Reel Talk: Julianne Nicholson, Sarah Shahi, Krys Marshall, Jon Beavers, and Nicole Brydon Bloom on Hulu’s Paradise
A seemingly perfect community is abruptly disturbed when a former president (James Marsden) is murdered in his own home. The President’s head of security, Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) takes it upon himself to investigate the crime, putting himself and his children in danger. In this small town, secrets spread quickly and make the rounds to its prominent residents who all have power and wealth. Paradise is a multi-genre mystery drama detailing potential events following the seemingly end of the world.
Julianne Nicholson is a real shining star of the series. Her performance as Sinatra is deeply layered, emotional, and captivating. For much of the series she is seen as a very stoic figure set to lead this new town. However, her past finds a way to creep back up to her. In episode two, she has an extremely difficult conversation with her son who is on the verge of death. In a moment of comfort she tells him that Heaven can be whatever he wants, in turn he describes it as everything here but with more horses. Nicholson shares her difficulties of getting through such an emotional scene. “That was a killer because I was trying not to get too upset because it's your son and you need to be the mom and you need to make sure he's okay. The directors were off camera telling the little boy, say ‘will you be there?’ I mean they were saying the darkest and saddest things you've ever imagined. I was just like I’m fine just over here crying.”
While Paradise poses as the ideal post apocalyptic city, there are different things that people value. Nicholson shares her wishes for her own Heaven. “I definitely want a body of water to be able to jump into because nothing makes you feel better than jumping in the ocean or jumping in a lake. It's not that fabulous, but I mostly think of places from my childhood where I'm with my family.” Sarah Shahi shares a more festive take on her personal paradise. “My Paradise would involve Christmas trees, a lot of twinkly lights, maybe a couple of Santa's helpers, my children are there. I'm okay with a body of water, I'm more of a mountain person but the only reason I don't like water is because I don't like sharks. So if we can take the ocean, make it a nice 93°, and no sharks then we'll have that. I mean it's my Paradise right? It's my heaven so I can design however I want. Puppies everywhere, my children, there we go.”
Dan Fogelman, writer and creator of the show is known largely for his screenwriting, specifically the hit series This Is Us. The heartbreaking drama aired for six seasons following its premiere in 2016, and was the start of Dan and Sterling’s partnership. Fogelman had the concept for Paradise long before it came to fruition, and while it may be an old idea, many of the themes are extremely timely. Sarah Shahi shares her take on the parallels between the show and current events. “The inception of the show was not meant to be a political comment. Nothing is really pulled directly from the headlines, but I do think in a very beautiful way that really good art can make you think. In a way that art and life can sort of imitate one another, the purpose of really good film making or a great movie or a great piece of art is to make you think, is to make you talk, is to make you reflect. If there's anything that people can take away from this, though it's meant to be just a wild ride, it's meant to just be popcorn fun, it would be I guess to reflect and to see if there's any sort of ownership or responsibility in doing things differently moving forward.”
Julianne Nicholson reflects on how the show can create some change. “Definitely taking care of the earth is a great thing to have people talking about and for those non-believers to maybe think again. It's also so exciting to be on a show where there are so many twists and turns and how you think you're just going to sit down and watch a political thriller and then at the end of every episode you're left with a completely different understanding of what this show is and who these people are.” While the show may reflect some aspects of reality, it truly is a mix of genres and elements that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Each episode, if not each scene, reveals something new behind each character. This twist heavy series has a myriad of jaw dropping moments. Krys Marshall shares that episode seven was a really difficult script to read due to the daunting material. “I would say if we're going to talk about episode 7, I mean the very last scenes where we are evacuating the White House, the choppers are trying to land, the people are rushing forward, Robinson grabs the gun and just starts laying into people and you just realize like this is mayhem, this is absolute mayhem. As I read this, I was both so filled with excitement and also so filled with dread. When you get material that good, it just feels like you've been asked to climb Everest so feeling maybe bit of impostor syndrome. Can I do this? Am I ready for this? You’ve got to go to work in the morning so you better do it. Finding your legs as you walk was a real challenge but I was so moved.” While Marshall may have had some hesitations about her performance, there is not a moment in the show where she doesn’t look fully sure of herself.
Nicole Brydon Bloom echos Marshall’s sentiment but adds that one of her favorite scenes is not even one she is in. “I'm right there with you I thought episode 7 was beautiful. I think in episode 2, Dan does such a beautiful job of exploring loss and Sterling's character in particular, you really get an insight into his relationship and the enormity of what he's losing. For anyone who has experienced losing a parent or a spouse or really anyone in their life, I think it's really going to hit home. I was crying reading it, his writing was really powerful and sort of such a tragic twist and moment.” If a script is able to bring you to tears, you are not at all prepared to see how Julianne Nicholson brought the words to life.
Jon Beavers shares more of an easter egg that caught his eye, opposed to a more traditional twist. “The one that I thought of for whatever reason is Julian Nicholson at the end of the second episode. She's speaking with her son who is going to pass away and she said says ‘Heaven can be like anything you want it to be like’ and he says ‘I wanted to be like this but with more horses.’ You see that we've witnessed already that these rides are around the town sort of innocuous and all of a sudden you understand the symbolism of that. I don't know if you would call it a reveal in the same way, but you just get this peak into the heart of the character who may be the villain if there is one.” Beavers taps into a very small detail that exposes a real vulnerability in one of the series’ main characters.
Playing a secret service agent is a bit of a parallel to being an actor in the way that you have to show up and do your job while putting your personal life aside. “I think you're 100% right. I think every single one of us in our everyday lives regardless of what you do for a living knows what it's like to have one face that you show the world and a different face that you show at home and maybe even a third face that you only show yourself. I think throughout this story whether you are a secret service agent or you are the president himself, we're each sort of masking in many different ways and code switching in order to um adapt and survive in these really crazy environments,” Marshall shares.
Beavers shares that a new aspect of his life has brought him a different perspective, one that he feels connected him to his character more than before. “I just recently got to become an uncle in real life and that was fun especially after getting to play a character who who goes by Uncle Billy to some of the characters in this show. That's a layer of this very complicated multifaceted character that I think is unexpected and awesome. I'm not a parent, but with this new young person coming into the world, my brother's son, I care in a different way about the future of this planet and it's just been really exciting and terrifying and wonderful to look through that lens. I think that's happening for some of these characters and for Billy in particular. I think he sees the world now with the responsibility of the people that love him and look up to him and it changes everything.” His ideas of the future and care towards the world has been shifted due to this new child, something we should all be paying a bit more attention to.
Paradise is now streaming on Hulu.
