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

Murdaugh: Death in the Family Creators on Unraveling a Tragic Legacy

Murdaugh: Death in the Family creators Michael D. Fuller and Erin Lee Carr spoke with us about adapting the infamous family's dramatic life.

When it comes to compelling episodic television, sometimes reality provides its own twist, as was the case with the infamous Murdaugh family, one of South Carolina's most influential families, who suffered a tragic fall from grace triggered by a series of unfortunate events that exposed corruption that ultimately led to murder. Creators Michael D. Fuller (Locke & Key, The Mosquito Coast and Erin Lee Carr (Trophy Wife: Murder on Safari, Stormy) were experts in their related fields, with Fuller's compelling dramas and Carr's work in documentaries and true crime, as the perfect pairing. The two spoke to Bleeding Cool about how the Murdaugh story became too good to pass up to dramatize for TV in Hulu's Murdaugh: Death in the Family, assembling their all-star cast of Jason Clarke, Patricia Arquette, Johnny Berchtold, and if they felt one season was adequate to tell the family's story. The following contains potential spoilers for the series based on real-life events.

Murdaugh: Death in the Family Creators Michael D. Fuller and Erin Lee Carr on Bringing as Many Friends and Families' Stories to Light

BC: What intrigued you about bringing the Murdaugh story to the screen, and how did you stumble upon Mandy's podcast?

Fuller: I'll speak for myself, and before we continue, I'm a big fan of Bleeding Cool. I'm starting to hit all my bookmarks today, and it's really cool. I was born and raised in South Carolina, so I had people I grew up with, friends, and family back home as this story was developing. They started sending me news stories as [the Murdaugh story] was unfolding. Each turn is crazier than the last, and it was Mandy's reporting and the team of reporters she was working with at The Island Packet.

Her and the team's coverage of it was keeping a spotlight on things as everything was happening, so I was intrigued and felt a calling as a TV writer, producer, and creator that someone should try to do a version of this story for the screen. I felt like an obligation, as though it should be me because I'm from there, and felt the least I could do was take a swing. I was fortunate enough to get partnered with one of, if not the best, documentary filmmakers going today.

Carr: I think about around 40-50 or so people were texting me about the story, and they're like, "Do the documentary!" Some beautiful stuff has already been made about it, but I wanted to know the interior lives of the Murdaughs, try to understand, and look at all the reporting and research, but go where the cameras were not able to go. As somebody who's watched some of the best television that has been made in the last 20 years about what's happening inside the home, I think from The Sopranos to Nurse Jackie, I don't know, the stuff that I was watching last night. It's just, "What is going on inside the house? That was what we wanted to do with this TV series.

Fuller: Back to your question, it then becomes both an incredibly relatable story in so many ways, because it's a story of a family that everyone can relate to, and then it's so outlandish in other ways. That juxtaposition is what's so intriguing at the heart of this.

Can you talk about the brilliant ensemble cast with Jason, Patricia, Brittany [Snow], and everyone else you brought on board?

Fuller: When you start to do any project, TV, film, anything, if your list includes Patricia Arquette, she's in a class by herself that you dream and pray you would be so fortunate, and we were, thanks to the TV gods. Then, pairing her with Jason Clarke at the top of the ticket, there is a dream come true. For these other roles, there are so many, obviously incredible, we're in the greatest period of TV acting of all time. These are specific roles that need to have people who can bring craft and talent in a way that they could lose themselves in those roles, then also bring something of humanity and artistry to it. We were very fortunate in that regard. Once you start putting talent like that together, it attracts other talent, and we filled out this incredible cast.

Carr: We had auditions with Johnny Birchtold, and it was like he went into a closet, came out, and was Paul Murdaugh. To get access to Will Harrison, who does so much with subtlety, then you get Britanny "Motherfucking" Snow! I grew up with her and was raised by a journalist. We had to do our journalists proud, and when Britney said she was interested, I mean, it just was…I think casting a TV show is like known as notoriously hard. But for us, it felt like "manna from heaven."

Fuller: It became an avalanche of talent.

Were the eight episodes of Murdaugh: Death in the Family adequate to tell this story? Were there things you felt had to be reluctantly left to the cutting room for, or was it perfect the way it is?

Fuller: When we sold the show initially, it had been a four-year journey. The strikes took place in between that, but Alex's murder trial had not occurred at that point. We didn't know what we didn't know, but we left ourselves room to pivot and had runway to leave that option open. There's a version of this that's a four-season show, because of the complexities, layers, and everything else, but I feel like we found a way to tell this within the eight episodes.

There are always things that you wish you could have included, but at the end of the day, it's good to have that container of, "This is the season. This is what it's going to be," and adjust accordingly. Whether it's wanting to potentially do flashbacks with the Murdaughs of the past, the generations of seeing other stories, and lore of that, or it's spending more time with Paul's friends, there are always certain things where you must make these decisions, where we landed feels it's a wonderful balance of humanity and tragedy.

The first four episodes of Murdaugh: Death in the Family, which also stars Gerald McRaney, J. Smith-Cameron, Tyner Rushing, Kathleen Wilhoite, and Tommy Dewey, are available on Hulu with new episodes streaming Wednesdays through November 19th.

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