- 7 weeks ago
'Task' executive producer and director Salli Richardson-Whitfield and star Tom Pelphrey sat down with THR's Awards Executive Editor Scott Feinberg to chat all about the HBO series in a Directors in Focus conversation.
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00:00All right, would you please join me in welcoming one of the show's executive producers and directors, Sally Richardson-Whitfield, and one of its stars, Tom Pelfrey.
00:18Thank you guys for making the time to be here.
00:23First of all, amazing clip from that fourth episode, and we'll come back and talk more about that specifically in a minute.
00:29But just to sort of set the scene, Sally, maybe we can start with you.
00:35I know you have been directing now for more than a decade a lot of great television.
00:42I'll just note for folks here keeping track, or, you know, Emmy nominations for The Gilded Age and Winning Time.
00:50Woo-hoo!
00:50Really terrific.
00:51This show was created by Brad Inglesby, who previously did Mare of Easttown in the same region of Pennsylvania as this.
01:03Can you talk about how you guys ended up connecting and deciding to collaborate on this show?
01:10You first, Sally, and then I'm going to...
01:11I've been working with HBO for pretty much maybe the last four to five years, and been sort of fiending for a show like this.
01:22I love crime, and I love action, and I love this character exploration, and all the things that Brad does so well.
01:33So once they sent me the script, obviously, he knows.
01:38You read that first one, you know you are on to something amazing, and I was just very honored that Brad wanted me to be a part of it.
01:46And it turned out to be really, I mean, episode six that we're going to talk about a little more, was really kind of every director's dream of everything that you would like to do in something.
01:57With these great characters, big set pieces, action, amazing actors, amazing writing.
02:04So it was just, it's just been a joy.
02:07It was a hard project, but a joy to do.
02:09Tom, of course, prior to this project, I think most people, if they, you know, I would say most people probably most associated you with Ozark, however...
02:21You're the dude from Ozark.
02:23Well, yeah.
02:24But I have to say, this is a deep cut, but I went through a period about 20 years ago, don't ask why, but I was deeply into guiding light, and so I had to...
02:34Wow.
02:34I saw early Tom Belfry all the way back.
02:41So we're going back.
02:42But no, I mean, it's been fun watching your set in this business, and I wonder for you, just coming off of something like Ozark, was this something where it's like just a straight offer, or did you have to kind of go through a long process to get the part?
02:58I did make an audition, but I didn't get dragged through the mud on the back of the wagon, as it sometimes happens.
03:08No, I put myself on tape, and they called me like two days later and said, you're our guy.
03:14Yeah, it was really awesome.
03:17And all the actors in the room know what I'm talking about.
03:20Yeah, yeah.
03:23It's like, thank you, thank you, thank you.
03:26I'd say that we knew that we wanted him, and he was a guy, you know, he was a guy, but, you know, Brad, it's his work, it's his baby.
03:37So he just wanted to see something, and then...
03:40Well, in fact, I think I had read that, so when you auditioned, it was on Zoom or tape or something, was this was, in a weird way, you were already looking the part? Is that true?
03:56I wasn't quite there yet.
03:57I was actually doing something else at the time, so I hadn't gone full hiding in a cave yet.
04:02But, you know, I get this audition, and the script is so amazing, and you're like, I can't tape this in front of a white wall, just ruining it, you know?
04:12So we took it outside, my lovely partner and best friend, Kaley Cuoco, I said, Henry, can you read this with me?
04:20We did just like two takes, the wind is whipping, I know the audio wasn't great, but it felt right for the show, and yeah, it worked out.
04:28So I guess one of the things that Brad has talked about is that if Mare was about sort of the role of mothers in that community, this one is more, you know, the impact of fathers.
04:45And beyond that, I think one of the things that came up is a reference for him, and I wonder how much he or talked about with you guys or you talked about with each other, the film Heat, Michael Mann's film, the idea, I guess, of kind of two people who are in some ways incredibly different, but in some ways have a lot in common and dancing around each other and ultimately colliding.
05:10Can you talk about how that was on your minds, if it was?
05:13Well, it was definitely a reference we always talked about of these two really strong forces that are, you know, you can see that they're on this collision course coming towards each other, but also the idea that you fell in love with both of these characters.
