Chapelwaite, premiering August 22 on EPIX, brings Stephen King's short story "Jerusalem's Lot" to the screen for the first time. The 10-episode series follows Captain Charles Boone (Adrien Brody, The French Dispatch), as he relocates to the New England town of Preacher's Corners with his family following the death of his wife.
After moving into the ancestral home called Chapelwaite Manor left to him by his cousin Stephen, Charles soon learns that the town views his entire family with fear and suspicion. This sets the hero off on a quest to uncover his family's old secrets and end the darkness that seems to have plagued him for generations, even as it threatens to consume him as well.
Executive producers Donald De Line, Jason Filardi, and Peter Filardi spoke to Screen Rant about the adaptational changes to King's masterpiece and some of the more surprising casting choices.
Screen Rant: As someone obsessed with Schitt's Creek, when I saw Emily Hampshire, I was like, "Stevie is doing a horror series?" Could you talk about why she was cast, why she's perfect for this, and what she brings to the role?
Jason Filardi: It's funny because that's everybody's first impression. “Oh my gosh, Stevie's doing horror." But we watched her in 12 Monkeys, and if you've watched that, she does so much and she's so talented.
The role of Rebecca is more of a girl who is a bit of an outsider, she's ahead of her time, she's well-educated, and she's different. And Emily is great at that. Once we had a meeting and we talked about it, she was just so smart. She'd broken everything down and was so excited, and it got us excited. She was perfect to play Rebecca.
One thing I really liked about this adaptation was Charles not just having a family, which adds so much, but racism against that family being one of the factors that makes them outcast. Donald, could you talk about the conversations around adding that aspect?
Donald De Line: Yeah. I just think themes of otherness are relatable to everybody in their own way. And obviously, the Boones being chastised and accused of being cursed, and being this outsider family that had been shunned in this town - in talking about it, we thought it was really interesting if Charles brought another level of that and experienced this prejudice also on behalf of his children who are mixed race. It’s raising the stakes that way.
It's something that went on then in small towns and small-minded, ignorant places. And it still goes on today, so it was something we were very interested in exploring.
Peter, I was really surprised to learn that even though it was written in 1978, "Jerusalem’s Lot" doesn't have an on-screen adaptation yet. Why do you feel like this is the right time, and what did you want to bring to it?
Peter Filardi: I guess it was the right time because Donald De Line came to us with the story, and we read it and we loved it. And then we met Donald and loved him. Michael Wright, the head of EPIX, loved the project and everything just lined up. I guess that's why it was the right time.
But as you've noted and Donald said, there's a lot of themes in there that are very relevant today.
Jason Filardi: Not to jump in on my brother, but we're both from a small town in New England, and we've always wanted to do a New England story. My brother and I have always spoken about it, so what we hope to bring to this is some of our own upbringing in this town. Our town is rich in whaling history, and we just really wanted to do a New England story.
We always wanted to, so when this was brought to us, we jumped at it.
Chapelwaite premieres Sunday, August 22 at 10 PM ET on EPIX.
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Reviewed by Riyad
on
August 20, 2021
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