The Act (TV series)
| Television broadcast | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Act |
| Original title | The Act |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Year (s) | since 2019 |
| Production company |
Eat the Cat Writ Large Universal Content Productions |
| length | 48-60 minutes |
| Episodes | 8 in 1 season |
| genre |
True Crime Drama Anthology Series |
| idea | Nick Antosca Michelle Dean |
| production | Nick Antosca Michelle Dean Britton Rizzio Gregory Shephard Jan Peter Meyboom |
| music | Jeff Russo |
| Initial release | March 20, 2019 on Hulu |
First publication in German |
June 14, 2019 on StarzPlay |
| occupation | |
The Act is an American television series that premiered on March 20, 2019 on the video-on-demand channel Hulu . It is an anthology series , the first season of the true crime production deals with the background of the real murder case Dee Dee Blanchard . In Germany, the series has been available on StarzPlay since June 14 of the same year .
action
The young Gypsy Blanchard is bound to a wheelchair because she suffers from an illness that is not described in detail. Her relationship with her overprotective mother, Dee Dee, worsens when Gypsy hits puberty as she slowly wants to become more independent. Dee Dee dislikes this very much, which is why she is increasingly domineering and abusive, especially as a gypsy wants to explore her sexuality.
Gypsy discovers some disturbing secrets about her mother in the course of the series: She did not suffer from leukemia in her childhood , as her mother had claimed. Even now she is completely healthy and actually doesn't need a wheelchair, the ventilator to which she is connected at night, or a feeding tube . It also turns out that Dee Dee deceived not only her daughter, but also other family members, friends, and doctors. It is implied that Dee Dee suffers from Munchausen Deputy Syndrome, a mental disorder in which those affected pretend or cause illnesses in relatives in order to be able to take care of the victims in a deceptively caring and loving manner. The plot then focuses on several events in Gypsy's everyday life, which ultimately lead to the murder of her mother by her friend Nick Godejohn.
production
On July 21, 2017, Hulu announced that it had commissioned a series about the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard. This should be based on a BuzzFeed article entitled Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter To Be Sick, Gypsy Wanted Her Mom To Be Murdered from 2016. BuzzFeed editor Michelle Dean , who wrote the article, has also been named to the series' writing staff .
On May 18, 2018, Hulu announced that the series had begun production. Dean was named as a showrunner and executive producer along with other people . In September of the same year the signing of Patricia Arquette , Joey King , AnnaSophia Robb and Chloë Sevigny was announced. In October 2018, the role of Nick Godejohn was cast with Calum Worthy .
Most of the scenes were filmed in Georgia , including Effingham County , Pembroke, and Savannah .
occupation
The synchronization of the series was created at Berliner Synchron based on a dialogue book and directed by Mario von Jascheroff .
main characters
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Clauddinnea "Dee Dee" Blanchard | Patricia Arquette | Ulrike Stürzbecher |
| Gypsy Rose Blanchard | Joey King | Anni C. Salander |
| Lacey | AnnaSophia Robb | Luisa Wietzorek |
| Mel | Chloë Sevigny | Katrin Zimmermann |
| Nicholas "Nick" Godejohn | Calum Worthy | Constantin von Jascheroff |
Minor characters
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Shelly | Denitra Isler | Sabina Trooger |
| Dr. Evan Harley | Steve Coulter | Mario von Jascheroff |
| Officer Cox | José Alfredo Fernandez | |
| Dr. Lakshmi Chandra | Poorna Jagannathan | |
| Soot | Dean Norris | Lutz Schnell |
| Scott | Joe Tippett | Tobias Kluckert |
| Myra | Brooke Smith | |
| Emma Blanchard | Margo Martindale | Luise Lunow |
| Janet | Rhea Seehorn | |
| Stephanie Godejohn | Juliette Lewis | Daniela Hoffmann |
| Vance Godejohn | John Ales | Sven Brieger |
| Rippy | Joe Knezevich | |
| Kate | Molly Ephraim | |
| Rod Blanchard | Cliff Chamberlain |
Episode list
| No. | German title | Original title | First broadcast in the USA | German language first publication (D) | Director | script |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The house of beautiful dreams | La Maison du Bon Reve | 20th March 2019 | June 14, 2019 | Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre | Nick Antosca & Michelle Dean |
