It’s one thing to walk into an air-conditioned studio and say that you would never do something. It’s quite another to never take desperate measures when you and your family’s lives are on the line. That ethical thorniness is what initially drew Colman Domingo to “The Madness,” Netflix’s latest conspiracy thriller from playwright Stephen Belber.
“Especially after the past few weeks, I think we’re all trying to lick our wounds and try to figure out who are we as a country? What do we believe in? Where’s our information coming from? How are we distilling it down?” Domingo told TheWrap. “We have to think differently in some ways and open ourselves up to have uncomfortable conversations, real conversations, not just your opinion.
“That’s what I actually liked about Muncie,” he added of his “Madness” character. “He does believe that you can sit at a table from opposite ends, have a conversation and build some bridges.”
“The Madness” focuses on centrist media pundit Muncie Daniels, a talking head Domingo describes as having “one ass on two toilet seats.” But when Muncie finds the murdered body of a far-right influencer in the Poconos woods, his life is forever changed. As he tries to prove he had nothing to do with this dead white supremacist, Muncie and his family find themselves threatened and hunted by an increasingly hostile public. It’s a thriller that combines the sharp beats of a classic conspiracy drama like “Chinatown” with a growing sense of entrapment that’s reminiscent of “Get Out.”
“He feels like he has no access or agency anymore, or no one’s believing him. He’s like, ‘I gotta believe in myself. And if the police and society are not going to protect my family, I have to protect what’s mine.’ So suddenly he’s put up against the wall in many ways,” Domingo explained. “It’s really reshaping who this man is by sending him into this place that he did not want to go to, but because of circumstance, he’s fully thrust into.”
To prepare for the role, Domingo studied talking heads on cable news, which is outside of his typical media diet. “I feel like there’s too much coming at us in the world, so I’ve unplugged from that,” he explained. “But I do have many friends and colleagues who are pundits like Van Jones, Don Lemon and Jonathan Capehart.”
Domingo and the team behind “The Madness” watched interviews from on-air talents like those above, paying close attention to “the ones when they were really spicy.” These interviews helped him understand and establish Muncie’s sense of self.
“It’s less about news and more about opinion and wrestling with ideology, and then using their intelligence to win an argument,” Domingo said. “Personally, I never see a lot of listening happening. I see more of doubling down on beliefs. Muncie as a character is a bit more centrist. He’s not like any of these gentlemen I spoke of.”
Fully developing and understanding Muncie’s worldview was especially important given how much “The Madness” hinges on its star. For the first five episodes of the eight-episode limited series, Domingo appears in nearly “every single frame.” This intense focus doesn’t just mirror the claustrophobia Muncie feels as more friends and strangers turn on him. These very specific filmmaking choices reflect how “measured” Muncie is in his perception of the world. “He’s really taking his time before he makes any decision, and that’s also part of his Achilles heel,” Domingo said.
“I knew that was going to be a unique challenge in terms of storytelling, but also I thought it was a great gift because I was able to be in the center of Muncie for a long time,” Domingo explained. “Also, I like that the series is a bit of a slow burn at first, because it’s psychologically attached to Muncie and how pragmatic he is. It starts to take off when he actually has to make some choices and really go for the gut and not just be cerebral about things.”
Despite its political subject matter, “The Madness” offers no clear answers. “Our showrunners and our whole team were very interested in just raising questions,” he said.
