- 8 months ago
Showrunner Nikki Toscano, Author/Executive Producer Liz Moore, Star/Executive Producer Amanda Seyfried and Actors Nicholas Pinnock, Ashleigh Cummings and John Doman talk to The Inside Reel about approach, texture, perspective and perception in regards to their new limited drama series: “Long Bright River” on Peacock.
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00:15Casey's been gone for too long this time.
00:16I think that something might have happened to her.
00:18Casey's always missing.
00:20That's what she does.
00:21I don't know why you keep letting that girl in.
00:25She got in a car with a John about a month ago.
00:28I haven't seen her since.
00:29I saw a red pickup truck outside of my house.
00:31You think he's following you?
00:32Mom, I'm scared.
00:33You stay away from me.
00:34Wait, you know him?
00:35Yeah, I know him.
00:36You know him too.
00:39She's still out there.
00:40This thing is far bigger than we saw him.
00:42Mickey, don't go in!
00:44You gotta let it go.
00:49I'll let it go when I find her.
00:51You make me feel like I am.
00:55But with any show, any movie, anything, it's about perspective and perception, but it's about the truth of the character and how they see their lives versus others.
01:04And that's the really great thing about this show is showing the reality, although a lot of it's from Mickey's perspective.
01:11Can you talk a lot about looking at perspective and perception within that?
01:15And that works with Truman as well.
01:17God, I mean, when I think of perspective and perception, I just think of the whole community at large.
01:24I think of Kensington, which is a giant character in this and kind of one of the reasons I wanted to play Mickey in Kensington is because it's the perception of Kensington is very different than the perspective that we're.
01:38Yeah, I mean, that's kind of why we tell stories to shift the perspective, because we can't see all sides of everything.
01:47Obviously, we're only human beings, but, you know, we tell stories so we can learn a little bit about somebody else.
01:55And I think it was really hard to it's really hard to create a show about this sensitive, sensitive, being sensitive around a subject and a community that's so stigmatized and marginalized because of because of who lives there, like addicts and sex workers and the marginalized community.
02:15And and it's really important to give like that's why we tell stories to give perspective and to humanize every single person, because we all deserve a certain level of respect just as human beings.
02:28And I think that's the perception of them is just very different than the perspective we're given.
02:32And then, of course, you know, you see a cop, you see two cops like who are they?
02:37What do they want?
02:38What do they need?
02:39Yeah.
02:40And you find out what both of them need and they find out what each of them needs and they give each other what they need without really knowing.
02:50I grew up here.
02:52Went to elementary school down the street.
02:55And so did a lot of the girls work in the avenue today.
02:59These women are good people.
03:01The men, they're a different story.
03:04It's our job to protect them.
03:11Over the past several days, three females have been found dead.
03:15Liz, if you could first talk about, you know, looking at your story and, you know, when it's translated onto celluloid in certain ways, you know, finding that sort of balance with Nikki and Nikki's approach and bringing her own special sauce to it as well.
03:31Yeah, I mean, from our very first conversations, we were aligned on wanting to keep the heart of the book intact, which is, I think, kind of a love story between sisters and also a love story to a particular neighborhood and to a city.
03:46We were very aligned on that.
03:49And we were also aligned on the idea that it was actually exciting to both of us to think about where we could make where we could find points of departure from the book, which we did in a number of ways.
03:58And that's energizing.
03:59You know, I think it would have actually been not nearly as interesting an experience for me as a first time EP on a project if we were all just replicating the pages in the book.
04:15We both were interested in departing from that.
04:18Yeah, Nikki, can you talk about that, but also bring your experiences and the stuff you've worked on recently, because it's you have to bring a reality, but it's still within a thriller structure.
04:28Absolutely.
04:29I mean, I think that the biggest thing, right, was to find a way to sort of effortlessly be weaving between this love story and the murder mystery in an organic way.
04:41So I think that a lot of the decisions that were made as far as like what what what we showed on screen were in service of that.
04:49You know, I think that there were a lot of departures about the actual substance of those flashbacks because they in an in a visual medium and in the episode, they need to be serving them or informing the moment in the present that they're that they're sort of like a, you know, a throwback to.
05:10So I think that it was, you know, we had a lot of conversations about that.
05:14I'm trying to think of, you know, what else.
05:17I can't remember her, Mick.
05:23Kelly, not a single thing.
05:24What?
05:29Yes, you do.
05:30You remember, Mom.
05:31You tell stories about her all the time.
05:32Yeah, but they're all your stories.
05:34Those stories that you told me.
05:40I want to remember.
05:41I just don't.
05:54I sleep in your room tonight.
05:56Just tonight.
05:57Just while Simon's out.
06:01Fine.
06:02Yes.
