The tale is true and it involves a gruesome killing in Wylie, Texas. But to characterize the miniseries Love & Death (HBO Max) as merely a true crime story doesn’t do it justice--particularly when the narrative, centered on two church-going families, is in the thoughtful hands of creator/writer David E. Kelley and executive producer/director Lesli Linka Glatter.
“What interested me, David and the amazing cast is that things are not what they appear to be on the surface,” observed Glatter, noting that the why of what happened leading up to the murder in 1980 is what fascinated her. “We have a woman who supposedly did everything right. She’s 28 years old, was married at 20, had kids, moved to the suburbs, had a social life centered around the church. But she had a hole a mile wide in her soul.”
That woman, Candy Montgomery (portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen), looks to fill that void through an affair with Allan Gore (Jesse Plemons), who’s married to Betty (Lily Rabe). When confronted about the affair and physically attacked by Betty with an axe, Candy wrests the weapon away and hacks Betty 41 times.
Glatter, who directed five of the seven episodes, and Kelley delved into each character’s background story, emotions and complexities--including those of Candy’s husband, Pat (Patrick Fugit). While never minimizing the horror of what happened, the story is told with compassion, perspective, a deft touch and early on even elements of humor, exploring in the process the so-called American dream and the emptiness that sometimes goes with it.
While adultery and a heinous murder translate into sensationalized media coverage--which is depicted in Love & Death--the miniseries is the antithesis of sensationalism, instead examining the inner workings and needs of these people who are largely likable and relatable. But this is all happening during an era and in a place where folks didn’t go to a therapist to discuss and get in touch with their feelings, making it all the more difficult for a person to fill that chasm in a soul described by Glatter.
“You get to meet these people. I fell in love with all of them as we explored something inexplicable. There’s a huge psychological disconnect in Candy,” related Glatter who pointed out that the violent outcome might not have occurred if any number of mundane circumstances had unfolded differently that one fateful day in June when Betty was killed.
Among the challenges that Love & Death posed, said Glatter, was the “big tonal shift in the middle of the series” which she saw as being broken up into three parts. “The first three episodes have some lightness, a lot of things are kind of funny,” she continued, citing for example when Candy told Alan she wanted to have an affair. “They talked three months before having an affair. It was the most unspontaneous beginning possible to an affair. There’s a scene where they’re eating lasagna in Candy’s house and are writing that list of do’s and don’ts--one of the don’ts being ‘don’t fall in love’ as if the human heart were so easy to control. There’s an innocence and a humor in them as they approach their relationship in that way. It’s less about sex and more about being seen and heard, hanging out together. It’s not what you expect it to be. That’s what I loved about the story.”
After the first three episodes, continued Glatter, there’s a shift that’s “exciting and terrifying,” the latter reflected first and foremost in the killing itself.
Glatter noted that the axe murder was “the worst scene I had ever shot in my career. It was heart wrenching. It wasn’t like shooting an action sequence. It was up close and personal--two housewives in the laundry room [of Betty’s house].” Glatter recalled, “The whole crew was pretty freaked out. I would hold Lily [Rabe] and Lizzy {Olsen]. We just held each other. It was extreme and very emotional.”
The final two episodes become more of a courtroom drama and while many viewers on some level knew the end of the true story, Glatter still wanted it to feel “like you’re on the edge of the seat” about the outcome.
Helping cast and crew to better cope with the horror of the laundry room scene, observed Glatter, was her approach to the production. “When we started off filming, it was important to me to begin with the scenes that were all about the community. We shot all the scenes at the little white church, picnic scenes, choir scenes--even though that was a pretty crazy place to start, with 150 people a day in period hair and makeup. But I wanted to create a community for the actors, a community that was connected. I thought this was the perfect way to start this particular project. Before the community starts shattering [in the story], I wanted us to be together where the relationships among the characters feel good.”
This communal foundation thus made it a bit easier to deal with the horror of where the narrative was headed.
Creating such a community among cast and crew was essential and for Glatter a key takeaway from her experience on Love & Death. “The process of working on this with this particular group of quite extraordinary people leans into the importance of creating a really good working environment,” said Glatter. “This was an extraordinary team. We are in a team sport. It’s not so much about being the smartest person in the room but being in the room with the smartest people.”
Among those people was a stellar cast, Clark Johnson who directed episodes 5 and 6, cinematographers John Conroy (who lensed Johnson’s episodes) and Tim Ives (who shot the Glatter-directed installments)--and of course, Kelley. This marked the first time Glatter and Kelley had collaborated. She recalled at the SXSW Festival where Love & Death was first screened publicly--bringing the joy of debuting a Texas story in Texas--Kelley joked about the fact that he and Glatter had some 60 years of combined TV experience yet “our paths had not crossed.” Glatter noted, “We had always wanted to work together. I think we will be working together again.”
