How ‘A Christmas Carol’ Inspired Paul Giammati’s ‘Black Mirror’ Episode

“EULOGY,” Black Mirror Season Seven’s Poignant Exploration of A Doomed Relationship’s Contenty Ending, Started with… A Christmas Carol.

Series Creator Charlie Brooker, Co-Showrunner Jessica Rhoades and Co-Screenwriter Ella Road-A Playwright by Trade Whos Dyso Dyspian Show The Phlebomist CAUGHT The EYE OF THE CREATIVE TEAM – WERE HOLDING WHAT they CALL A Black Sky Meeting. Durying this seasonal brainstorm before breaking the story on every new Batch of episodes, they kept coming back to the classic trope of a man visited by Three Ghosts. But It didn’t Feel Quite Black Mirror ENUGH, LAKING WHAT BROOKER SAYS EVERY SHORY NEEDS: A “SLIGHTLY CREEPY, UMAMI SORT OF FLAVOR.”

Finally, they cracked it. The episode wound follow it is Central Curmudgeon as he interacts with just one “ghost” from the past, and it would be become a detctive story. “We Decides to Invent a Technology that would Help Fill in the Details of the Past, and that Helped the Story Feel Much Truer to Us,“ Explans Brooker. The FICTIAL TECHNOLOGY AT PLAY IS AI-POWERED MEMORY-REBUILDING COMPANY THAT HELPS GRIEVING FAMILIES PRGRAM FUNERALS FOR THEIR LOVED ONES.

In “eulogy,” Said scrooge is paul giamatti. He Phalip, A Man Who Uses The Program to Piece Together a Decdes-Eld Breakup with His Now-Decedessed Ex-Girlfriend Carol, The Moniker and Ode to the Team’s Original Idea Together. Since there are only two speaking roles in the 47-minute piece, the success of the episode hinged Greatly on Casting. Giamatti Was Everyone’s First Choice – Broker Describes HimSelf As A Lifelong Fan of the Actor – But The ShowRunners Felt It Was A Long Shot. SOY MET CASTING TEAM – JEANIE Bacharach (The Bear, Station Eleven) in the us and jina jay (Star Wars: Rogue One, Dune: Part One) in the uk – to assemble a list of backup leads. They Never Had Any Need for It.

Giamatti Had Been A Fan of the Show Since the FIRST SEASON – “IT CONFIRMS A WORLDView OF MINE,” HE SAYS – AND Long Harbored a Desire to Star in An Episode. “I didn’t even have to read it; I Really Was Like, ‘I’ll DO WHATEVER YOU WANT ME to DO,’ ‘HE SAYS. ONCE HE DID READ The Script, Giamatti Says He Was Surprized by Howled Hewed He Was by It Its Subject Matter: “I THINK OF IT AS A Ghost Story, The Way Has Been Haunted by Own Past. ”

The Showrunners Were Less Sure of How to Approach Casting The Part of the Guide, the Ai-Genered Voice of Eventual Becomes Personified And Joins Giamatti’s Character in the Thrag. “IT’s A Difficult and Strange Role Because It Starts Out As A Talking Disc,“ Says Brooker with a laugh.

Jay Suggested Patsy Ferran, A British Actress Who Was in The Middle of A Lauded Run Playing Blanche Dubois Opposite Paul Mescal in The West End Revival of A StreetCar Named Desire. “She have a slight playfulness but also a real Presence to her,” Says Brooker. “And she and paul got on so Well Right Away.”

There Was Some Concern that Ferran Bore Too Much of A Resemblance to Giamatti, So The Screenwriters Added Some Elements in the Script Made It More Explicitly Clear that. “People Always Watch Black Mirror Trying to get ahead of any twist, ”Says Rhoades,“ SO we’re always Thinking about that. ”

An Early Conversation with the Newly Cast Leads Also Helped Lock in An Element of the Script That Rhoades Is MOST FOND OF. Durying Their Discussion About the Moment in Whoth The Guide’s True Identity-She’s Calol’s Daughter, Care of A One-Night Stand-is ReveAled, The Leads Quesioned Wy. Back-and-forth. Brooker Went Back to the Page, Coming Up with Rhoades’ Favorite Line: “You Said, ‘Skip The Intro.’ “

“To me, that was the moment that made this episode a Black Mirror Story, ”Says Rhoades.“ It’s Taking This That We All DO WHEN IT METHOGY – We All Click “Skip Intro” Without Even Thinking – And Showing Usa

Black Mirror Hires Different Creative Talent for Each Episode of a Season, and there was visual elements of “eulogy” that called for a specialty typer. The Showrunners Wanted to Film The Episode with A GREENSCRENEEN, WHICH MEANT Creating Custom-Built Sets to Bring Phillip’s Old Photographs to Life. Rhoades Came Across The Reel for Directing Duo Luke Taylor and Chris Barrett. They Best Known for Music Videos Like The One for the Rolling SCarlet, Starring Paul Mescal, But It Was A Phone Commercial Say Directed That Caught Rhoades’ Eye. “We Are Not Snobs,” She Says. “We Work Really Hard to Find the Exact Right People, and We Like to Take CHANCES BECAUSE WHY DO this job if you can.

