Have you been watching the new Netflix original drama Bloodline? I got hooked just from the first three episodes I got to see early before Netflix presented Bloodline to the Television Critics Association. After that panel, and again at Sundance for the film Slow West, I got to talk with Ben Mendelsohn about the show. Here is a combination of both interviews.
The Plot: Bloodline stars Mendelsohn as Danny Raynor, the black sheep of the Raynor family who returns to try to get close with his siblings John (Kyle Chandler), Meg (Linda Cardellini) and Kevin (Norbert Leo Butz) and their parents (Sissy Spacek and Sam Shepard) again, but causes more trouble. All 13 episodes of Bloodline are available on Netflix now.
Do you think Danny is dangerous?
Ben Mendelsohn: “I think that’s something that will unfurl as it were, as people get into the series. But, the family feel very strongly about this guy and it changes from family member to family member. Danny, for his part, feels very strongly about his family too. There’s definitely a friction there and there’s definitely conflict, and it’s an unresolved conflict. In that context, that’s where the danger, as it were, is. Now, about Danny’s life outside of this family, that’s something that gets gotten into a bit.”
I feel we know these people who may think, “Hey, why won’t people help me out with my plans?” Well, we’ve seen in the past something always goes wrong with their plans. I expect the Rayburn family has been burned many times already, haven’t they?
Ben Mendelsohn: “I don’t know. There’s a lot of access points to this in terms of the way one looks at it. I think that’s really important to Bloodline. I think Danny can equally have that feeling towards various family members as well.”
Even episodes two and three change our impression of Danny. We’ve prejudged him, just like Kevin does.
Ben Mendelsohn: “Yeah, and I think these are things which I don’t want to dilute any of that for viewers.”
Did you understand the family dynamics right away or did it take a few scripts?
Ben Mendelsohn: “Well, it evolved too. There were certain dynamics, the rudimentaries of the dynamics that were pretty clearly understood, but in a way you got a clue from the casting. When we all arrived in the room more or less, the first time or two, and we sort of felt each other out, we sort of knew what the dynamic kind of was. I think there were a couple, just speaking for myself, myself and Norbert’s character was a surprise where that dynamic came from. I understood it, but I’d spent a bit of time with the creators, the KZK boys talking about it beforehand. I like to think I understood it.”
Are we going to understand it a lot more after 13 hours?
Ben Mendelsohn: “I think you’re going to be left with things being revealed, yeah. I would hope that you will also be left putting your own connects together. I think that’s part of the pleasure of the series is that you’re not going to get it all carte blanche in that way. Because I think part of the thing with Bloodline is the ability to look at it and think about your own family or a family you know, because family dynamics tend to mirror each other, repeat each other or be archetypes of some type of another again and again and again, more or less. But the big family thing, that’s a particularly American specialty. I think big family, a piece where there’s a large number of kids, that’s not something you see so much in other cultures.”
Is that because people in Australia have smaller families or they just don’t make movies about them?
Ben Mendelsohn: “It might be but it’s not just us. It’s England, it’s anywhere I would care to think of. It’s very unusual to have that much dynasty, if you like, on display. I struggle to think of ones from other cultures but I could think of a bunch of American ones.”
You are remarkably good with accents.
Ben Mendelsohn: “Oh, thank you. I think it’s something, if you come from Australia and you want to work in other places, you’d best try and work at it.”
Is the region in Bloodline a specialized accent?
Ben Mendelsohn: “There is a Florida accent but there’s a lot of different sounds there, so I don’t think we were going for a specific Floridian. There are small sounds and stuff. I mean, there are so many beautiful accents in this country, but generally speaking, I guess the thing about accents is you don’t want them to announce themselves ever. You don’t want to be listening and registering. The less you know about it, the better, I guess.”
Have you been able to find these complex characters in these complex worlds like Bloodline and Starred Up, or is it something filmmakers come to you for?
Ben Mendelsohn: “I would say in the case of these two things, it’s more the latter. These are things that had appeared and then got discussed about. The common theme is the writing was really, really special. For actors, it’s really the writing that gets you and then of course the people you work with.”
Starred Up was so interesting to me because of the culture and structure in the prison. Were you aware of that before that movie came along?
Ben Mendelsohn: “No, not particularly. Again, my prison learning stuff is a couple of people I’ve known along the way, prison films and prison shows and Nat Geo bullsh*t, the same stuff. That’s all Jonathan Asser, the writer, who is the Rupert Friend character really and worked in that jail. The first thing I did was sat down with six or seven of his prisoners, his ex-guys that had gone through that program that he had. They’d all been violent within jail, problem violent guys, and none of them had gone back. So he knew what he was on about. For me, that’s the most important thing about Starred Up. That’s the heart for me is I think he was really onto something. A good guy too. Really good guy.”
I’ve always wondered, in Killing Me Softly, you are so sweaty. Had you actually not bathed or was that all makeup?
Ben Mendelsohn: “I helped it along. I always try and do at least a little something just to lean things in the right direction, but that look was pretty special. I’ve got to tell you, in the New Orleans heat, under that polyestery [jacket], it wasn’t hard to sweat.”
