\n<\/p>\n
Sterling K. Brown and Dan Fogelman realize that some viewers might want another \u201cThis Is Us.\u201d That tear-jerking NBC hit, which Fogelman created, was a sprawling, time-hopping family drama in which Brown played Randall Pearson, the adopted Black son in a white family who is grappling with his mental health.<\/p>\n
Millions of weekly viewers fell in love with Randall, a man who, as Brown described him, was exceptionally forthcoming with his feelings. But his character in the Hulu series \u201cParadise,\u201d which Fogelman also created, isn\u2019t Randall. He is physically intimidating, stoic \u2014 a Secret Service agent who keeps his feelings closely guarded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019ll be about 12 percent of people who are like, \u2018This ain\u2019t Randall, what\u2019s going on?\u2019\u201d Brown said in a call earlier this month. \u201cThen for that 12 percent, hopefully, after the pilot, they\u2019ll be like: \u2018Oh, this ain\u2019t Randall. Let\u2019s see what they\u2019re doing next.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
What they\u2019re doing next is a sci-fi thriller, which debuted on Sunday, in which Brown\u2019s character, Xavier, is assigned to protect the U.S. president (James Marsden). The job becomes more complicated when the president is found murdered early in the pilot. Augmenting the crisis is the seemingly idyllic but eerily nondescript setting, where the commander in chief lives in a white house that doesn\u2019t seem to be the <\/em>White House.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cParadise\u201d is in many ways a return to familiarity for Brown and Fogelman, who worked together for six seasons on \u201cThis Is Us,\u201d racking up nine Emmy nominations between them and one win, for best drama actor. They brought back many crew members from \u201cThis Is Us,\u201d from directors to hair and makeup artists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt is a homecoming on so many levels,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n At the same time, \u201cParadise\u201d represents an evolution. Brown is an executive producer of the series, bringing a new dimension to his and Fogelman\u2019s creative partnership. And there was no question as to whether they could trust each other \u2014 that was already established amid all those years of giving life to Randall Pearson.<\/p>\n \u201cEight years into our relationship, I just know that whatever I give Sterling, he\u2019s going to be able to do and do extraordinarily well,\u201d Fogelman said in a separate video call.<\/p>\n \u201cParadise\u201d wasn\u2019t first conceived as a chance to re-team; Fogelman was already thinking through the story\u2019s general contours before production on \u201cThis Is Us\u201d began. It wasn\u2019t until after \u201cThis Is Us\u201d ended, in 2022, Fogelman said, that he committed to writing a pilot about \u201ca 40-something Black Secret Service agent serving a slightly older white president.\u201d But Xavier wasn\u2019t written with Brown specifically in mind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Then Fogelman began sharing the script; perhaps unsurprisingly, readers immediately suggested that Brown would be perfect for the lead.<\/p>\n \u201cI started realizing, I can only do this with Sterling, and Sterling\u2019s not going to want to do this again,\u201d Fogelman said. \u201cHe just did six years with me.\u201d<\/p>\n Brown\u2019s participation was indeed no sure thing given how in-demand he had become. (He was on location in Paris for a film called \u201cThe Gallerist,\u201d starring Natalie Portman, when we spoke.) He was already a rising star when \u201cThis Is Us\u201d premiered in September 2016 \u2014 only two days before, he had won an Emmy for his supporting role in the \u201cThe People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.\u201d<\/p>\n But \u201cThis Is Us\u201d catapulted his career, bringing him into millions of homes every week. Roles in blockbusters like \u201cBlack Panther\u201d (2018) and \u201cFrozen II\u201d (2019) followed, and last year he received his first Oscar nomination for a supporting turn in \u201cAmerican Fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite Fogelman\u2019s fears, Brown quickly said yes to \u201cParadise.\u201d Not only did he find the material \u201cfantastic,\u201d Brown said; he was also thrilled that it was shooting in Los Angeles, where he could be near his two children, ages 9 and 13. With only eight episodes in a season \u2014 unlike the usual 18 of \u201cThis Is Us\u201d \u2014 the job also allows him to pursue other roles in the potential off-seasons. (Although the series has yet to be renewed, Fogelman said he had already planned out a three season arc.