Montrose, and Leti do their best to protect her from the ugly truth, Hippolyta charges head-first at the problem. The truth is more important, regardless of its aesthetic.

Wunmi Mosaku is Ruby Baptiste. The Nigerian actress has several impressive credits to her name—among them ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ (2016) and ‘Philomena’ (2013), but it’s in ‘Lovecraft Country’ that one sees the full spectrum of what she has to offer: impeccable talent and a smouldering gaze that will burn a whole set down. Ruby is bursting with musical talent and the desire for a better life, for dignity and equality in a society that denies her purely because of her skin colour. Magic becomes a double-edged blade for Ruby. It takes her a while to realise that magic, unlike humans, does not see colour. It only gives its wielder the opportunity to do whatever they want, as Miss Braithwaite might say.

‘LOVECRAFT COUNTRY’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

‘Lovecraft Country’ is not Misha Green’s first foray as a showrunner. She brings plenty of experience to the table with ‘Helix’ (2014) and ‘Underground’ (2016-2017), along with an in-depth understanding of the source material and of the history of racial dynamics in the United States. One would need both to produce something so multifaceted and complex, so fascinating, so beautiful and horrifying at the same time.

Aside from its aforementioned Lovecraftian influences, the show is also a visual tribute to George Romero. It’s what horror filmmakers of the past century could only dream of. We have the constantly developing SFX technology and computer animation to thank for that. The mastery begins with the cinematographers in this case—namely, Robert McLachlan and Michael Watson. You’ll remember Mr McLachlan for his Emmy-nominated work on ‘Game of Thrones’ (2011-2019) and ‘Ray Donovan’ (2013-2020), and Mr Watson for ‘Underground’ and ‘Black Lightning’ (2018-2019), both capable of formidable imagery to accompany the equally exceptional production design, signed by Kalina Ivanov and Howard Cummings.

‘LOVECRAFT COUNTRY’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

Moving past the magnificent costume and set design and the production’s brilliant art direction, which when combined manage to easily submerge the viewer in 1950s Chicago, a tip of the hat is owed to the special effects—the result of Ms Green’s collaboration with Academy-Award-winning creative studio Framestore.

Truth be told, I’d envisioned the shoggoth monsters more along the lines of how H.P. Lovecraft had described them in ‘At the Mountains of Madness’: ‘Formless protoplasm able to mock and reflect all forms and organs and processes – viscous agglutinations of bubbling cells – rubbery fifteen-foot spheroids infinitely plastic and ductile’, but Framestore’s proposal in the ‘Sundown’ and ‘Whitey on the Moon’ episodes were just as frightening, if not worse.

‘LOVECRAFT COUNTRY’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

‘Lovecraft Country’ is full of such moments where dread is mercilessly induced, and a rapid heart rate is expected. Ruby’s metamorphosis continues to haunt me even as I write this review. George Romero would be giggling with sheer joy at this point, for Misha Green manages to make the viewer’s stomach churn while forcing them to keep watching—this is just too good to miss any of it, even the gooey, bloody, slimy and gory parts, proving that beauty exists in horror, too. There’s no shortage of violence and limbs flying, either, but they only serve as minor plot devices.

The true horror of ‘Lovecraft Country’ comes not from the monsters and the dark magic that it loves to play with in each episode. It doesn’t come from the many secrets still left to uncover about the Sons of Adam, either. No, the true horror of ‘Lovecraft Country’ comes from mankind and the terrible things too many people are willing to do in their quest for absolute dominance over the rest of the world and over those they foolishly consider inferior. The true monsters aren’t the shoggoths.

‘LOVECRAFT COUNTRY’ (2020), ©HBO/HOME BOX OFFICE

The true monsters are those who perpetuate racism to this day. The near-deadly troubles that Atticus and his friends deal with are basically what one too many Black Americans continue to face today, albeit at different levels and in varying circumstances. In that sense, ‘Lovecraft Country’ is a heart-breaking, compelling study of Black Americans and their painful history. I’ve seen enough to eagerly see this season’s journey to the end.

Tony award-winning actress and author Tonya Pinkins has written, directed and produced her first feature film, Red Pill. A political thriller, the film was designed as a scary wake-up call that shines a bright light on American politics.

The television, film and Broadway star decided to step behind the camera and use her voice as an artist and storyteller to paint a vivid picture of the grave repercussions that the current political climate in America has on the country’s people.