Love & Death is in the Emmy conversation--an industry dialogue that is familiar to Kelley and Glatter. Kelly has been nominated for assorted Emmys, winning 11--Outstanding Drama Series thrice for L.A. Law and twice for both Picket Fences and The Practice, Writing for a Drama Series twice for L.A. Law, Outstanding Comedy Series for Ally McBeal and Outstanding Limited Series for Big Little Lies.
Glatter has thus far received eight Emmy nominations--Outstanding Drama Series for Homeland twice, and Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series six times--five for Homeland and one for Mad Men. Glatter, who currently serves as president of the Directors Guild of America, has amassed eight DGA Award nominations, winning three times--two for Homeland and one for Mad Men. Her TV directing over the years also spans such shows as The West Wing, E.R., The Morning Show, The Leftovers, the iconic Twin Peaks, and the pilots for Gilmore Girls and Pretty Little Liars.
Glatter, whose career helped shatter the industry glass ceiling for women, has been mentoring for many years as well, including helping to develop the successful NBC initiative, Female Forward.
Kris Bowers
A four-time Emmy-nominated composer--for his work on When They See Us in 2019, Mrs. America in 2020, and twice for Bridgerton (Original Dramatic Score and Main Title Theme Music) in 2021--and a Best Documentary Short Subject Oscar nominee as a producer and co-director (with Ben Proudfoot) for A Concerto Is a Conversation, also in 2021--Kris Bowers is yet again in the awards season banter, this time for his work on Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (Netflix), a dramatic limited series created by Shonda Rhimes. A prequel spin-off of Bridgerton, the new show centers on young Queen Charlotte’s rise to prominence and power.
Currently Bowers is co-directing another short with Proudfoot. And the composer’s exploits as a director and producer have informed his work in music. That was the case with A Concerto Is a Conversation as production and post on that short took place around the same time that Bowers was composing for Bridgerton. Bowers at that time observed that the directorial and producing perspectives gained on the short influenced his composition. He shared that helping him to shape the music was “a theme for a character and to focus on that character’s arc through an entire episode.”
That also holds true for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, except this time around so much is based primarily on Queen Charlotte’s perspective as opposed to the multiple character POVs in the original Bridgerton. Thus the Queen Charlotte score has a more intimate feel while still connected to Bridgerton in some ways.
The intimate feel reflected in story and the score has translated into “a smaller palette of instruments” on Queen Charlotte as compared to Bridgerton, said Bowers who noted that at the same time there’s considerable exploration into the interaction between that smaller number of instruments, “stretching the possibilities of what musicians can do by themselves,” building a dynamic that’s decidedly different from the concept of a large orchestra yet still multi-dimensional.
Persisting, though, is a continuity from Bridgerton to Queen Charlotte relative to the collaborative spirit once again among Bowers, Rhimes, executive producer/director Tom Verica, and exec producer Betsy Beers. Bowers said that the input and feedback from Rhimes, Verica and Beers has proven invaluable, as insights they shared about their musical aspirations for the show tied to story and characters provided a source of creative inspiration. Unlike Bridgerton, though, Verica has directed all the episodes of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. With that firm hold on the show, Verica, said Bowers, served as “a guide in terms of helping me understand what we should be feeling each moment.”
Bowers observed that his producing and directing experience increasingly impact his music. Now, related Bowers, he is paying more attention to lens choice, shot framing, the visual approaches which have a huge influence on what people feel when they’re watching something. “As a composer, it’s helpful to have that all in mind” as a music and a soundscape are being developed.
He has also gotten more in touch to “the musicality of editing,” thinking about the rhythmic aspect of editing in a musical way. This has impacted his take on editing when he serves in a directorial capacity.
The notion of one discipline in a sense empowering another and vice versa has set root in Bowers’ working approach and philosophy. “Concept and story come first,” said Bowers, noting that he will often fashion a mood board visually and then write music in tune with the visuals, underscoring the emotions evoked in a story, how it should feel. He also finds himself making a film to the pacing of the music. “The two inform one another. It’s fun to have this back-and-forth.”
Bowers is grateful for the opportunity to work on Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. He earlier told SHOOT that being part of the Shondaland family is what put him in the running for the original Bridgerton. Bowers had first worked with Shondaland on the series For the People. And Shondaland came back to him for Bridgerton--even though he hadn’t previously worked on a music project of that nature--with its deep orchestral and traditional classical music at times. To then get the chance to explore new horizons, including with Queen Charlotte, he said, is a dream come true for a composer.
Meanwhile, Bowers is looking to personally nurture the opening up of other horizons for himself. In addition to the alluded to short he’s teaming with Proudfoot to direct, Bowers has finished writing a couple of scripts that he plans to produce and direct.
