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Apple TV’s new psychological crime thriller, nocturne Features Stephen Graham like you’ve never seen him before as a sociopathic serial killer who knows how to turn on the charm.
based on sand man and LazarusTwo books from Lars Kepler’s 10-book series “Joona Linna” (husband and wife co-authors Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril), Nocturne Uncovers the infamous investigation into Jurek Walter (Graham), a man suspected of killing more than a dozen people and kidnapping two young siblings. Even though he’s locked in a concrete cell in the restricted housing unit of Riverside Psychiatric Hospital, Yurek still spends the season pulling strings and shaking.
In an interview with DECIDER, Graham said that the demanding role, which shows his amazing range, required serious transformation and preparation – from physical training and voice training to studying psychopathy, sociopathy and even watching crime documentaries with his wife.
“Very, very early on, once I read the script and envisioned where it could go, it was the physical aspect that I wanted to create,” Graham explained before Zoom. NocturneThe premiere will be held on October 30. “I wanted to create someone who was kind of dangerous, but who had the ability to kill with your bare hands. So I worked a lot with my trainer at home, Rob. He was fantastic. And we got into pretty good shape. By 53, I was happy with where we got to. I like to work from the outside and then bring it in.”
Jurek’s lanky physique was a marked change from the novels, which depicted Graham’s character as an emaciated man in his 60s. However, as viewers quickly learn, Jurek does not rely on physical strength to subdue others. Exposing personal weaknesses and preying on them, the master manipulator uses psychological warfare to stealthily wrap people around his fingertips – the same pulls he does after his caring new nurse Carly (Rory Culkin) meets him.
“(Yurek) understands people’s vulnerabilities and is good at reading people,” Graham explained. “He notices that Carl is kind of invisible to the outside world, so he’s going to make Carl feel seen and present for the first time.”
One of the ways Graham wanted to show Jurek’s manipulation in the game was to develop different, honest chilling sounds for the character.
“I had an amazing voice coach, Susanna[Sulby]who was just wonderful. She was absolutely brilliant. And I had these ideas that I wanted to find two different types of voices for this man. The real him and then this illusion that he plays, this chameleon character that he can charm and get what he wants, and Carham’s exposure, manipulation.
As mentioned in the full Decider Nocturne In the review, Culkin perfectly portrays a soft, gentle soul who struggles with himself to see Yurek as more human than monster. In a brief chat through the shutters of a wired window and a small door, the two develop one Nocturnal A most curious, compelling dynamic, with Graham and Culkin’s palpable chemistry leading to an unexpectedly intimate connection.
When it came to the psychological aspects of their relationship, Graham told DECIDER that he and his co-star deliberately played into the palpable tension between them. “We played with that ambiguous sexuality a little bit, which is really fun,” Graham said, praising her partner for the scene and the “wonderful” collaborative process.
“Rory is such a wonderful actor. You come in and you just play. Our directors were wonderful, too. Every (two-episode) block we did was fantastic. They were always looking for, which I found really interesting, new ways to develop our relationship,” Graham recalled. “It was great because every time we finished a block, a new principal would come up and say, ‘Ah, look… I was thinking about that, too.’ And we were like, “Yeah. We like it. Let’s go down that road for a while. It was fun to play.”
Developing Jurek’s complexities and physicality—everything from his eerie laugh and meditative presence to his calculating mannerisms, subtle smile, and withering gaze—was a long, thorough process. But the hard work paid off in fascinating character adaptations and a truly stellar performance from Graham that only gets more intense.
Stay tuned for more of DECIDER’s interview with Graham and the cast and showrunner Nocturne.
new episodes Nocturne Premieres Friday on Apple TV.