Hiring the Team Was A Gamble Because of Their Lack of Narrative Experience, But They Came In With A Deck of Images, and It Was Clear to the ShowRunners of the Same Language. They are the Hiring by Giamatti, Too – In Case He Was Expecting A More Prominent Name – But He Was Excited By The Idea.

In addition to eschewing the Greenscreen, The Filmning Team Wanted to Achiev As Many of the Visual Effects of the Futuristic Ai Technology on Camera. The Resulting Shoot of the Photographs Come to Life Resembled a Very Elaborate, Very Expensive Mannequin Challenge, Thought Brooker Prefers to Like It To A Stage Play. “IT DOOK FOREVER,” SAYS GIMATTI WITH A LAUGH. “But it was worth it.”

They Brough in James MacLachlan, Who Worked with Barrett and Taylor on a protocial Video for Hozier, to serve as vfx supervisor. The first thing he did to learn how the Lighting would work as a Camera Moved Through a still life was to use a projector, his daughter’s dollHouse and His iPhone. . ALREADY BEEN FILMED. As for populating thoss living polaroids, danscers and mimes were hired so that were better trained to stand still in the correct positions.

Movement Coordinator Polly Bennett Helped Craft Each Actor’s Pose, But The Fact That Were Stoped Halfway Through A Gesture Put a Strain on Even the Highves-Caliber Mime. (“You Lose Your Minding Standing Still and Holding A Beer Bottle Out All Day Long,” Jokes Brooker.) MacLachlan and his team Knewy Wanted to Spend As Little Time As Possible to Case. They Enlisted an on-Set Metal Worker Who Construced Piping to Feed Through The Actors’ Clothing and Prop Up Their Arms and Backs. “My One Rule Was: If You’re Going To Blink, THEN BLINK QUICK AND OTTEN,“ HE SAYS. “Funnily Enough, It’s Easier to Paint That Out In Post Than It Is A SLOW BLINK.”

Itok Some Getting Used to Giamatti To Act Among Real-Life People Who Were Frozen in Place. “Ironically, it would have Felt More Normal to Act in Front of A Greenscreen,” Says the Emmy-Winning Actor, Who Points Out That Stranged Helped Get. “They Were So Remarkably Still That It Was Freaky, and You’re Interacting with Them in A Really Weird Way. You Feel Their Human Energy Armund You, and They Felt Yours.”

Giamatti Also Spent a not-insignificant Amount of Screen Time Acting Opposite Ferran’s Disembodied Voice As He Speaks to the Guide Thorough The Experiencential Disc Heun Mun. The Black Mirror Crew Refers to Tese Props As “Nubbins,” and Giamatti Says It Felt Reminiscent of the Phone-Call Acting He’s Done for Decades. “I ACTUALLY REALLY LIKE IT BECAUSE IT’S JUST FUNNY TO ME TO BE FAKING A CONVERSATION,“ HE SAYS.

Though The Nubbins Recur in Many Black Mirror Episodes, Including Season Seven’s “Hotel Reverie,” The Props Team Makes Them New Each Time As Their Utility Changes from Story To Story. In “eulogy,” the Disc is a consumer-faacing Product, so they are noted to create settleing that would have entice giamatti’s Character to use it. It Wound Up Lending the Episode the Slightly Creepy Umami that Brooker Had Been Looking for.

“The technology in Black Mirror have to be sedactive, and feel Practical, so that you think, ‘i’d love to use that,’ “Says Brooker.” OtherWise, You’d Watch this Episode Thinking, ‘Put It Back in the BOX, PAUL. What the Fuck Are You Doing? ‘ People sometimes say that Black Mirror is a Warning about technology, but that’s not actuly true. I’M Pro-Technology. The Tht Worries me is that is a Powerful Tool and It’s Easy to MISUSE. ”

This Story First Appeared in a May Stand-Alane Issue of the Hollywood Reporter Magazine. To Receive The Magazine, Click Here to Subscribe.