Cult is not a simple concept. The new CW series is about a series on The CW called… Cult. That series within the series is about a cult leader, and seems to be exerting some very passionate and outright dangerous influences on its fans within the world of the show, possibly purposely manipulated by the show’s mysterious creator.
Speaking about Cult today at the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour, the show’s creator, Rockne S. O’Bannon (Alien Nation, Farscape), was asked by a reporter if he felt there was a danger in a show that examines passionate TV fans and says, in the reporter’s words, “Your passion scares me and I fear you might kill me”?
O’Bannon answered, “Believe me, after the current events that have occurred, when we went back into the writers' room the next day, it was something that played very much on all of our minds. And what's interesting is our show actually kind of examines that phenomenon. It's something we're very cognizant of, but I think that, unlike other shows, we have the advantage of actually kind of putting a magnifying glass on that idea itself.”
Executive producer Len Goldstein explained, “For us, when we were thinking about it and Rockne was creating it, we were really taking a look and asking some questions, I think, more than anything else about the relationship people have to their shows, which is certainly more pronounced, I think, than ever before. People watch them certainly more critically. They're more interested in them. There certainly is a fan passion for a certain type of show. We're looking at asking questions just generally about the relationship of television to society. And as the show goes on, we certainly ask some questions about do events in society influence what the shows are. For us, they're really questions more than answers.”
O’Bannon revealed, “The origin of the show actually did come out of my Farscape experience where I witnessed the kind of incredible fan passion for a show and the ability of fans to kind of find each other through social media and connect up. And in the instance of, Farscape -- which is a very kind of benign science-fiction adventure show -- but it started me thinking what if the show were something with a little bit darker edge and what kind of fans would that then draw? And so Farscape obviously was the kind of catalyst for the idea.”
One of Cult’s other executive producers is Josh Schwartz (The OC, Chuck, Gossip Girl), who added, “Those were conversations that we had, Rockne and I. Obviously Farscape is very different from other shows that I've produced. But the level of fan passion that you get, whether it's about a storyline or about shipping a particular couple on that show, it crosses over any genre and people feel a tremendous amount of ownership and investment in their shows. And now you have such access to the people creating and writing those shows and starring on those shows that you also feel as if you can control that conversation as well. And so when things don't go the way you have tweeted to the show's producers or writers or actors, you know, there's a certain level of animosity that can start to grow.”
Matt Davis and Jessica Lucas in Cult.
Cult stars Matt Davis (The Vampire Diaries) as Jeff, a reporter who begins investigating the strange scenario around the new TV sensation, Cult, aided by a woman who works on the show itself, Skye (Cloverfield’s Jessica Lucas). Other regular include Robert Knepper (Prison Break, Heroes) and Alona Tal (Supernatural), who play both Cult cast members and the characters we see on the many clips of the show within a show.
Said O’Bannon, “From our perspective, there is nothing too meta. Part of the fun for me in creating this show was I kind of liken it to a roller coaster ride in that you're on the ride and there's twists and turns and all sorts of surprises. But the other thing about when you get on a roller coaster, and one of the pleasures, I think, is that for that minute and a half, or whatever it is, you kind of lose control of the experience. And for me in creating Cult, one of the things that I really got excited about was how to create a show where we kind of hook into an audience and create not just an emotional experience for them and perhaps a kind of intriguing idea, but also create a visceral experience for the audience and to really kind of try to break down, take the glass away from between the television show and the audience and really kind of take away that control.”
Robert Knepper and Alona Tal in Cult - the show inside Cult!
Cult's scenario is complicated and O’Bannon acknowledged, “Yeah, it can make it a little harder to explain and describe and it's also a show with a lot going on. And I have a great deal of faith and trust in the audience to be able to hook into that. But we're very aware of the fact that we have a complex, multifaceted show going on and trying to keep it as clear in our heads as possible. And yeah, for me part of the fun is being someone with an incredibly short-attention-span, the idea that we're actually presenting two shows at once.”
In the midst of the many press questions, Knepper remarked, “I just want to say that the beautiful thing about being here today at this panel is to hear the questions coming from you guys and to be on the hearing end of this, of people going ‘I'm not sure I understand it’ or ‘I'm confused about this’ or ‘I'm intrigued about this of this inside show and the outside show and it's about television and it's about social media.’ And I'm sitting here going I've never been of a part of a show like this before. And it's really exciting entertainment to be a part of it.”
As far as whether Cult’s depiction of TV fandom gone bad could be influential, Tal didn’t think so, saying, “I mean, there's other shows out there... They did Vampire Diaries and all sorts of other vampire shows. They're not worried about people going and biting other people on the street. You know, I think we like to give our audience a little bit of credit that they can differentiate between this fictional world that we're giving them, as much as it has reality infused in it, and our life, which is not 'kidnap people because the show tells you.'”
Cult premieres Tuesday, February 19th on The CW.
Source : ign[dot]com
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