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The new Hulu series Death and Other Details centers on a murder mystery that takes place at a Mediterranean ocean liner. The prime suspect is Imogene Scott (Violett Beane), and she teams up with detective Rufus Colesworth (Mandy Patinkin) to find the real killer. Showrunners Mike Weiss and Heidi Cole McAdams talked to Deepest Dream about their new series.
There are so many people working on a production. As showrunners and creators, what’s the unlock as far as just working with so many people and finding a sort of a unified vision for what you guys want to do?
Mike Weiss: It’s a great question. We’ve talked about this a lot. You have to find people who are willing to sign up with your crazy vision. Right? So you’re looking for people who are maybe fans of the genre or people that find one little thing to hook on to that they can really focus on something that you need people to bring their personal experiences and also all of their knowledge of the genre.
You need people to bring a lot to the party, and we felt incredibly lucky from the beginning. We hired writers who we loved. Many of whom were new to us. (The crew included) production designer James Philpott, costume designer Mandi Line, who also worked with Mary E. Vogt to help set the looks during our pilot. Our director (Marc Webb), our cinematographers, everyone involved bought in and they cared just as much as we did.
I mean, we say it right in the opening voiceover, right: “Pay attention. Details matter.” You need to find people who care as much as we did. You’re kind of looking to build an army of lunatics, and I think we did.
My only complaint regarding your show is I want to see more of just Mandy Patinkin and Violett Beane for days on end. They’re just so perfect as far as they’re just different, but they just gel completely well together.
Heidi Cole McAdams: We were so fortunate to have these two extraordinarily talented actors and then each of them separately. But then you put them in a room together, and it’s kind of like magic happens.
After watching this series, what would you recommend watchers see as a companion to what you guys been working on? If they’re inspired by this show, what movie or TV show would you point them towards next to complement what you guys are doing?
Mike Weiss: We always talked about Agatha Christie being brought into the year 2024. I think that in season one, we were definitely focused on that kind of like classical golden age of detective fiction being our guiding light. We’ve often talked about how if we get if we’re lucky enough to do more seasons, we might kind of borrow more from different elements of the genre to tell our story. But I think Agatha Christie is really the main reference for what we did this year.
Loving the show so far. Thank you guys so much for your time.
Heidi Cole McAdams: Thank you.
***The first two episodes of Death and Other Details are now streaming on Hulu. New episodes air on Tuesdays with finale episode set for March 5.
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