Hulu is debuting a new true-crime anthology series based on a 2016 Buzzfeed article written by Michelle Dean. The story focuses on the toxic and secret-filled relationship that existed between Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her mother Dee Dee, which ended in murder. The series, titled “The Act,” will star Oscar and Emmy winner Patricia Arquette as Dee Dee and Joey King as Gypsy Rose. And Arquette is on a bit of a role these days and beat out a lot of significant performances and actors, specifically Amy Adams in “Sharp Objects,” at the recent Emmy Awards winning Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television for Ben Stiller’s Showtime limited series “Escape at Dannemora.” She was pretty unrecognizable in that show, and she transforms herself again in “The Act.”
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King, who’s most recently starred in Netflix’s “The Kissing Booth,” told EW that getting to the emotion and getting into the character of Gypsy was something she was so excited to tackle. But that she was also, “super nervous for.”
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“This is the first time I’ve ever gotten the privilege to really, really transform myself for a role.” That transformation included wearing fake teeth and shaving her head. “Transforming into Gypsy was one of the most challenging but most rewarding things I’ve ever done,” she told EW. Here’s the official synopsis.
Based on the true crime story, The Act is a seasonal anthology series that tells startling, stranger-than-fiction true crime stories. The first season follows Gypsy Blanchard, a girl trying to escape the toxic relationship she has with her overprotective mother. Her quest for independence opens a Pandora’s box of secrets, one that ultimately leads to murder.
The show is being executive produced and being written by Dean, alongside Nick Antosca. According to EW, to Dean, the heart of the show is its emotional complexity. “I’ve spent three years listening to people tell me how crazy they think the people at the heart of this story are, and they were never that crazy to me,” she says. “They always seemed like human beings who had an emotional logic to what they did. Horrible things, but they did them out of truly human impulses. We made that into kind of a mission statement: We want people to understand the people behind the act.”
“The Act” is set to be released on March 20, 2019, on Hulu.