06:04It's all about each character's perspective and their perception of what they're seeing.
06:16And then that figures into the psychology.
06:19Could you both talk about that?
06:20Because obviously they're coming from different arenas, different lives, but similar lives.
06:25Actually, if you could start with Casey.
06:28I know you can't give too much away, but.
06:30Yeah.
06:31Yeah.
06:32No, it is interesting.
06:33I think, you know, this shows predominantly seen through Mickey's lens.
06:38And so the aspects of Casey that we see are perhaps not an entire picture.
06:45It's a version of Casey is elicited by her sister and vulnerability is allowed to be more present alongside her sister.
06:57So, yeah, it was interesting.
06:59I think there's only one scene in which one or two scenes in which I'm outside of Mickey's perspective to some degree.
07:06So it was fascinating to recognize that there are probably parts of her that our audience will never see.
07:16There are they come to know Casey a lot more via people talking about her than through actual experience.
07:25So it's I think it's a clever sort of transition because oftentimes as a society, we judge people without knowing them.
07:35And then and what the show does really well is kind of gets you to do that.
07:41And then all of a sudden is shatters it by being like, here's this woman that you've that you've judged.
07:46And here's her humanity.
07:47And here's what you missed.
07:49So, yeah.
07:50Anyway, he's up to something.
07:53Carmichael.
07:54Don't be fresh.
07:56Simon, you need to cut him out for good this time.
08:00Don't need him or his money.
08:02He's Thomas's father.
08:03Just because Simon can make a baby doesn't make him a father.
08:07Thomas doesn't need whatever fancy school you got him in.
08:11You never went to no fancy school and you turned out just fine.
08:14I also don't have dyslexia.
08:15Oh, for Christ's sake.
08:17Thomas is smart, just like you.
08:20Nobody can tell me different.
08:22You don't need Simon.
08:24The only family Thomas needs is sitting in this room.
08:29You know, obviously you see these girls from a different perspective through their lives, but in the modern day.
08:35Well, gee, you know, I love playing this character because of his complexity and, you know, the, you know, he's a, he's a guy, a tough guy, blue collar guy, who never really learned to express his emotions very well.
08:54He hides them.
08:55Uh, they come popping out every once in a while.
08:58And, uh, he's so racked with, with, and so at odds with himself because of the way he feels, uh, the guilt that he has over, uh, how he raised his children, uh, where he was not successful with my daughter.
09:15She had a drug overdose.
09:16I felt I was probably too lenient with her.
09:20So I overreact and raising the grandchildren with a very strict hard ass approach and fail with one of them who winds up a drug addict.
09:30Um, and at the same time, the love that he has for his family and how protective he feels of them, but he's a, he fails.
09:43And, um, yeah, that conflict and that complexity is really what an actor looks for.
09:50So, yeah, this character was a pleasure to play.
09:54Was there a time when you thought about taking the detective exam?
10:04Well, thank you, Nikki, very much for asking.
10:07It's too quiet.
10:09I never wanted detectives.
10:11I like the uniform.
10:15Tell people who I was.
10:23And now it's just hanging in the closet.
10:27Until you're better.
10:30Better than what?
10:33Well, because what you're doing, just to jump in, Nikki, is the aspect of, uh, perspective and perception.
10:38Because even in those flashbacks, it's how different characters see things.
10:42And yet a lot of the show is through Mickey's perspective.
10:45And Ashley actually talked about that.
10:47Can you talk about using perspective and perception?
10:49Because people's perspective on Skid Row and in these, uh, sort of suffering situations are different from the people that are looking out and in.
10:58Could you talk about sort of that yin and yang?
11:00Because that's really important to the series.
11:02Absolutely.
11:03I mean, I think that, you know, I think that the biggest thing that we sort of realize about Mickey is that she's, um, is that she is, um, sometimes a reliable narrator and sometimes an unreliable narrator.
11:17But when, you know, in both the storytelling, um, in both the look of the show, we are firmly ensconced in her perspective at all times.
11:25So when we, when we are, you know, when we are following her through the neighborhood of Kensington, it's, it's the way that she sees the world, not the world as it is.
11:35So all of the conversations that we were talking about, both in the storytelling and in the actual look of the show, we're in sort of service of that, her perspective on this.
11:44You know, she is a, you know, she is a very flawed cop and, uh, not very, not very good at her job, but her superpower is that she's from the community.
11:53So we're seeing that community through her eyes.
11:56And, you know, we talked a lot about too, you know, just as far as like in the look of the show and the direction of the show is how we're treating both light and darkness.
12:07And I think that you, you can see like a clear, you know, the juxtaposition of two as we're watching, you know, it sort of represents this, this sliver of hope that her sister, that her neighborhood, that her son will all, um, you know, be okay in the end.
