HBO and Stephen King . With that, in principle, it should be enough to engage the staff. Sounds like a good start, a drama with thriller dyes and a dose of terror about what in principle looks like a current investigation after the murder of a child, and that ends up mutating in mystery by the classic supernatural element of the bestselling novelist . The visitor ( The Outsider ), a creation of Richard Price with Jason Bateman as executive producer, is part of a new chute of original content for the winter season that continues to put HBO far from the rest. This Monday the streaming platform premieres the fifth episode of the 10 that make up this series.

Based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, the visitor explores the case of the horrible murder of a child in a small town in deep America and the mysterious forces surrounding the incident . The series follows in the footsteps of police detective Ralph Anderson, played by Ben Mendelsohn , as he prepares to investigate what appears to be an iron case and without an easy solution.

However, conflicting court evidence places his suspect, Terry Maitland (a role in charge of Bateman), in a different city at the time of the murder. The circumstances surrounding the crime lead Ralph to join forces with an unorthodox private investigator Holly Gibney, in the hands of the Oscar nominee and Tony winner, Cynthia Erivo . His unusual skills will help explain the inexplicable .

Bateman is, perhaps, the most recognizable face of a cast completed by Bill Camp , Jeremy Bobb , Mare Winningham , Yul Vázquez and Julianne Nicholson . His role, however, is rather secondary on this occasion, with more prominence behind than in front of the cameras in his role as producer, which ultimately suited him for his other commitments.

"They proposed to do two shows and I said I would love to try," he confessed in an event with the Television Critics Association in Pasadena last week. Of course, they had to delay the filming of Ozark , the starring Netflix series, to accommodate this new project. The interest was clear, not only for working with HBO, but for making a "white, boring, middle-aged type of man who trains a minor league (baseball) team, and in which it seems to fit ».

He also thanks that this adaptation of King was not the kind of horror film that the avid gore likes so much. "I really love suspense and tension," he said. "So I was really excited that this story lived more in the records of The Shining , than in those of other great stories installed in a terrifying world of fear and shock." His intention, he admits, was not to scare to scare, but to "create a certain environment."

Bateman, who has participated in a number of films such as Juno and Hancock , says he is increasingly enjoying his new role as director and producer. “I really have a great time acting, but right now I am enjoying the challenge of management given the wide scope it has. It forces you to have a 360-degree perspective against what actor work means, without wanting to belittle, ”he explained.

There was the risk, in addition, of adapting a work of Stephen King, with the successes and skids of Hollywood in this regard. For Richard Price, the creative force behind the project, the key was to go beyond the book. "King gives you a good story and good characters, but a book is not a television series, " he reasoned. "You have to know how to turn all that inner monologue into a visual exhibition," he added, stating that what attracted him "was that it began as a procedural police series that was leaning toward the supernatural . I always wanted to write something scary since I was a child, and this is perfect for me.

In addition to brilliance and sobriety, Cynthia Erivo brings almost mandatory diversity for every production in Hollywood. The 33-year-old Briton admitted that, "as a woman of color, you never really see this kind of women on the screen." He attributes it to Price: "They gave me a gift with this paper, to be honest, and they wrote it in a beautiful way for me." It goes through, without a doubt, the best moment of his career. The Oscar ceremony awaits next Sunday, nominated for best actress by Harriet .

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