Rest assured, this should also be the most anticipated set of American dramas for many of you in the year.
Because, its director is David Finch, this time, he will personally direct four of them, and "House of Cards" only directed two episodes.
The show will start broadcasting on the 13th, before the series starts, we can also look at this interview, from "Empire" magazine, the interview with the director of the show, David Finch, so that we can also understand what this show wants to do.
One morning in September 2016, the 54-year-old director, along with the crew, was in the lobby of the Pittsburgh Police Department in Pennsylvania, pretending to be the Adairsville Police Department in Georgia in the 70s. He was showing off the script of the day in the new play, but it was not bound in order. "Okay, we're almost ready," he said loudly, removing the staples, "and let the lead actors come in." ”
Soon, the main actors of "Mind Hunter" walked in, passing a cigarette vending machine and a wall with a "wanted notice" attached to it. Hut McCarrany has jagged hair, a short-sleeved white shirt and a conservative (because it's a '70s) tie.
He plays the veteran FBI agent Bill Tanke, whose character is partly inspired by the late Robert Reisler, a pioneer in psychological profiling. And he seems ready to go at any moment. But when he stopped next to Finch, he seemed quiet and gentle again: "David, can I ask you a question?" ”
Jonathan Grove strode to the rear—actually jumping over, but it was less elegant to say so. He wore a light blue shirt and neat gray pants, and a face full of joy illustrated not just a job, but an adventure.
He plays Holden Ford, the same character inspired in part by a real detective, John Douglas, and the Netflix series is inspired by his book, "Psycho: The FBI Series of Crime Solving Mysteries." Douglas is at the forefront of detectives: he talks to the serial killers in prison, understands their instincts, and assists the police in cross-examination on the spot. These are the detectives who have gradually become amateur psychologists.
It was this perspective that caught the eye of director Finch, who had always been fascinated by serial killers, but had never seen their psychology explored in this way. "It's this that makes a lot of the official agencies that fight crime get involved in crime, and the attitude changes to 'let's find out,'" he explains. ”
The scene to be filmed can be said to be a highly summarized direction of the whole play. Holden will explain to a local police officer that he wants to question a little girl killer and that he is trying to understand him and even look like he sympathizes with him. The point is: everything is going to get weird.
As the cameras began filming and the conversation drew to a close, the policeman turned to Tanchy and said with a hint of banter: "Is this all the interest of the FBI?" And the less impatient answer was: "This is his interest." ”
"Card!" Finch shouted. "Continue!" Everyone paused, out of surprise. Then laughed out loud, because Cass and the crew finally understood that their director— a director who was never afraid of reshooting— was joking. With as much attention to detail as any fbi profiler, Finch is unlikely to be hasty in dealing with such a delicate scene. He walked over to the monitor and said, "Okay, play it back." Let me see what the is all about. ”
If you list the things in Mindhunter, it would be a long list. It is about the most corrupting and violent side of human behavior. Of course, for its main directors and executive producers, backstabbing is nothing new.
But Finch's return at Netflix — after developing House of Cards in 2013 — could be an evolution in terms of his storytelling, as this time he'll focus more on characterization than ever before. (Finch directed 4 of the 10 episodes, with the rest being danish director Tobias Lindauchem (masterpiece "The Fury Sea Robbery"),) and two British directors Andrew Douglas (masterpiece "Do You Want Me to Kill Him?") and Asver Cappadir (masterpiece "Forever Car God") several people in charge. He portrays the show as "moments in between," unlike the intrigues and tricks of conventional crime in other movies or series.
"It's more like a theatrical performance," he says, "and a lot of the scenes are about sitting against a man in handcuffs trying to pry open his mouth and let him tell you what was going on in his head when he was doing inhuman acts to other people." ”
The length of time spent in the show exploring human behavior— the time used to get into the minds of serial killers — has been made less rigorously in comparison to Finch's previously made less rigorous serial killer stories.
As the producer of the show, it was Charlize Theron who brought the script to Finch, and after a failed collaboration with a screenwriter, it was she who introduced Finch to Joe Penghall, whom she knew during the filming of Doomsday.