12:24And so I think that that was sort of, you know, sort of our North star was, was using Mickey as the vehicle to see, to see this world.
12:33And that she's a woman because she's from this neighborhood that is always going to see the humanity in it.
12:38What are we doing right now, Mickey?
12:40You know, it's not just a few bad apples.
12:43I just don't know if it's possible to be a good apple when the whole system is bad.
12:49I spent 25 years watching over this avenue.
12:54Watching community groups come and go.
12:58Watching every new mayor promise to clean up Kensington.
13:03But we're the ones who do the sweeps they order.
13:06We're the ones turning people out the tents whether they got someplace to go or not.
13:12The complexity of, of the story, because it shows so many different realities that people sometimes turn their, their eyes away from.
13:21It's about showing that.
13:22Can you talk about showing reality, but the reality of the emotions that these people feel and they go through?
13:29Yeah, I think, I think it's much easier to, to, to turn away from or to kind of ogle at and other people going through this experience.
13:43There is a kind of societal phenomenon called trauma porn, and it exists in Kensington a lot where people are filming people on the Ave and exploiting their experiences.
13:54And this show does the opposite.
13:57It's, it's about humanizing and it's about saying, sit, like, it's possible to sit with this discomfort and realize that there are multiplicities of truths here.
14:08There's, there's, there is beauty right alongside the suffering.
14:11And, um, I think a lot of our television, uh, we dissociate to some degree, like we're in such a high, um, stimulus, like highly stimulated environment.
14:24And so we kind of tune out or our attention spans go elsewhere, but this show does a really beautiful job of keeping you connected with the thriller aspect.
14:34While also saying, look like, look in, like, don't leave yourself, look in and look at our society.
14:42How long has she been gone this time?
14:44Like six weeks.
14:48Feels like just yesterday, she was standing in the supper line at St. Francis Inn.
14:52And these victims, any connection to Casey?
14:56Other than the fact that they all work the Avenue.
14:59So Casey's been missing six weeks.
15:02And most of these girls' bodies showed up days after they disappeared, right?
15:06So?
15:08So maybe it's unrelated.
15:10Casey's gone missing before.
15:12I know, but in Alonzo's video, Casey was picked up by a John in a red pickup truck.
15:17I saw a red pickup truck outside of my house.
15:19And I think I saw a red pickup truck in Kensington too.
15:22You think he's been following you?
15:23I don't know.
15:24My landlord said that a guy got out of the truck and was asking about me and she tried to describe him.
15:28I have no idea who it is.
15:30I thought it might've been Simon, but he doesn't own a red pickup truck.
15:34There's a really narrow perspective from, you know, a global point of view that's in the media when you portray and you look at and you investigate communities like Kensington and you know about the sex workers and the houseless and the opioid addicts and things.
15:56There's one way of looking at it that you can kind of completely ignore it, remove yourself from it.
16:00Oh, that's a them and not us thing.
16:02But when you realize that there is one thing different between them and the so-called us, which is one moment in our lives that will trigger a domino effect that will put us where they are.
16:16And that's, you know, it's really important that we are mindful of that always.
16:22And so I think the way that this story was told and the way that we were able to tell it was, it's just so important because there's a, a humanity that you don't see in the media.
16:30There is a respect you don't see in the media.
16:32There is a, a community that is really strong and vibrant and resilient, but you don't see in the, in the media.
16:39And so I really loved that aspect of it for sure.
16:42I hope people watch it.
16:44I really do.
16:45I also, it was, it was such a learning experience for me.
16:48Yeah.
16:49Um, every, every job as an actor, I get to put on someone else's shoes and help create that world.
16:55But, um, this world was already created for me, but I got to step inside of it for a little while and explore it and hopefully, you know, be the eyes and ears, um, for the people that don't know much about it at all.
17:11Yeah.
17:12I'm worried about you.
17:14There's a killer on the goose, Mickey.
17:15Looks like someone's going after these girls.
17:17Then they have to know to wash their backs.
17:19Why are you looking into this?
17:21You're a patrol cop.
17:22Not a detective.
17:23What is that supposed to mean?
17:25It means you seem to take it personally.
17:27And you won't tell me why.
17:28Mickey.
17:29What's going on?
17:30It's Casey.
17:32It's Casey.
17:33I will always love you.
17:39I am pretty mem Arkham scene and it's real like this.
17:40I don't want to know.
17:42I don't want to know.
17:44Everything is real now.
17:45Everything will do.
17:46Back home, it won't realize many, girls.
17:49Well, I don't want to know, dinamore, it won't be possible, but you guys have to know that passion of a horse on the hill and her definite hour.
17:50You can assume they lack us and I can stop this, but you're facing a fight with art.
17:51Yeah.
17:52I do appreciate you.
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