05:32And I think that that's really the brilliance of Brad's writing, is that no one is all good and no one's all bad, and you really have this empathy.
05:42You have this empathy for Tom's character, and you don't really get to see that very often.
05:49So it was definitely a reference that we talked about a lot, even in some of the camera movement and in the action sequences.
05:56Interesting. And Tom, just how much, if any, kind of discussion, coordination was there between you and, I guess, the cat to your mouse, Mr. Ruffalo, in terms of, like, that these guys are, weirdly, there's a lot in common, right?
06:13I mean, I'll leave it to you if you want to enumerate some of it, but just they've ended up in very different places, but there's quite a lot in common, right?
06:22Yeah. I didn't have a ton of interaction with Mark. I think we saw each other at base camp one day early on and gave a big hug, and, you know, Mark's so sweet, and it was great to see him.
06:35But then, for the most part, what I was filming, it never had anything to do with Mark, and most days we weren't even at work on the same days until towards the end.
06:44And then we had this fast and furious, bromance, passionate actors getting to know each other, me sitting him down, asking him questions that I've wanted to ask him for 20-something years, you know?
06:58Yeah, it was incredible. It was amazing.
07:01And he's, like, generous, I think is the word. He is so generous to everyone around him.
07:09You can feel him willing all the other actors and everyone to their greatest success.
07:15There's, like, not a selfish bone in that man's body. It's really beautiful.
07:20Yeah.
07:20Yeah.
07:20And I'll just note, you know, just a few things that people can think about it or look for, I guess.
07:26You know, both, obviously, fathers who have a deep love of their family, lost their wives in one way or another, leaders of the people around them, fundamentally decent, but struggling, you know, against maybe not being.
07:44Connection to nature. It's just, it goes on and on. It's really, and I think that they both have a kind of a code of a sort, you know?
07:52Maybe it goes a little awry, but it's just interesting, the coming back to, I guess, the heat thing.
07:57I think Mark, what is Mark kept saying? That there are, there are no excuses, but there are always reasons.
08:04Yeah, yeah, that's really.
08:05Why things happen to people.
08:07Yeah.
08:07And with the choices that they make. And you still may have to pay for them, but there are reasons.
08:12Yeah.
08:13And people are raised in certain situations, and that's why they're doing certain things.
08:18And again, I think that's what Brad explores in TAS so well.
08:23So Jeremiah Zagar directed episodes one, two, five, and seven, you, Sally, three, four, and six.
08:30What sort of coordination is there, if I just have no idea, between you guys on that?
08:38And also, is there any rhyme or reason to why those episodes would be grouped in that way?
08:44Well, sort of. Yeah.
08:48I think that we definitely leaned into our strengths, and we really started everything out together once we were, you know, once we got to Philly.
09:00And he'd shoot a few days, I'd shoot a few days.
09:03So we really had to do a lot of discussions beforehand, because it's not like I'm seeing his dailies or he's seeing mine.
09:09And we really had to come to an agreement of what this was going to be.
09:13And the idea was that it was really going to be a naturalistic, you know, way of seeing the world.
09:22Our camera work should not, you shouldn't notice it, really.
09:27And this idea that it was always sort of just this kind of slight, beautiful movement, even if you couldn't really notice it, because Robbie's world was so hectic.
09:38And even Tom's was a little more still, but as they converged, we would have more movement, all this natural lighting.
09:46And then obviously, we had lots of film references that we were talking about, and shots, and there was a lot of conversations, and then a lot of trust between two different filmmakers, who have very different styles.
09:59Did you two know each other before this?
10:01Did you know, Jeremy?
10:02No, we didn't.
10:03We just sat down and talked, and we felt like we could figure it out together.
10:07Jeremiah is much more chill.
10:12Jeremiah's like Mr. Mom.
10:14He's Mr. Mom.
10:16I'm Mean Mom.
10:20You're not mean.
10:21No, Jeremiah's just, Jeremiah's like, come, let's play house.
10:26Yeah, yeah.
10:27And then I come in, and I'm like, yeah, what?
10:30What?
10:30No.
10:31Here, here, here, here.
10:32No, you're not doing that.
