One of the most unnerving performances of the year comes from Eddie Redmayne in Netflix’s The Good Nurse. While not as heavily hyped as some of their other awards contenders, the film was a hit with viewers, ranking high on the Netflix Top 10 for several weeks, and spawning a documentary spin-off, Capturing the Killer Nurse, which focused on the true story behind the film. In the movie, Eddie Redmayne plays Charles Cullen, a seemingly compassionate nurse who a colleague (played by Jessica Chastain) discovers is a serial killer. Cullen injected insulin into the IV bags of patients, leading to their deaths. To make things even scarier, the unions at the various hospitals he was working at shuffled him around rather than risk a criminal case. In the end, Cullen was linked with twenty-nine deaths, although he’s suspected of hundreds more, which would make him the most prolific serial killer in American history.
In our 1:1 interview, Redmayne discussed what went into playing Cullen. He tells me about Cullen’s psyche, and, while others think he had some split personality, Redmayne is convinced he knew exactly what he was doing. It’s an interesting conversation, as Redmayne addresses the challenge of playing a very real monster in a low-key, subtle way, as part of the reason Cullen was so prolific was that no one suspected him.
The Good Nurse is currently streaming on Netflix, and you can read my review right here!
Have you seen The Good Nurse yet? Let us know in the comments what you think of Redmayne’s performance.