ABRAMS, CUARÓN ARE LED TO ‘BELIEVE’
Filmmakers team up for TV; interview, review
PASADENA, CALIF. NBC’s Believe is teeming with special powers — telekinesis, levitation, clairvoyance — but they aren’t all the province of Bo (Johnny Sequoyah), the 10-year-old girl at the drama’s center.
J.J. Abrams, who’s directing the latest Star Wars film, and Alfonso Cuarón, who won the directing Oscar for Gravity, bring their filmmaking skills — Hollywood power, in a sense — as executive producers of the new series. Cuarón directed tonight’s premiere (10 ET/PT, before moving to Sundays at 9 on March 16).
Bo’s still-developing powers make her both humanity’s hope and a girl on the run from shadowy forces who want to control the world, leading her protector, Milton Winter (Delroy Lindo), to arrange the escape of Tate (Jake McLaughlin), a wrongfully convicted death-row inmate, and put him in charge of her well-being.
For all her extraordinary skills, the producers see a universality to Bo.
“I believe the biggest power of this girl is empathy, and that’s something that is organic with every single child,” Cuarón says. “In many ways, it’s putting the faith in our next generation, that maybe if we do things the right way, empathy will prevail as they grow up.”
Abrams says viewers will be able relate to Tate’s assignment.
“I think every parent looks at their kid as this thing they’re responsible for, this human being that they’ve got to somehow connect with and raise in a way that makes them independent,” he says. “The challenges that come with that are enormous and difficult and sometimes very wondrous and funny and unexpected.”
In a joint interview, both say they’ve enjoyed the first-time collaboration, which began when Cuarón brought the idea to Abrams and his Bad Robot Productions. After all the dark otherworldliness and special effects of Gravity, it was enjoyable to get back to terra firma, “where you’re just going to work with the cam-
“I believe the biggest power of this girl is empathy, and that’s something that is organic with every single child.”
Executive producer Alfonso Cuarón
era, with actors,” Cuarón says.
“Sunlight?” Abrams adds, leading both to laugh.
McLaughlin praises Cuarón’s directing skills and his ability to flesh out characters. The director, who also won a film-editing Oscar for Gravity, filmed a car-crash scene in the pilot in one shot.
But “just as important to him are the character relationships, their growth and those heartfelt moments we have.”
And it doesn’t hurt that “he’s funny as hell and always willing to stop and joke around with you,” McLaughlin adds. The Bo-Tate relationship is the show’s heart. “This girl these people believe in and believe in her powers, and a guy who’s lost faith in himself and his worth, and now he’s slowly realizing there’s something out there bigger than his own selfish ways of selfpreservation,” McLaughlin says.
With Tate on the run from law enforcement and Bo trying to evade a powerful man named Skouras (Kyle MacLachlan) and his agents, the two will be moving around, allowing for weekly, selfcontained stories of Bo meeting and helping people as her powers develop and the show’s larger mysteries are explored.
“There’s inherently going to be an ongoing serialized aspect of the story, given where Bo came from, her mother’s involvement, the trouble that Tate is in,” Abrams says. “But like any broadcast show, it must have an element of come-and-go to it so that viewers who aren’t watching every episode are not lost when they tune in.”
During the project, each executive producer has learned from the other.
Abrams, whose credits range from Star Trek and Super 8 in film to Lost, Alias and Person of Interest in TV, blends a sensibility that “is very grounded emotionally with this amazing showmanship,” Cuarón says. “You’re not going to just have fun. There’s a big emotional element in everything he does.”
Abrams returns the compliment, calling Cuarón, whose directing credits include Children of Men and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, “a raw nerve of inspiration” who has been successful following his heart in a business known for a bottom-line sensibility.
OTHERS TAKE CHARGE
As in most cases involving busy, big-name, behind-the-scenes talent, neither man will be running the show day to day, although each pledges to remain as involved as he can. Cuarón, who visited the New York set recently, says his involvement has been curtailed to some degree by the whirlwind surrounding Gravity.
Abrams, who begins shooting the next Star Wars installment this spring in London, says that his TV projects have strong producers in day-to-day control and that his Bad Robot team assists when needed.
“This is about finding great storytellers that we can help whenever they need help and then get out of the way,” he says. “When there’s a red flag and there’s something that needs more attention, you give it.”
If the series works, Cuarón says, any production hiccups will be forgotten. He recalls how Gravity’s release was delayed by almost a year.
“I remember when that happened, everything was about the disaster that it is,” he says, drawing an “of course” and laughter from Abrams. “Yes, it’s scary in the moment. And then, at the end, the film spoke for itself. And I think that’s what is happening with this show.”