‘RED PILL’ POSTER. © DAVID REINFELDER

The film features the work of a talented cast and crew, including eight-time Grammy award-winning Latin music star Rubén Blades (Fear the Walking Dead), Catherine Curtain (Orange is the New Black, Stranger Things, Homeland), Kathryn Erbe (Law & Order: Criminal Intent), Tonya Pinkins (Fear The Walking Dead, Madame Secretary), Colby Minifie (The Boys, Fear the Walking Dead), Luba Mason (Person of Interest, NYPD Blue), Jake O’Flaherty (Criminal Minds, Shameless) and Adesola Osakalumi (Sex & The City 2, Ice).

Red Pill is currently in post-production and is set for release this autumn.

For more information, visit: http://redpillmovie2020.com/

What is Red Pill about?

As a plot, it’s about a group of progressives – that would be our blue in America – going to canvas the weekend of the 2020 election and confronting the red opposition that is determined to stop them in their mission.

I made this story because I’ve been watching my country become a dictatorship for a very long time. And I think when you live in New York City, where they just think they run the world, there’s a kind of delusion that people have and so the movie for me is about the disconnect between liberals, the blue, and their believes about themselves as opposed to the people who are the conservatives, the red, who are very committed, very organized, very structured, who know what they want and take action.

Even in the way I wrote it, the red pill women don’t ever speak until the final scene. Whereas the blue people, they’re just always talking, they’ve got theories and they’ve got ideas and then when the violence begins, they don’t know what to do! [laughs] Which is how I see my country right now. Essentially, civil war began in Portland. Our president had US military attack US citizens. It’s already happened and nothing has been done.

At the time that I wrote it, some people thought, ‘Oh, gosh, you’re so far out, Tonya!’ And now we’re kind of there. And so, in a way, there’s this part of me that feels like, ‘I’m making a movie, but we’re living it.’ When I wrote it, I felt that it was coming and I thought, ‘Well, this can be the wakeup call, but it’s too late for a wakeup call.’

© RED PILL MOVIE 2020 LLC

Was the film inspired by the recent developments in American politics or has this story been at the back of your mind for a while now? 

It’s been at the back of my mind since before Obama was elected. Just watching how America’s leaning very far to the right politically. The majority of people in our country want health care for everybody and fair wages, but the people in power don’t want that. And the people who don’t want that have the most money and there’s been a lot of ‘red pilling’ – which my movie is about – of even what we would have thought of as our organizations that uphold equality, like the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). They were very strongly for this thing called Citizens United, which made money speech. See, I can’t support the ACLU when someone clearly from the other side got into the ACLU and dominated to push that agenda through.

I think that that’s happened in more and more places and I really just feel like I need to get out of the country. So it’s like, ‘Get your movie out. Get out of the country.’ [laughs]

You play the role of Cassandra. Is she the main character in the film? What can you tell us about her?

I think of the film more as an ensemble film.

It’s funny because I was directing and I needed to be over there. I was trying to get my other performances. Cassandra does not have a lot of coverage. She gets like one solo scene really. But Cassandra is the character who keeps saying to her friends, ‘This place is spooky. Let’s go home. Let’s get out of here, it doesn’t feel good.’ And nobody listens and then it’s too late.

Did you write the character specifically for yourself?

I did write her for myself. I’m a Cassandra – I’m always that person who’s warning people and they don’t take things seriously.

TONYA PINKINS. © GREG NANAMURA

Have you always wanted to direct?

I’ve dabbled directing theatre a lot and then I spent the last three years shadowing as a director in television. I made a couple of short films over the years and I’ve loved it every time I did it. But it takes so many people. You need a village to make a film. And after three years of shadowing as a director and having relationships with showrunners, producers and execs, I didn’t feel like I was any closer to getting the opportunity.

First of all, it’s a privilege to get to shadow. You have to know somebody or get in a program to get even the opportunity so that in and of itself is a big hurdle that a lot of people can’t do. I had the relationships that I had with the directors and showrunners because I’d worked for them as an actor. But even at the end of that, you’re taking a month off your life where you fly yourself to wherever the show is, you’re putting yourself up. Yes, you get to eat on the set but that’s a month when you can’t work on anything else. You’re like being an intern and taking time out of being a self-supporting person in order to get this opportunity.

Having spent about four months over three years doing that, I was like, ‘WOW, I can’t afford to keep doing this and it doesn’t feel like anybody’s going to hire me.’ So I was like, ‘I better just hire myself.’

After having been involved in so many aspects of creating this film, are you considering leaning more towards writing and directing going forward or do you still feel more comfortable in front of the camera and on stage? 

