The actress also recalls how meeting her dying grandmother for the first and only time while she was starring in "Shameless" inspired a very specific detail in the Hulu series.
ByMarc Malkin
Senior Editor, Culture and Events
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains details and scene descriptions about the new crime series “Furious.” The first three episodes are available to stream on Hulu.
Emmy Rossumwas shooting “Shameless” several years ago on her birthday when she received a call from her estranged father.
“He called me as he sometimes did — I had only met him a couple times — and he told me that his mother, who I had never met, was at the end of her life, and did I want to meet her,” Rossum says. “I said a resounding yes. I hopped on a plane on a Saturday morning and flew to Oklahoma to meet her. It was a life-changing experience because I had never known or met anyone related to my father or related to me on that side.”Related StoriesSundance Film Festival, International Federation of Film Critics Establish Jury to Assess Movies From First-Time Foreign Directors (EXCLUSIVE)
Rossum begins to tear up. She takes a few breaths before continuing, “She had seen some of my work, and we had a nice conversation, a bit bittersweet, about the time that we would never get together,” Rossum says. “I was very grateful to get to hold her hand that one time. I flew back to L.A. to be at work on Monday, and she died a few days later. I was very grateful when they asked me if I wanted to be in the obituary because I had never been named as part of their family.”Popular on Variety
It was that brief encounter with her grandmother that she had in mind while filming one particular scene in “Furious.” Rossum stars in the new Hulu crime thriller series as Alice Black, a newbie FBI agent on the hunt for a female serial killer (Lola Petticrew) who has been targeting wealthy and powerful Jeffrey Epstein-like predators in New York City. The eight-episode series also stars Scoot McNairy, Jake Lacey and Quincy Tyler Bernstine.
In one scene, Alice visits her abusive ex-boyfriend’s (Lacey) dying mother. The nails of the actress playing the mom were painted on both the tops and undersides of her nails — a detail inspired by Rossum’s grandmother.
“The scene turns particularly brutal, where Alice admits that she still cares for and misses this man that she loved, who ultimately hurt her and was violent toward her,’” Rossum says, adding, “I had requested rolling takes, and we had done it again and again and again. There was a certain point where I really did lose myself in it, really not knowing that it wasn’t me. They cut the camera, and I had to take a seat.”
The director, Karina Evans, and fellow cast members gathered around her: “They hugged me and kind of brought me down to back to Earth.”
“Furious” is a dark and intense thriller with storylines that echo today’s news headlines, particularly stories about Epstein and sex trafficking of teen girls and young women.
“Unfortunately, you can throw a dart and hit any number of predators, from the smallest to the largest, in the last 10 years that we have been thinking about and excavating,” Rossum says.
Rossum first brought the idea of “Furious” to Hulu after she watched “Black Widow,” the 1987 movie starring Debra Winger as a federal agent tracking down a woman who has killed her multiple husbands in order to inherit their wealth. Elizabeth Meriwether (“Dying for Sex,” “The Dropout”) serves as the series creator and showrunner.
“I think our show ultimately is more interested in survivors of violence and what violence does to a person,” Rossum says. “I think we’re more interested in what would make a woman kill. When you look at all of the female serial killers — and there have not been that many that we know of — I think the main through line is that they’re all victims of violence. That’s really where Liz started from.
