- 18 hours ago
Watch Claire Danes, Matthew Rhys, Brittany Snow, and the creators discuss THE BEAST IN ME in this exclusive Netflix feature.
Go behind the scenes with the cast and creative team as they explore the themes, characters, and storytelling that bring THE BEAST IN ME to life. From character development to the emotional and psychological layers of the series, this special conversation offers fans unique insights into the making of the highly anticipated drama.
Featuring exclusive interviews and fascinating behind-the-scenes moments, this Netflix feature provides a deeper look at the performances and creative vision behind THE BEAST IN ME.
Streaming exclusively on Netflix.
Stay tuned for more cast interviews, behind-the-scenes videos, and exclusive Netflix content.
Go behind the scenes with the cast and creative team as they explore the themes, characters, and storytelling that bring THE BEAST IN ME to life. From character development to the emotional and psychological layers of the series, this special conversation offers fans unique insights into the making of the highly anticipated drama.
Featuring exclusive interviews and fascinating behind-the-scenes moments, this Netflix feature provides a deeper look at the performances and creative vision behind THE BEAST IN ME.
Streaming exclusively on Netflix.
Stay tuned for more cast interviews, behind-the-scenes videos, and exclusive Netflix content.
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Short filmTranscript
00:23Thank you for joining us.
00:30I am Stacey Wilson-Hunt, contributing editor at The Hollywood Reporter.
00:33Please help me welcome to the stage, composer Sean Callery, executive producer and director
00:38Antonio Campos, executive producer and writer Daniel Pearl, creator, writer, and executive
00:43producer Gabe Rotter, actor Brittany Snow, actor Matthew Rhys, actor and executive producer
00:48Claire Danes, and showrunner, writer, and executive producer Howard Gordon.
00:53Welcome, everyone.
00:54So nice to see you again.
00:56So, Gabe, I wanted to congratulate you.
00:57Where are you?
00:58There you are.
00:58Hi.
00:58There you are.
00:59Congratulate you on something that is a bit of a miracle in Hollywood these days, an
01:03original story idea.
01:05Not based on IP, not based on a podcast, not based on a magazine story, just from your
01:10brain.
01:10So congratulations.
01:11We applaud you.
01:12Thanks.
01:13Of course.
01:15So I was curious, what themes and ideas were you most excited to explore in this story?
01:21And did you always envision it as a limited series?
01:23Or did you ever explore a feature or maybe even a novel?
01:26Because it really does lend itself well to all of those iterations.
01:29I think I originally imagined it as an ongoing series.
01:33I actually think when Claire came on board, we decided to make it a limited.
01:38I don't remember exactly how it happened.
01:40That was 70,000 years ago.
01:42You know, I think the themes I was interested in exploring had everything to do with, you
01:49know, the writer-subject relationship.
01:51It was originally based on, not based on, but inspired by a story that I'd read about a
01:58guy called Tony Schwartz, who ghost wrote Donald Trump's Art of the Deal.
02:05And, you know, he was this sort of young, struggling writer who was given this opportunity
02:12to mythologize, I suppose is the right word, Donald Trump in the pages of a book.
02:19At this point in time, Donald Trump was sort of a page six cartoon character, and he wanted
02:26to be legitimized as a real businessman.
02:29So this guy met with him and sort of was given unfettered access to him and followed him around
02:36and listened to his phone calls and sat in on his meetings and very quickly realized he
02:41he was dealing with a monster, to use his words, and my words, and, you know, but still he made
02:50this Faustian bargain to glorify him in the pages of a book, and it worked, and went on
02:59to make both of them many millions of dollars, and ultimately when Trump ran for president,
03:04Tony Schwartz went on a kind of apology tour.
03:07He felt that he was responsible for getting him to that point, and so I just thought that
03:14writer-subject dynamic was a very interesting way into the story.
03:18And Claire brought us a book very early on in the process called The Journalist and the
03:24Murderer by Janet Malcolm, which really became the touchstone for the series, and that book's
03:30really about the ethics of being a writer who's writing about a living subject and how the
03:39writer and their subject, their interests aren't necessarily aligned.
03:45And it started me thinking about the writer as sort of a protean creature or a predatorial
03:53creature even, and that really became the cornerstone for the series.
