Aram Rappaport is encouraging TV viewers to think differently. His upcoming series The Artist is an eccentric, star-studded murder mystery about to make its debut on Rappaport’s own free streaming platform The Network. It takes place during the Gilded Age, but this is no boilerplate period drama—it’s unconventional, engaging and stacked with talent.

In an interview before The Artist‘s Thanksgiving Day premiere, TVBrittanyF.com spoke to Rappaport—who both wrote and directed the series—about how the project came together and what makes it stand out. He explained the genesis of the idea and why it felt right to set the show in the Gilded Age. He also opened up about working with the likes of Mandy Patinkin and Clark Gregg, and how these talented cast members helped make the finished product even better.

Brittany Frederick: The Artist is such a unique idea, telling a murder mystery that includes great historical figures. What was it about this idea that made it pop for you, and made you want to go forward with it?

Aram Rappaport: I started toying with this idea of wealth and inequity during the writers’ strike and the SAG strike, when it felt like there were these business kingpins that were entirely out of touch with the community. Even though they were really this facade, ultimately being backed by loads and loads of debt—they weren’t any richer than anyone else—they felt like they really held all the cards. And so I liked the idea of using a failed business tycoon who still feels like he’s in charge and in control of his life to move the chess pieces with all these other artists, and really make a statement around how art in general is this sort of like selfless act of sacrifice across the board. If you’re an artist, you’re a whore, and you’re essentially whoring yourself for your art, because you have to make sacrifices to be able to do that. That was sort of the basis of the idea.

And then I thought it’d be great to set it in this period when there was, like real industrial growth as well as artistic and creative disruption, like with the Impressionists and with ballet, and what these things meant. It all kind of came together in terms of what the tone would be. I knew I wanted it to definitely be something that was drastically different than a Gilded Age-set show where everything’s clean and perfect, and the costumes are beautiful. There’s a rigidity to what you see in the Gilded Age, versus this world that’s very dirty, and everyone has a dirty mouth, and you don’t know If you’re going to survive the day or not.

There is a wealth of talent in the cast of The Artist, from Mandy Patinkin to Janet McTeer, from Clark Gregg to Brilliant Minds star Zachary Quinto. Were you able to write toward the talent that you had, or did the mystery format require a certain structure?

We went out with two episodes written, and Mandy was the first one that came in. He really redefined what the project was, because he really has to tether his roles in some truth and trying to understand where the love is in something like this. For him, it felt very scorched earth, and he sort of redefined it as this love story—this redeemable love story between him and his wife, where they had lost all love, and it was their journey back to find it. Those notes from him really redefined what the back half of the the show looked like.

And I think from there, it just built. There were things from Janet that [we] obviously took into account. But then for people like Patti LuPone or Kat McPhee or Hank Azaria, I didn’t even write those roles until it was like hey, are you interested in coming to play with us for a few days? How many days do you have? Let me write something for you. And that’s how those roles developed.

As you’re going through that creative process, what moments in The Artist stood out to you? What did you enjoy most once you got to see your vision become reality?

I’ve never worked with these people before, so it’s building trust, and then it’s being able to do something completely different that they’ve never done before. For Clark Gregg, he came in just for a very short amount of time, but played this nefarious character that he’s never done before, and that was something that I wrote for him specifically as well.

So I think that is what I’m most proud of, is being able to push people that are already just so uniquely positioned in the industry, to just blow it out of the water every time. To be able to do something that’s surprising with Mandy or Janet McTeer, or even Kat McPhee coming in and really surprising you in the scenes that she’s in is what I would say I love the most.

The Artist is a really special show on a different kind of streaming platform with The Network. Is there anything you want to say to TV viewers before they start Part 1, or as they might be discovering The Network as a whole?

We’ve created a new network. We’re fighting tooth and nail to legitimize this platform as premium, and we want to keep it free—because we feel like the longer we can keep it free and the more we can democratize content that’s actually really unique, it’ll give artists an opportunity to take big swings in a way that you just can’t on on platforms these days. Whether it be Netflix or Disney or Hulu or whatever, there is rigidity behind those mandates and what they’re looking to do. We’re not saying we’re going to hit wins out of the park every time, but just to take those risks and to have space to do that.

Please give it a chance. Please sign up for the platform; it is free. Watch the show. We feel like it’s totally wild and pushes the envelope. And it’s something that when you watch 10 minutes of this show, there’s no chance you would say oh, that looks like a Netflix show, or that looks like an HBO show, or that looks like a Hulu show. It’s uniquely positioned in this space that we’re trying to define as as a new platform. And I think that that speaks to the talent as well, and why they gravitated towards doing this on an indie film budget even though it’s television.

Part 1 of The Artist premieres Thanksgiving Day on The Network. To learn more about The Network and sign up, click here.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.