hey mike, big fan here. samantha sloyan is an incredible actor, no other character terrified me as much as bev keane did. what i wanted to know is, how is it like working with her and do you plan on casting her in any of your other future projects? also, was the character of tamerlane written with her in mind?
Sam is the BEST.
I first met her as my wife Kate's best friend. They'd been incredibly close for years before we met, and Kate always insisted that Sam was the best actor she knew.
I first worked with her on HUSH, where she played the doomed neighbor Sarah. That movie had very little money, and we couldn't afford to do much in the way of casting for supporting roles, so Kate suggested we ask Sam to do it as a favor. She flew in and delivered a wonderful character in only a few minutes of screen time, and a death scene that is absolutely harrowing. I immediately wanted to work with her again.
I cast her in HILL HOUSE as Steven's wife, Leigh, and it was a fairly inconsequential part until the final episode, where she dropped a monologue that gave me goosebumps. So when MIDNIGHT MASS came around, I was writing the role of Bev Keane just for her.
Netflix was initially resistant to casting her, wanting a "bigger name" for Bev, but we held firm on that. And after seeing her test for the part, they came around and agreed. Her performance roared out on the first day of shooting, and I knew it was going to be a career defining role for her.
The ironic thing is that Sam is opposite of Bev Keane. She is maybe the kindest, quietest, most humble person I know. My biggest worry, while watching her play the part, was that she was doing such a good job that people may actively dislike her after they've seen it. Her rendition of Bev is just so loathsome, I was concerned that people might cross the street to avoid her when she went out in public.
I wrote the roles of Shasta in MIDNIGHT CLUB and Tamerlane in USHER specifically for her. She has a terrific role in THE LIFE OF CHUCK, which will be finished soon, and I hope to work with her for the rest of my career. She's a ferociously talented actor, a great human being, and a dear friend.
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Scenes of The fall of the House of Usher that I'm a little bit obsessed with :
Obviously. The one where Madeline and Verna kiss (nobody is surprised) because it's less than 1 minute long, it's never mentionned afterwards and yet it makes every scene they have together much more interesting (+ 2 girlkissers confirmed, that's a win !).
When Roderick watches corpses rain from the sky ??? That was so powerful wtf it carried a sense of sheer dread and anguish that I can't stop thinking about.
Tamerlane's death. Idk why it stuck with me so much, aside from the fact that it was Samantha Sloyan, it was beautifully filmed, and the fucking spasm at the end !!!! It was so fucking pathetic and sad, Tammy my sweet little girlfailure !
Victorine's whole going crazy thing. I love the Tell-Tale Heart but making it about lesbians ??? Oh mike the man that you are !!
The acid rain. Obviously. And when Verna kisses the melted body and there's a bit of flesh that sticks to her.... this was disgusting I want more !
When Roderick is alone with the Raven after finding out Lenore died. Very powerful + great climax and use of the poem !
The conversation between Juno and Tammy, it was one of the rare actually sweet scenes of the show, i'm glad Juno made it out alive !! And ruth codd's comedic talent is absolutely priceless !!
When Roderick tells Auggie to turn around because his dead mother is standing behind him. I laughed so hard. I feel like this was a meta-reference to Flanagan's habit of having ghosts just standing there in the background and never interacting with the characters and I absolutely LOST IT when she turned around like "nevermind".
Feel free to add your fav scenes because I probably forgot some of them !!
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Had some big thoughts after finishing Midnight Club
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Tamerlane and Tamerlane and Ta.... You get the idea
(Why does Matt Biedel look like he's launching a small private detective agency with predictably hilarious results?)
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