Peng Hauer wrote the pilot episode and the outline of the whole season, based on the real case, adapted the story of the detective, so that the whole drama has a dramatic color. Of course, from "Seven Deadly Sins" and "Zodiac" to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", Finch himself has many successful works. Interest in the topic may have sprung up in his youth. His dad is a journalist and his mom is a mental health nurse, so there's a lot of discussion about killers in the family.
"There were a lot of serial killers in the '70s," he recalls, "and most of them we talked about." My mom's last thought would be rehabilitation, and my dad would say, 'Once you get the truth, you're probably going to be less compassionate than you are now.' So that's probably what makes Mind Hunter appealing. But then again, always putting the blame on my parents is my default mode. ”
"I think part of what makes this show fascinating is to see what we're familiar with slowly build up and assemble," says Jonathan Grove. ”
Although we always think that psychological profiling is a matter of course today, it was a new idea in the 70s. So while Mindhunter is about murder, it bears similarities to Finch's other Bafta Award-winning Social Network.
In fact, Finch met Grove through the project, not the episodes he'd acted in ("I know it surprises you," the director says, "but I've never seen Glee"). The actor's role as George III in the Broadway hit "Hamilton" was stunning — and he auditioned for entrepreneur Sean Parker (the role ended up with Justin Timberlake). "If you want him to play it, you can definitely act it to the fullest," Finch said, "but he doesn't look at it at all mercenary." ”
It was Grove's purity—this sincere, innate decency—that made him the best candidate for Ford, though he was driven and ambitious, but for good reason. "At the beginning of the series, he faced an existential crisis," Grove said, "and his experiences in the first act of the first episode upended his world and made him think that maybe his training at the FBI wasn't enough to handle real-life tasks." ”
Ford goes with his initially reluctant partner, Tanchi, to interrogate a serial killer. "At the time, in the late '70s, they weren't called serial killers," Grove explains, "and the term was later coined by the FBI's behavioural science unit." ”
The first two words of the behavioral sciences department for the general public summarize the scope of BSD's work. The character of Hut McCarrany is sandwiched between old and new: he is shocked and numb to the cruelty and tediousness of his evil deeds, but he can also see the value of a new way of hunting down killers. The casting this time is clever.
McCarrany's past roles have mostly been familiar tough guys, but Finch has known him for 25 years, used him in Alien 3 and Fight Club, and sees sensitivity and humor in him — a depth that will certainly be exploited as mindhunters evolve.
"My character, Tanqi, doesn't sympathize with the killer like Jonathan's character, but he's also curious and a great agent." McCarrane said. The same qualities can be found in actors. It was normal for him to ask Finch questions on set— he was always chasing the director. "Serial killers will brutally kill you and destroy your corpse. But serial questioning will only keep you bored to death for months during filming. ”
"The Third Leg of the Tripod," this is finch's character of Dr. Wendy Kyle, played by Anna Tove, a psychologist who values what Tanky and Ford do: it's an opportunity to really make people understand what makes killers. "She really wants to help them make their work legal research." Tove says you might recognize her as an FBI agent investigating bizarre events in another film, Edge of Crisis.
A lot of preparation was made for MindHunter, "It's kind of like falling down a rabbit hole — everything is within reach online." It's all gone to the point where she has to subconsciously avoid it, because the horrific nature of those crimes makes her feel "vulnerable." But she still has to look at that content through the lens of her character, and her character is full of sympathy. "Because you look back," Tove said, "none of them had a good childhood, so they decided to torture others to death." ”
The stars have thought deeply about moral questions – the nature of evil; if there is no salvation, is there still the possibility of conscience? "What struck me the most was the ease with which people could be separated from good and bad," Grove said (and there is nothing wrong with finch's "sweetest man ever"). "But after spending almost a year in Pittsburgh, sitting there listening to the stories of those people, you'll be drawn to the complexity of it."
Maybe McCarrany was trying to get into the role, and he seems less ambiguous about the bad guys — though it's clear that everyone involved in the production of the series isn't 100 percent sure of their point of view.
