ove over, Joan of Arcadia. God may have gotten the boot from CBS last year, but Jesus has taken up residence on NBC in The Book of Daniel. Emmy nominee Aidan Quinn portrays the Rev. Daniel Webster, an Episcopalian minister who regularly chats with Jesus (Garret Dillahunt), all the while dealing with challenges from the chuch hierarchy, his addiction to prescription painkillers and his unconventional family. The series, which also stars Ellen Burstyn and Susanna Thompson, premieres on Friday, Jan. 6, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) with two back-to-back episodes and will settle into its regular timeslot on Jan. 16 at 10 p.m.
Quinn began his career on the Chicago stage and went on to earn an Emmy nomination for An Early Frost. He has starred in more than 25 films, including Desperately Seeking Susan, Legends of the Fall and Empire Falls.
Burstyn takes on the role of Bishop Beatrice Congreve, one of the church's leaders, who sets high standards for Daniel. Burstyn was the first woman in history to win both an Academy Award and a Tony Award in the same year, in 1975 for Martin Scorsese's film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and Bernard Slade's Same Time, Next Year on Broadway. Beyond her Oscar win, Burstyn has also been nominated five times for the Academy Award, for The Last Picture Show, The Exorcist, Same Time, Next Year, Resurrection and Requiem for a Dream.
Thompson stars in the role of Judith, Daniel's loving wife. While she's a support to her husand, she also has a bit of a drinking problem, which she has difficulties overcoming due to the pressures of her public life and the death of one of her children. Thompson is best known for her work on the television series Once and Again. She has also starred in NBC's Medical Investigation, NYPD Blue and Star Trek: Voyager.
Science Fiction Weekly caught up with Quinn, Burstyn and Thompson to talk about religious controversy, playing flawed human beings and chatting with Jesus.
What appealed to you about this particular story, and why take on this series at this time?
Burstyn: The first thing that appealed to me was that it was being shot in New York [laughs], which is a rare thing. That's my home, and I liked that idea. And secondly, I liked the idea of playing a bishop. Because I think other churches need to be encouraged to think of women as part of the hierarchy, and the more we can put that out there in the consciousness, I think, is a good thing.
I liked the idea of working with Aidan, whose work I admire. And finally, I thought the quality of the writing was really superior to most scripts that I have been sent. And the whole idea of doing a series where the context of the series allowed for the exploration of some moral issues and a look at our values in 2005 in America seemed like a worthy playground to play in.
Thompson: Well, I'd have to say I wasn't thrilled that I had to leave my home of California to film in New York [laughs], but I've enjoyed it. I was really drawn to the character of Judith, who was so far from my background, and her wit and her humor and her intelligence. I was drawn to the writing also. And I was drawn to the cast that Jack [Kelly] was assembling.
But I was in particular very drawn to the idea of possibly having an effect of getting people to dialogue and maybe shaking people a little bit in terms of their opinions and challenging some areas that we do need some healing in, in this country and in the world, really. Religion has played such a huge role in shaping so many different lives, and it was interesting to me to just step into a background that I'm not familiar with, in terms of that, and look at my own self in those questions and in that dialogue. I was excited about it.
Quinn: When I first read it, I was just laughing, and I could see myself playing the character. I second Ellen's thing. It was a huge thing to me that it was set in Riverdale, which is literally across the river from where I live. I naively thought, "Oh, well, then we'll probably film it in New York." [Laughs.] Which in the long term we did succeed in doing, which is fantastic for me, too, because this is where I live, and I have kids, and I couldn't do a series in L.A.
But I loved the way that it went, switching back and forth between humor and serious. I see so many things in the media where it's just got to be an all-out stupid comedy, and it loses me completely because it's so not believable. I always think, "God, if they just made it a little believable you could really enjoy it and really laugh." I'll usually laugh a few times at those movies and the other times be bored. And on the other hand, when things are called dramas, oftentimes they're so serious they don't hold up the mirror to life. And I thought Jack did an amazing job in the script of holding up the mirror and how it switches between comedy and drama.
And again, I second with what Ellen said, that it gives us a good chance to explore social issues in a medium like television, that and what Susanna was saying, that it may be controversial. I mean, that also excited me, that it had a real edginess to it of interesting issues that most families and most people have to deal with.
In the series Daniel sees and talks to Jesus. Aidan, do you see Daniel's discussions with Jesus as the hook of the series or just a byproduct of the story?
Quinn: I think it's very much a byproduct. I mean, if someone wants to make it the hook, they could. But the show is more a family drama dealing with these people, including Ellen's character, the bishop, as part of that definition of family, and about their lives and much more. Talking to Jesus is really kind of Daniel's imagination of what his internal dialogue with Jesus would be like, and it's fraught with all of Daniel's limitations.
The way it's conceived as of right now, I mean, it could go anywhere. [With] the character of Jesus, you could do anything with it. But I think with the way Jack has conceptualized it, is it's literally the internal dialogue of Daniel.
