The Contending talks to Director of Photography Judd Overton about mixing romance with horror on Peacock’s dark comedy Laid.
How do you take a traditional romantic comedy and splatter everyone with blood?
That’s the challenge director of photography Judd Overton faced lighting Peacock’s Laid TV show across all eight episodes.
“When [co-showrunner Nahnatchka Kahn] presented this to me, I knew it would be an interesting project for that reason,” says Overton, who worked with her on the film Totally Killer as well as the NBC series Young Rock. “She has such a great hand at mastering the balance between those two tones.”
Overton says that Laid’s unique mood was something discussed from the very beginning. After all, on what other show does the heroine (Stephanie Hsu) experience a romantic kiss in the rain and later watch in horror as an entire band gets crushed by stage lights?
“We really wanted to stay true to that rom-com vibe and lead people down that path with the darkness in a way that didn’t feel gimmicky but relatable to what Ruby was going through.”
For dramatic romantic moments, Overton would change to an anamorphic lens.
“We did quite a bit of testing to find out what the formula was. We didn’t want to rip people out of the story. We wanted to keep people engaged and believing in her. We’d often have her a little off-frame or a little awkward in the frame. We didn’t want her to get the hero ‘Hollywood’ light all the time. When she goes into these romantic reverie moments, we would add some twinkling lights behind her to get into her head space.”
As if finding out everyone you’ve ever had sex with has died in a horrific way isn’t bad enough, things get more complicated when Ruby discovers that her former hookup Richie (Angarano) is her sexual loophole (meaning, he can’t die!). When he “kidnaps” her, the lighting adjusts to the more dire tone.
“Her emotional state gives us a chance to go there, to get dark and show how she’s affected by those moments. The reason for all our lighting and cinematography choices comes from her emotional position. When she thinks she’s being taken, that’s how we live it. Gradually as she starts to realize she knows Richie and her hands aren’t tied, the lighting changes. There’s a spotlight behind him, and as the scene goes on, we dial that back. The way the eye sees things, something you thought was scary one minute has a lot to do with your perception of it in the moment. As it opens up, it’s not as scary as you thought.”
Episode 6’s “More Handsome Than Joe Jonas” involves one of the show’s biggest jump scares when Ruby tracks down “the one that got away,” Aubrey (Alexandra Shipp). Overton says this scene was probably the most challenging of the series.
“It’s a regular street, a sunny day. Ruby and Aubrey have one of the most heartfelt conversations of the show, and in the middle of it, there’s a squabble out the window, and a bullet comes through and there’s blood splatter on the back wall. It’s such a shock. Logistics and tying that in, obviously everyone has to be on board. Stunts, special effects, everyone has to work together to plan those moments. Those are scenes that take a lot more finessing to make sure you get that right.”
Believe it or not, this scene was more challenging than getting Amanda Knox to appear as herself in the finale. Although Overton says that it was a very “covert” operation to sneak her into the scene.
“It could have been an actor playing her, but to get access to her was really special. Once we got her there under cloak and dagger, it was amazing. To see Zosia [Mamet] and Amanda play against each other, it added to the intimacy of that scene. It’s nice to keep people engaged by keeping them guessing.”
Season 1 of Laid is streaming on Peacock.