| The apparently very friendly Dee Dee Blanchard and her also nice daughter Gypsy move into a house in Springfield in 2008 , because their old home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina in 2005 . Gypsy, who is confined to a wheelchair , suffers from a variety of illnesses and feels lonely as a result, but is delighted when her neighbor, about the same age, Lacey visits her, and the two become friends. A little later, Lacey's mother Mel sees Dee Dee stealing a necklace in a mall with Gypsy's help . Since Mel threatens to report her, Dee Dee throws a welcome party for all of the neighbors. While Dee Dee is about to explain to Mel how difficult it is for her as a single parent, she sees Gypsy eating a cupcake . She goes straight to the hospital with her daughter because she suffers from a sugar allergy. In the clinic, Gypsy happened to hear that the treating doctor explained to her mother that she was not allergic to sugar at all. When they get home from the hospital, Mel is waiting for them. She expresses understanding for Dee Dee's supposedly difficult everyday life and assures her that she will not be reported. At night, Gypsy runs into the kitchen (although she's actually in a wheelchair) and takes a can of whipped cream from the fridge. She tries them to see if she has anaphylaxis , as her mother warned her. Gypsy realizes that Dee Dee lied to her about her sugar allergy, when she tries to go back to her room, her mother stands in front of her, Gypsy claims she was just getting something to drink. Gypsy lies down in bed and is hooked up to a machine by Dee Dee, after which her mother sings her a lullaby . Then the story jumps to 2015 . On June 14th, Dee Dee is found dead by the police, Gypsy has disappeared without a trace. | ||||||
| 2 | teeth | Teeth | 20th March 2019 | June 14, 2019 | Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre | Dan Dietz |
| In 2009 , Gypsy secretly starts eating sugary foods at night and looking up makeup guides . At a dentist appointment, Gypsy will have all of their teeth removed as they are rotten due to the medication given to Gypsy by Dee Dee . That's why Gypsy doesn't want to go to an award show where she is supposed to receive an award that Dee Dee proposed her for. Dee Dee gives her a full denture and forces her to attend the ceremony. In the meantime, Dr. Lakshmi Chandra, a doctor Gypsy recently started going to, suspected something was wrong with her medical record. She contacts colleagues in other hospitals and then reports the Gypsy case to the CPS , i.e. the youth welfare office . Dee Dee panics about it and gives Gypsy sleeping pills , which is why she suffers from confusion and dizziness when visiting the youth welfare office employee . Dee Dee confronts Mel thinking that Mel reported her to the youth welfare office. Mel denies Dee Dee's suspicions and comforts Dee Dee by telling her that she is a good mother. In the present, in 2015, Lacey admits to Mel and the police that Gypsy had a secret Facebook account with which she was in contact with young men. So the police come to the conclusion that Gypsy had a friend who had something to do with her disappearance and the murder of Dee Dee. | ||||||
| 3 | Two wolverines | Two Wolverines | March 27, 2019 | June 14, 2019 | Adam Arkin | Robin Veith |
| In 2011 , Dee Dee and Gypsy go to a costume event. They meet the men Scott and Russ, both of whom are disguised as Wolverine . Russ is fond of Dee Dee, which is not mutual, while Gypsy is fond of Scott. He gives her his phone number, which prompts her to steal money the next day and use it to buy a cell phone . She exchanges information with Scott by text message and secretly creates a Facebook account. When she accidentally finds her birth certificate, she realizes that her mother also lied to her about her age: Dee Dee claims that Gypsy was born in 1995 and was therefore 15 years old, but the certificate says 1991 as the year of birth. When Scott writes to her that he is in the hospital because of an accident, Gypsy leaves a note for her mother, she is going to marry her dream prince, she signs the note with your 19-year-old daughter . She then goes to Scott's hospital, where she wears a red wig that Scott had given her as a reference to Jean Gray . Gypsy and Scott go to his house, where Dee Dee also shows up a little later. She tells Scott that Gypsy is 14 years old and forces her to come with her. In Springfield, Dee Dee scowls and asks her daughter to get out of the van in her wheelchair . Gypsy gives in fearfully. | ||||||
| 4th | Stay in the house | Stay inside | 3rd April 2019 | June 14, 2019 | Christina Choe | Michelle Dean |