03:58Oh, brilliant. Thank you so much. And Howard, so nice to see you again.
04:02You too.
04:03I would like to acknowledge that today marks a few reunions for you on stage. Obviously,
04:08you and Claire worked together on Homeland across eight seasons and 96 episodes, which
04:13is incredible. You were also an executive producer on The X-Files, where I think Gabe also did
04:18a tenure at X-Files, which is also amazing. And Sean, our wonderful composer, scored your Fox
04:25drama 24, which premiered 25 years ago almost. Incredible. And also scored Homeland. So you
04:32have amassed quite a group of amazing people. Claire has rightfully called you a, quote, master
04:38TV craftsman. And I cannot argue with that. But I'm curious what was most challenging to
04:43you about mapping out Gabe's narrative over many episodes. Because there's a mastery to a
04:48single episode, but there's also a mastery to the season arc. So tell me how this show challenged
04:52you.
04:53Well, it's funny, Gabe mentioning the sort of themes. And when you think about it, the relationship
04:58between a writer and her subject or their subject is a really static, potentially static idea.
05:06I mean, okay, he writes a book. That's okay.
05:10What does that look like on screen? We're just watching her type.
05:12And so really, the dramatics really started creating the what happens was really the, you
05:19know, I loved, you know, Daniel and I came on late into the development process, but really
05:26the mapping out what actually happens. And also taking these past stories, you know, it was
05:31about a guy who was presumed to have killed his ex-wife. And so it's taking all these, you
05:38to the present and the present into the future was really, you know, keeping, so there were
05:43like certain things of, you know, you have the 2020 hindsight, not 2020 hindsight, but
05:47kind of the outsider's perspective, bringing that dramaturgy, I guess you'd say to the, but
05:53I always used to say to the, you know, writer's room, like, what the fuck happened? And that
05:59was really, that was the question that we just had to sort of post on the whiteboard.
06:02And it's a good first question for any project. What the fuck happens? Right. You just got a
06:07masterclass from Howard Gordon for free. Well, then the second question is why, why? Right. And
06:13that's the harder part actually. And Claire, lovely to see you as always. And we have spoken recently
06:18about the rigor that you underwent to prepare yourself for this role in terms of understanding
06:24parental grief, which I know was not an easy process for you. And what did you learn in the books
06:30that you read about the physical and mental toll that is taken on a person going through
06:34this trauma? And how did you infuse that into your performance of Aggie in terms of the way
06:39she moved in the world, the way she spoke? Because this is a very distinct character.
06:43So I learned something, I learned about something called complicated grief, which is just a very
06:48protracted grief. And, you know, usually people move through the process and emerge and she just
06:59doesn't, um, many people can't. So she's in stasis and she's in hell. Um, and she's those that grief has
07:09become sort of gangrenous within her. Um, and she doesn't quite realize that it's kind of, um, you know, morphed
07:18into a, uh, a rage. Um, and she's really isolated. So she has, you know, uh, there's nobody to reflect
07:27that
07:28back to her. Um, and, and yeah, it was just not my favorite meditation, like, uh, really sitting
07:39in that space. Uh, uh, um, but it was important. And yeah, so I think there is a physical heaviness
07:48that she has. Um, and I, I was excited by the challenge of playing a very cerebral person,
07:58um, an observer in some ways, a very unassuming, discreet, like reserved person, but who also had
08:06a kind of viscera under underneath. And that push pull, that kind of paradox was, was interesting
08:14to play with. Um, uh, but yeah, it was, it was, it was daunting that first episode, it's
08:21just so much time with a sad lady in the big house, the big set house falling apart.
08:26That was the original title.
08:28Yeah. Yeah. Uh, does this pass as entertainment? Um, but, uh, you know, really committing to
08:37that and playing it honestly. And, and it was shot so beautifully really. Um, Antonio really
08:43understood the assignment. Um, uh, but, but managed to create incredible suspense with,
08:50you know, not a whole lot of material initially. I mean, it was, it was incredibly atmospheric
08:55and actually surprisingly charged. Um, and then, and then plot happens.
