Adrien Brody Brings Stephen King to the Small Screen

An Academy Award-winning actor takes the lead in a haunting new CTV Sci-fi series

TV Week: Do you read much Stephen King or other horror fiction?
I do. I’m a fan of Stephen King’s work—very much so. I love Poe. I do love the writing. I think when I was young, I had a real connection; I think young boys and adolescents and teenagers really love to be frightened and like the thrill of that. And a lot of that has stayed with me.

You haven’t done a whole lot of television throughout your career. What made you say yes to this show?
I have been looking and I continue to look for leading men roles that challenge me and are different from characters that I have portrayed in the past and that are flawed. What I ascertained about Charles Boone is there was a lot of really interesting work for me to do with discovering this character and portraying him, in the sense that he has had a very hard past from childhood on and has been kind of forced to become a man at a very young age and is a father and has this responsibility now that his wife has passed… I don’t want an overly heroic depiction of my character throughout just to ensure that the audience “adores” me. You want to appreciate the character in spite of what he’s afflicted with. I think those are the most interesting characters.

And I’m excited about Chapelwaite, because the beauty of a longer-form storytelling, where we have 10 episodes to unravel things and let the tension build, I think it’s fun to slowly entice and then drop a few really scary bombs along
the way.

Are there specific things about Charles Boone that you identified with, that you gravitated towards?
I think Charles is a very tenacious man. I think most people, if they found themselves in that situation, moving into that home, they would probably move out [laughs]. I have a similar tenacity, and I have an understanding of that tenacity, and I can relate to that and relate to a sense of not being defeated by whatever those obstacles are, internal or external, and to forge ahead. Overall, I think it’s a positive trait. It can get you into trouble too [laughs]. But it’s a positive trait.

Do you think horror has a unique power to explore real, grounded issues? To do more than just offer jump-scares and popcorn thrills?
That’s what I’m drawn to, really… You want to have something that has some depth and some relevance. Chapelwaite touches on not being welcome because you’re different and being a parent and overwhelmed, and with a potential mental condition that has this whole internal burden bubbling over—in spite of all the physical and tangible stresses that are around. All that’s really exciting stuff to work with, and I think that makes for interesting drama.

There is a way to get away with just cheap thrills, and there are many movies that do that. In my adolescence, that kind of satisfied that itch; I grew up on Nightmare on Elm Street and these movies, which do have, subtly, some very interesting elements at play, but they are really going for the gore and the shock and awe. There is a degree of that within [Chapelwaite], but what I appreciate about the work is that there is an intention to delve a little deeper and represent life, and referencing how, even from over 100 years ago, we’re still gripped with very similar concerns and challenges as men and women.

Chapelwaite airs Sundays at 7 p.m. & Midnight on CTV Sci-Fi