I don’t think I ever need to get in front of the camera or on stage again. I love it on this side. I love being the person who creates opportunities for other people. I’m very happy telling stories. I have a bunch more horror movies I want to make because that’s my favourite genre.

KATHRYN ERBE, TONYA PINKINS AND LUBA MASON IN ‘RED PILL’. © GREG NANAMURA

You’re working with Matthias Gohl on the soundtrack. Can you tell us a bit about the direction you gave him for the music?

He’s going to record a string quartet in Iceland. He’s insisting on that, which is very expensive.

I love strings. I loved what [composer] Arthur Simonini did for ‘Portrait of a Woman on Fire’. I went and listened to some other of his music, particularly this French documentary he did, ‘Le monde sous les bombes, de Guernica à Hiroshima’. I loved that entire documentary score. When we temp-tracked the movie, we used this classical music with a lot of strings.

I like counterpoint. If it’s a scary moment, I like the music to kind of be funny. And I like to give you a big laugh before some really tragic thing is going to happen.

If used properly, art can be a powerful weapon and you’re obviously doing your bit with your new film. But how can we, the people on the other side of the screen, help make a difference?

Great question. I was talking to a friend this morning. We were talking about just what was going on politically. The Guardian wrote an article that Trump is consulting with this guy [John] Yoo, this attorney who drafted the document that gave Bush all of these powers. And he’s known for saying, ‘What do you want to do? We’ll figure out how to make the law do it’. And I started feeling like, ‘Why am I making a movie? A revolution is going to happen.’ And my friend said, ‘Yeah, but artists have always have been at the forefront of every movement. And if we don’t keep making art, then aren’t we letting them win?’

You know, whenever the fascists take over, they kill all the artists because we are so powerful. There’s this sculptor named Egon Weiner and I’m told that he said, ‘The only appropriate response to abuse is creativity.’ So I think that we have to keep creating work that both warns of what may come but also posits what is possible, what can be, better worlds, as well as showing what the possibility of the dystopian world is.

In making this movie, I definitely wanted people to get scared. But not just through the adrenaline of a horror movie but feel like, ‘Is that possible?! I don’t want that to be possible! Let’s do something!’ And trying to put it in an entertaining genre because the working class love horror. And the working class has the power to get out and vote and control what happens in this election. So painting a picture of what might be your worst nightmare. I wanted to have people go, ‘Whoa!’ OK, wake up! [laughs]

CATHERINE CURTIN AND COLBY MINIFIE IN RED PILL. © GREG NANAMURA

Have the recent protests in the US have made any real impact on the current situation in the US?

The uprisings have continued. The mainstream media isn’t covering them, but they are ongoing. That’s why what happened in Portland happened. Because people have been in the streets for fifty-four days. People have been occupying the mayor’s office here in New York. If there were no uprisings that were ongoing, Trump wouldn’t feel that he had to send federal agents into the cities. It has not subsided. It’s just not getting the coverage anymore.

 How have you been keeping yourself busy during the pandemic?

I think that for a lot of people, the pandemic has been a windfall and a gift. It has not been that for the essential workers, for the health care workers, for the grocery store people, for the delivery people. And so this divide is really showing me that we never really had a democracy here. For people who had jobs and lost them, there was this amount of money that they received every week and that was lovely because a lot of people were like, ‘Great! This is more money than I was doing.’ That’s about to end in a week. But all those essential workers and health care workers didn’t get that. And they’ve been risking their lives and they don’t have sick pay and health care and the hospitals don’t have room for them.

I’m a hermit and I like being alone. I have not suffered during the pandemic. Most of my suffering is just sitting up worrying and watching people being brutalized in the streets. And feeling like, ‘I’m an old woman. What can I do?’ But I really care about the fact that this country is just proving every day that it doesn’t care about any of us. It isn’t about black or white or female or trans. It just doesn’t care about humanity. Property is more important than people. And that’s got to change, whatever it takes. It took a pandemic for people to go, ‘Oh, they really don’t care about me. Revolution – we got to have it.’

TONYA PINKINS. © JAMES ALEXANDER

A lot of artists are struggling during the pandemic because they miss the spotlight, the stage and the applause. What advice would you give them?

I just feel like creativity can be in a lot of different ways. I studied with William Esper as an adult and he would say about actors that, ‘It takes seven years to become an actor. Most people start out wanting attention. And then after you’ve gotten over that, then you can become a real actor.’