09:02Sure. Right. I do want to give a shout out to your incredible wardrobe and I know you have
09:06referenced. Isn't it great? I, I, it's like, I love her clothes, but I also feel sorry for
09:10them too. It's like a weird, I don't know how I feel about them.
09:12No, it was Arjun, our designer was just amazing. And he, he gave me that character. Um, it was,
09:21yeah, uh, like 75% of it. And I was like, Oh gosh, now I've got to go come up
09:24with the
09:24remaining, whatever the remaining part is. I'm an actor. Um, but, uh, uh, but no, he was
09:32like, she has great taste. She did well. She bought a lot of Yoji Yamamoto, uh, one year
09:38and you know, and that is what she is wearing now. That's her uniform essentially. Yeah.
09:44Thank you, Claire and Daniel, another mini reunion. You and Claire worked together on
09:48a lovely film that came out a few years ago called a kid like Jake. If anyone hasn't seen
09:52it, you must, it's beautiful, which was based on a play that you wrote of the same name.
09:56And we spoke earlier of a lot of moments in the series that for me feel very much like
10:00theater in the best way, especially the lunch scene in episode one. And I'd like to know
10:06what your theater background, in what ways that helped you write those scenes, but also
10:11just creating an, an omniscient sort of different POV for the show that is not the regular sort
10:16of quote pacing of TV that we're used to. Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, certainly
10:20I think because I started in theater, you know, my favorite scenes to write are very talky.
10:25I mean, two people sitting at lunch is like my favorite thing in the world to write. So the chance
10:29to get to do that with these characters and these incredible actors was really sort of
10:34a dream. You know, I think there's sometimes kind of a false dichotomy, you know, in television
10:39between, you know, dialogue or plot, because I think it can be both. And I think especially
10:44for these characters, you know, language is super active or needed to be super active that,
10:50you know, language is a weapon, it's a seduction. It's, it's so that if those scenes worked, I knew
10:57that the, you know, there had to be a fusion of action and dialogue that what was going
11:02on between them, you know, at that table or in any, any episode, you know, that was kind
11:08of the heart of the action. And it's very rare in TV, you get the opportunities to opportunity
11:12to do that and to write that kind of material. So it was for me, it was just kind of
11:16a dream.
11:17My favorite line, though, it was my favorite line to Daniel was saving for your play.
11:23Yeah, that was your note.
11:25Yeah, that's my go to.
11:27Exactly.
11:28Thank you, Daniel. And Matthew, wonderful work from you, as always, in very villainous this
11:33time around, very villainous. And when we first spoke about the show last fall, you said
11:38that you and Antonio had a bit of a code for when you were doing, quote, too much mustache
11:42twirling, which I, which I appreciate. What is mustache twirling in this context? I think
11:47we know what you're talking about. But, but what was the edge where you sort of had to
11:50hold yourself back from not going into that territory where we actually stopped believing
11:54this is a real guy? Tell me about that process.
11:57One of the things that drew me to Niall is how kind of unapologetic he is as a person.
12:02I knew that the danger for me was to kind of put something on that where the truth of it
12:08with this kind of writing is I was trying not to get in the way of it. I don't know
12:13Mr. Campos, if you remember, there was a moment when I was like, is it too much? Like,
12:16if it's too much, just let me know. So I was always like, the mustache twirl, is it becoming
12:23too arch? So, so there was, there was that every other take from Antonio. Yeah, or the cape.
12:32And I'd be like, oh, don't worry about it. My, my direction is always like, don't worry,
12:37you know, go as far as you want to go and then we'll pull it back.
12:39And that's true. You know, we, we had, there were moments of real luxury, especially that,
12:43um, that lunch scene where we could, you know, we had time to kind of, I know, you know,
12:49Netflix gave us two days to, to shoot that, which was, thank you, Netflix. But it is a real luxury
12:55to have that kind of time in, in which to explore and tweak and fine tune. So my, my, the
13:01note to
13:01myself was to not get in the way.
13:04Good note. I love it. And Antonio, I am such a huge fan of your work and specifically The
13:09Sinner and The Staircase are two of the best TV thrillers of the last decade, for sure.
13:14And I'm curious what you learned making those series that you were able to apply here in
13:18terms of pacing and creating mood and tension. But in what ways was this a wholesale new challenge
13:24for you in terms of the world that Gabe created?
