by A space adventure combined with a study of human psychology, the new series constellation on Apple TV+, starring Noomi Rapace, James D’Arcy, Jonathan Banks, William Catlett, and Davina and Rosie Coleman, is a fascinating exploration of loss, uncertainty, conspiracy and family.
Constellation release date: February 21
Where to view the constellation: Apple TV+
Demo creator and sender: Peter Fresh
Directors: Michelle MacLaren, Joseph Cedar, Oliver Hirschbiegel
Cast: Noomi Rapace, James D’Arcy, Jonathan Banks, William Catlett, Davina Coleman, Rosie Coleman, Barbara Sukowa, Julian Looman, Rebecca Scroggs
Number of episodes: 8
Apple TV+
Watch the constellation on Apple TV+, 7 days free and then $12.99/month
$13 at Apple TV+
What is ‘Acting’?
I constellation we meet the crew of five on the International Space Station (ISS), including Johanna “Jo” Ericsson (Noomi Rapace), who has a husband, Magnus (James D’Arcy), and a daughter, Alice (Davina Coleman and Rosie Coleman ), staying with her at home, in Germany.
But when the ISS is involved in a collision, which particularly affects Paul Lancaster (William Catlett), Jo goes on a spacewalk to try to find the source of the collision, and she sees something scary.
Although Jo is convinced she knows what she saw, things get more complicated down on Earth, because no one believes her. Even more strangely, Jo’s whole reality of what her life was like has changed.
In addition, among the tests being carried out by the members of the ISS was one experiment by Henry Caldera (Jonathan Banks), a former Apollo mission astronaut, and Henry wants the device to be recovered for his research on quantum physics. Henry also has a twin brother, Bud, who was also a former astronaut, but they have a different life after going to space.
Your Bank, coming on constellation on the recommendation of one of the directors of the series, Michelle MacLaren, who also worked on it Badly broken and Better call Saul with the star.
“Jonathan is a very versatile character who can play many different roles,” MacLaren said Yahoo Canada. “We wanted someone who … could play two different characters, but in a subtle way, and I knew Jonathan could do it.”
“I also felt that he was a step away from what he was playing for a while. I was hoping that he would get excited, and he did. … I love working with Jonathan, he always swings for the fences.”
“You don’t have to tell Michelle,” Banks said in a separate interview.
“I’m the biggest ‘yes, dear’ man in the world, once you get me going. … Once, she put her finger on my chest, when I was complaining about how long it took shot, and she put her finger on my chest and said, ‘Am I looking good at you?’ And I went, ‘Yes.'”
Being a mother who is dedicated to her work
constellation is part adventure story, part thriller and part conspiracy story, but at the heart of the series is a family-oriented story.
“It’s the heart of the six mother and her daughter separated from each other, and how they managed to get back together,” said showrunner Peter Harness. “Obviously they’re separated in very unusual circumstances, … but I think that’s a very relatable thing for people, I think the whole family dynamic is very relatable.”
“As long as you’re following an emotional journey, you understand, then that kind of frees you up to bring a lot of other things with it. And you can, the ISS and the different space agencies, and the reality of being in astronaut and how that can affect people. around him.”
As James D’Arcy emphasized, the “beating heart” of the show for the actor was the family aspect.
“When I read the scripts for the first time, the character Alice … was my way into the show,” he said. “We are used to great production value and great visual effects, and all the rest of it. I want to feel it.”
“I hope this show really helps people go on this crazy and complicated journey because they’re invested in the people, the characters.”
For Rapace, she felt a connection to Jo as she tried to balance being a mother with a job that takes her away from her family, adding to the circumstances she faces during this particular episode.
“It is the endless question that I was fighting with myself, being a mother and … loving my work so much, and ready to go of all kinds, as long as necessary, again and again other,” said Rapace. “I hurt myself, sometimes very badly, on the floor, and my son came in, worrying about me or not recognizing me.”
“Being a mother and loving my work, and that conflict, … Jo was living that way more, and to the greatest extent. That’s the heartbeat for me. That’s the heart, that’s the spine of his journey.”
Noomi Rapace is a force of nature
From the physical demands of playing a character in space, to the emotional toll faced by Jo, the cast and crew of constellation quickly recognized that an actor of Rapace’s quality was needed for the role.
“Noomi is the perfect actress for this part, emotionally and physically,” said director MacLaren. “And one of the things we learned very early on are astronauts, every day that they are on the ISS, always practicing ‘what if.’
“So Noomi and I talked a lot about, well when the accident happens, they go into survival mode, they know their procedures, they know what to do, so they’re not to make a freak, though he is. scary, and her life is in danger … So we had to find that balance between being a trained professional, being strong and powerful, and the vulnerability, the fear, being a mother trying to go back to her daughter. someone so strong herself that she is a force to be reckoned with. I mean, it’s a force of nature. So she took this very well.”
As Rapace recalled, months of preparation were filled with a strict diet, specific exercises every day, and general work on “body control” to really embody an astronaut.
“It was about finding all kinds of flow and being in control of everything so much, and letting myself go and freeing myself from the physical attention, and being able to feel and act, and be present in the scene,” Rapace said. “It was very challenging, but I really enjoyed it. It was really one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
Why ‘Acting’ brought tears to star William Catlett
But for any part of this to land with the audience, and for them to feel as authentic as the team behind the series had to do, the investment was needed to complete the details that were needed.
As William Catlett pointed out, MacLaren, in particular, wanted to make sure everything felt “as real as possible,” which he said makes her “one of the best directors” in the industry.
“When I saw the first two episodes I cried a little in the screening, because I’ve been waiting a long time to be part of a project … that has all the bells and whistles to make art like it. You have to look,” shared Catlett. “So being in the ISS is a duplicate of the one in space, and talking to it [NASA astronaut] Scott Kelly, and to have his experience and to have dinner with him, and to evoke that, that’s an actor’s dream.”
“This makes it real for the audience and I think Apple did a great job of giving us the support we needed to make a great show. They spared no expense to make sure it felt right and felt real. The support felt that.”
Apple TV+
Watch the constellation on Apple TV+, 7 days free and then $12.99/month
$13 at Apple TV+
Apart from the amazing views, constellation it really sets itself apart from other drama shows with the psychological component that drives the story. It is a very complex and powerful aspect of human psychology and human behavior.
“What really appealed about Peter Harness’s writing was that he took difficult psychological situations and then turned the screw every 15 minutes, and made it worse,” said D’Arcy. “And then just when you think you have a handle on what’s going on, he’s going to show it to you from a slightly different angle.”
“The joy of that as an actor is, usually you have to portray any given set of circumstances in a particular way, and that’s it. This show is offering a slightly different version of that. It might you explore the hidden recesses. I think all our minds are. Who does not live in several realities at the same time?”
“There’s side A of the tape and there’s side B of the tape. It’s still on the tape, but you have a different emotional response to side A, and a different emotional response to side B,” Catlett added.
As Harness explained, it was his interest in “altered mental states” and people’s perception of circumstances that was particularly interesting for this series.
“What Jo goes through is very much based on a real psychological condition called Capgras syndrome, where people really believe that people are imposters,” Harness said.
“It’s clear from the outside, you can look at that and see that it’s not true, but how does that feel from the inside, to really believe I can’t let go of this idea that you’re an imposter and that the world is. I think the terror of living within that, even if it’s produced by your own damn brain, or especially if it’s produced by your own brain, is as terrifying as something that any other … It’s always interesting to try to convey a certain state of mind to anyone, because everyone has a reality.”