| In 2013 , Gypsy observed a male neighbor mowing the lawn, which is why she felt sexual arousal for the first time in her life . When Lacey tells her about her new boyfriend, Gypsy says she'd like to go on a date too. That's why she bought secretly a laptop and created with the help of Lacey a profile on a Christian Love cards where she made the acquaintance of Nick Godejohn who claims to have a "dark side". Meanwhile, Dee Dee wants to apply for guardianship for Gypsy, but her daughter has to agree, as she is in full possession of her mental powers. After Dee Dee learns she has diabetes during a doctor's visit, Gypsy gets her to sign the papers required for guardianship. She promises her daughter that she will protect her from all the lies of the past few years and that she will be kept out of jail, since at the age of 18 she could be prosecuted for crimes committed by Dee Dee in the past. In the course of the following weeks Gypsy and Nick get closer (even if only online), one day he introduces them to his passion for BDSM . The following morning, Gypsy falls asleep in front of her laptop when her mother enters the room and sees the device. She destroys the laptop with a hammer , Gypsy mockingly replies that she will simply buy a new one. Dee Dee ties her daughter to the bedpost in her room, Gypsy spits in her mother's face, breaks free and has the opportunity to flee. But she comes back and takes care of the diabetic Dee Dee, whom Gypsy calls "her angel". That same night Gypsy writes Nick a text and describes what happened to the laptop. Nick tells her that he will protect her from everyone, Gypsy asks him if he is serious and then satisfies himself on the floor of her room. | ||||||
| 5 | Plan B | Plan B | April 10, 2019 | June 14, 2019 | Steven Piet | Nick Antosca & Lisa Long |
| In 2015, Nick and Gypsy want to meet for the first time in reality. Nick also wants to get to know Dee Dee so that she can agree to his relationship with her daughter. The next day, Dee Dee and Gypsy go to the movies and watch Cinderella . Nick secretly follows them into the cinema, but Dee Dee feels extremely uncomfortable in his presence. Gypsy goes to the bathroom and loses her virginity with Nick, which is nowhere near as beautiful as she had imagined. When Dee Dee and Gypsy return home, Nick calls. Dee Dee takes off, Nick tells her that he has loved Gypsy for two years. Then Dee Dee ties her daughter to the bed again. Gypsy later texts Nick and tells him to help her kill her mother as she couldn't do it on her own. Nick agrees and goes back to Springfield the next day. Gypsy buys a hunting knife and is packing up when she receives a text message from Nick, who has arrived in town. | ||||||
| 6th | A whole new world | A Whole New World | 17th April 2019 | June 14, 2019 | Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre | Heather Marion |
| While Gypsy and Nick are on the run after the murder of Dee Dee, Dee Dee's past is examined in more detail: her own mother Emma is bossy and treats her badly, and after Gypsy is born, the two quarrel over their different ideas about how to raise children. When Gypsy was two years old, Dee Dee was arrested for forging checks . She has to go to jail for sixty days, during which time Emma looks after her granddaughter very lovingly. After her release from prison, Dee Dee gives her daughter a cough medicine and claims that Gypsy has a fever , which Emma denies. In the present, Gypsy is disappointed as Nick only bought a return ticket. That's why the two have to wait two days before they can continue their journey. Then Dee Dee's past is dealt with again: When Gypsy is six years old, Emma becomes ill. However, Dee Dee neglects her mother until she finally dies. After her death, Dee Dee discovers that Emma never presented the letters Dee Dee wrote for Gypsy to her granddaughter while she was in prison. Shortly afterwards, Gypsy falls off a trampoline . Dee Dee takes her to the hospital, but Gypsy is only very superficially injured. After the short hospital stay, Dee Dee gets her daughter to use a wheelchair from now on. Back in the present, Gypsy and Nick head to his home state of Wisconsin . | ||||||
| 7th | Bonnie and Clyde | Bonnie & Clyde | April 24, 2019 | June 14, 2019 | Hannah Fidell | Dan Dietz & Robin Veith |
| Gypsy is looking forward to her new beginning with Nick, but her everyday life is not as rosy as she had hoped, and she is always afraid that her crime will be exposed. At Nick's home, Gypsy discovers that Nick's parents Stephanie and Vance don't look after him very well and they don't care about him. Gypsy and Nick go shopping but have no money. That's why she fakes an ankle injury, gets an e-scooter and steals a bag of mashed potatoes while he distracts an employee. Gypsy later feels guilty about Nick. With nothing yet reported about Dee Dee's death, Gypsy and Nick become confident and publish disturbing Facebook posts about their deed. When Lacey sees this, her mother alerts the police. This finds out where the news was posted from and storms Nick's house that night. The two are arrested and interrogated separately. Nick admits his act and gives the motive to love Gypsy. He already has a criminal record for watching porn in a McDonald’s store in 2013 and satisfying it. Gypsy claims she was unaware of Nick's intentions. When Lacey and Mel see them on the news, the latter reacts upset because Gypsy can walk and they have been lied to for years. When the trial against Gypsy begins, she bursts into tears, as if convicted she could face life imprisonment or even the death penalty . | ||||||
