Series weaves together opioids’ toll, acts of those who aided crisis
Actor Danny Strong pops up regularly in an eclectic batch of series ranging from the lightness of “Gilmore Girls” to the dark corruption of “Billions.”
But when it comes to investing his time as an Emmy-winning writer and producer, there’s consistency in the projects, whether the subject is politics (“Recount,” “Game Change”) or race (“Lee Daniels’ The Butler”). Strong’s work is topical and trenchant.
Hulu’s “Dopesick” fits the pattern. The eight-part miniseries about America’s opioid crisis weaves together the painkiller’s devastating toll and the actions of those who aided it or failed to stop it. The first three episodes recently debuted on the streaming service, with the rest to be released weekly.
“I want to work on things that feel important, the stories that need to be told,” Strong said. “When done correctly, these kind of stories, the weight of the subject matter and what they’re trying to expose, makes them better pieces of entertainment.”
While some may equate socially relevant projects with being “good for you, or going to school, I don’t view it that way at all,” he said.
Michael Keaton, playing a family doctor who becomes an unwitting part of the problem, finds a similar sense of fulfillment with “Dopesick” and socially pertinent films in which he’s appeared.
“I’m in a fortunate position where what I do for a living affords me an opportunity to possibly change things or affect people in some way,” he said. “If you’re talking about ‘Spotlight’ or ‘Worth’ … or other things that I’ve done, I’m fortunate in that regard.”
Strong spent three years researching and writing or co-writing all but one episode of “Dopesick,” which draws in part on journalist Beth Macy’s nonfiction book of the same name. What he learned was eye-opening and maddening.
“It wasn’t until I started diving into the material that I thought, ‘This is just an insane, insane story,’ ” said Strong, also a director and producer of the series. “I was just so outraged by what they had done at Purdue Pharma.”
The ensemble cast includes Michael Stuhlbarg as Richard Sackler, depicted as a mastermind of the expanded use of Purdue’s OxyContin, and Peter Sarsgaard and Rosario Dawson as federal adversaries of the Sackler family-owned company.
Drug users are a crucial, heartbreaking part of the drama, including a young Virginia mine worker, Betsy (Kaitlyn Dever), who becomes addicted to opioids after being injured. Her parents (Mare Winningham, Ray McKinnon) are frantic to save her.
Some characters are based on real individuals, while
others are fictional or composite figures, which Strong said allowed for a more universal story.
Macy, whose 2018 book’s full title is “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America,” said her work was “all about what happened on the ground, from the perspective of the victims and the people fighting back.”
A dramatization with a comprehensive view of the complex, long-unfolding problem was overdue, said Macy, a series producer.
The seeds for “Dopesick” were planted by series producer John Goldwyn, who had initially considered making a movie about the crisis, Strong said. The story proved too sprawling for a movie but right for TV.
“Limited series are really breaking through. They’ve been the heart of most of the cultural conversations with entertainment,” he said. “You’re seeing a lot of great writers working in that space, telling really interesting stories over several hours. You can go deeper than you can in film.”