Tom Bateman Talks His Sinister Role in Hulu’s First Episode of ‘Into the Dark’
Q&A
Huluween is in full swing and the streaming giant dropped the first episode in their latest series Into the Dark today, October 5.
The anthology focuses on a different holiday each episode, showing the darker, more sinister side of the celebrated day, while also playing with an array of genres. First up: “The Body,” starring Tom Bateman as hitman-for-hire Wilkes, along with Rebecca Rittenhouse as the Marie Antoinette-costumed Maggie.
Throughout the feature-length episode, Wilkes must dispose of a hit on a busy Halloween night in Los Angeles. Luckily, everyone he encounters believes the cellophane-wrapped body and the blood-spatter on his face are just a part of a costume! One part hilarious, one part horrifying, “The Body” will pull you in and take you for a rollercoaster ride of crazy fun.
Bateman gave TV Insider the full scoop on his hitman and what’s to come.
What made you want to do this wild episode?
Tom Bateman: I loved the script and thought it was really fun and cool. It was quite unexpected because it’s scary, but also funny.
Were there any characters in the world of pop culture that you modeled Wilkes after?
I try not to copy too much because I end up just doing a cheap imitation, but one I had in mind was Michael C. Hall in Dexter. He’s that sort of charming, normal guy, but at the same time he’s detached from society.
What can you tease about Wilkes’ journey?
I think it starts off in a very probable and unexpected way. Even just telling people, they’re all like, ‘What a great idea,’ that this guy has to deliver a body on Halloween and it looks like his costume. There’s so many twists and turns and I don’t think anyone is going to see this coming. When I read the script, I didn’t. I don’t think people will expect to see a romance storyline or funny storyline either.
And we do get a little bit of romance between Wilkes and Rebecca Rittenhouse’s character. What can you tell us about that dynamic?
It’s a sort of fascinating take on the “girl meets boy,” but it’s certainly not what you’d expect. And just by the very fact that she sticks around, even after knowing who this guy is, that makes her incredibly interesting. There’s a lot of parallels to be drawn between the two.
Was the body prop difficult to work with – was it heavy?
It was very heavy. They wanted it to look heavy. It definitely became this cumbersome object to work around.
(Richard Foreman, Jr. SMPSP/Hulu)
How bloody is it going to get? How gory?
Incredibly. My character basically just finds a bunch of different ways to kill people, but you see eye gouges and all sorts of things.
Into the Dark, “The Body,” Now Streaming, Hulu
