Spoilers ahead for the Presumed Innocent season finale, "The Verdict.”
One would not expect the TV adaptation of a nearly 40-year-old novel to become one of the hottest TV shows of the summer, but Apple TV+ has done just that with its take on the legal thriller Presumed Innocent.
Based on the 1987 bestseller by Scott Turow and adapted for television by former lawyer-turned-11-time-Emmy-winner David E. Kelley and executive producer J.J. Abrams, Presumed Innocent centers on a quick-tempered family man and Chicago assistant D.A. Rusty Sabich (Jake Gyllenhaal) struggling to exonerate himself when his colleague and former lover, Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve), is found brutally murdered and he is charged with the crime. With the help of his best friend and former boss, Raymond Horgan (Bill Camp), Rusty fights to defend his case and hold together what’s left of his marriage to wife Barbara (Ruth Negga). When Rusty isn’t battling the newly elected D.A. Nico Della Guardia (O-T Fagbenle) and his dogged prosecutor Tony Molto (Peter Sarsgaard) in court, he must deal with the fallout of his infidelity and indictment at home and their impact on his two children: daughter Jaden (Chase Infiniti) and son Kyle (Kingston Rumi Southwick).
Kelley’s take on Turow’s best-seller — previously adapted into a 1990 theatrical hit starring Harrison Ford as Rusty — one-ups the lurid twist ending that made both the novel and film popular. Fans of the TV show were figuratively on the edge of their couch cushions to see how the series would handle Rusty’s fate and verdict in the season finale, which delivered a few new twists to the story. “The Verdict” director and series executive producer Anne Sewitsky, who also directed the show’s first two episodes, recently talked with the Television Academy from her home in Norway to discuss how she and the production pulled off the first season’s shocking conclusion, how she originally got involved in the project and what her experience was like working with Kelley.
Television Academy: How did you get involved in the show, and what was your first meeting like with Jake?
Anne Sewitsky: I had worked with [J.J. Abrams’s production company] Bad Robot before on [Hulu’s TV series] Castle Rock. So, I knew J.J. Then, reading the scripts and meeting with David Kelley, seeing what he was focusing on in the story, I loved how he was modernizing it. It felt very relevant still, especially with the complexity within the family. It was too compelling to not be part of. Jake came on after I signed on. He was really worried about doing his first TV show. Our talks were mainly about: Was I thinking about this as a movie or as a TV show? How is this different? How would we be working? I had to make [Jake] feel secure that we would be looking at this as a long movie — that we would work as closely to the way a movie shoots as possible — while also showing him my vision, and how we would work together as producers.
What was your relationship like with David?
He's very open and collaborative. He and J.J. were extremely generous in [terms of] giving us creative freedom. [They said:] “Go out and make!” Then we stayed in touch the whole time. We had quite a lot of freedom. It's always scary giving someone freedom, but I think they did it in the best way.
The show is vastly different from both the book and the original film. How involved were you in its development, and the decisions to diverge so strongly from the source material?
I was quite involved. When I came on board, there was only the first script written, so part of the EP job was offering feedback. And then the director's job was commenting on the scripts and story, and also giving input on casting. My [director of photography] and I have done several features and shows together, and we have a very intuitive and naturalistic approach to how we break down the script — which we ended up feeding back to David. Then, we saw those changes within the script. We also did a lot of improv and added extra scenes and extra material on the shoot, because we wanted to give the characters more texture. We wanted them all to own their own story.
Are there any particular things that you added that were not in the script, but are in the finished product, that stand out to you?
Especially in the finale, [there are] a lot of the extra moments with each character, like focusing on their dressing before going into court, things like that. Little moments that helped sum up each character.
What was the thinking behind filming so much of this episode and show handheld?
Quite early on, we decided we would have a lot of handheld. We also had a lot of Steadicam. We wanted to keep some of the quietness of the original movie, and at the same time, add something that's more modern to it. We also wanted to elevate the women characters. So, Carolyn — who, in the original movie, is more of a femme fatale — we wanted her flashbacks to be more raw and naturalistic, so the handheld helped that feel almost more real than the present.
One of the finale’s most pivotal scenes is Rusty’s closing argument in his own defense. How did you go about shooting that?
I knew that I would have two amazing takes. It's a really long monologue, really well written, but Jake needed to prepare for a long time to dig deep into it. It's exhausting; it has so many turns. So, I thought: “Well, okay, I'm gonna do two takes. One handheld, close-up, the other with Steadicam.” Then of course we [did coverage] afterwards from other angles, but we were all nervous, because it sums up the whole show. When Jake finished that first take, I remember crying. It was such a relief. Then the second one was equally good. That was incredible to watch.
Another way that the show differs from the book is the identity of the killer. Was the plan always to land on that character as the murderer? Or were they any alternates?
It was a discussion throughout. Chase Infintii, who plays Jaden, didn’t know she was the killer until the last episode. I checked to see if we could track it backwards, and we shot so many different small middle pieces that it worked. Also, it felt like the most rewarding ending. This is Chase’s first time acting on screen. The first time I saw her when we were casting, I thought, “She's amazing.” We did a session with Jake on Zoom, and he said, “She's gonna be a star.” We felt quite certain that she could handle being the killer, but it was a discussion.
The show was originally planned to be a limited series but is now coming back for a second season. Will you return for season two?
[Pauses] I cannot reveal.
So, then, my follow up about any ideas for what the story may be? I'm gonna get a blank stare, aren’t I?
Yes.
Well played.
Thank you. [laughs]
The first season of Presumed Innocent is streaming now on Apple TV+.