I think perhaps this is a time to go inward and figure what it is you really want. Is it attention that you want or do you want to have impact where people are changed by the work that you did, where you’ve touched them in a way that they have to think about their life differently?

The BBC has revealed first-look photos and a release date for the brand new TV adaptation of Alan Bennett’s ’Talking Heads’.

The original monologues, which were first broadcast on the BBC in 1988 and 1998, featured an impressive star cast, and the 2020 version of the show doesn’t fall short either.

The 2020 version of ‘Talking Heads’ will boast an all-star line-up including Jodie Comer, Martin Freeman, Tamsin Greig, Lesley Manville, Imelda Staunton, Sarah Lancashire, Lucian Msamati, Maxine Peake, Rochenda Sandall, Kristin Scott Thomas, Harriet Walter, and Monica Dolan.

MARTIN FREEMAN AS GRAHAM WHITTAKER. ©LONDON THEATRE COMPANY/ZAC NICHOLSON/BBC

The original version attracted the likes of Dame Julie Walters, Maggie Smith, Patricia Routledge, Stephanie Cole, Dame Thora Hird, Dame Eileen Atkins, David Haig and Dame Penelope Wilton, alongside Alan Bennett himself, who portrayed Graham Whittaker in ‘A Chip In The Sugar’, a role now inherited by Martin Freeman.

At the time, the monologues won two Baftas, an RTS award and have also been included on the A-level and GCSE English Literature syllabus.

JODIE COMER AS LESLEY. ©LONDON THEATRE COMPANY/ZAC NICHOLSON/BBC

The new series includes twelve monologues, each performed by a different actor, ten of which are retellings of the original pieces. The other two are new stories written by Bennett last year. The first, titled ‘An Ordinary Woman’, sees Sarah Lancashire sitting at a kitchen table next to a pot of coffee and the other new work, called ‘The Shrine’, will be performed by Monica Dolan, in which she is also seated at a kitchen table. The plots for these two new stories are yet to be revealed.

Martin Freeman portrays Graham Whittaker, a middle-aged repressed homosexual with a history of mental health issues, who suddenly finds his life challenging as his mother, with whom he still lives under the same roof, rekindles an old flame with a man from her past.

SARAH LANCASHIRE. ©LONDON THEATRE COMPANY/ZAC NICHOLSON/BBC

Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer plays Lesley, an aspiring actress who is offered what she believes to be her big break in a new film for the West German market. It’s likely she is not aware of the fact that she is appearing in a soft porn film. In the original series, the role was played by Dame Julie Walters.

IMELDA STAUNTON AS IRENE RUDDOCK. ©LONDON THEATRE COMPANY/ZAC NICHOLSON/BBC

Irene Ruddock is played by Harry Potter’s Imelda Staunton. She is a single, middle-aged woman who lives near Bradford. Irene is not afraid to speak her mind so She frequently writes to her MP, the police, the chemist to inform them of the social issue she witnesses around her. Things take a weird turn as Irene begins to suspect her neighbours of child neglect.

MONICA DOLAN. ©LONDON THEATRE COMPANY/ZAC NICHOLSON/BBC

Thanks to the contained nature of the monologues, they could be filmed with casts and crews socially distancing and following safe working practises during the coronavirus outbreak, using existing sets at BBC Elstree Studios.

Here is the full cast for the new version of the show:

• Jodie Comer in ‘Her Big Chance’
• Monica Dolan in ‘The Shrine’
• Martin Freeman in ‘A Chip In The Sugar’
• Tamsin Greig in ‘Nights In The Garden of Spain’
• Sarah Lancashire in ‘An Ordinary Woman’
• Lesley Manville in ‘Bed Among The Lentils’
• Lucian Msamati in ‘Playing Sandwiches’
• Maxine Peake in ‘Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet’
• Rochenda Sandall in ‘The Outside Dog’
• Kristin Scott Thomas in ‘The Hand Of God’
• Imelda Staunton in ‘A Lady Of Letters Harriet Walter in Soldiering On’

The series will be broadcast on BBC One from 9pm on Tuesday 23 June 2020 with a double-bill.

After this, all 12 monologues will be made available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

According to Deadline, the bidding melee for one of Hollywood’s highest profile features is about to end. Apple is likely to win, and the agreements are currently being put on paper, with Paramount due to sign off. ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’, the Martin Scorsese-directed film with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro in leading roles, will be marketed as an Apple original film, though Paramount will be in charge of its theatrical distribution worldwide.

