Bela Bajaria Chief Content Officer at Netflix | Official website
Summer is here, and the sun continues to shine just like Queue’s Issue 17 cover stars: Ripley’s leading man Andrew Scott and the duo at the heart of the road trip documentary Will & Harper, Will Ferrell and Harper Steele.
In the new issue, Scott reveals how he approached his Emmy® Award-nominated performance in Steven Zaillian’s acclaimed limited series. In his hands, the infamous grifter introduced in Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley is an expert at self-preservation, driven by desire and greed. “What’s gripping about the show is that we see the logic of what he has to do to survive, and each episode leads us in a very particular way,” Scott says. “We spend time with the character when he’s doing these things and [see] how much of an expert he isn’t. Sometimes what he’s really talented at is being able to think really quickly.”
If Ripley is a portrait of an unknowable cipher, Will & Harper contrasts as an engaging celebration of living one’s truth. The documentary, coming to Netflix this fall, sees comedian Ferrell and writer Steele reconnect as they embark on a transformative trip across the U.S. in the wake of Steele’s gender transition. “[The documentary] is an incredibly personal story about two close friends and their open and honest dialogue and journey through change,” director Josh Greenbaum tells Queue. Adds Steele: “A lot of people could have asked me to do this, and it wouldn’t have made sense, but it makes sense with Will.”
Issue 17 features another profoundly personal project: Richard Gadd’s limited series Baby Reindeer, which recently earned 11 Emmy Award nominations including acting nods for stars Gadd, Jessica Gunning, and Nava Mau. Queue sat down with the show’s creator and star who described the challenges of examining the traumas that helped shape him as an artist. The magazine also caught up with breakthrough performer Gunning, who was thrilled to be cast as Martha, the deeply lonely stalker at the center of Baby Reindeer.
Queue also salutes Peter Morgan’s drama The Crown, which celebrated its sixth and final season with numerous Emmy Award nominations including for Outstanding Drama Series. The publication explores the making of its final episode “Sleep, Dearie Sleep,” which sees Queen Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton) contemplating her own mortality and pondering whether to abdicate the throne to her son Charles (Dominic West).
A wealth of documentaries grace this latest issue, notably including BECKHAM by director Fisher Stevens chronicling football phenom David Beckham's life. Another cultural icon's journey is examined in R.J. Cutler's upcoming MARTHA about media mogul Martha Stewart who offers a frank account of her exceptional life. “I knew that various narratives of her story had been told in different ways but never from her perspective — never by her,” Cutler says. “She was open.”
This year’s nonfiction films highlight several studies of incredible people: Daughters sees four girls prepare for a daddy-daughter dance with their incarcerated fathers; Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa traces triumphs and turmoil faced by Lhakpa Sherpa; Skywalkers: A Love Story follows Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus attempting to reach Malaysia's Merdeka 118 super-skyscraper without any climbing or safety gear.
Finally, Queue 17 offers a sneak peek at anticipated fall films including Cannes Film Festival sensation Emilia Pérez; family drama His Three Daughters; August Wilson adaptation The Piano Lesson; Tyler Perry's The Six Triple Eight honoring Women’s Army Corps soldiers sent overseas during World War II.
Head to Netflix shop to order Queue's latest issue for these stories and more.
