A night to remember
MINI SERIES WRITER TALKS ABOUT HIT SHOW explores the dark corners of the criminal justice system in NYC.
The Night Of
n this eight-part miniseries, The Night Of explores the dark corners of the criminal justice system in NYC as they swirl around a young Pakistani-American staring down an avalanche of evidence in the murder of a young woman on the Upper West Side. Written by Steven Zaillian (Oscar-winning writer of Schindler’s List) and Richard Price (The Wire, Oscar-nominated for the adapted screenplay of The Color of Money), The Night Of takes an unvarnished look at the multifaceted system. Here Zaillian talks about this compelling series which draws to a close on Monday on M-Net Edge.
You have extensive experience in feature films, but this is your first TV project. Why did you choose this format?
Historically, the kinds of stories I’m interested in have been made as films. Now, it’s TV. But since I had no experience in TV, I could only approach it as a film. A long film. Which is what Richard Price and I did with the writing. I didn’t begin shooting the episodes that follow the pilot until the whole thing was written. In films, obviously, you don’t shoot part of it, then write the next part and then shoot that. But in TV, that’s often done. It requires teams of writers, multiple crews and editors – and a lot of nerve, if you ask me. How did Richard Price come to be involved in the project? Originally Richard was only going to write the pilot and I was only going to direct the pilot. But in time, both of us began to feel increasingly connected to it and what it could be, and less willing to entrust it to others, and wound up doing it ourselves. Richard wrote the first drafts, I wrote the subsequent drafts, and we both worked on the storylines.
James Gandolfini was originally cast as the attorney. What convinced you to go ahead with the project following his death? Did casting John Turturro, pictured, in the role change your conception of the character?
James and John are both distinctive actors. They are also both great actors. Nothing was changed when the part went from James to John. The character was the character, no matter who played it. I’ve admired Turturro’s work for more than 25 years, since Do the Right Thing, and thought about him for the role even before James was involved. The fact he wanted to do something in TV at the same time I did was lucky timing.
Riz Ahmed’s believability in the role of Naz is essential to the story. How did you learn about him?
The role of Naz wasn’t easy to cast, to understate it. It’s a very demanding and nuanced part. I looked for a long time before finding Riz. At the time, all I’d heard about him was that he was in a not-yet-released Mira Nair film called The Reluctant Fundamentalist. I went on YouTube to find something else he was in and saw a clip of a film he’d done, called Four Lions. I thought he was very good in the scene, and so had him audition. That did it for me. I could see him as Naz. Other than John, everyone auditioned. It took a lot of time, but I can say there’s no one in this that I wish I’d cast differently.