It had been a while since Paramount had acquired the title from Imperative Entertainment when it allowed Rick Yorn, Scorsese and DiCaprio’s manager, to shop it around a few weeks back. According to several sources, the studio was anxious about a $180-$200 million price tag over an Oklahoma location shoot. On top of that, Paramount’s execs were more interested in the original Eric Roth screenplay than its rewrite. But once the brass allowed Mr Yorn to market the project, every single studio from Universal to MGM and streamers like Netflix and Apple have fought over it.

 

RITA SMITH, ANNA BROWN, MOLLIE BURKHART, AND MINNIE SMITH, OSAGE VICTIMS & SUBJECTS OF ‘KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON’, ©THE OSAGE NATIONAL MUSEUM/DOUBLEDAY

While some might have expected the streaming rights to go to Netflix, Scorsese’s previous backer for ‘The Irishman’ (2019), it appears that Apple will be the financier and the creative studio for ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’, making it a rare instance of a cinematic ‘best of both worlds’. The film will first get a massive release in theatres worldwide through Paramount, after which it will become the biggest title available on Apple’s streaming service. A key priority was for the film to be a large-scale Western—Scorsese, DiCaprio, De Niro and producers Dan Friedkin and Bradley Thomas at Imperative had all agreed on this.

After ‘Greyhound’, the WWII film with Tom Hanks in the lead and as the author of the script, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is Apple’s second major movie deal. The streamer is obviously beginning to move through the industry and its shifting market, shooting straight for the heavyweights.

The Scorsese-directed drama is based on the eponymous book penned by David Grann, the New Yorker journalist whose non-fiction writings have already crossed over into the cinematic realm with ‘The Lost City of Z’ (2016) and Robert Redford’s exquisite ‘The Old Man and the Gun’ (2018). ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ caught the public eye five years ago, when Friedkin and Thomas outbid everyone and slapped a $5 million price tag on the film rights.

The book unravels the mystery behind a series of murders of Oklahoma’s wealthy Osage Native Americans in the 1920s, after precious oil deposits were discovered beneath their lands—ironically, the tribe had been relocated from Kansas on the assumption that their new home in Oklahoma would yield nothing of value. The investigation that followed virtually established the FBI and became a turning point in the evolution of post-frontier-era America.

Eric Roth of ‘Forrest Gump’ (1994) and ‘Munich’ (2005) fame wrote the screenplay adaptation, with Scorsese and DiCaprio signing on early, while Robert De Niro agreed to join the team later. It’s an important moment in contemporary cinema as Martin Scorsese partners with his two highly acclaimed acting collaborators—notably, De Niro and DiCaprio haven’t had a meaningful gig together since ‘This Boy’s Life’ (1993).

This year’s pilot season is considered ‘unfinished business’ by many, as pilots have been ordered but few to none were shot. Even so and in these unprecedented circumstances as we battle a global pandemic that halted jobs, careers, and numerous cinematic projects, it still feels like business as usual in May of 2020. Three of the five broadcast networks have begun picking up series from the pool of pilot orders.

‘B Positive’, CBS’ new comedy, is the only one based on a completed pilot. The others were straight-to-series orders encouraged by two or more scripts and the creative reputations of their proposed showrunners. Forced to deal with expensive decisions (a high-end drama series could go anywhere between $50 million and $80 million), the networks have taken some measures to minimize the risk of investment by opting for projects that are either based on well-known IP’s or come from popular and accomplished creators/producers. Also considered are any big stars or big commitments attached to the project, though ideally the networks do prefer a combination of two or more from the above.

CHUCK LORRE AT PALEYFEST 2013

Over the past couple of weeks, seven straight-to-series orders have been made. Two of them are reboots (‘The Equalizer’ from CBS with Queen Latifah, ‘Kung Fu’ from the CW), one is a sequel to an iconic film (‘Clarice’ from CBS, a follow-up to ‘The Silence of the Lambs’), and one is a book adaptation (‘Big Sky’ from ABC, based on Cassie Dewell’s book series). We’ll also be seeing a ‘Walker Texas Ranger’ reboot starring Jared Padalecki of ‘Supernatural’ fame, and ‘Superman & Lois’, both straight-to-series orders by the CW since January.

Greg Berlanti and Chuck Lorre are CBS and the CW’s aces up the sleeve. Mr Berlanti’s company produces ‘Kung Fu’ and ‘Superman & Lois’, while Mr Lorre is a co-creator and executive producer of ‘B Positive’. The former also has nine other series on the CW, while the latter has three successful comedies on CBS. On top of that, Alex Kurtzman, CBS All Access/CBS TV Studio MVP and the architect behind the newer ‘Star Trek’ universe and co-creator of ‘Hawaii Five-O’, will be taking on the ‘Clarice’ project—likely his most ambitious endeavour yet.