13:26You know, a lot of what I've just been kind of interested in from the beginning, you know,
13:30from when I started making movies was just sort of, um, I, I, I really enjoy the challenge
13:39of creating tension out of nothing. I really enjoy the challenge of sort of like, you know,
13:43how can you make someone buttering a piece of toast feel, you know, scary and there's a
13:49way to do it, you know? Um, and so I, I constantly am sort of interested in, in, in creating
13:57suspense
13:58with a character, sad lady, sad lady alone in a house is a really fun, um, situation for
14:04me to be in as a director. Um, I don't know. I mean, I, everything I've ever done, I think
14:11like for all of us, it's, it's, you learn something new and it, it only helps you get better at
14:16your craft. Um, I def, you know, Sinner for me was a great experience cause it was the first
14:22time I ever did television and I felt very supported and encouraged by Derek Simons on
14:30that show and by USA and by UCP and by everybody just kind of take risks. And I've kept that,
14:37um, approach. I really approach everything as though I was making my first film and I,
14:45I want to come on set and feel like, um, you know, it's a family environment and we're just
14:51all there to have fun and explore and make something special and that we're all telling
14:57the same story. And I also want to challenge myself on a daily basis. I, you know, I, I
15:04want to care. I, you know, that's for me is the most important thing. And I think it's,
15:07you know, um, what I've really enjoyed about all of these projects that you mentioned, it's
15:11just, I just, I get to, I feel very lucky. I work with, uh, you know, producers like, like
15:20these guys who say, you know, just, just go for it. And, um, and so, you know, I, I, I
15:28do. And, um, yeah, I mean, I honestly, like I read this script and I had been reading a
15:35lot of pilots at that time. And this was the first pilot where there wasn't a dead body
15:39in the first 10 minutes. And that was really refreshing. You know, everything was like,
15:45we got there.
15:46Yeah. There's a dead body. I mean, I was like, wait, there's going to be a dead body, right
15:49guys? And they're like, yeah. But, but in the first 10 minutes, there wasn't this thing
15:53I had read, I read so many pilots where it was like, it just always felt like there's
15:56a dead body. And then somebody who used to be a cop, but isn't a cop anymore, but he's
16:01a park ranger and he's got to find out what happened, but he also has a complicated past and
16:05that's all going to come out over the course of this. It's always like, it was just like,
16:07okay, yeah, I get it. I get it.
16:09I just want a sad lady in a house.
16:10I want a sad lady in a fucking house. I love the fact that nothing, I was like, oh, there's
16:15a great writer's block. I was like, I know that. I know what that fucking feels like.
16:19And then there were, I love the fact that the centerpiece of the show was two people at
16:24a table talking. I was like, we're going to take two days to shoot this shit. This is going
16:28to be great. And, um, and, and that's so fun. And it's like a gift.
16:33We did at that table in that office with writer's block for about two consecutive hours. It
16:40was so painful. We were, you never called cut.
16:44No, I know it was really, I was getting anxious. Like, do I call it now? Do I call it
16:48now?
16:48It was excruciating. So thank you for that.
16:51That's very, a very relatable thing to portray on screen too, by the way. Thank you, Antonio.
16:56And Brittany, congratulations to you not only on this series, but the hunting wives also
17:00on Netflix. Congratulations.
17:03So it's, I rewatched the series this past week and I was struck by how Nina really is
17:08the most morally ambiguous character for me. Cause we truly don't know until the end if
17:14she's the quote, good guy or a bad guy, which is great. And I was wondering what was exciting
17:17to you about mining this kind of gray area from a performance POV?
17:21Oh, it was a great opportunity. I mean, I love playing characters that are underestimated,
17:26um, that come with a sort of archetypal sort of like archetype to the fact that maybe this
17:32is just the wife, or maybe this is just someone who's going to serve a purpose as like a foil
17:37to denial. And, and then getting to learn that her, you know, exploration is that she's also
17:44a survivor and she's making choices in her own way that are sort of animalistic and, and primal.