| 8th | Free | Free | 1st May 2019 | June 14, 2019 | Steven Piet | Nick Antosca & Michelle Dean & Lisa Long |
| The episode begins with a flashback to Gypsy's childhood: Gypsy is afraid of Spanish moss that grows in front of her window because she thinks it is a ghost . Dee Dee advises her to look at the stars , as they are really angels who take care of Gypsy. In the present day Gypsy tries to justify her actions in court, while Lacey and Mel come to the conclusion that everything in the Blanchard house was not what it appeared to be. Gypsy's attorney, Kate, tells her that if she cannot prove innocence, she will be executed and tells her to get all medical records since she was born. During her detention, Gypsy gains weight and goes to the prison doctor about it. She removes the feeding tube that Gypsy had been using since childhood and tells her that she is one of the healthiest inmates. Nick tells Gypsy that Bonnie and Clyde died together, which annoys Gypsy. Later Gypsy calls Lacey and asks her for help, Lacey initially agrees, but then talks confused things, which is why Gypsy realizes that she is not much help. That's why Gypsy calls her father Rod and asks him to bring her medical records. Rod arrives in prison, Gypsy accuses him of never loving her and not wanting her in his life. He then shows her pictures from her early childhood of how the two happily play together. Kate proposes that Gypsy and Nick be tried separately because they had different motives. This is granted, to which Nick reacts dismayed because he only committed the act to be with Gypsy. Gypsy receives a visit from Mel soon afterwards, who tells her that she and Lacey no longer want to have anything to do with her. Another flashback depicts the night of the murder: Gypsy locks himself in the bathroom, while Nick murders the sleeping Dee Dee in her room with several stitches in the back. Then the two have sex and then leave the house because Gypsy does not want to see her mother's body. In the last shot of the series, Gypsy hallucinates her mother in her cell and lays her head on Dee Dee's shoulder. In the credits it is stated that Gypsy is serving a ten-year prison term and plans to start a family after her release, while Nick was sentenced to life imprisonment with no prospect of parole. | ||||||
reception
The series achieved a rating of 8.1 out of ten stars in the Internet Movie Database based on 10,113 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season received a critical rating of 89 percent and an audience rating of 92 percent. At Metacritic , a value of 74 resulted in 100 for the first season.
“A mostly stringent script, excellent make-up artists and convincing acting - Patricia Arquette and Joey King don't let themselves get into debt here and are sometimes in top form - unfortunately at no time cannot annoy the two deeply unsympathetic protagonists and, directly related to Gypsy, also their annoying Distract quirks. (...) It's not fun to watch The Act , but it probably isn't supposed to either. The series was obviously conceived with the idea of creating an uncomfortable permanent state in the viewer and it manages that quite convincingly. Ultimately, the eight episodes are a portrayal of child abuse that has taken place over the years. The question is whether such a disturbing case is in a partly drawn out serial narrative or not better, like so many other true crime formats, in a documentary-compressed environment. "
Kristy Blanchard , the stepmother of the real Gypsy Blanchard, expressed her lack of understanding about the portrayal of the character Lacey in an interview with Marie Claire magazine in April 2019. This is based on Aleah Woodmansee, a neighbor of Gypsy Blanchard at the time. According to Kristy Blanchard, a scene in the second episode, in which Gypsy forbiddenly receives a cigarette from Lacey , is completely wrong, as this would never have happened because Aleah Woodmansee is the "exact opposite" of it. Because of the series, Woodmansee, who still lives in the neighborhood at that time, would probably be viewed differently in the future, which is why they feared for their job and their reputation. In addition, the real Rod Blanchard would not speak with a southern accent.