10:34You know what?
10:35I think another different, I don't know a lot about his personal background, but I do know that you bring something to the table that not,
10:44all directors would, which is that you have had an accomplished acting career yourself, including, just if people would like one of many possible references,
10:55the directorial debut, the lead in the directorial debut of Ava DuVernay, I will follow.
11:00I mean, I wonder for you, do you feel that having experience on that side of the camera helps you?
11:07And then, Tom, do you feel that it's different being directed by someone who's also an actor?
11:13Well, I definitely think it gives me an edge.
11:16I've been directed by maybe hundreds of different directors, and I've been able to go, yeah, I'm not doing that.
11:27Really be able to handpick the things that I think benefited me, and the prep that I like to see when directors come in.
11:36And I, starting out, I thought it was very important that I really was able to be a well-rounded director, that it wasn't, you know,
11:46you have people who come in and they, okay, we only deal with the actors, you know.
11:52I'm just going to block them and do that, and you, and they talk to their DP, and you come up with the shots.
11:57And I'm much more controlling than that.
12:00I really, I'm like, nope, this is, this is the shot.
12:04I mean, obviously, it's very collaborative with your DP, but I really like to have my hand on all of it.
12:13And the one thing I know for sure I can rely on is the acting part of it.
12:18So, I kind of had to learn everything else, but that I had in the beginning.
12:22How's it like working?
12:23What do you think?
12:24No pressure right now.
12:26No, it's, it's incredible.
12:28I mean, it really makes all the difference in the world.
12:31Like, the way Sally comes in and talks during certain scenes, like, we had an intense scene in a car in episode three.
12:39You saw the dancing scene with my daughter in episode four, but, like, because Sally's done that herself so many times and been there,
12:46like, she understands when and where and how to come in in such a way.
12:50Because, you know, for me anyway, sometimes with these intense scenes and they're kind of fragile and they're a little bit delicate,
12:58just having somebody who understands how to enter that space without, like, jarring that space.
13:04And then also has a vocabulary that's, like, conducive to an emotional understanding that doesn't become, like, too intellectual when you're in that space, too.
13:15It's just like, she has such a soothing whisper.
13:17And, but it's, but it's, she really understands how to be there because she's an actor.
13:24And it's huge.
13:25And it's also, like, amazing because you would think, like, okay, Sally's an actor, so she'll just know how to give me better notes.
13:32But, like, even cooler than that is this feeling, like, having had discussions and stuff and talked about certain scenes where she's, like,
13:41I know what you're going for and I'll tell you when you get there.
13:48Right?
13:51I would say to Ruffalo, sometimes he'd come to me and go, what, what do you think?
13:56And sometimes you just don't know.
13:58And that's okay.
14:00And I just, I would just go, yeah, it's not there yet.
14:06And he's, and I'm like, I don't know.
14:08And Mark also is someone who likes, he just wants to kind of do it again and play with it.
14:13And I, I would like to say it's some, when I'm watching the monitor in a performance, I'm looking for an emotional feeling.
14:26And that's when I know that it's right.
14:29I know when there's sort of, when someone does, does a take where there's sort of, like, the air leaves the room.
14:37And, and although your, your crew should be silent all the time, there's just, it's even more quiet.
14:44And you're like, now we can move on.
14:46We found it.
14:47And that's always exciting.
14:49That scene that you saw earlier, that's one of those where people, the, especially some of the people behind the camera who have children were literally crying when they were dancing.
15:02And that's when you go, I think we got something, I think we got something special.
15:08Tom, what are you watching on this, when you were doing this?
15:12What, what of your own performance are you kind of, kind of being most vigilant about is I know that there's a lot of people might say the accent, but you actually are kind of from the general reading.
15:26And that made it worse.
15:27It made it worse.
15:27Because I'm, it really did, because I'm from Jersey, so like I say water and always have and stuff.
15:32And so there's like, okay, Jersey in the house.
15:35All right.
15:37Okay, Jersey on the West Coast.
15:40But, but like, so I say certain words is the same, but it makes it even trickier now because then it's like, okay, but all these other words are going to be completely different.
15:53Like that, that did a number on my brain for a minute.