17:52And you kind of at the end wonder, like, did she mastermind this as well? Is she getting what she
17:58wants or is this sort of the moral compass of the show? And she's actually standing up to evil
18:03finally, but you know, I guess it's up to anybody to decide. And I love that ambiguity.
18:09And what did you most enjoy about working with these two fine performers?
18:13Well, it's really just a masterclass in getting to work with people that not only that I love,
18:17but I also admire. And it's just getting to be so present and listening so closely. I mean,
18:23there was never anything the same. And so that really kept me on my toes. And I love that we
18:28were doing so many different like mustache twirling, but also bringing it back down. And we didn't know
18:34what level Nina was going to be necessarily. So I was mustache twirling sometimes too.
18:39And I didn't know what it, what Matthew was going to give me and vice versa. And so there's a
18:43lot of
18:44takes where we tried a lot of different things. And I, I loved that we were very present with each
18:48other. That's the best case scenario. And Sean, as I mentioned earlier, you had previously worked
18:53with Howard on 24 and Homeland. And I'm curious if we think about like the Jack Bauer soundtrack,
18:59that sort of percussive ticking clock ethos, and think about Carrie Matheson's chaotic jazz
19:07soundtrack, which one of the best scores ever, the opening titles of Homeland, one of my favorites,
19:11beautiful. I, I want to know what you think the score for Beast and Me reveals about its characters
19:18and which instruments were most key to you telling that story?
19:22I think I just took the 24 score and put the secrets out.
19:27I didn't hear the, I didn't hear the ticking clock though. It was missing.
19:31I'm going to focus in on the first scene of, um, the household, uh, the first two minutes,
19:37because I remember looking at it going, Oh man, like, what are we going to do here? I mean,
19:43cause it is, it is tense. And like, it's one of those scores, Howard and I, to our credit,
19:48he's never ever sent me anything that's felt redone or like, I said, like, I said, dude,
19:54what are you thinking? And you're like, I don't know, man, you know, and, and there's like,
19:57you know, and, and we had the honesty to kind of, as 25 years to say, okay, we, we don't
20:02know,
20:03which is kind of liberating.
20:04That's the best, that's the best that you can, when you can say, I don't know,
20:06that's the best thing I've ever learned.
20:08But we had a, we had a meeting, all of us, uh, briefly and we're like, okay,
20:12let's drill down here. Cause sometimes you find the sound from an environmental situation,
20:16the establishment of Washington DC or something. This was undoubtedly a character.
20:20We had to go to the characters first. And to your point about the dinner conversation,
20:24I was so delighted that there was no need for music, not even a discussion about it.
20:29It really was a play, which is a testimony to how strong it was. I love it. That's the
20:33tentpole of the episode, but the opening, we had to get past and we were saying, okay,
20:38what is the sound of this show? And then we said, well, what is the sound of Aggie?
20:43And there was a sound of Niall. And, uh, we arrived at a word for Aggie, which you just saw
20:48the episode and the word that we at least settled on was the word stuck. And we think,
20:54okay, what does stuck sound like? And they're saying, well, you go find stuck and then come
20:58back to us, you know? And, um, but the stuck was sort of a, the dot on the, on the,
21:03um,
21:03on the paper, so to speak, you know? And really to your point about finding murdered people
21:09in the first thing that I've never worked on a show where you had this really traumatic
21:13memory come back, you know? And then the memory comes out and then a toilet overflows, like,
21:18I mean, like less than a minute later, which is really a different kind of color, you know?
21:23And then she goes and writes and then she has this metal box. So what we arrived at is a,
21:27uh,
21:28a cello that was plucked like almost with an inch of its life to almost, you know, kill the string
21:33with a guitar knocking. So it would feel like clink, clink, clink, but you didn't want it to be too
21:40serious because you filmed it in such a way that you just can't be too on the nose with it.