Gypsy Blanchard himself announced on April 4, 2019 that it would sue Michelle Dean and the production team. Although she could not have watched the series in prison, it was "unfair and unprofessional" that the producers and Dean used her name and story without her consent. Kristy Blanchard and Francesca Marcelli , a writer and friend of the Blanchards, then announced that they were considering legal action to bring Hulu to a court order to either cancel the series or to correctly represent what happened. In addition, Kristy Blanchard claimed that Dean had promised her over the phone that Gypsy Blanchard would share 50 percent of the series' revenues, but that he had broken this promise.
Awards
- Award : Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a TV Movie, for Patricia Arquette
- Nomination : Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie, for Joey King
- Award : Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series, Miniseries or TV Movie, for Patricia Arquette
- Nomination : Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie, for Joey King
Critics' Choice Television Awards 2020
- Nomination : Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie, for Joey King
- Nomination : Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a TV Movie, for Patricia Arquette
- Nomination : Best Miniseries
- Nomination : Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie, for Joey King
- Nomination : Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series, Miniseries or TV Movie, for Patricia Arquette
Screen Actors Guild Awards 2020
- Nomination : Best Actress in a TV Movie or Miniseries, for Patricia Arquette
- Nomination : Best Actress in a TV Movie or Miniseries, for Joey King
Web links
- The Act in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Act at Fernsehserien.de
- BuzzFeed article on which the series' first season is based
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chris Harnick: The Trailer for Hulu's Gypsy Blanchard Series The Act Will Leave You Shook. In: E! March 4, 2019, accessed on July 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Denise Petski: True-Crime Anthology Series From Nick Antosca & Michelle Dean In Works At Hulu. In: Deadline.com . July 21, 2017, accessed on July 17, 2019 .
- ^ Lesley Goldberg: True Crime Anthology Series 'The Act' Set at Hulu. In: The Hollywood Reporter . May 18, 2018, accessed on July 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Nellie Andreeva, Denise Petski: 'The Act': Chloë Sevigny & AnnaSophia Robb To Star In Hulu True-Crime Series. In: Deadline.com. September 12, 2018, accessed on July 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Erik Pedersen: 'The Act': Calum Worthy To Star In Hulu's True-Crime Anthology Series. In: Deadline.com. October 2, 2018, accessed on July 17, 2019 .
- ^ GG Rigsby: Filming of Hulu true crime series may prompt ordinance. In: Savannah Morning News. November 27, 2018, accessed on July 17, 2019 .
- ↑ German synchronous index | Series | The Act. Retrieved July 16, 2019 .
- ↑ The Act: Season 1. In: Rotten Tomatoes . Accessed July 19, 2019 .
- ^ The Act. In: Metacritic . Accessed July 19, 2019 .
- ↑ Marc Schneider: "The Act" - A pathological mother-daughter relationship . In: quotenmeter.de . June 14, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
- ↑ Alexis Jones: What Gypsy Rose Blanchard's Stepmom Says Hulu's "The Act" Got Wrong. In: Marie Claire . April 4, 2019, accessed on July 17, 2019 .
- ^ Kenny Herzog: How The Act's Actors Compare to Their Real-Life Counterparts. In: Vulture . May 3, 2019, accessed on July 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Alexis Jones: Did Gypsy Rose Blanchard Make Money From 'The Act'? In: Marie Claire. April 4, 2019, accessed on July 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Steve Greene: 2019 Emmys Winners: 'Fleabag,' 'Chernobyl' and, Yes, 'Game of Thrones' Top This Year's List. In: Indie Wire. September 22, 2019, accessed on September 23, 2019 .
- ↑ Kimberly Nordyke, Jennifer Konerman, Annie Howard: Golden Globes: Full List of Nominations. In: The Hollywood Reporter. December 9, 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 .
- ↑ Ryan Schwartz, Nick Caruso: Critics' Choice Awards 2020: Fleabag, Watchmen, When They See Us, Unbelievable Among TV Nominees. In: TVLine. December 8, 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 .
- ^ Karen M. Peterson: 24th Satellite Awards Announce Nominations, 'Ford v Ferrari' Leads the Way. In: Awards Circuit. December 3, 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 .
- ^ Nominations Announced for the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. In: sagawards.org. December 11, 2019, accessed December 11, 2019 .