TV addicts in search of their next must-see series were given a special sneak peek of the new Fox crime drama, Gracepoint last night when Film Independent at LACMA screened the first two episodes of the 10-part mini-series ahead of its October 2 premiere. The screening was followed by a Q&A with Film Independent Curator Elvis Mitchell, the show’s creator, Chris Chibnall, Executive Producer Anya Epstein, and just about all of the main cast members.

The story centers on the tragic death of a teenage boy that shakes up the small town of Gracepoint, where a shocking crime of this nature is unheard of. Due to the tight-knit nature of this small community, everyone knows one another… and now, everyone’s a suspect.

The whodunit has been adapted for American television from the British series Broadchurch (also created by Chibnall and starring David Tennant, who called his American co-stars “a Rolls Royce of a cast.”) Mitchell noted that the mini-series format, a rarity in American television, meant that the show was granted permission to start and end the way the writers choose, without the pressure of keeping it going by a studio or network.

Both Tennant and Chiball spoke of how their roles in the project differed between Broadchurch and Gracepoint. While Tennant is playing the same character in both series, he finds everything about his experience completely changes, and not just because he has to put on an American accent. “It’s an entirely different journey, because it’s literally a completely different continent,” Tennant says, explaining when you change the environment, and whom you’re acting with, it produces entirely different results, despite the story being the same.

Chibnall said he wanted to see the series in a new landscape, with a fresh set of actors, because “it’s all about the performances.”

Anna Gunn of Breaking Bad fame stars along-side Tennant as Ellie Miller, a fierce detective assigned the very personal task of discovering who murdered 13-year-old Danny Solano. Gunn admits she was searching for something rich and powerful to commit to after Breaking Bad wrapped, and felt a deep connection to this character. She said she was “gripped immediately” by the complexity and duality of Ellie, mainly because she is such a strong female, but also has so many vulnerable moments. Being that she was part of one of TV’s most popular shows of all time, there was no getting around comparing and contrasting the two characters, and Gunn admits she was excited to take on this role because it was a character the audience could really follow, get to know and sympathize with. With Bad, it was Walter’s journey, and if the viewers got too close to Skyler and cheered for her, the show would’ve gone “topsy-turvy.”

The cast members were asked if they had seen Broadchurch before coming on board, and most of them had. Some were even required to watch, like Virginia Kull, who plays the mother of the victim. Regarding her role, Kull says even if she had mirrored everything the actress in the British series had done verbatim, it still would be completely different.

Australian actress Jacki Weaver said that though she hadn’t seen Broadchurch, she agreed that re-creation will always lead to one’s own interpretation. Coming from a big theatrical background and having starred in classics like A Streetcar Named Desire, she said she’s accustomed to playing roles in plays that she’s seen nine or ten times and then making it her own.

Michael Peña, who plays the father of the murdered boy,  confessed that this experience acting in television is completely different from any other show he’d worked on prior because of the flexibility. He said the actors were given so much more freedom on set and the ability to “be real” vs. standing on mark, saying lines exactly as they are written and hitting cues. He also joked that he was excited to be a part of a whodunit where everyone is a suspect, “not just the Latin guy.”

Aside from the mystery, Gracepoint is really about community and grief, according to Tennant, who noted that  “Crime is a great prism to get into the emotional side of people’s lives.” Epstein added that this series is a great opportunity to travel into the personal lives of these characters and that often times in crime shows you see the detective on the hunt, but not at home with their families.

Viewers who tune into the first episode of Gracepoint are likely to become anxious to find out know who killed Danny and why—and get sucked in. Epstein says that was the fun part of writing and planning the series out—deciding what you could reveal and when.

Chris Lombardi / Film Independent Blogger