If anyone is in trouble, call Jessica... definitely do not call me
Stars of The Good Nurse, Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain, discuss the true-life adaptation and their own nursing skills with DANIELLE DE WOLFE
EDDIE REDMAYNE has no desire to become a nurse, despite, arguably, possessing many of the skills required for the job.
Star of new Netflix movie The Good Nurse, alongside Academy Award-winner Jessica Chastain, it’s a case of Hollywood star by day, intensive care nurse Charles Cullen by night.
With the Les Miserables and Fantastic Beasts actor enrolling at what he refers to as “nurse school” in preparation for the role, the crashcourse was one the Oscar winner describes as an “overwhelming” experience.
“Let’s be absolutely clear: if anyone is in trouble, please call Jessica Chastain. Under no circumstances call me,” laughs Eddie, 40, hands aloft in mock surrender.
“I was useless. I was endlessly injecting the poor dummy in the wrong place.”
Nodding towards The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Zero Dark Thirty actress Jessica, 45, who is seated beside him, Eddie is quick to note his co-star’s superior medical skills.
“I would make a split decision and just do it,” shrugs Jessica. “Which is not necessarily the best thing, but maybe if you need something quickly, it’s a great thing. I just wasn’t overthinking and Eddie...”
“It’s the story of my life. I overthink,” interjects Eddie.
The pair’s sense of camaraderie is clear to see. Reflected on-screen during a handful of tender and emotional scenes, the friendship forged between Eddie’s character, Charlie, and Jessica’s, Amy, is as earnest as it gets. That is, until proceedings take a dark turn.
Dating back nearly two decades, the emotional storyline underpinning The Good Nurse is based on a true and terrifying story. At its centre stands Amy Loughren (Jessica), a nurse working in the ICU department at Somerset Hospital in Somerville, New Jersey.
Her co-worker, Charlie Cullen, appears to be a force for good but is slowly revealed to be a malevolent presence.
A story that made headlines across the United States, in 2006, Cullen confessed to killing 29 people – but is believed to have been responsible for up to 400 deaths, in a spree spanning 16 years. Currently serving 18 consecutive life sentences in a New Jersey state prison, Cullen won’t be eligible for parole until 2403.
“On the surface, it’s a movie about a serial killer – the most prolific one in American history,” explains the film’s director, Tobias Lindholm.
“But underneath, is a big pounding heart of humanity. And underneath that, it was a very harsh critique of the system.”
Describing the tale as a “very original take” on a “very well known genre”, The Good Nurse marks the Danish director’s first venture into English language films. Best known for penning Danish thrillers Another Round and The Hunt, both of which feature acting icon Mads Mikkelsen, his latest venture follows the success of his directorial contribution to the hit Netflix series, Mindhunter. Describing the need for directors to add light to the darkness when it comes to true crime, Tobias firmly asserts “there’s nothing we shouldn’t make stories about – the big question is how we do it.”
A compassionate, hardworking, single mother, Amy’s lifethreatening heart condition acts as a dark and looming cloud over her life. Stretched to her limit by her demanding night shifts in the ICU, the arrival of the seemingly empathetic Charles – serving as both a confidante and support system – offers her some reprieve.
Filmed against the backdrop of the pandemic, the project proved an eyeopening experience for both Eddie and Jessica.
Acting alongside real nurses – Tobias hired qualified medical professionals because “no actor could ever learn how to move like a stressed nurse” –the scenarios encountered on-set were elevated to ultra-realistic levels.
“One of the reasons Charlie, the character I play, was able to slip through the system, was because there was a shortage of nurses in New Jersey at the time,” explains Eddie. “It’s such an incredibly hard, underpaid job... the expectations on nurses, the physical expectation, like the actual physical labour of moving bodies, along with the science, the intellect involved, let alone the emotional quality.
“I think it’s one of the most extraordinarily hard jobs out there.”
Asked about what the experience taught him, the London-born actor says the biggest shocks were at the cost and nature of privatised medical cover in the United States.
“I mean, coming from the UK, and our NHS system, some of the stories I heard...” reflects the actor, going on to reference life-or-death situations in which the injured were deprived of access to medical assistance based on financial criteria.
“I was very interested, being an American, in the hospital system – the whole idea that she’s working, taking care of others, and yet she doesn’t have the resources to be able to take care of herself,” says Jessica.
“I found it really upsetting. I am a New Yorker, I didn’t know this story. I’m sure that it’s been kept quiet, probably, because of the hospital system and the way that it works in the United States. And I’m really happy to be part of a film that might have audiences take a second thought about how it’s organised.”
A tale that emphasises failings on the part of the system, as opposed to placing Cullen firmly in the crosshairs of blame, The Good Nurse is a dramatised vision with a very real message. With Jessica’s character acting as the shining light, the triumph of good over evil is set to see this tale lapped up by audiences worldwide.
“Looking at other serial killer movies, we’ve seen Hannibal Lecter before – almost this artist’s portrayal of a serial killer, who’s a genius. That’s not this movie,” says Tobias. “This movie was about a guy who wasn’t stopped by the system. And I don’t think that the question, ‘why did he do it?’ is interesting. I think it’s about questioning, ‘how could he get away with it?”
I think [nursing’s] one of the most extraordinarily hard jobs out there
The Good Nurse is in cinemas and on Netflix now
HHHII REVIEWS BY DAMON SMITH
PROFOUND sense of loss infuses this latest offering from the Marvel cinematic universe.
Lead actor in the original Black Panther movie, Chadwick Boseman died of colon cancer in August 2020, just as returning writer-director Ryan Coogler was polishing a script with Joe Robert Cole, shrouding the sequel to one of the highest grossing films of all time in grief and uncertainty.
They pay tribute to Boseman in moving sequences that bookend this muscular blockbuster, echoed by the words of Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett): “T’Challa is dead but that doesn’t mean he’s gone.”
It’s a visually stunning and sporadically thrilling memorial to the
South Carolina-born actor, but, despite
Ramonda’s assertion, the emotional power behind the Wakandan throne has gone.
The Queen Mother of Wakanda leads her griefstricken nation in remembering the life of its king and her beloved son, T’Challa.
His coffin is carried aloft through thronged streets by the Dora Milaje, proudly captained by Okoye (Danai Gurira), in the presence of Jabari tribe leader M’Baku (Winston Duke) and princess Shuri (Letitia Wright).
Other nations mistakenly believe Wakanda’s guard has slipped and intensify efforts to acquire the rare ore vibranium.
These incursions threaten to expose the underwater civilisation of Talokan, which has been concealed from greedy eyes for centuries, causing Talokan king Namor (Tenoch Huerta) to demand an alliance with Wakanda.
To avert a catA astrophic showdown, Shuri and Okoye seek out MIT student Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), who has built a machine that detects vibranium.
Putting emotion aside, as difficult as that may be, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever falls short of its predecessor.
Coogler’s second chapter is dramatically underwhelming, anchored to a curiously unsympathetic narrative arc for one key protagonist, and bombastic action sequences never approach the exhilaration of the night-time car chase through Busan, South Korea in the original film.
It is technically dazzling and feisty, intelligent female characters are more pronounced, although not all are handsomely served by the script.
Affection for Boseman may carry the sequel past its predecessor in terms of box office takings but in truth, the first Black Panther is still the big cat’s whiskers.
In cinemas Friday