For Nikki Toscano moving out of the showrunner’s mindset and into the director’s chair was more natural than she anticipated.
The co-creator and writer of “Long Bright River” spent months studying Kensington, the Pennsylvania neighborhood where the limited series took place, the women on The Avenue and female cops to do them justice on screen. Because she had already put in the hours in pre-production, she felt more than prepared to do right by the characters on set.
“I thought stepping into this directorial role was going to be far more daunting than it actually was,” Toscano told TheWrap during a new installment of How She Did It, presented by Peacock. “As a creator and a showrunner who spends so much time on set, there was an element of just cutting out the middle man.”
Toscano said that as she writes, she visualizes what the scenes will look like. Directing challenged her to marry her writer’s brain with her visual senses to bring life to what’s left off the page. Instead of conveying that vision to directors and cinematographers with her words, she made those decisions live on set.
The showrunner noted that her largely female production team made her transition to directing more comfortable.
“All of our directors were female. We had a female cinematographer. We had a female production designer, hair, makeup. There were so many women populating this,” she said. “Ego was missing at all times.”
Toscano said she felt supported by the women on set as she navigated helming an episode for the first time. “And if it wasn’t by someone that was female it was about a number of men that were uplifting the females around them and that was a truly special experience,” she added.
Based on the bestselling novel of the same name, “Long Bright River” follows Mickey Fitzpatrick (Amanda Seyfried), a Kensington cop whose method of patrolling looks a little different than her male counterparts. When a series of murders takes place, targeting sex workers on The Avenue amid the opioid crisis, Mickey drops everything to find her estranged, unhoused little sister Kacey (Ashleigh Cummings).
Toscano specifically wanted to direct the sixth episode of the series because it marked a key turning point for the protagonist. Mickey is beaten up by the women on The Avenue in the opening moments of the episode. The female cop prides herself on being a strong advocate for the women, so the physical beating has a deeper emotional toll. As a result Mickey is forced to crack open her hardened shell and acknowledge her own shortcomings.
“She fancies herself a real advocate for these women, so it really upends her entire view, not only of herself but her role in the neighborhood,” Toscano said. “Having somebody like Amanda bring that to life is truly gratifying because of the fact that there’s just a rawness not only to her performance in the entire show but specifically in this episode.”
The director also wanted to play with light in the episode. She wanted to show the warmer sides of Mickey, as she interacts with her grandfather, her son and her police partner-turned-love interest. In each frame she wanted to challenge herself visually.
“There’s something about directing where you have to be truly present at all times. There’s no part of you that can check out,” she said. “While ultimately very challenging, I felt like I had childlike butterflies that I hadn’t had otherwise.”
Toscano, quite literally, got the directing bug.
“Long Bright River” premiered as an eight episode limited series in March. The Peacock series was based on the best-selling novel of the same name. Author Liz Moore was also involved in the production of the series and served as an executive producer.
All episodes of “Long Bright River” are now streaming on Peacock.
