Posted in: Hulu, TV | Tagged: Murdaugh: Death in the Family

Murdaugh: Death in the Family: Berchtold Discusses Filming Death Scene

Johnny Berchtold (Reacher) spoke with us about filming the climactic murder scene at the kennels in Hulu's Murdaugh: Death in the Family.

With the ensemble-focused Murdaugh: Death in the Family going in so many directions, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. Luckily, creators Michael D. Fuller and Erin Lee Car steered the "boat" accordingly, when needed. As the story begins with the Murdaugh youths, with Paul (Johnny Berchtold) and Buster (Will Harrison) out on a night of partying like college-age youths often do, it ended in a tragic boating accident that resulted in the death of a family friend. As the influential family from South Carolina weighed their legal options with an imminent civil suit looming, patriarch Alex Murdaugh (Jason Clarke) starts to bear the heat the most as his addictions, combined with indulgences, and mounting debt start to catch up to him and his life starts crumbling apart, which would end in double murder and his subsequent trial. Berchtold spoke to Bleeding Cool about how the showrunners navigated Paul's redemption story that would never fully materialise, filming the fateful murder scene alongside Patricia Arquette (Maggie) and Clarke.

Murdaugh: Death in the Family Star Johnny Berchtold on Paul's Almost Redemption Story and Navigating Climactic Murder Scene

What was the most difficult part about navigating through Paul's journey with his guilty conscience?

I think for me it was just about balancing all those aspects. There's such a visceral response to Paul as a person, and so exploring what his life might have been like post-boat crash was important to me, and honouring, honestly, a possibility of a future of redemption that was taken from him. That was probably the hardest. It was like honouring that future that was taken from him.

With the multiple narratives going on in the show, how did Michael and Erin help navigate that for you?

Yeah, it was so interesting, especially while shooting, because the characters are all on their own journeys and they come together at various points throughout the show. You'd be in a scene with Patricia [Arquette], Will [Harrison], or Jason [Clarke], and they're all in different headspaces. We were all meeting at pivotal moments throughout the story, and what was great about working with Michael and Erin was that. It was surprisingly a collaborative experience in a way that I never thought was possible on a project like this. We would talk through those story beats, and they would ask me, "Do you think this is right in terms of the emotional arc for this episode?" I had this assumption since it's a story inspired by actual events, which would be pretty set in stone, but they were great in letting us voice our opinions on how we think the character should get from point A to point B, which was a gift, honestly.

When you and Patricia filmed that tragic day with Paul and Maggie's murder, how did you get into your mindset knowing what was going to happen, or is it something that you roll off, because of your conditioning as an actor?

Honestly, I had a pit in my stomach leading up to shooting that sequence for obvious reasons, of course. What was surprising to me was how comfortable I felt on those night shoots. I was so confused as to why I felt that way, especially since I was so nervous getting to that point. I had gotten to know Patricia throughout the course of filming the show, and we created such a special bond between us. I looked at her as a mother figure on this set, and we had so many conversations that were about protecting your mental health, how to see light in the darkness, and things like that.

It hit me while we were filming those sequences, or at least blocking them, that Paul and Maggie didn't know what was coming, so there was an ease between Patricia and me on those night shots. That, coupled with the fact that the set was such a protected space, and Jason was so incredible in leading that charge. There were conversations with the entire crew on those shots, just a level of sensitivity and care that was important. Honestly, being with Patricia on those nights, we could talk, and having that ease was important, and it made me settle in a lot more, and I was thankful for that.

Did you film different versions of the sequence, as it cuts away from the shooter's physical features, and we see both of you being shot at angles away from the shooter?

Yeah, I was curious how we were going to do that, and I thought it was smart to show that sequence twice. It puts the audience in the perspective of the public at the time, where you know, this is the one version of the story that's being told and then and then we end up at this point. I was curious how we were going to film that. Luckily, Kat Candler, our director for episodes six and seven, crafted such a beautiful way of filming that sequence so that we could show we filmed it all as one big sequence, but in a way that if you cut this take, you don't see Alex. If you were to keep the take going, you would see him come into frame. There were interesting camera angles that we were able to maneuver both of those sequences, but make it still feel seamless. It was amazing that everyone came together and was able to tackle it that way. I think it was a smart way to do it.

All episodes of Murdaugh: Death in the Family, which also stars Brittany Snow, Gerald McRaney, J. Smith-Cameron, Tyner Rushing, Kathleen Wilhoite, Noah Emmerich, and Tommy Dewey, are available to stream on Hulu.

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