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to work with somebody who I have a profound amount of trust in, who I know is going to do something that I find artistically exhilarating,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI get to be compensated, and I get to be at home.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Tiffany Little Canfield, a casting director who has worked on both shows, recognized the potential for a fruitful collaboration between Brown and Fogelman starting with Brown\u2019s first audition for \u201cThis Is Us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a meeting of the minds,\u201d she said. \u201cCreatively, Sterling seemed to have an innate understanding of Randall based on what materials he had been given, so the conversation got deep really quick.\u201d<\/p>\n Brown\u2019s sense of trust toward Fogelman began on the set of \u201cThis Is Us\u201d where Fogelman had an open-door policy in the writers room. Actors were allowed to pitch ideas and share stories about their lives that could be incorporated into the characters.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes showrunners can be a little more defensive and afraid of actors, like the actors are trying to get in the way,\u201d Brown said. \u201cDan made everybody feel from the beginning as if they were a part of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n Fogelman and Brown kept the exchange of ideas open for \u201cParadise\u201d; Brown said he had leeway to help shape the dialogue, for example, in matters of Black cultural authenticity. (Racial themes are less overt in \u201cParadise\u201d than in \u201cThis Is Us\u201d but nonetheless important; the show is, after all, about a white political figure and the Black man expected to take a bullet for him.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHe gives me latitude if there\u2019s something that needs to be massaged ever so slightly or whatnot,\u201d Brown said, \u201cespecially with regard to race or ethnicity. There\u2019s never been a moment where he\u2019s like, \u2018Why did you say it that way?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, Fogelman\u2019s close relationship with Brown has helped him write to the actor\u2019s strengths. (Fogelman has been inspired, for example, by watching the way Brown interacts with his own children.) Brown, who by his own admission is highly competitive, sees his own intensity reflected in Xavier, who takes matters into his own hands against the people he believes are covering up the truth about the president\u2019s death.<\/p>\n (Even Brown\u2019s son has called out his competitiveness, Brown said. His response? \u201cSome people talk to me about, \u2018Don\u2019t you ever just play to have fun?\u2019 I say: \u2018Absolutely. Winning is so much fun.\u2019\u201d)<\/p>\n With his fellow actors on set, however, Brown prioritizes camaraderie. His co-star Julianne Nicholson, who plays a mysteriously powerful government official, said that Brown goes out of his way to make colleagues feel comfortable.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s very positive even though he has many deep dark places to go in this show,\u201d Nicholson said. \u201cWhen not filming it was, in my experience, only ever hilarity and joy and chill.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Fogelman said, it is Brown\u2019s ability to lock into a role that makes him compelling, even when he\u2019s just rifling through drawers looking for clues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThat\u2019s where he really knocked my socks off,\u201d Fogelman said. \u201cI know Sterling\u2019s going to crush a monologue, and I know you\u2019re going to put him in back story scenes with his wife and he\u2019s going to make your heart ache.\u201d<\/p>\n Fogelman likened the sensation of watching Brown at work to that of watching Tom Cruise or Denzel Washington. Brown became his muse as an action hero, he said, in the same way Brown had become his muse while writing Randall Pearson. He\u2019ll keep writing parts for Brown for as long as Brown accepts the gigs.<\/p>\n \u201cSterling\u2019s a Black Christian dude from St. Louis; I\u2019m a white Jewish guy from New Jersey \u2014 on paper we don\u2019t have a lot in common,\u201d Fogelman said. \u201cBut we seem to have found each other in this surprising moment for this decade. Will I do 18,000 shows with Sterling like Scorsese with Leonardo DiCaprio? I don\u2019t know. He may have had enough of me after this one.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n