IR Interview: Ted Humphrey For "The Lincoln Lawyer" [Netflix-S3] - Part I - video Dailymotion

The Inside Reel

Showrunner/Series Director Ted Humphrey talks to The Inside Reel about concept and story development in regards to the 3rd season of his series: "The Lincoln Lawyer" on Netflix.

Transcript

00:00I'm going to find who did this, I'm going to find him and I'm going to bury him.

00:24Doing something where you're adapting work, making it your own, but also capturing the

00:29tone of what it needs to be is tricky in any medium.

00:35With this one in terms of, because obviously the first season was on a specific book, second

00:40season same, how do you have to sort of look at the progression from where you were at

00:45the beginning to where you are now?

00:48Because obviously Mickey is a different person because of these three seasons.

00:54So thank you for saying that first of all, it is tricky, I mean it's a challenge but

00:58it's a really fun challenge and we have a great collaborator in Michael Connelly, the

01:06author of the books obviously, who is incredibly collaborative and always kind of, I mean he's

01:12really appreciative I think of what we've done with the show, which is to take books

01:16that in some cases are 15 years old and update them to the present day without, specifically

01:23without losing the character relationships and the kind of emotional resonance that you're

01:28talking about.

01:29You know, we update certain plot elements of the books to make them relevant to today

01:34without losing those threads that combine them.

01:38That said, there is a difference between the books and the series in terms of exactly what

01:43you're talking about, which is the character progression of Mickey.

01:46Season one, you know, we very much envisioned as a redemption story, that this is a guy

01:53and to some extent that book was that as well, right, that this is a guy who has been knocked

01:58completely off his pedestal by an addiction that has, you know, caused him to in essence

02:05lose his career, lose his, you know, lose his way in life in a very big way.

02:10And season one is all about him sort of conquering those demons and getting back on top in the

02:16world of this character in our show, getting back on top always comes with a cost at the

02:19end of season one.

02:21Yes, he's back on top, but only because he realizes he's in essence represented the monster

02:28who then sort of gets what he has coming to him at the end of the season in some way,

02:32right?

02:33Season two, we sort of internally refer to as our Icarus season, the fame and financial

02:39success and everything else that came with that victory in season one has propelled Mickey

02:43back to the top of his game and maybe he's gotten, he's flying a little too close to

02:46the sun and the events of season two, knock him down again and he finds himself at the

02:53end of season two having to pick up the pieces and kind of try and find some sense of equilibrium

02:57and in the course of that, that's when he's thrown the curveball of discovering that his

03:02longtime client and friend, really somebody who cares about glory days has been murdered.

03:08And so season three is in many ways, the most personal and emotional of the seasons

03:14that we've done so far, which is why I love it so much.

03:17And that comes directly from the book that we adapted, the gods of good, which is I think

03:21among the most emotional of the Lincoln lawyer books, it's one of my personal favorite books.

03:26It's a very personal case for Mickey.

03:30He's representing a guy, Julian Lacoste, but in a very real way, his real client is glory

03:34days.

03:35His, you know, this person that he cared about and he feels very personally responsible for

03:38what has happened to her.

03:41He feels that in some way, situations that he may have put her in have led to this.

03:44And so he's really got to get to the bottom of it.

03:46And the ripples that extend from that cause problems with his team, his family, and really

03:52every aspect of his life.

03:54Really, Helen, again, it is always something with you.

03:59What, this?

04:00It's nothing.

04:01Character building.

04:03Why do so many people want to take a swing at that face?

04:07What can I say?

04:08I inspire strong emotion.

04:09Oh, that's one way to put it, I guess.

04:12Come on, counselor.

04:13Cut me some slack.

04:14I had a bad day.

04:15Okay?

04:16A couple of bad days in a row, actually.

04:19When I have a bad day, you want to know my secret?

04:22Comfort food.

04:23Okay.

04:24Now you're speaking my language.

04:26What's your favorite?

04:29Probably Cole's.

04:30There's almost nothing a strong Negroni and a good friendship can't fix.

04:34Cole's, huh?

04:35Is that where you went after I beat you in the Lisa Trammell case?

04:39Goodbye, Helen.

04:46Which is interesting because it makes me think of the aspect of, like, because you were comparing

04:51it to Icarus, as to this, like, almost the odyssey of almost Odysseus coming home.

04:57How do you look at the sins that you've had before and you're maybe, I mean, Mickey's

05:03very good at the powers of perception, but sometimes he will lose perspective because

05:08he's too close.

05:09Can you talk about finding that sort of balance between, I talked to Manuel about this this

05:13morning, about the aspect of strategy versus vulnerability and how sometimes he can't tell

05:18the line.

05:20Well, I think that's a really astute comparison to the odyssey, not to I mean, it's lovely

05:27to be compared to the odyssey, certainly.

05:30But I think, you know, the book is called The Gods of Guilt.

05:33And and the final episode of the season, which I have the opportunity to direct, is called

05:38The Gods of Guilt.

05:39And in our in the world of our show, the gods of guilt is a phrase that Mickey has used

05:44before and other defense attorneys have used to refer to the jury.

05:47But in specifically in the context of this story, he makes it clear that it doesn't just

05:51refer to the jury.

05:52It really refers to all the people that are important in your life who make you who you

05:56are and and that Mickey has to, you know, in a lovely line from that book, make his

06:02case before them every day.

06:04Right.

06:05So it really is about the sins of the past and guilt.

06:08And what are the things that you've done in the past or been part of in the past that

06:13make you who you are?

06:14And I want to get into that right.

06:15Literally, in the first scene of the of the season, which is a flashback to, you know,

06:19things that happened to Mickey in the past that got him where he is today, both with

06:22his family, with the character of Neil Bishop, who's played wonderfully by Holt McCown in

06:27this season and who, you know, becomes one of the main sort of antagonists of the season,

06:32even with his car.

06:35And the car and the car.

06:36I mean, it really is.

06:37It's like the the objective correlative of the whole season, to use more fancy literary

06:42terms.

06:43I mean, the first sequence of the show highlights how did he get this car?

06:47By the way, it's a car that doesn't even exist in the books.

06:50We created the convertible for the show, but we love it.

06:54And then in the last scene of the season, the car plays a very big part in what's going

06:58to hopefully be a season for, you know, the week that we set up at the end of the season.

07:04I think that in you've hit on Mickey's strength and his chief vulnerability, which are kind

07:11of the same thing.

07:13It's that he gets too close.

07:14He likes to talk big game about being this cynical, objective defense attorney who doesn't

07:18really care about guilt or innocence.

07:21He just has a job to do and he gets paid to represent clients.

07:24And yet we've seen throughout the season, throughout the series, that's not true, right?

07:29That he, you know, he represented Trevor Elliott to the best of his ability in season one.

07:33He got him off, but he was devastated at the end when he realized what he had done, basically,

07:38you know.

07:39And we saw that again in season two.

07:41Even now we see in season three, somebody asked me the question, does that make him

07:46a better lawyer?

07:47I don't know that it makes him a better lawyer.

07:48I think it might make him a worse lawyer, but it makes him a more committed lawyer,

07:51right?

07:52It makes him a lawyer who's bound and determined to get to the bottom of whatever is going

07:54on.

07:55And that's really the essence of the character.

07:57You're dealing with people that play a very dangerous game.

08:02We're not backing down without a fight.

08:08This is a war, Holland.

08:09And you have to choose which side you're on.

08:11Well, the job is to find out information one way or another.

08:16If you vote for him, you better not miss.

IR Interview: Ted Humphrey For "The Lincoln Lawyer" [Netflix-S3] - Part I

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