The teaser trailer for Netflix’s new mini-series The Watcher features Emmy-winning comedienne Jennifer Coolidge introducing herself as Karen Calhoun, realtor, as she leads you through a palatial house. She points out its features as the sun beams in through the windows, casting a bright light on the already radiant actress. Although you might let out a giggle at times, you can’t help but feel that something is off as the teaser goes on — that something sinister and uncanny lurks just beyond the frame. Something dark that will shatter the American dream of this stunning house, and the beautiful glowing guide taking you through it.
While it neither divulges any plot details or even shows other cast members, it turns out that there couldn’t be a better way to introduce the new mini-series by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. And you couldn’t have found a better ambassador than Coolidge to introduce the show to audiences, as she so effortlessly straddles the line between camp and pathos in her performance.
Courtesy of Netflix
For those unfamiliar with the project, The Watcher is a true story of a couple who sink their savings into their dream home, 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey, only to discover a nightmare that wasn’t included in the listing. Shortly after moving in with their young family, the couple began receiving threatening letters from someone who called himself The Watcher and seemed to know their every move. To go on would spoil the fun, but just know it’s a shocking story full of twists and spine-tingling turns.
In this version, the couple of Dan and Nora Brannoick are played by Bobby Cannavale and Naomi Watts, respectively. They star alongside a stunning ensemble including Coolidge, Mia Farrow, Margo Martindale, Richard Kind, and Terry Kinney.
Despite the sinister events grabbing headlines back in 2014 when they happened, Coolidge was surprised by how many people had actually forgotten the details of the story. She certainly hasn’t. The series was filmed in New York, and she recalls running into friends there and telling them about her new project, only to have them draw a blank on the backstory. “I was surprised that some people didn’t know the story because it was sort of a big deal,” she tells PRIDE. “I grew up just outside of Boston and that was a big story. That was a creepy story. I just remember it very clearly... because stories like that you remember because they’re disturbing.”
Courtesy of Netflix
Getting to delve into the thriller and horror genre was something that Coolidge was excited to do. She’d previously worked with Murphy years ago on Nip/Tuck but had secretly hoped for a spot on one of the “creepy” series.
“Ryan called me up and offered me this — when he sort of pitched me who she was — I was like, oh, yeah, I haven’t been offered something like this. I was really thrilled I wanted to play someone like her,” Coolidge recalls. “Ryan finally was putting me in something dark and creepy. I’ve been dying [to do one]. He had used my house for one of the episodes of American Horror Story down in New Orleans. And I thought for sure he would call me and say, ‘Well, we’re using your house, I’m gonna put you in a scene,’” she recounts. “I knew that Jessica Lange was up on the second floor one time and I went, Oh, my God, I want to be in this so bad. It didn’t happen. But then life works in weird ways. What is it? Ten years later and I get to do this creepy story with Ryan Murphy.”
Watch PRIDE's full interview with Jennifer Coolidge below.
But of course Murphy wasn’t going to miss out on putting Coolidge’s comedic gifts to work as well, which was how the teaser came about.
“The whole thing was just improvised,” she shares. “It was on a Saturday, and I think it was in the middle of a snowstorm and Ryan said, ‘Hey, let’s just do this little thing... Let’s just improvise you going around the house and try to sell me on it.’”
They spent a few hours moving through the house, taking inspiration from the surroundings, and Murphy edited it into the teaser. Cut to it dropping online and something hilarious happened. “The next thing I knew, I was getting texts from friends, like actual friends of mine are saying, ‘You’re acting and doing real estate on the side?’ They had no idea that it was anything to do with the show. They all thought like, why not real estate too, you know? And that [the teaser] was my promotional thing for my personal career as a real estate person, too,” she laughs.
657 Boulevard Open House Video Tour With Karen Calhoun | Netflix
“It was even on bus stops in L.A. I remember, I saw one at a bus stop, and I was like, Oh my God, people are believing this, [that] I’m trying to be a real estate broker.”
While believing that Coolidge was embarking on a real estate career fresh off her Emmy win was a stretch to say the least, but then she knows how to keep people on their toes. Take for example her impromptu dance number during her Emmy speech, a truly pure moment of joy that was instantly iconic and so very Coolidge. It should come as no surprise that it too was a moment of improv.
“To be honest, I was stalling for time, I was stalling,” she confesses. “I thought, how can I get them to stop? How can I just get them to stop for a second? So I can just get these names out?”
Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: 74th Emmy Awards
“There are all these people that do these great things for you...and these moments being taken away from you, and you’re like, but I have to say these names I have to say,” Coolidge recalls. “So I thought if I danced the giant hook that was pulling me off would stop, but it didn’t do anything. I was still hoisted off. They took me out of there.”
“There were some people that did huge moments of very generous things to get me where I am and, you know, they’ll just have to hear it at Christmas at a toast at the table or something,” she adds. Or perhaps she’ll get a second crack at another Emmys speech. Not only is Coolidge returning for season two of The White Lotus, which earned the actor her first Emmy, but her turn as Karen Calhoun in The Watcher is something to behold. Coolidge gives layers and a resounding sense of humanity to a role that, in other hands, might not feel so complex. Outwardly, she’s bright and shining, but there’s pain and righteous rage below the veneer. When she shares flashes of it, you can’t help but be awed.
How does Coolidge tap into that kind of performance? She largely credits the writing, but also the more unique way that they approached filming The Watcher. “For the first time I think in my life, it was written as they were going,” she shares. “We didn’t know what the future was. So you couldn’t sort of draw big conclusions about your character at all, because we didn’t really know what they were going to write. It’s sort of great... because there’s an advantage to it, [the] not knowing. You’re never ahead of yourself because you don’t know what it is.”
For Coolidge, this approach meant that her performance was rooted in the moment as she filmed; that she lived the part as it unfolded with time, much like in life. It’s unconventional, but appears to have worked. The series itself is gripping and propulsive, and Coolidge of course steals every scene she’s in, which is no small feat. Thanks to her, along with a compelling mystery and top tier cast, The Watcher will no doubt make a watcher out of you.
The Watcher premieres on October 13 on Netflix. Watch the trailer below.
The Watcher | Official Trailer | Netflix
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