Nathaniel Halpern is an example of a creative talent that takes a while to bubble to the surface. Despite three years of writing and producing Noah Hawley’s “Legion” (two as co-executive producer), he doesn’t even have a wiki page yet. But, after “Tales From The Loop” finds its audience that will dramatically change.
Adapted from the original paintings from Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag, “Tales From The Loop” is set in an alternative history where a futuristic research facility (known as “The Loop”) slowly changed the small Ohio town its employees live in. The narrative takes place primarily in the late ’70s, early ’80s were Loretta (Rebecca Hall) works at the institution under the auspices of her father-in-law, Russ Willard (Jonathan Pryce), and tries to raise her two sons among the fantastical events that proliferate from her workplace. The series also features impressive performances from Ato Essandoh, a security guard at The Loop, Jane Alexander, as Loretta’s mother-in-law, and Duncan Joiner, as her son Cole.
Late last month, Halpern, who created and wrote every episode of “Tales From The Loop,” jumped on the phone to discuss the series which includes some masterful directing from familiar names such as Mark Romanek, Andrew Stanton and Charlie McDowell.
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The Playlist: Where did the idea come from to adapt Simon Stålenhag’s artwork into a television series?
Nathaniel Halpern: Well, it is somewhat unique in that it’s a show that was inspired by paintings. I first encountered the paintings through Matt Reeves and his producing partners. I just was very taken by the imagery and the emotion that I felt existed within those paintings. That’s really was the foundation. How does one make that world come alive on the screen and how do you also have that emotion?”I was really excited about the idea of doing a science fiction piece that was also very poignant and emotional. It had a bit of hope in it because as a fan of the genre. More often than not, it’s somewhat cynical or it’s there to make you anxious or fearful. Here, I was like we can actually tell a very emotional story within the genre, and that was very exciting to me.
Had Simon set up rules about the world in his artwork? Did he have any backstory at all to give you or were you almost starting from scratch?
Well, essentially he had the loop, which is the facility beneath ground. The dynamic of the objects and phenomena that littered the landscape above ground are results of experiments beneath the ground. That was already there from him. He never painted the loop or anything [underground], so I had to create that from scratch and envision that. I didn’t want to do a mystery series of what’s beneath ground because I felt that’d be distracting from the emotional aspects of the story. We are in the first episode going right beneath ground and explaining it to take that question off the table. Simon actually, was very involved throughout the whole process. We got along very well right away and we both saw the potential in terms of how you can tell these quiet emotional stories in this landscape. He encouraged me to just do my own thing with it. At the same time, his aesthetic is so beautiful, I called upon him to help me with some of these elements. For instance, in the episodes you saw, you know the character with the bionic arm.?
Yes, he’s played by Paul Schneider.
Simon designed that arm. I asked him, “What would a bionic arm look like in your world?” and he designed that. Then we had a great effects team build the arm. Then there’s another episode, you haven’t seen that one, where I had a device and I said, “What would this look like?” and he designed it. So, it was wonderful to continue the collaboration versus what happens more often than not where you kind of say, “Thanks,” and then you never talk to the person again. It was wonderful to keep him close to the project.
What made you decide to keep the main timeline in the late seventies or early eighties?
Simon’s work takes place in the early eighties, but on top of that, for me, it was important to keep it borderline analog. There is this alternate history quality to the show. More often than not, that speaks to something dark, but here it’s actually a positive thing. When I thought about it, I think a lot of people have a lot of negative connotations with our digital technology and that’s where a show like “Black Mirror” comes in. Here, I think there’s something poignant about the human endeavors that go with analog technology and wanting to keep it there in that very tactile way and steer clear of the internet, et cetera, and allow people to go back into just that the wistfulness of that era of technology, and also on an aesthetic level how that’s pleasing.
One of the things that I sort of love about is that the Sci-Fi elements are almost a backdrop to the stories that are going on. They are serving the story instead of being the subject of the story. What made you go in that direction?
I’m really pleased that you pointed that out and that was my ambition. I’m a big fan of that genre, but if I had to critique, more often than not, the designer element swallows up everything else and everything in service of that idea or that set-piece. Here, I wanted to flip that and say “How can you use genre to amplify the emotion that a character is feeling and not have it just take over the whole story?” It was a delicate balance in the storytelling of not getting too seduced by the possibilities of science fiction and always making sure it’s there to service the character’s journey versus the other way around.
The episodes I saw were primarily centered on specific characters that we only meet in other episodes for a scene or two. The series is almost an anthology in that aspect. Is that how you envisioned the first season and will there be a narrative thread by the end?
I haven’t gotten a great sound bite yet, but so bear with me. Essentially, it is a serialized show where I wanted the individual episodes to feel as fulfilling as watching a film. It’s a complete story. As a viewer, I like the completion of these individual pieces. I was trying to fuse those two together. How can it feel singular, but also very serialized? You’ll certainly see by the end of the season how everything ripples forward. The consequences of every episode exist and move forward. It’s not like we forget those all happen, so it has a lasting impact. Yeah, it’s a unique experiment a little bit in terms of structure. I’ve seen it in books, “Weinsberg Ohio,” or, Spoon River Anthology.” It’s certainly an unusual structure than I was pursuing.
One episode in particular, ” “, focuses on a character ( ) discovering a man he’s been pining for is actually in a relationship with himself in an alternate world. There’s a lot to break down in the episode, but can you talk about what you wanted to say about relationships and lust in particular?
Yeah. This is always where it gets a little tricky for me because I hate to nail it down to one thing.
Got it.
So much of what I tried to do in making this is to kind of transcend words and have this visual experience and then people can interpret it as they will. But it’s not that the story’s ambiguous by any means, but I would say the way I would try to approach that question would be that with each story, I try to begin with what I would think would be a universal emotion that we all experience things differently, but there are certain things that we all can relate to on a core level and just that idea and starting there. So it started as a bit of a love letter to loneliness and what that feels like.
Then it evolved into that notion of, “Well, why is that character lonely?” And then [the idea of] searching for that perfect thing and going on that journey to learn that perfect doesn’t really exist. We all have our flaws. Now, that’s just a human drama. How can I use the genre to amplify that? That’s where the scenario came in. Where this incident that calling occurs in science fiction occurs and allows us to tell a story about loneliness and desire that we couldn’t get in a normal drama.
Can you talk about what Mark Romanek and the other directors brought to the series?
Mark and I had a wonderful collaboration and just had such a crossover of sensibility right from the get-go, and then Andrew Stanton, who I worked with before on “Legion,” and really all the directors, what I wanted to do was create a series that was incredibly cinematic and see sequences that you really see on the big screen, let alone the small screen in terms of the visual medium. I think all the directors were drawn to that from the get-go that there was a chance to play in that sandbox, which you rarely get to do and it was just wonderful. Everyone wanted to come together to make something unique.
“Tales From The Loop” premieres on Amazon Prime Video on Friday.