Faith is at the core of each of your characters' lives. How did you go about preparing to play a person for whom faith is so central?
Burstyn: Well, I play a bishop. And faith is very central in my life. She's someone who not only is a spiritual leader, but she's somebody who has risen through the crystal ceiling of the hierarchy of the church. So she is both political and spiritual.
I spoke to several people who are part of the hierarchy of the church, a woman bishop and a minister. And the rest of the work is pretty internal, just connecting with what's important to her and how she relates. Very often, because she's Daniel's boss, she's correcting him and is in a kind of an authoritative position over him. But we have had moments in the series in certain episodes where we do connect on a spiritual level, and where Daniel actually turns to me for solace and comfort. And I'm very glad that we reach that point in the development of our characters, where we can see that side of the bishop instead of just her authoritarian ... manifestation.
Quinn: Well, it's obviously part and parcel, everything to do with Daniel, the faith part, because he's a minister and leader in the community and all of that. But I think that what's delightful about the character is partly his struggles and his flaws. He's not extremely spiritually evolved, although he has a great desire to be. So that's the journey for Daniel. He lives in the same kind of whirlwind crazy busyness, too much internal thinking, too fast, everything ba-ba-ba-ba, of having three kids and a busy life in this disease of busyness that the modern world seems to be so fraught with. And Daniel is, I think, openly neurotic. But has a good sense of humor and is a decent man who has a desire to do the right thing and to evolve spiritually. But he's got miles to go before he sleeps.
Thompson: I'm very curious about this woman, in that her upbringing and her sort of culture and class in which she was raised and her education, and then finding a man like Daniel and marrying into this type of life, where she would be exposed in this sort of very public way. But in terms of the spirituality in the faith, I don't think it's any different than most of us living our lives, aside from the very public side of her, through her husband.
And so I'm interested in that part of her. But she's been through a lot of loss, and I think that, certainly, through that journey most humans go through a testing of faith and spirituality. And so I think it's constantly challenged in her, but it's always a place to come back to. But I think that's a core of that faith and spirituality lives in what she's helped to create in that family, and surviving of those type of tragedies. That's what I'm interested in right now.
Quinn: It's exciting that we are all such flawed humans, that we're all portraying what is written for us. But it also gives us a long way to go. I mean, I wouldn't want to begin this journey without thinking that we would succeed in our desires to become better, more Christ-like, better Christians. More loving. That is what each and every one of these characters, I think, really desires for themselves and their loved ones.
Tell us about Garret Dillahunt, the actor that plays Jesus.
Quinn: He brings a tremendously light and whimsical and strong touch to the part. He's a delight for me to get to play these scenes with. ... He just has some very irreverent takes on the humorous situation of him portraying Jesus Christ.
Often television shows portray religion in very general terms. Since Daniel is an Episcopalian minister, how much of the story focuses on the specifics of that particular religion?
Quinn: I think it's very important you honor the character that you're playing, in the sense that my character has a very strong and abiding faith and a belief. And certainly, because we identify ourselves as Episcopalians, it's incumbent upon us to try to accurately portray the nature of one side or the side of the Episcopalian Church.
That being said, this is a fictional piece, and I don't think the creator, Jack Kenny, feels any slavish need to have everything be documentary-like and everything to be perfectly accurate. I mean, it is the springboard. I think it is his being impressed with the Episcopalian Church and their inclusiveness and the conflict that's going on within it as far as social issues which is what attracted him to set this family in the midst of that church.
Burstyn: So much of the show is set kind of backstage, as it were, but when we're on stage in the Episcopal Church or on the altar, we have a Episcopal minister who is a consultant for us. We do check out the ecclesiastical aspects.
Thompson: Yeah, I think that the details of the Episcopal Church are imperative, but the rest of it is very universal in terms of religion and faith and spirituality being a backdrop.
In an age when saying "Happy Holidays" can cause a reaction from some, are you worried that the material might offend some people?
Burystn: Well, if you don't offend anyone, you can't be any good. I mean, it would have to be pretty bland not to offend anyone.
Thompson: I just personally believe that there's a bigger audience out there than the extremes. And I think that the offending is where the dialogue starts, where at least you can have halfway-decent conversations about what's going on.
Quinn: Well, the three people that you're asking this question of, I know all have very thoughtful and strong feelings about faith, so I would hope that there's nothing genuinely to be that upset about it. I don't understand all the talk about it, because if you ask me, this show is pretty wholesome down the middle. It deals with some controversial subject matter, certainly, but in a way that I don't think that's salacious or anything. The religious aspect in particular, I think, is pretty down the middle.
Why should people watch Book of Daniel?
Quinn: When I described this show to people that had never seen it or don't know anything about it, I say, "I have a little prescription thing problem, but I have a gay son and I have an adopted Thai son who's got a problem with going after every woman. I have a loving wife who's fantastic but drinks a little too much martini." They say, "Oh it sounds like my family." [Laughs.] So I mean, I think that's certainly the hope, that people recognize themselves in what we're doing.
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Richard Paul Russo
