The Villain Takes the Spotlight
First Published on Variety.com
‘Dr. Death’ star Joshua Jackson dug deep to portray killer who is serving time.
For years, film has been featuring the antagonist front and center — see “Joker,” “The Shining,” even “The Godfather” and “GoodFellas.” TV, however, usually works a bit differently. Placing the bad guy at the head of the story isn’t an easy task, one that only works when both the writer and actor at hand can find a way to make the character likeable enough to keep an audience’s attention through multiple episodes.
Christopher Duntsch, the leading character in Peacock’s “Dr. Death,” isn’t likeable in the least.
The limited series follows the true story of the neurosurgeon in Texas who injured or killed 33 out of 38 patients in less than two years.
“It is exceedingly difficult to find those entry points into the character that audiences can connect to and not just feel like he’s a psychopathic killer,” says showrunner Patrick Macmanus. “I think that we were lucky to have all the research that we had that gave us insights into what was in this man’s head to help us.”
Macmanus says he can’t take the credit. Instead, he passes that to star Joshua Jackson. “We can only do so much on the page. Quite frankly, what I am most proud of in the entire show is what Josh did with a despicable character. There was no one at home who was on Duntsch’s side. There was no one who was saying, ‘Those patients had it coming to them.’”
Still, Jackson found a way to tap into that — and make viewers still want to watch the journey. “He was a deeply flawed, despicable human being. I don’t think anybody could argue with the fact that Josh fully encapsulated that and embodied that character. He was not Josh Jackson. He was Christopher Duntsch,” the writer tells Variety. “And there are a lot of actors out there who are phenomenal actors who play great versions of themselves and play the hell out of them. Then there are actors who just disappear into a character and that’s what Josh did with Christopher Duntsch.”