The first two episodes of Nocturne on Apple TV are now streaming, and the people behind it are teasing a twisted game of cat and mouse. The Direct's David Thompson spoke exclusively with stars Stephen Graham and Rory Culkin, as well as showrunner John Hlavin, about the new crime thriller, which sees Graham's imprisoned serial killer set his sights on a nurse he called a "little mouse."
The bond between Graham and Culkin's characters looks very different depending on which side of the glass you're on. Culkin said his character's side of things is "completely genuine," even if he's "sort of aware he's being manipulated." Graham, on the other hand, warned that when the time comes, "said mouse will be squashed."
Nocturne follows Jonah Lynn (Liev Schreiber), an ex-soldier turned homicide detective who leaves Philadelphia behind for a quiet life in a small western Pennsylvania town.
That quiet doesn't last long, as the town and his family come under attack from serial killer Jurek Walter (Graham). The hunt for Jurek's last missing victim then forces Jonah to send FBI Agent Saga Bauer (Zazie Beetz), undercover, to get answers straight from the killer.
Culkin's Karl character is a kindhearted nurse at the psychiatric facility holding Jurek. The 10-episode series is based on Lazarus and The Sandman, two of Lars Kepler's Joona Linna novels. Rowan Joffé created Nocturne for television, while Hlavin served as the series' showrunner. Apple TV will release new episodes every Friday until its finale on December 25.
Graham and Culkin spoke with The Direct together about acting through Nocturne's tiny window, while Hlavin opened up about working with five directors, bringing a locked-up killer to life, and whether there's more story to tell after Season 1: "We weren't trying to save anything for dessert."
How to Act Through a Window
"There's A Safety Net Here..."
- The Direct: "Most of your scenes are filmed through what looks like a small box window. How did that inform both of your performances in this series?"
Stephen Graham: Basically, we kind of got to know each other really quite well, and, you know, look, it's always one of those wonderful things when you get on with the person who you're working with. We did, we struck up a wonderful little friendship, and we'd go out and stuff. We went to football games, so we really got to know each other.
And then, when it comes to that process, then you can really let yourself go because you trust the person that you're working with. And you're right, I didn't even... think about it, that most of it's done through that little window. But then you just play the environment you're in. Do you know what I mean?
We'd meet and we'd talk about our scenes with the director and with the writer, John Hlavin, and we'd go through it with Tim and with our other directors, and we'd kind of map out what we were doing for the week and where we were, and we'd discuss them. And then that gives us an opportunity to get onto set and then just play.
And then you don't spend so much time trying to find out what's going on in the scene, because we all come at it from a position of doing the work, and then we turn up, and we just see where we go. But it was a joy. It was an absolute joy to work with Rory. It truly was, honestly.
Rory Culkin: And with the window, you know, it's for Karl's safety, but also Rory's...There was, at least early on, it was like, okay, there's a safety net here. I'm not as intimidated to work with an actor like this because there's this little window here.
And we have so many scenes in that little window, and it's, you know, it's not fully our job to try to reinvent every scene. That's sort of up to the directors and cinematography.
Inside Jurek & Karl's Cat-and-Mouse Game
"Said Mouse Will Be Squashed..."
- The Direct: "Without going into spoilers, let's talk about Jurek and Karl's relationship. Is it a one-sided relationship? Is there anything genuine about it?"
Culkin: On Karl's side, it's completely genuine. It's, you know, even if he's sort of aware he's being manipulated, there's something exciting about that, and Jurek is looking at him in a way that no one's ever looked at him, and recognizes what he's doing.
And I think Karl just doesn't get enough pats on the head, and this guy's patting him on the head. And yeah, so it's all pure and genuine on Karl's end. And maybe part of his fascination is he's not so sure how genuine it is. He thinks it's genuine. He thinks he's getting through. Maybe he is. I don't know. I gotta watch it.
Graham: And from my side, whatever I need to do to this little mouse, I will do. And when the time comes for me to squash said mouse, then said mouse will be squashed, or maybe mouse will be placed in pocket. We don't know.
So yeah, my objective is to use him for what I need him for, but I'm also slightly intrigued by him, and I'm intrigued at trying to work out what makes him tick.
Working with Five Different Directors on Nocturne
"I'm Not Going To Tell LeBron James How To Play Basketball..."
- The Direct: "You worked with a few different directors on this series. What was that experience like as the showrunner?"
John Hlavin: It was amazing. I mean, we had amazing directors. Tim Van Patten, who did... we did them in blocks of two episodes. So I had five directors over 10 episodes. Tim is one of the great directors. He's also a great person. You know, he's a very easy-to-access creative person. He has excellent ideas.
The look of the show is entirely him. You know, he knew what he wanted to accomplish. We talked a lot about light. We talked a lot about what we considered to be bucolic and what would be underneath that.
Then behind him, you have Allen Coulter, who's also, you know, a tier-one director. Allen, of course, did the pilot for 'Ray Donovan.' We had experience with Liev. They had a relationship already.
These are like professional athletes you don't have to say a lot to... I'm not going to tell LeBron James how to play basketball. You know what I mean?
Like, so I was doing a lot of just sort of putting up guardrails on the outer edges to make sure that, you know, we had symmetry across all 10 episodes. You don't want every episode to feel different. You know what I mean? You kind of want them to feel like they're of a piece.
Logan and Anu and Joe, the remaining three directors, all also excellent. Joe Chappelle has been directing forever. He directed 'The Wire,' you know. You kind of have to have generals in that regard. But yeah, it was a great experience. You really felt like a good chunk of your stress drops away when you have people that are working at that level.
Bringing a Boxed-In Serial Killer to Life
"We Have To Find A Way To Make This Feel Like A Conversation..."
- The Direct: "There's something that needs to be believed about Jurek in terms of his influence on those around him, and being able to do a lot while incarcerated. What was the biggest challenge of bringing a serial killer like this to life for TV?"
Hlavin: The biggest challenge is he was in a box. He was in a single location, more or less. And then you have the secondary challenge, which ties directly to the first challenge: you have to have him form a relationship with people inside of that box.
So we spent a lot of time... Rowan Joffé wrote the pilot, and myself and the rest of the writers spent a lot of time thinking through how could we have him form relationships when he was not allowed to leave that room?
We found a way to do it through our production designer designing a space that allowed us visual points to connect with him and allow him to connect with other actors.
Tim Van Patten, who I mentioned did the pilot, spent some time with us trying to figure out how would he communicate once we had put Saga Bauer inside of that space, even though they were separated by concrete.
The primary challenge was that, and I think it was accomplished beautifully, both visually, I think, due to Judy's work and the director's work, how they kind of captured it, and also the actors, I think sort of intuitively figuring out, oh, we have to find a way to make this feel like a conversation and not people speaking through concrete or through glass.
Will There Be More Nocturne After Season 1?
"We Weren't Trying To Save Anything For Dessert..."
- The Direct: "This series is based on some previous novels, but not all of them. Do you think there's any room for future storytelling after Season 1?"
Hlavin: In almost every story, there's probably more stories to tell. We put our focus only on this. We were really trying to serve the perfect meal. You know what I mean? We weren't trying to save anything for dessert.
In the event that we didn't... that this was all we had, was these 10 episodes, how can we tell a perfect... not leaving it on some kind of, well, you have to come back if you want this answer. You know what I mean?
We really did want to tell a complete story, I think, in a way, as the book does. And because we had the luxury of the novel, we knew where the plot was going.
