Nuclear Drama

Posted by Charlotte Martinez in Film

Since its July premiere on WGN America, the new TV series “Manhattan,” shot in SFUAD’s very own backyard, has fans and critics exploding with positive feedback and heightened anticipation. TV critic Ed Bark of Unclebarky.com says the network’s second dramatic series is a “cerebral, character-driven morality play in which the stakes couldn’t be higher.” From Denver Post Television, critic Joanne Ostrow calls the show “Harvard with sand,” a “well-crafted, historically based drama” that “works its magic through a talented cast and a taut script.” In an interview conducted by Fox6Now news, “Manhattan” TV star John Benjamin Hickey (“The Good Wife,” “The Big C”) comments that writer Sam Shaw has taken an “imaginative leap of faith” in creating a show that could have been “historically accurate [to] this time and place and instead has focused on the emotional truth.”

Unlike the city landscape of Woody Allen’s 1979 romance Manhattan, the “Manhattan” TV series takes place during WWII in the isolated desert of Los Alamos New Mexico, in which the race to create the most destructive weapon of war burdens top scientists and their families with maddening pressure and secrecy.

With series like “Breaking Bad” and “Longmire” (recently cancelled pending new network ownership) in the New Mexico’s back pocket, “Manhattan” has kept the state thriving in network drama, bringing in names like director Thomas Schlamme (“The West Wing,” “Murder in the First”), writer Sam Shaw (“Masters of Sex”), and actors John Benjamin Hickey, Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense, Hyde Park on the Hudson), Daniel Stern (Home Alone, City Slickers) and Christopher Denham (Argo) to New Mexico.

In an interview with Jackalope, creator and writer Sam Shaw with director Thomas Schlamme describe how the historical drama relates to New Mexico’s Manhattan Project and what they hope the locals will get out of it.

Actors Daniel Stern (scientist Glen Babbit) and Christopher Denham (scientist Jim Meeks) describe how they prepare and grow as characters in a intellectual drama set in New Mexico.

European actors Katja Herbers (scientist Helen Prins) and Harry Lloyd (scientist Paul Crosley) describe how they prepare and grow as characters in a intellectual drama set in New Mexico.

For many locals involved in the film industry, “Manhattan” has been a boon, providing work to “below the line” crew (non-executive positions) and inspiring actors, including SFUAD theater major Courtney E. Walsh.

Spending a little as three and as many as 16 hours on set, Walsh has worked as a background actor and appeared on the show as a switchboard operator and housewife. And unlike most TV employers who won’t rehire the same background actors due to continuity, Courtney explains, the show has hired her and her “lovely background family” many times. “Because it’s constantly in the same places and we’re in a very small city,” Walsh says, “they wouldn’t be getting a new batch of hundreds of people every episode.”

And because the crew and talent “see the same faces over and over again,” Walsh adds, everyone starts to remember everyone’s names and are “always smiling and saying hi.” She especially recalls a moment on set that made the experience of working on “Manhattan” feel like a home.

“We were filming and it was late at night. It was so dusty that day. Dust kept getting into all of our eyes. I didn’t have glasses to protect my eyes so I just put my my book in front of my face the whole time. And the DP, Director of Photography, his name is Richard, he came up to me and gave me his goggles because he didn’t want me to get dust in my eyes! The fact that the DP gave a background actor his goggles…they do stuff for you like that and it’s really awesome.”

Responding to “Manhattan” as a viewer, Walsh says she really enjoys watching the show even if she knew what was happening. “For other things,” she admits, “I was completely blind-sighted!”

She adds that working with the cast and crew was a great opportunity and with her thanks she sends her hopes of participating in the next season. As the “Manhattan” actors say after their interviews, Walsh leaves Jackalope with these final words, “Welcome to Los Alamos. Don’t talk!”

Rebekah Wiggins, a local actress who participated in last year’s Shoot the Stars at the Film School, also knows the generosity and unique atmosphere of the “Manhattan” set.

Wiggins plays the character Gladys, a pregnant, smoking housewife of one of the Los Alamos scientists. “My experience working on set was absolutely incredible!” Wiggins says. “All of the actors that I worked with were kind and generous. When I was on set, I remember feeling really lucky to be a part of this series and that what we were creating was going to be something special. I think the fact that we have a show in New Mexico of this caliber speaks volumes to the talent we have here in the state.”

In developing her character, Wiggins says she read books, visited National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque, and conducting personal interviews with two friends living in Los Alamos. “I felt a huge responsibility to convey the truth of her experience,” the actress says. “After all, this was a monumental time in history. The world was changing at an incredible rate and women’s lives in the home and workplace would never be the same after WWII.”

The network has guaranteed “Manhattan” at least 13 episodes and continues to air Sunday nights at 8 p.m. central on WGN America.