21:45So we
21:45had some Fender Rhodes pianos and some bent guitars. So that's how we, and we worked on that opening for,
21:52for quite a while. And then when it came to Niall, it was more complicated because, uh, we didn't see
21:58him right away. We saw the, through, we saw him through your eyes and, and, and it was, uh, the
22:04dogs, uh, the, the, the, the horn. It's like, you know, we couldn't really come up with a word. The
22:08first word was, the first sentence was, who is this guy? I mean, like, like with that mood, like,
22:12who is this guy? You know? And like, and we had to sort of explore that way. And then when
22:16I saw you
22:17at the premiere, Matthew, I said, you know, I told you this and you said, but in the end, you
22:20used a lot
22:21of minor chords, correct? To define it. And, uh, so, but it's just, you know, composers talk too much,
22:27but it was just such an extraordinary thing because it's appropriate. I'm on this end here
22:30because all the work that they did arrive, you know, is done before I see it. And so when we
22:35see it, it becomes really something spectacular to, uh, work with. And, um, and so thank you.
22:41Fascinating. I could listen to this all day. That was so fascinating. Thank you so much.
22:46And Claire, um, to close this out today, I would love for you to reflect on what you learned from
22:51Howard that you applied to your process as an executive producer on this show, which I know was
22:56something that you really enjoyed building something from the ground up for the first
22:59time. But I imagine he was probably a great role model from whom to learn.
23:03Well, I remember reading the pilot of Homeland and it, I mean, this is the most abused word
23:10in Hollywood, but it was genuinely propulsive, but you just were, it was cracky. Like you're
23:18like, okay, next, next, now, now, you know, and it was just resoundingly clear that other
23:24people would feel the same way. And, and I think that is, you know, your superpower, like
23:32you really understand how to engage an audience and how to keep them watching. Um, but, but
23:40you also, that writer's room was astonishing. I mean, it was, and every, I think every writer
23:46had been a show runner themselves. Yeah. And I think that was, yeah. And, and it, it, the
23:53confidence to surround yourself with other excellent writers, you have to be really, it's masochistic,
24:03but that's the spirit. It's, but, but, but the emphasis is entirely on making a great
24:09thing. Um, and, uh, sure. I mean, there's always a drama, but that's, but that's where
24:16the focus is. And, and you, you don't fuck around. Like you, you, you hire really experienced,
24:26really committed people who, uh, take this, uh, seriously, this like entertainment.
24:34By the way, Claire hired me on this. I would say that's her, that was the biggest, hire the
24:38right people is really the biggest. Well, that was kind of wild because I had worked independently
24:44with both Howard and Daniel and I kind of thought of them separately for this because their sensibilities
24:51were both appropriate for this. Um, and then I kind of remembered, oh, right. They had almost
24:58coincidentally become like partners. No, not coincidentally. We met through you on the,
25:03Daniel was visiting Claire on the season finale of Homeland in Morocco as a, just as a friend.
25:08And we hung out and then three years later, I was doing the show for Fox and Daniel's script
25:12crossed my desk and he wrote his first thing and I grabbed him. I said, you're not going anywhere.
25:17And then that, well, that was, which is what a producer does when you find someone who you vibe with.
25:21But also Claire, I have to say when we wrote, when Alex and I wrote the character, you know,
25:26the story. Yeah. But yeah, we wrote, you know, when you're picturing who you're writing,
25:29especially when you're writing with someone and you want to have someone in mind and we
25:32call the character Claire because Claire had done Temple Grandin. I think, so you were like,
25:37oh my God. So, but we didn't think you'd respond. But that's not an obvious,
25:41those are not obvious dots.
25:43We literally sent it to you.
25:45Slightly different.
25:47No, it's not.
25:47No, but that's an act of imagination.
25:49The way she's described, yeah, we had you in mind just so that we were both thinking of the same
25:53voice, same behavior, same energy. So.
25:57Yeah. Anyway, I've learned many things, but having good taste sounds like the number one first step.
26:03Yeah.
26:04To be a good producer.
26:05Yes. And no, but both, I mean, you create healthy environments and because I think really
26:14mostly for that reason, because there's nothing kinky. Like it's, you know, there's none of your
26:21own personal mishigas. It's like, no, really, you, it's, that is at the door and you, it's,
26:29the, the focus is on, on the practice of building a great show in, in healthy collaboration with other
26:37gifted people. So, yeah.
26:39Good lessons learned. And obviously we see the effects on screen. So thank you so much.
26:43Congratulations, everybody.
26:45Thank you for being here.
26:45Thanks so much.
26:46Thank you so much.
26:46Thank you guys.
26:47Thank you for coming.
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