If the idea of a psychological thriller, crime mystery and the paranormal is your idea of an epic night in, then you’re going to want to binge watch Stan’s eight—part crime series, The Gloaming.
Premiering on January 1, the story centres around two detectives who are bound by the past and personal grief, and are driven to solve a horrific murder which connects the past and the present in a world of superstition and supernatural forces.
And if that’s not enough to draw you in, the two lead actor’s are nothing short of exceptional.
Starring the insanely talented Emma Booth as Molly McGee and Australian TV veteran Ewen Leslie as Alex O’Connell, you’d be hard pressed in finding any other actors who were “meant” to play these parts.
But, when The Latch sat down with both Booth and Leslie to talk about the new project, we were surprised to learn just how long it took for these seemingly perfect actors — who even during their interview had just the right amount of chemistry — to get the parts they were made for.
“I had a six month, seven month gap between auditioning for this and getting the role,” Leslie admitted.
“For whatever reason, I did it and then nothing,” he said. “And then over the seven months, all of a sudden, it’s drawn itself back to me in a weird way.”
For Booth, who plays the impulsive Molly with an impeccable memory, the process was a little quicker — but according to her, it all boiled down to the fact that the show was a Disney (US) and ABC (US) production.
“I had to go through a long process because it’s an international show,” Booth revealed, even though executive producer, writer and show runner Vicki Madden, initially wanted her for the role.
“They were looking at bigger names and for a while there, it was a long silence for me,” she said. “I didn’t know if it was going to happen. I kept thinking ‘come on, work! I really want this.’ I think it was six to eight weeks later, that they came back and said ‘alright, you’ve got the job’.”
You may hear a phrase when actors are doing interviews that they were “drawn to” a specific project, and Leslie says that this is what happened with The Gloaming.
“I don’t have this big table of stuff that I’m going — ‘not you, not you’,” he said candidly about auditions coming in.
“Like you’ve got these things on the table and you audition for them and then, just because you liked it, it may not happen but for some reason, the ones that tend to be drawn to you, stick around.”
And for Booth, playing Molly was an absolute “no-brainer” and she just had to play her.
“I was drawn to the amazing kick-ass lead — and that’s what we need more of — and I was like fu*k yeh, I can take her and do so much with Molly,” she said, the passion for the project clearly alive and well.
And while the story was incredible, it was the location of Tasmania, that was where Emma wanted to be.
“This literally dropped in my lap,” she said. “I’m obsessed with crime shows as well, I love fiction and non-fiction crime. I’m just intrigued – I guess it just goes with the supernatural, really if you think about it. People die, they leave their body and this is the first part. How do you die?
For Leslie (and Booth as a matter-of-fact) the genre and script was nothing like they’d ever done before.
“I knew that Vicky [Madden] was doing it, so it was going to be different from a lot of other shows that had done a similar thing,” Leslie said.
“I knew she was going to take a Scandi Noir novel and turn it on its head and the characters were really nuanced and detailed and really specific in a way that seemed kind of, you know, new for the genre.”
“Also, the fact that Emma was doing it — I was a big fan of hers; and the directors — which included Greg McLean — with people that had worked in the worked a lot in genre, and I knew were going to be very good at fitting into it and also knowing when to subvert it.”
And for the pair, working together was something they both had wanted to do for a long time.
“We’ve been almost working together so many times,” Booth said, before turning to Leslie.
“Clearly I love your work and you love my work, so we’ve been drawing each other in and clearly what you put your mind to and focus on, you create.”
All episode of the Stan Original Series The Gloaming are available on Stan, New Years Day.
WATCH: The Gloaming, A Stan Original Series Official Trailer