A determined FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo) tracks a surprising criminal (Tom Pelphrey) in this new thriller from the creator of Mare of Easttown
After the critical success of Mare of Easttown, series creator Brad Ingelsby wasn’t sure how to follow up the dark whodunit. He knew he didn’t want to write another mystery. Then, disillusioned priest-turned-FBI agent Tom and garbage truck operator Robbie, who robs drug houses at night, appeared in his mind. “Everything I’ve written in my life has come from characters,” says Ingelsby. “When I came up with the characters for Tom and Robbie, I felt like, what’s the engine that’s going to join these guys? Maybe the tension can be a collision course.”
Once Ingelsby devised the two characters on opposite sides of the law, the question wasn’t if they were going to end up in the same room, but when. “I felt like that it was a different kind of tension than Mare, but the tension could be equally potent,” he says. “It’s a testament to the actors we have that it is equally potent because you care about each one of them so much.” As Tom, for whom a recent loss weighs heavily on him, Ingelsby pursued The Avengers and I Know This Much Is True star Mark Ruffalo. “When I talked to Mark about his character, I said, ‘There’s nothing particularly special about you as an FBI agent. You’re not good with a gun, you’re not going to walk into a room and pick up clues that other people miss. That’s not what makes you interesting. What makes you interesting is that you’re approaching the job from a unique spot,” he says. “Tom, and also Mark as a person, is such a kind, compassionate person. He is a guy that is constantly searching for good in people.”
In the series, Ruffalo goes toe to toe with Ozark’s Tom Pelphrey, who was drawn to Ingelby’s writing, and the character of Robbie, from the start. “I was blown away,” says Pelphrey. “What Brad put on the page is so beautiful and so engaging. When I watched it, I thought everybody’s work was exceptional, and that happens when there’s beautiful writing. That’s the only time that every actor is elevated. Every single character has a strong ‘why.’ So often you have to go off on your own and you’re doing backflips in the dark to tell yourself some dream story about why you’re doing what you’re doing. But Brad gives it to you.”
Returning to Pennsylvania’s Delaware County (“Delco” to locals) was a given for Ingelsby, who hails from the small town of Berwyn, PA. “It’s the blood in my veins, it’s the people I know and it’s the people I care about,” says Ingelsby. “It’s the way I grew up, so I feel a certain ownership of that and a certain obligation to tell it, right? If I’m going to go back into Delco, I want to make sure I’m telling it with the same level of complexity and care that we did in Mare.” But for his actors — London-born Emilia Jones, in particular — this came with some professional challenges. “It was hard,” Jones says of the unique Delco accent. “We had a great dialect coach called Susanne Selby and she really helped us. I did Zoom lessons for five months and then I flew out to Philly two weeks before we started shooting and Suzanne and I would go around bars in Delaware County and just listen to people talking. It was really fun, though, because it’s not just an accent, it’s an energy.”
Shooting the series on location allowed the actors to imbue something unique into their work. “This is a show that really is all about the detail. I’ve got to give credit to [production designers] Keith Cunningham and Edward McLoughlin who worked with us on Mare of Easttown — they care so much about the details,” says Ingelsby. “It’s the aggregate of a million little details, all the things that aren’t going to make it onscreen, but are there anyway. Even if you’re never going to see those things, an actor can seep that in.” Pelphrey shares a moment on set that stuck with him. “I was waiting to film and saw in the rafters a spider’s web, and I was like, ‘Huh, we’re using an old shack.’ No, Keith put spiders up that no one will ever see. I was like, ‘Damn, that is how you do your job.’”
Equally, the series that initially presents itself as an uncomplicated game of cat and mouse, offers a meticulous perspective on morality. “What I hope separates the show is the level of care we give to all the characters, not just the cops, but also the criminals and the bad guys,” he says. “It’s a drama about lives under pressure, people who are backed into a corner who don’t have choices. You don’t have to agree with all the decisions that are being made on screen, but I hope you can understand why they’re being made. As a team, we were always trying to lead with compassion and empathy.”
Task airs Sunday, September 21, on HBO Canada