Mandy Patinkin gets his Poirot on in the trailer for Hulu’s Death And Other Details
The new murder mystery show, which sees Patinkin playing a detective clearly based on Agatha Christie's fussy little Belgian, debuts on Hulu on January 16
Aux News Death and Other Details
Honestly, they had us at “Mandy Patinkin is doing a riff on Poirot”: That’s one of the big takeaways, after all, from the trailer released today for Hulu’s new series Death And Other Details, which premieres on the streaming service on January 16. All the hallmarks of a classic Agatha Christie murder mystery are on display in the promo for the new show: A big boat full of very suspicious murder suspects; a loathsome victim just begging for a quick, mysterious impalin’; and, of course, Patinkin as world-renowned detective Rufus Coteworth, playing mentor to Violett Beane’s apprentice/suspect Imogene.
Created by Stumptown vets Mike Weiss and Heidi Cole McAdams, Death And Other Details looks to be very deliberately trying to scratch that Knives Out itch that’s been building back up again since Glass Onion came out last year, pairing an older detective with a young helper who’s also intimately wrapped up in the mystery. (In this case, because Beane’s Imogene broke into the victim’s room for a bit of vengeful property damage just before he was killed, implicating her heavily, but inaccurately, in the murder.)
Like we’re said, though, you pretty much had us at Patinkin; given his penchant for interesting oddball choices and affecting speech-making, its actually kind of surprising that, give or take a stint on Criminal Minds, Patinkin has never tackled this kind of role before. (We’re already imagining him doing a low-key, slightly self-effacing take on the classic parlor scene, and we can assure you that Imaginary Mandy Patinkin is absolutely killing it for the audiences in our brain.) In addition to Patinkin and Beane, the series also stars Linda Edmon, Jayne Atkinson, Lauren Patten, David Marshall Grant, and several other potential “J’accuse!” recipients.
Death And Other Details premieres January 16 on Hulu.
18 Comments
As a reminder as to how long ago (37 years) it has been since “The Princess Bride”, Patinkin played Inigo Montoya (the Spaniard who wanted to avenge his father by killing the six-fingered man who killed him).
Last year was 40 since “Yentl” and in 2024, “Elmo in Grouchland” will be 25.
You kids on my lawn…prepare to die.
An absolute unicorn of a movie – even as a kid I never met a guy who didn’t like it, thinking it was some sort of “kissing movie.” It’s pretty much perfection.
I’m the only person I know who hated that movie when I first saw it, but I have reasons. First, I wasn’t a kid. I was a freshman in college, and for one particular English seminar we didn’t have an exam, but the grad student who was teaching it said she was still required to use our scheduled exam time. She said we could choose a movie to watch, and I’m already annoyed by the entire prospect because wtf—it’s exams period and I wanted to study, not waste my time doing some unnecessary bullshit during a three-hour exam period. Someone suggests TPB and everyone gets really excited about it because apparently everyone had seen it except me (there are 15 students in this class). So exam time comes and we watch it, and I think the whole thing is so stupid, but remember I’m 18 at this time, not a child, and I’m mad I have to be there at all, and not understanding why they were all so excited about what is clearly a little kids’ movie. I had a bad opinion of the movie for a number of years after that. Somehow I ended up watching it again, and then I was like okay I can see the appeal and why people loved it for nostalgia’s sake. I will now watch it sometimes, without animus.
If you watch it sometimes, it seems like you like it. I loved it and probably haven’t seen it in 15 years.
Gen X’er here, so I was a teen when it came out. One of my friends went to see it with his girlfriend and came back telling all of us that yes, seriously, we all need to see it ASAP (he was kind of a macho type so it carried some extra weight). Seems like a whole lot of people had the exact same experience. I guess there’s just the right combination of humor, action and earnestness that made it hit the exact sweet spot in a way most movies never approach.
I think I was just too bitter about not being able to study (surprise, I was a nerd) to give it a full chance. I was 18 at this time. I was apparently 7 when it came out which is probably the perfect age but I don’t remember really having heard about it at the time.
Seven was probably a bit young, because the DIY effects and deliberate silliness were big parts of its appeal. That would likely have gone over the head of an early elementary-aged viewer.
Then I was just the wrong age all around. lol I like it fine now, though. I don’t seek it out or anything, but if it’s on, I’ll watch it.
Seven is too young, you wouldn’t have gotten all the jokes and word play.I never thought of it as a children’s movie. I saw it as an adult and loved it. I still tell people when they say something that doesn’t make sense “I don’t think that word means what you think it means.” So many great lines. The whole movie is just such a delight.
You sound like a real fucking chore.
In September it will be 45 years since his Che in the original Broadway Evita.
I’m loving this little whodunnit renaissance we seem to be going through at the moment.
At least they didn’t make him get rid of the beard and adopt an elaborate mustache.
If you want to scratch the Glass Onion itch, one of the worst and stupidest movies I have ever seen – and the fact that the movie was self conscious about it does not make it better -, you may not be a serious source of recommendation.
Certainly seems lacking in originality, but you had me at Mandy Patinkin.
Yeah, what I’m interested in is originality within the most formulaic genre in fiction.