CONFLICT is a key propellant for a drama series. And Brotherhood has found the perfect vehicle to create it by having two brothers operate in the same world. Tommy (Jason Clarke) is a lpolitician, while Michael (Jason Isaacs) does the bidding of New England’s Irish Mob.
In exploring the family dynamics, the creator and writing team found themselves a treasure trove of ideas.
Elizabeth Guber, co-executive producer, noted: “We always talked about siblings and were really fascinated with a family dynamic where two people can grow up in the same household with the same parents, at the same time, and come out so differently. And that’s really what we set out to explore originally. It’s a very relatable dynamic.”
Aussie actor Clarke was fascinated by his character as much as he was by being on the show.
He shared: “I loved shooting in Rhode Island. Being an Australian, it was unlike anything I had seen. In five minutes you have gone from driving across from Brown University and the next minute you are in some Puerto Rican neighbourhood where everything is in Spanish.”
Isaac sheds light on his character: “He’s been somewhere that makes him very unhappy. It’s funny because Annabeth (Gish) was talking about going back and the trauma of it. The truth is that when I think about the shooting of it, something begins to close in on me, too. And I only realised recently what it is, which is that Michael is really tortured. If you want to label him a ‘bad guy’, personally, I think it’s an unnecessary label. He is deeply unhappy because something has happened to him in those years away, which has scarred him. He may never get over it.”
Isaacs added: “One of the reasons I wanted to do this is that I played a couple of bad guys in the movies that have made some impact. When I read this, what was attractive was the change to be three-dimensional. The fact that his business is violent, but he is also a man who inhabits a strict moral code. It was nice to be able to play a fully rounded human and to explore the complications that come with human behaviour.”
There are so many emotional tiers explored in this dseries and, with seasoned actors helming it, the creators are able create magic in their storytelling.
l Brotherhood, M-Net Edge on Fridays at 10pm.