The stars of Max's upcoming drama series 'Full Circle' including Zazie Beetz, Timothy Olyphant, Jharrel Jerome, Jim Gaffigan and CCH Pounder, dish about what made them want to join the thriller project, the complex characters, and what it was like working with Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh.
00:00He knows exactly how he wants to cut the scene and how it's story-wise going to work out.
00:06And you're like, oh, we got it.
00:07I mean, he's just as good as he gets.
00:09Steve Soderbergh doing a script that's so dense and complex, I think that's a dream for any actor
00:14because you know it's going to be a challenge and you know it's going to be an experience that is so visceral.
00:19The stars of Max's upcoming drama series Full Circle are dishing about what it was like to work with Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh
00:25and what compelled them to join the kidnapping thriller.
00:29Yes?
00:30We have your son.
00:31Something ain't right.
00:32I'm scared.
00:34They're all hiding shit.
00:37Full Circle follows an investigation into a botched kidnapping that uncovers long-held secrets connecting multiple characters and cultures in New York City.
00:45There's so many layers in Full Circle.
00:47It is this complex puzzle.
00:50It's like three or four collisions and the story starts on a tumble down the hill.
00:58An interesting reflection on the world and the world around us and the butter-of-fly effect of our choices.
01:05The series features a star-studded cast who all pointed to one major incentive that made them want to join the project.
01:11Two words.
01:13Steven Soderbergh.
01:14I heard that.
01:15That was sort of it.
01:17I was in.
01:18I read the name Steven Soderbergh and that's all I had to see and that's all I had to read.
01:23Yeah, obviously Steven Soderbergh was a huge draw.
01:26Everything else was bonus.
01:28You know, films like Traffic or Sex, Lies and Videotape, I think, you know, they're testaments to his ability to develop characters so well and intertwine them so well.
01:39And so I just trusted it.
01:41I knew this was going to be something cool.
01:43The cast had plenty of praise for the acclaimed filmmaker's efficient style on set and the freedom he gives actors.
01:49Steven, I think, really functions so much on trust.
01:52He is more hands-off in terms of your decision-making.
01:59You really get to puppeteer this character.
02:02He's there to, like, capture your energy and you play and kind of decide and he follows you with his camera and they're just going to capture what they're going to capture.
02:11He really trusts his actors.
02:13He's incredibly economic.
02:15He does not pull your energy.
02:18Once you're called in and he sees what you're doing, he shoots and once he sees it, he is shooting.
02:25Once he sees it on camera, he's like, great, got it.
02:29He could see what I wanted to do.
02:31He's like, okay, he's buying what I'm selling here.
02:34I mean, it's a very focused set.
02:36You know, he's so no bullshit.
02:38He's so efficient the way he works.
02:40Everybody's very engaged.
02:42I mean, everybody, the actors, the crew, because everybody knows that every shot counts.
02:47He just doesn't shoot that much and he shoots quickly, but everybody just felt like pros.
02:52And he just felt like everybody, no nonsense, no drama.
02:56It was just a cool set.
02:57I mean, it's really one of the coolest sets I've ever been on.
03:00On Full Circle, Soderbergh teamed up once again with writer Ed Solomon, who created a complex web of characters, each with their own motivations, complications, and course to follow.
03:09I think Melody Harmony, definitely on set, we sometimes laugh, but we're like, she's crazy.
03:16I don't want to call her an anti-hero, but she's incredibly, obviously flawed.
03:22We also do root for her and what she's trying to do.
03:27She's trying to prove herself and she wants to be validated.
03:32She just isn't great at always doing it in the boundaries that are placed.
03:36Mel is brilliant, but crazy and wildly impulsive.
03:41Manny Broward, who I play, this is this boss that is dealing with a Maverick employee or like, he's the Gen Xer and she's the millennial.
03:50I think Aked is an interesting character.
03:54He's a nutcase for sure.
03:56He starts off as this villain and you're like, why is this man so angry and so appalled at everything?
04:01And then as the season goes along, you start to strip the layers of who he is and you start to realize there's a lot of nuance and pain and trauma.
04:10He feels like his family handed him a torch, but really they handed him a bomb.
04:14This is Zaha Hadid.
04:16She is large and in charge, but not raising her voice, not, you know, throwing tantrums.
04:24It's business women I see.
04:25I think I see a lot of.
04:27They're negotiating this world.
04:29Never, ever, ever have I heard a character from Guyana.
04:34It's not as if it's just that you can see a glimpse of what some immigrant life is like.
04:42Who is this?
04:44He seemed like a nice guy.
04:46He just seemed like he made a pretty bad mistake somewhere down the line.
04:49And like a lot of big mistakes, it's almost like how you handle it afterwards that makes it even worse.
04:55Kind of a consistent theme in Full Circle in that everyone, you know, does something in the past and they might think that it's morally ambiguous, but they don't take responsibility.
05:10And because they don't take responsibility, it eventually comes full circle.
05:14And you see that in every character.
05:18They encounter stuff that they've not dealt with that eventually is their undoing.
05:24A clash of different worlds and beliefs and dueling family dynamics are at the center of the story, brought to life by a high caliber ensemble cast that also features Claire Danes and Dennis Quaid.
05:35Claire was a joy.
05:37She's just so fascinating to watch, take after take.
05:41Working with Dennis Quaid was a bit of a thrill.
05:44It was a bit of a thrill.
05:45Didn't see that one coming.
05:46That guy's a ball.
05:47I've never been a part of a project with such a large ensemble.
05:52I knew that I had to make sure I was at the top of my game as best as I could do, because I know that I was around people who have done great work for a long time.
06:03Couldn't be more proud to be a part of it.
06:05It's really good.
06:07Ed Solomon wrote six amazing scripts.
06:11Steven Soderbergh, as per usual, directed the shit out of him.
06:16It's good entertainment.
06:17The high stakes drama is set to launch on Max this Thursday, July 13th.
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