Originally, The Dark Hearts, the fictional drug-acting cyclist group in the new HBO miniseries ”Task“Born of empty necessity. As IndieWire previously covered, the storytelling structure of “Task” was inspired by Michael Manns Crime Crime “Heat” from 1995, “Heat,” place their audience instead of rooting for both FBI agent Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) and The thief, Robbie pretend grave (Tom Pelphrey), he chases.
“Robbie is a good guy, and I always saw him as a good guy, and Pelphrey saw him as a good guy, so we needed someone to add danger to the story. It was a plot need early,” said “”Task“The creator Brad Ingelsby On an upcoming episode of filmmaker Toolkit Podcast When discussing the origin of the dark hearts. “So, who closes in the walls around Robbie? The audience must be scared, and eventually you have to get a bad guy to come in and the audience go, ‘oh crap.’
One of the reasons why “task” is a success is that even if it is leaning to conventions on the crime genre with troper including a “son of anarchy” -like cyclist group, it is founded in reality and regional specificity. When he grew up 30 minutes outside Philadelphia in Chester County, just a stone’s throw away from the Delaware County where “task” is canceled, Ingelsby had heard stories about the legendary motorcycle club The Warlocks, but when he began to do his research to erase the details of his dark heart bikers, he met a wall.
“All the police and detectives we talked to were like,” Dude, they are all drugs. They all just sell so they can get high. And there wasn’t a loyalty, there’s no code, “Ingelsby said.” And yet I didn’t want to lean on the stereotypical (gang). “
While the ruthless dark hearts were born of the need for an antagonistic force, Ingelsby wanted them to have the same complexity as his other characters, and for the audience to understand, if not sympathy with, pressure placed on the Father-son-like relationship between Perry (Jamie McShane) and Jayson (Sam Keeley).
“In the early drafts, cyclists did not work so well, and Brad knew it,” said “Task” executive producer and director Jeremiah Zagarwho collaborated with Ingelsby to develop the project. “I felt that (what) was missing was the realism of that cyclist group and what they did, the specificity of how they did it and the specificity of culture.”
When Zagar and his producing partner, Jeremy Yaches, came aboard “task”, they began to help the research -driven Creator find consultants that went beyond the narrow view of the law enforcement on the regional MCS. It was during this period that Zagar, who grew up in South Philly, received an unexpected phone call from a friend he had not talked to in almost 20 years.
“He was my closest friend who grew up, my best friend when I was little. We basically lived together and he moved in with my family for a summer. The closest I had to the family who was not blood,” Zagar said. “I had not talked to him forever and he said,” I am a recovery drug addict, I am involved in the church, (but) I was in this cyclist group for several years and everything that is over now. “And I said,” This is so crazy. I’m doing a show about a cyclist group, do you want to be a consultant on the show? ‘
At that time “task” was still written, Zagar’s friend had reservations about official consultation because of his waiting legal issues arising from his cyclist days and decided to do it “somewhat undercover.” However, these legal problems are now solved: his name, Carim Mow, officially shown in the “task” credits, and Indieview has been granted permission to print his name in this article, as his role in helping Ingelsby to crack the dark hearts were invaluable.
“He expressed a love for this culture in this society, a sense of brotherhood and purpose that we did not get from the police because he was inside that gang, and they were his family,” Zagar said from Mow’s contribution. Added Ingelsby, “We leaned a lot on him, throughout the series … He was such a great resource to call and go,” Hello man, here is what we have written. You are doing better. Tell me what is not right and what is real, and we will change anything. “
The specificity level meant and went beyond Ingelsby’s script. Mow, who was a presence on the set, also helped Zagar, his crew and the role of bringing authenticity to the gang’s relationship with motorcycles, weapons and drugs.
“When he spoke to the actors about the weapons they use or the drugs they sold, or how they sold these drugs, why they did it and how they did, be with such specificity and knowledge and intimacy. And I think it did the show good and I think it made these characters so good,” Zagar said. “And it was really cool – it was a moving way for me and my friend to reconnect.”
Section 5 of “Task” will be broadcast on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday 5 October.
To make sure you don’t miss Brad Ingelsby’s interview on October 20 about “Task”, subscribe to the Toolkit podcast on AppleThe SpotifyThe Or your favorite podcast platform.