Emma Fairley
As the benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence come to the fore in a public debate that’s emerged in society at large and within our industry--the latter reflected, for example, in the concerns expressed by striking Writers Guild members--Mrs. Davis (Peacock), a series that explores faith versus technology, takes on an added relevance. Yet while the subject matter makes for good drama, the show has a dark satirical edge marked by playfulness, eccentricities and nutty humor.
Created by writers/EPs Tara Hernandez (Young Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory) and Damon Lindelof (Watchmen, The Leftovers, Lost), the show is centered around Mrs. Davis, the world’s most powerful Artificial Intelligence, and Simone (portrayed by three-time Emmy nominee Betty Gilpin), a nun who is dedicated to destroying her, as viewers are thrust into a world where almost all decisions are made via algorithm. Sister Simone partners with her ex-boyfriend Wiley (Jake McDorman) who also has a personal vendetta against Mrs. Davis as he rebels against an algorithm-orchestrated world.
Orchestrating the worlds in this series with its varied sets was production designer Emma Fairley who’s a three-time nominee for the Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Award on the strength of her music video work, including two directed by Jonas Akerlund (Madonna’s “Ghosttown” and Coldplay’s “Magic”). Fairley's collaborative relationship with Akerlund also spans commercials as well as TV such as the miniseries Clark, and features including Polar and Lords of Chaos (which debuted at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival).
Helping to bring Fairley into the Mrs. Davis fold was director/executive producer Owen Harris. Fairley first met Harris when he was on a project in Liverpool last year--a film about British music entrepreneur Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles--that wound up not coming to fruition. While they were both in London, Harris told Fairley about Mrs. Davis, which led ultimately to her coming aboard the series. This marked Fairley’s first time working with Harris.
While she enjoyed reuniting on Mrs. Davis with prior collaborators such as costume designer Susie Coulthard, Fairley noted that teaming for the first time with assorted others brought a new energy to the show. Fairley cited Harry Otto, an esteemed supervising art director who's very involved with the American Film Institute. Through the AFI connection, Otto had a source of young, fresh talent with strong resumes, enlisting such accomplished art directors as Shannon Walsh and Eric Jihwan Jeon who in turn brought their assistant art directors, next-generation talent, into the mix. They all infused the team with what Fairley described as a “youthful enthusiasm” and “a buoyant excitement.”
That talent and energy on Fairley’s team was needed to take on extensive world and set building. There were so many ambitious sets that Fairley recalled an art director on her team observing that if you walked through the office and looked at every art director’s computer, you’d never believe they were all working on the same show. “That’s how varied the sets were,” related Fairley. “There were a lot of sets in each episode--which represented simultaneously the most challenging part and the best part of the job.” In fact the sets were so real and varied that Fairley said that while in the throes of the work, she never thought of Mrs. Davis as a sci-fi series. Yes, there was the AI angle but the settings didn’t seem sci-fi-driven but rather part of the show's reality.
Creative inspiration for the worlds being built, continued Fairley, came from sources you might not expect--like Looney Tunes and a Monty Python-esque dynamic which played into “the wackiness of Mrs. Davis.” In fact, the series’ art department was housed in the original Looney Tunes animation offices at Warner Bros. “My office was in the office where Bugs Bunny and those characters were first born,” she noted. Applying the Looney Tunes palette and the bonkers Monty Python mindset to the Mrs. Davis settings was an invigorating challenge. “It was experimental in some ways to bring this to a very serious sci-fi script.”
This injected a fun element into the work--even though the volume of work was extensive. “The crew did not bat an eye. We were moving at the speed of a commercial or a music video for major construction,” said Fairley. “We’d laugh about how crazy the schedule was getting but kept rolling on. Everybody contributed, came in with ideas, suggestions. I try to keep it open so we can work with a crew that way, to get the best out of people.” Contributions even came from production assistants in the art department--many of whom came straight from AFI.
This all started up top, noted Fairley, as creators/showrunners Hernandez and Lindelof, as well as directors Harris and Alethea Jones were all open to ideas. Fairley said that while Harris “knows what he wants going in, he has an openness to interpretation--which he gave to the DP, the costume designer, to us.” Fairley added, “What I got from the show, from Owen, was a sense of reverence for your team players...There was room for everyone to explore and take risks.” Hernandez and Lindelof created a working environment, said Fairley, where cast and crew had “respect for one another on set and in prep...There was a respect for one another’s job, an energy for self-expression.”
This is the first installment of our weekly 16-part The Road To Emmy Series of feature stories. Nominations will be announced and covered on July 12. Creative Arts Emmy winners will be reported on during the weekend of September 9 and 10, and primetime Emmy ceremony winners will be covered on September 18.