Andrew Garfield is TV’s next broody detective in FX’s Under The Banner Of Heaven trailer
FX's limited true-crime series Under The Banner Of Heaven also stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Wyatt Russell. It premieres in April
Aux News Under the Banner of Heaven
Andrew Garfield swings out of MCU’s multiverse and into FX’s true-crime drama, Under The Banner Of Heaven. The show is based on Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction book of the same name. It follows the events that led to Brenda Wright Lafferty (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her baby daughter’s murder in 1984 in a suburb in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah. The seven-episode limited series premieres in April.
As seen in the first trailer, Mormon police detective Jeb Pyre (Garfield) struggles to stomach a horrifying crime scene. The entire small town is shocked by the deaths of Brenda and her child, prompting Jeb to ask citizens during a press conference to lock their doors for a change. His investigation into the victim’s past and family life uncovers buried truths about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). A devout Jeb begins to question his own faith during the process.
During the Under The Banner Of Heaven press event on March 29, Garfield told reporters that he was a fan of Krakauer’s book when it launched. He’s generally drawn to stories that question faith, doubt, and the meaning of life. “Films and TV shows about spirituality and questioning faith deal with what we do here, why we’re alive… It’s the juiciest question I feel compelled to ask as a creative person, storyteller, and in my personal life as well,” he added.
The book isn’t just a murder mystery, it also charts the origins of the LDS religion. Series creator Dustin Lance Black told reporters that UTBOH is a horrific thriller (“The audience isn’t supposed to be passive”), but the show also spends time exploring Brenda’s history, marriage to Allen Lafferty (Billy Howle), and her relationship with his brothers.
UTBOH’s ensemble includes Sam Worthington, Wyatt Russell, Denise Gough, Gil Birmingham, Rory Culkin, Adelaide Clemens, and Chloe Pirrie. It will premiere on April 28 exclusively on FX on Hulu.
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“April 28 exclusively on FX on Hulu” So Disney+ in Europe, neat.
My impression of the book, when I read it years and years ago, was that the true-crime part of it was well written, but the attempts to piggyback some sort of overarching thesis about violence and mormonism onto the true-crime part weren’t particularly well-handled. It seemed to paint with a broad brush and to conflate FLDS and LDS when it was convenient for Krakauer’s narrative. I hope the miniseries does better with that part since it looks like Dustin Lance Black is still trying to keep both of those treads—true crime and religious history—interwoven in the series.
I’m rereading the book now (research for a novel) and I have to hardily disagree. I think the book’s mix of religious history with modern true crime works extremely well, and is vital to understanding the motivations of the Laffertys and the other modern FLDS. Krakauer does a good job of differentiating between the current mainstream LDS and FLDS while also acknowledging that the roots of both faiths are intrinsically linked and, of course, recent enough in history to be actually traced.
(Granted, if you are a modern Mormon, I don’t imagine you’ll find the book a flattering portrayal of your faith, but the book is clearly written from a non-believer’s POV for a non-believing audience.)
I would really like for this series to be good, but I found that trailer underwhelming and it sure looks like it strays from the real story quite a bit (which honestly doesn’t need much embellishment to be wholly engaging.)
I agree. I recall the book being pretty insightful about the way the crimes were linked to Mormon doctrine, and how both more extreme elements of Mormonism and more mainstream Mormons deal with certain elements of their faith that can be challenging. Certainly, if you’re a mainstream Mormon, Krakauer raises some disquieting questions about the Mormonism, its teachings, and its history, but he also does not suggest that the vast majority of Mormons believe the sorts of things that led to the murders here.
Also read recently and have to agree. Hooked the whole time, and the wild ride that was the birth of the LDS church could have easily been a book onto itself.
I agree with this, from what I remember reading the book a long time ago. He was quick to remind people that one of the reasons we find LDS and it’s history so strange is because it’s very new and we have a more extensive record of it happening, as opposed to older more establishes religions. He also describes the variety of faiths and practices that are within “mormonism” now and is pretty clear on how fringe the folks in the book are. I’m really wondering how the series will work without the incredible amount of history and context the book has.
That’s fair, like I said, I read it a long time ago and reasonable people can disagree on this stuff. The structure of it stuck with me, and not in a good way. My overall impression was that the logic underpinning the structure had some problems. Basically, the way that chapters on the history of Mormonism or the state of the modern LDS church are interspersed with the story of the murders presents, I think, a sort of implicit association that has stuck with me as not particularly well-founded. (Full disclosure: I tend to have this problem with Krakauer’s work in general, where I feel like he tends to draw conclusions not fully supported by the research that he gives to the reader. It’s not as bad in Into the Wild as it is in Into Thin Air, but neither are my favorite books of journalistic/literary nonfiction. I find him a better storyteller than I do a journalist). I also wasn’t blown away by the trailer, either. Left a lot to be desired both in terms of teasing the story and in terms of cinematography. I would like this to be good, so I’ll keep an eye on the reviews and see if they’re more encouraging than the trailer.
As I recall from my read of the book 10+ years ago, the attempt was not so much to conflate LDS and FLDS but to describe how they are based on the same divine messages (or whatever mormons call their telephone conversations with god), and that the modern mormon church has for a variety of reasons (mostly outside the religion) decided to put some of those on ice (namely, the ones dealing with polygamy). My understanding was the book was describing how FLDS arose from people who questioned this selective interpretation of the roots of mormonism.
I realize we’re going to be seeing a lot more of him as Avatar sequels come out, but Welcome Back, Sam Worthington! I don’t know where you’ve been.