How Black Bird Humanizes Even the Worst Imaginable Criminals

The Black Bird cast may be biased, but they think the show is one of the best out there.

The Apple TV+ series, which chronicles the real-life story of Jimmy Keene and accused serial killer Larry DeWayne Hall, features incredible performances from Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Greg Kinnear and Sepideh Moafi. But the actors think the best aspect of the show is Dennis LeHane's writing.

The screenwriter, who wrote Shutter Island, Gone Baby Gone and Mystic River, sprinkles in subtle details that depict the nuance of each character and the story itself. "What's incredible about Dennis's script is that it's a psychological thriller, and it's deeply human," Sepideh told E! News. "He humanizes people that we couldn't imagine in our day to day lives."

Sepideh, who plays the fictional detective Lauren McCauley, noted that Larry (Paul) is accused of murdering numerous women, and "as impossible as it is to see this potential killer as as a human being, somehow we are able to humanize this person."

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Sepideh also appreciated that Dennis was cognizant of the way women in the FBI were regarded in the '90s. While preparing for the role, she learned that before 1972, only men could be agents. "in my research process, I discovered so many stories of women who are, as with many other career places, they were discriminated against, they were bullied," she shared. "Their male counterparts were trying to push them down and Lauren is no exception here."

Greg expressed a similar sense of pride regarding his character, as felt that Dennis did a great job in subtly explaining why his character Brian Miller is so motivated to prove Larry's guilt. He highlighted that viewers first meet him at his daughter's football game. "These girls who are surely missing," he said, "do have a personal element to him in that way."

Greg is equally appreciative of the way Dennis wrote his and Sepideh's on-screen dynamic. "I loved the relationship that Sepi and I have, this lived in detective relationship, and trying to make that real, and have it not feel like the male-female detective story that we've all seen ad nauseam," he said. "That was a big part of this job."

To learn more about the true story that inspired Black Bird, keep reading here!

Black Bird streams Fridays on Apple TV+.

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