MURDER WITHOUT MOTIVE!
a seemingly ordinary mother carries out a vicious murder in chilling drama THE SINNER
ONE OF THE most talked-about dramas in the US comes to UK screens this week when Netflix releases dark and disturbing psychological thriller The Sinner.
Adapted from the novel by German crime writer Petra Hammesfahr, the eight-parter stars Jessica Biel as new mother Cora Tannetti whose trip to the beach with her infant son and husband Mason (Christopher Abbott) ends in a bloody murder scene when Cora stabs a seemingly random person to death in front of horrified sunbathers.
With Cora facing life in prison, well-meaning detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) tries to unravel the reasons for the killing, and discovers unsettling secrets about Cora’s past as the series flashes back to her childhood in a strict Catholic household.
Here, former teen star Biel tells us about her troubling role…
INITIALLY, CORA SEEMS VERY NORMAL… She has a family and is doing well in her job, but we sense there is unrest there – something she is battling with internally. She almost feels a sense of relief when she is in prison. It is easier to live there than in the real world.
IT’S MORE OF A WHYDUNNIT, RATHER THAN A WHODUNNIT… Why did this seemingly normal young woman carry out this horrific act? What made her cross the line? She’s not 100 per cent sure why she did what she did. She has a block in her memory. We delve into a lot of her history to see how her life experiences led to this point.
PLAYING CORA WAS SO DRAINING… At the end of each day, I thought, ‘Why did I do this? This is so hard. I couldn’t cry another tear if you paid me a million dollars.’ But it
was a very satisfying experience, as well as one of the most stressful and exhausting. I don’t want to cry again for another three months. I want to do a comedy or something.
I HAVEN’T PLAYED THE ‘BAD GUY’ BEFORE… It’s a huge departure for me. I’m super-excited to be playing somebody who’s so psychologically complicated, and not just playing somebody’s girlfriend.
THERE’S A SCENE WHERE I HAVE A GREAT FIGHT WITH BILL PULLMAN… I leapt on top of him and the stunt team encouraged me to really go for it. We were both bruised and beaten up by the end of the night.
I’VE ALWAYS LIKED HEAVY DRAMA… For whatever reason, in my career, I just haven’t had those opportunities. I was desperately looking for something that would push me creatively to places that I’ve never been before.
YOU HAVE TO MAKE YOUR MARRIAGE A PRIORITY… My husband [Justin Timberlake, with whom she has a two-year-old son, Silas] is also always working, day in and day out, so you have to find that balance. I think we do a really good job of it. We make sure that we have date nights because it’s easy for all of that stuff to fall by the wayside.
JUSTIN AND I HAVE SIMILAR VALUES… We both believe in loyalty and honesty, we like to have fun, we like a lot of the same things. Also, in the business, we are very focused and driven. If you can find someone who shares the same values as you, it’s a result.
I’VE JUST OPENED A RESTAURANT FOR CHILDREN CALLED AU FUDGE IN LOS ANGELES… I got involved because I was interested in the baking element. But I realised that baking at home is nothing like doing it for a restaurant so I just ended up becoming one of the creative partners.
I FIRST APPEARED ON TV IN THE DRAMA SERIES 7th Heaven IN 1996… My experience as a young person in Hollywood was never one of those stories where someone is left alone with no parental supervision because there was always somebody looking out for me.
‘Why did this seemingly normal woman carry out this horrific act? She’s not100 per cent sure…’