15:55But once I got the accent down, which you knew was going to be important, Mare is so successful.
16:00There's like an amazing Saturday night live sketch about the accent.
16:05You're like, you can't screw this up.
16:07Like, and you can't even be a little bit off.
16:10So, but then like, aside from that, I think always with, um, when you're, when you're doing TV is like being vigilant about tracking the, like emotional through line, you know, because you're filming out of order.
16:25Well, that's actually exactly what I want to ask you both about next, because I think everyone kind of gets that with a movie, you're always going to do it out of order.
16:33But with a TV limited series, are you doing it out of order just within an episode or even between episodes or, I mean, and then Sally.
16:42So, you know, we went over the three, um, episodes that are yours.
16:46Yeah, please.
16:47Yeah, please.
16:47We're definitely crossboarding basically the whole season at the same time.
16:53So you really have to keep track of things.
16:56And sometimes that's for the actors.
16:57Okay, guys, we're on this episode now.
16:59This has not happened yet.
17:01This is where we are.
17:01So you really have to, uh, keep people honest of where, where they are.
17:06But going back to what you said about what episodes we, we, we chose or that were given to me, um, originally, I think Jeremiah was going to do, he was supposed to do six.
17:19I mean, yeah, six, and I was going to do seven.
17:22Second class, yeah, yeah.
17:23And as we just got into the process, it, it just made sense for me.
17:29Also, he had so much to do and he was setting up the series, but it made more sense for me to do six because it really is where my strength lies.
17:37I absolutely adore the action part of it.
17:43And, um, and I also have sort of this different kind of energy of drive and I want to push that, that show, you know, I want to push the show and keep moving and moving.
17:53So it just kind of fell into my wheelhouse and I was very excited about, uh, getting that particular episode because not only do you have like this, you know, I think it's a 17, 18 minute action sequence, um, that starts out the episode.
18:11But then you also have these amazing, very still dramatic scenes that are, you know, three, four or five minutes long.
18:19So it was just really a dream for me to do.
18:21Let's talk about, it's kind of interesting that two of the most powerful scenes in the film happen in a car, excuse me, in the series, limited series happen in a car.
18:30In episode three, it opens almost like a kind of a cold open.
18:35You could almost say with, with Tom and with Amelia Jones, um, dealing with having a very, uh, important conversation.
18:44And then here, obviously what we've, what we've just seen, I guess, anything that, uh, Sally, you'd like to talk to you about setting those, you know, kind of, uh, positioning those scenes.
18:55And Tom, about your acting partners there, because I know we've talked a little bit about Ruffalo, but Amelia Jones, who people will remember, if not recognized with that haircut, um, from Coda, best picture Oscar winner, Coda is the scene partner in the other.
19:12So Sally.
19:13I'm going to let you talk about Amelia when you two talk, but it was really about this, these two people who are, are trapped, you know, and I think that's the idea of it being in the car and trapped in their life and trapped in their choices.
19:29And that starts from the beginning and even mirrors at the end.
19:33And, um, I'm going to let you talk about how amazing Amelia is to work with and the, the, really the power of the two of them.
19:44That's when, you know, you've casted, right.
19:47And as a director, you just need to set the stage and get out the way.
19:52I mean, Amelia is just hands down one of the most impressive actors I've ever worked with period.
19:58And we're doing this.
20:00She just turned 22 years old.
20:03Like it's actually annoying.
20:08She is obviously so talented.
20:11If you guys have seen the show and anything she's ever done, she's so talented.
20:15That young woman is so prepared.
20:20Her work ethic is second to none.
20:22And she wears none of it on her sleeve.
20:25She shows up.
20:27She is so lovely.
20:29She's so silly.
20:30When she needs to focus, she focuses.
20:33But everything about her is 22 going on Meryl Streep.
20:40You know?
20:42It's amazing.
20:43It really, it really is incredible.
20:45And, and yeah.
20:46Um, yeah.
20:48But the two of them, and he, you know, he can't talk about himself here,
20:51but really such brave performances.
20:55I think that's the one thing I've learned from coming from acting and now directing and
21:01being away from it.
21:03How brave you have to be to make some of these choices.
