ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What is your history with McBride’s book?
ETHAN HAWKE:The book blew me away.
and he said, Yeah, I can.
William Gray/SHOWTIME
[Laughs] It just took my breath away.
I was like, This story’s got to be told."
This is your first major TV project; what madeGood Lord Birdripe for this medium?
William Gray/SHOWTIME
And now the canvas has changed.True Detectivewas the first one that I saw do this really, really well.
And we mapped out this plan and they believed in it.
How difficult was it to adapt?
William Gray/SHOWTIME
We tried to jam a syringe into the novel and remove the essence and put it into cinema language.
His tone is very original and mercurial.
Keeping that alive was the great challenge.Good Lord Birdain’tLincoln, it ain’t some stodgy history.
You immerse yourself in the history of the abolitionist movement and how radical and brave these people were.
It’s part historical, part imaginative.
I just tried to channel the voice of the novel.
What do they talk like?
How do they move?
What does he sound like?
What does he pray like?
How does he eat?
What did you like about exploring the John and Onion relationship?
For me, the event of the series was getting to know Joshua.
He’s the lead of series, and John Brown is really a supporting actor in his story.
His acting by the end was astonishing.
Speaking of watching someone grow, yourBoyhoodson, Ellar Coltrane, fills the same role here.
Why did you want to reunite?
This is now almost 20 years of working together.
Isn’t it wonderful?
I like to be near Ellar, and continuing his tutelage of acting.
He’s a really deep, old soul.
Part of my understanding of Brown was as a parent.
He fought with his sons and died with his sons.
I remember coming across that and being really moved.
How did you go about building this world of characters?
You said it, it was building a world.
Daveed came in with all his power and charisma and playfulness.
Daveed and Rafael I’d seen inBlindspottingand just loved.
Wyatt Russell, who Richard Linklater turned me onto inEverybody Wants Some, he’s an amazing young actor.
Like onBefore SunsetandBefore Midnight, you’re acting as both writer and star onGood Lord Bird.
What was it like taking on such a workload?
I’ve never worked that hard in my life.
It was like making four indies back-to-back.
You’re working at a ferocious pace and trying to seize each moment.
By the end, we all felt like we walked through a fire.
I believe that telling stories has a healing power.
I believe that we make sense out of our lives by telling each other stories.
Our inability to look at our nation’s past hurts us.
If we ignore these stories, we don’t know ourselves as a country and as people.
