Stephen Graham brings menace to Apple TV's new thriller Nocturne, where he plays serial killer Jurek Walter. The actor underwent a physical transformation, using pull-ups and press-ups, and adopted a meditative stillness to embody the character, who torments a small-town police detective from an underground concrete cell.
Stephen Graham says he wanted to create a sense of physicality that would make audiences believe he could “stick my hand in your mouth and rip your jaw off.” To achieve that, he worked with his trainer on pull-ups, press-ups and dips, and used the cell's environment to build strength.
The role marks a departure from his acclaimed performance in Netflix's Adolescence, where he played a put-upon father. Graham and his team were careful to choose a project that felt completely different. “I just wanted to try and find a shape physically where it looked like I could kill you with my bare hands,” he said.
Nocturne, based on Lars Kepler's novel The Sandman, centres on the cat-and-mouse dynamic between Graham's Jurek Walter and Liev Schreiber's detective Jonah Lynn, who wants to keep him in his underground cell. Graham's character is a dangerous sociopath who uses patience and meditation as tools to wait for an escape opportunity.
Graham recalled that he told the director, “I went, ‘I think he should meditate’.” The stillness, he explains, gives the audience a sense of mystery. “All the noise and all the chaos is coming from outside, whereas deep down underground I've found this kind of, dare I say, Zen-like stillness.”
Graham prepared for the role by watching true-crime documentaries with his wife Hannah Walters, who is “obsessed with serial killers and true-crime documentaries.” Over two weeks they watched selected documentaries, often with snacks. “I think as a society we're obsessed with serial killers,” he said.
Nocturne is streaming on Apple TV.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- Graham's turn in Nocturne showcases his range after the global success of Adolescence.
- The series taps into the ongoing cultural fascination with serial killers, a trend reflected in popular entertainment.
- The role demonstrates how actors use physical and psychological preparation to create memorable villains.
Background
Stephen Graham is known for intense roles in films such as Gangs of New York, This Is England and TV series Boardwalk Empire. He gained widespread acclaim for his role as a grieving father in Netflix's Adolescence, for which he won a Golden Globe. His latest project, Nocturne, is an adaptation of the Swedish crime novel The Sandman by Lars Kepler. The story follows detective Jonah Lynn (Liev Schreiber) who must confront a serial killer he once imprisoned.
What to Watch
- Whether Nocturne captures the audience that made Adolescence a hit.
- How viewers and critics respond to the heightened physicality Graham brings to the role.
Checked
12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 12 supported.
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- SupportedGraham underwent a chilling physical transformation for Nocturne.The Age - Latest News: “For this, I didn’t want to be this big, massive, bulking old guy; I just wanted to try and find a shape physically where it looked like I could kill you with my bare hands.”
- SupportedGraham plays serial killer Jurek Walter, who torments a small-town police detective from an underground concrete cell.The Age - Latest News: “Graham plays Jurek Walter, a serial killer so dastardly he can torment Liev Schreiber’s small-town police detective from an underground concrete cell.”
- SupportedGraham said he wanted audiences to believe he could “stick my hand in your mouth and rip your jaw off.”The Age - Latest News: “I worked a lot with my trainer because I wanted the audience to believe that I was a man who, if I wanted to, could stick my hand in your mouth and rip your jaw off.”
- SupportedGraham trained with pull-ups, press-ups and dips, and used the cell environment to build strength.The Age - Latest News: “So we worked more on press-ups and pull-ups and squats and dips and things – what could I do physically within the confines of that cell to give me that appearance?”
- SupportedGraham said, “I just wanted to try and find a shape physically where it looked like I could kill you with my bare hands.”The Age - Latest News: “I just wanted to try and find a shape physically where it looked like I could kill you with my bare hands.”
- SupportedGraham and his team wanted his next project to be completely different from his role in Adolescence.The Age - Latest News: “we were really careful about what we wanted to do next because we did have a couple of nice opportunities but we really wanted to try and find something that was completely different from Eddie”
- SupportedNocturne is based on Lars Kepler’s novel The Sandman and features a cat-and-mouse dynamic between Jurek Walter and Jonah Lynn.The Age - Latest News: “In Apple TV’s new thriller Nocturne, based on the internationally bestselling crime novel The Sandman by Lars Kepler, Graham plays Jurek Walter”
- SupportedGraham recalled telling the director, “I went, ‘I think he should meditate’.”The Age - Latest News: “I said to Tim, look, I’ve got an idea, and you might think it’s crap, but you might think it’s all right. I went, ‘I think he should meditate’.”
- SupportedGraham said, “All the noise and all the chaos is coming from outside, whereas deep down underground I've found this kind of, dare I say, Zen-like stillness.”The Age - Latest News: “All the noise and all the chaos is coming from outside, whereas deep down underground I’ve found this kind of, dare I say, Zen-like stillness.”
- SupportedGraham’s wife Hannah Walters is “obsessed with serial killers and true-crime documentaries.”The Age - Latest News: “My wife Hannah [Walters, also his production partner and a fine actor in her own right] is obsessed with serial killers and true-crime documentaries.”
- SupportedGraham and Walters watched selected documentaries over about two weeks, often with snacks.The Age - Latest News: “We sat on the couch for about two weeks [each] night with some crisps and some Maltesers and a little bit of ice-cream. And she just picked these amazing documentaries”
- SupportedGraham said, “I think as a society we're obsessed with serial killers.”The Age - Latest News: “I think as a society we’re obsessed with serial killers.”