21:08And they may be wrong choices at some, you know, sometimes you may fall on your face,
21:13but if you don't go for the stars, you're never going to get there, you know?
21:18And, um, they, we just really were lucky.
21:21Our whole cast could access their emotions at any moment, anything you needed from them.
21:27So it was, it was a joy to be part of putting together such a wonderful cast.
21:32And just the other element, I don't want to gloss over.
21:35I mean, 17 minute action sequence out in the middle of the woods with, uh, snakes and
21:41all kinds of, you know, uh, just, yeah, all of that.
21:46Um, while at the top, Tom's characters being pursued by both, uh, the task force and the
21:53dark hearts.
21:54Uh, I mean, but, but the number of people, the number of the amount of action, I don't
21:59even know how you kept us oriented of who was where relative to each other, but just
22:04anything you want to say about, well, that was definitely the beginning of me and Brad's
22:09conversation.
22:09A lot is like, okay, I mean, we had models, I storyboard, it was a big joke on the set.
22:15I do a lot of storyboarding for action sequences like this because there's so many pieces and
22:21you kind of have to know, okay, what are the, like, at least what are the pieces we need to
22:25tell this story?
22:26But I think a lot of what Tom and I talked about too, cause he wanted to know what these
22:31fight scenes were going to be about.
22:33We didn't want to just, it's not just a fight scene.
22:37It is a character journey.
22:39And how does it, how do you not, how do you leave there understanding the emotional impact
22:45of this fight?
22:46And I think that like looking at that, I went through a lot of emotions and felt like we
22:51did it.
22:51Even though he wanted to kill me that day in the fight because we were doing so much
22:56stuff.
22:56Well, yeah.
22:57No, are we getting, are we getting my eyes?
22:59Are we getting the emotion of really what this fight is?
23:03Yeah.
23:03You just want it to be emotional cause it's the only scene the two characters have together,
23:07but every, everything that is wrong in the entire show was caused by that character.
23:12Like Robbie's whole life is destroyed by that one character.
23:16And we literally don't even say a word to each other.
23:19So then you want the fight to stand in for a, for a scene.
23:22Like, um, but yeah, that day was hard.
23:26It was a long cause it was hot as shit.
23:29Yeah.
23:29And like to, to Sally's credit, there was like, she was like in those woods for like a month.
23:35It was July in Pennsylvania.
23:38It was insane.
23:40And I know it cuts together seamlessly, but we were all over the place.
23:45Those are like six, seven different woods.
23:47You talk about filming out of order.
23:48That we put together to make it feel like one thing.
23:52I mean, I think that our, me and the DP searched for more than a month just cause you all, you
23:58think, oh, the woods are the woods are the woods until you don't want the woods to look
24:03like the way, you know, you want them to all have a different feel.
24:07And we had to go on a hiking trip just to do, uh, it would take you a while blocking rehearsal.
24:12Yeah.
24:12Just to get to the location.
24:13So it, you have to, I enjoy the puzzle and putting all those pieces together and you have
24:21to enjoy the puzzle because there were, there were, there were times where you're like,
24:25oh my, like, how would he meet up with him?
24:28And I always told Brad that if it doesn't make sense to me, I'm turning the channel.
24:32Yeah.
24:33So, and for any show I watch, as soon as something weird happens, I'm like, ah, I don't believe
24:38it anymore.
24:39So it, to me, it's very important to sit down and make sure it makes sense and keep asking
24:45questions till we all feel like, um, that we're not going to turn the channel.
24:51Very, very, very quick.
24:52Last thing.
24:52Uh, I will direct this one to Sally for, for reasons we won't get into, but, uh, is this
25:00the end of task?
25:01Oh, no, no.
25:02Well, we're coming back.
25:03I know.
25:03Yeah.
25:03We're coming back next year.
25:05Good, good, good, good, good.
25:07Unfortunately, it is not, as you all now know, I mean, if we could go back to the soaps
25:14where you started, we could say, um, you could come back and you didn't really die.
25:20Um, but unfortunately it is HBO when you're dead and you're dead.
25:27Well, congratulations guys.
25:28It's amazing.
25:29And thank you for being here.
25:31Yeah.
25:32Sally and Tom.
25:33Thanks a lot guys.
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