"I've been to [FBI College] Quantico and met some people who are currently working in the Human Behavior Sciences Department, which is now called the Human Behavior Analysis Department," he recalls, "and if you ask people who work in law enforcement [about congliang], they usually give the analogy of, 'Like you're baking a cake.'" If the cake has eggs, flour, milk and sugar, a lot of normal ingredients. But imagine you mix some motor oil in the oven before you put the cake in the oven. So, when the cake is taken out of the oven, is it still possible to remove the oil inside? Impossible' and that's their point of view. ”
There may be no cure, but it is possible to prevent it in advance. That's part of what motivated Douglas and Reisler to do their research. During Quantico's visit, Finch went to a basement and came face-to-face with a life-size model of Hannibal Lecter: the representative of the ultimate serial killer. "'The Silence of the Lambs' is a great way to use admissions," the director said. When his FBI guide asks him what he wants to do with Mind Hunter, he says he wants to get rid of all the evil in the serial killer.
"I think Dennis Rader, the "btk killer." BTK stands for "bind bind, torture torture, kill kill") is not simple, Gary Ridgway ("Green River Killer") is not simple, richard ramirez ("Nightcrawler") is not simple either," he said, "but neither of them is greedy." We want everyone to see them as they are, that is, some sadness and humanity. Although what they hide behind is an extremely inhuman side. ”
Maybe in your expectations, this isn't the attitude the guy who puts Gwyneth Paltrow's head in a cardboard box will have. But some empathy is really felt.
Finch recalls, "Jeffrey Dahmer (cannibalism, carcass, who killed 17 people) said, 'I feel sexually aroused when I see people's internal organs.'" He paused, then said sarcastically, "Well, well, there's not much to be found in this... But sunscreen, beer, bubble gum and cars are all stimulated by cleavage and abs to stimulate sales — our sex drive is mixed in all kinds of communication. If this doesn't hold true for you, what will the world be like? I mean, I've seen photos of Jeffrey Damor's crime scene. He is not human. But you still can't help but listen to him and think, 'Is it possible that we could have stepped in earlier?' ’”
Nor is this empathy permanent. "I always considered myself an enlightened person." "But of course sometimes I think myself, 'Give me an excavator and some quicklime, and we won't have to worry about the appeal process,' Finch said. "Obviously, this inner struggle of the series creators will bring vitality to the show." We have to seek justification, Tove said, and we feel there must be a reasonable explanation, because if not, it would be horrible. I think that's one of the problems that the show presents.
"Finch is interested in what makes our character form — and what makes us perverted." Before that, the FBI's attitude was' that 'those people are mad dogs, and they don't even deserve our contempt.' I think it's interesting that someone said, 'Maybe, but the difference between them and mad dogs is that you can still talk to them.' ’”
And as someone who spends a lot of time talking to murderers and witnessing so many terrible facts, Douglas in his book draws a surprising conclusion: "I sincerely believe that with more money, police force, and prison investment, we need more love." This is not oversimplification; it is at the heart of the whole problem. ”
Treating killers as incomplete people, rather than ominous monsters, is exactly what FBI has learned to do in the past, in order to try to prevent more killings. What makes murderers, how can we stop them, and what evil lurks in our hearts? Mind Hunters raises difficult questions. "It also has a lot to do with eroticism!" Finch said, "Let's stop deceiving ourselves." Hopefully, we can handle the similarities between people well, rather than expanding our differences. ”
Not everyone is a big traitor—at least not to the point of the sexual sadisms in MindHunter. But exploring the darkness of the human heart is fascinating. And you can also make a career out of it. Back in Pittsburgh— the crew was filming in a high-rise neighborhood, and it was time for a break— the director showed us how to operate his new camera, and we smiled and nodded and pretended to understand. At this time, a resident came up and said that she was a fan. Finch laughed. "It's always good to know that there are many perverts!" She laughed and said, "We made you still have work!" ”
"That's true," said Finch, "that without perversion, I would be nothing." ”
Mind Hunter will air on Netflix on October 13.