David E. Kelley, one of the best TV creators of the past thirty years, will be writing and executive producing ‘Big Sky’, while Kari Lizer of ‘The New Adventures of Old Christine’ fame will create and produce ‘Call Your Mother’, ABC’s newly picked comedy series featuring Kyra Sedgwick. ‘Young Rock’ will be put together by ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ creator Nahnatchka Khan and Dwayne Johnson for NBC, as well as ‘L.A. Mayor’, which will be helmed by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock.

While no one can blame any of the networks for trying to play it safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s hard to deny the benefits of an actual pilot season, which has repeatedly been the way to go through screenings and testing of dark-horse projects that might end up being incredibly popular—CBS’s ‘Blue Bloods’ and ABC’s ‘Grey Anatomy’ are but two examples. Broadcasters still plan on shooting some pilots later this year, but most will be rolled into the next pilot season.

There are also a few promising titles based on original ideas that don’t bear the usual signatures of NBC and Fox producers, which are the only networks that haven’t yet ordered series for any of their pilots. Among them, NBC’s ‘Debris’ and ‘Ordinary Joe’ stand out, along with Fox’s ‘Blood Relative’.

The current disruption of the flawed broadcast development cycle is clear, though, and it comes with unexpected benefits in the long run. Today’s programming choices might seem conventional to most, but the pilot season has been forced to change its pattern. Many doubt it will ever go back to pre-pandemic standards, which might in turn help bring fresh ideas to the table and push broadcasters into taking more chances without hanging everything on a single pilot.

Vampire lovers may rejoice, for after four long years since beloved author Anne Rice announced her intention to take two of her most popular series to the small screen, it has finally happened. ‘The Vampire Chronicles’ and ‘The Lives of the Mayfair Witches’ have found a home with the AMC Networks.

The television giant has gained the ‘comprehensive rights’ to develop content from both novel series across their TV networks and streaming platforms, including horror streamer Shudder. Mrs Rice and her son and author Christopher will be executive producers on both projects, which are likely to include feature length films, as well, and not just TV series under the AMC banner.

Rolin Jones, better known as a showrunner for ‘The Exorcist’ (2016) on Fox and set with an overall deal at AMC Networks, will undertake an active role in the development of the vampire and witch projects.

ANNE RICE, ©JOE SCARNICI

‘It’s always been my dream to see the worlds of my two biggest series united under a single roof so that filmmakers could explore the expansive and interconnected universe of my vampires and witches’, Anne Rice said to Variety. ‘That dream is now a reality, and the result is one of the most significant and thrilling deals of my long career.’

She first announced her intention in 2016, initially focused on the insanely popular and highly respected ‘Vampire Chronicles’ series, which consists of 13 novels thus far without two loosely related titles published under the ‘New Tales of the Vampires’ label. The project has bounced around since, trying different development outfits. Bryan Fuller of ‘Pushing Daisies’ (2007), ‘Hannibal’ (2013), and ‘American Gods’ (2017), had initially signed on to help steer things in a more concrete direction back in 2018, as a long-time fan of Mrs Rice’s work. Unfortunately, he had to step aside, and so did Hulu, whose executives had initially picked it up as a potential streaming franchise.

Luckily, the vampires have found their place with AMC Networks, alongside the equally adored witches.

‘INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE: THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES’ (1996), ©GEFFEN PICTURES

‘The Vampire Chronicles’ took off with Rice’s debut novel, ‘Interview with the Vampire’ in 1976, which went on to get a film made, as well, in 1994, starring Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, and Tom Cruise. The series was closed in 2003, as the author left the mesmerizing Lestat de Lioncourt behind to pursue Christian fiction. In 2014, she came back with ‘Prince Lestat’, having added two more books to the series since.

The ‘Lives of the Mayfair Witches’ started with ‘The Witching Hour’ in 1990, and went on to grow into a trilogy whose fantasy world was later delicately weaved into that of the vampires. This crossover began with ‘Merrick’ in 2000 and reached its peak with the ninth and tenth ‘Vampire Chronicles’ titles, ‘Blackwood Farm’ and ‘Blood Canticle’.

This interconnection makes it clear that while we are going to see two very different worlds on the screen based on Rice’s work, there’s a chance we’ll be treated to a crossover, too.