Britt Marling.

We remember her blonde hair, her wild look and her mysterious choreography “O.A., a dream series whose two seasons, available on Netflix, have mesmerized or confounded. Britt Marling is one of those actresses and screenwriters who isn’t afraid to impose her vision of the world on stories where the romantic competes with the metaphysical. This is the case again Murder at the end of the worldco-authored series as “O.A., with Zal Batmanglij and airs November 14 on Disney+. For the pitch, imagine Agatha Christie Black mirror Invited by a high-tech tycoon to attend a “retreat” at a state-of-the-art hotel in the heart of an Icelandic blizzard, geeks, thinkers and other visionaries fall victim to one strange accident after another. One of the guests leads the investigation, Darby (Emma Corrie, Princess Diana’s first interpreter The crown ), a young woman known for solving “cold cases” and mastering the Internet with the sole power of her neurons.

Actress (she plays a supporting role), screenwriter, but also first-time episode director, Britt Marling pushes back; Murder at the end of the world, the limits of the thriller, and questions of progression. All in a surreal setting, far from being as cold as its arctic snow and glassy surfaces suggest. Meeting.

Thriller reviewed

Madame Figaro .- How was born? Murder at the end of the world ?
Britt Marling. One of our friends went on a tech retreat like the characters in the show. It was exciting to get a secret invitation, go to the airport and end up somewhere with strangers… It seemed like the perfect setting for a murder story. It was four years ago, and when Zal and I looked at the state of the world, the climate crisis, the collapse of democracy, we could only wonder. how did we get here? Who did it? (English: “who’s done it?”, contracted to “whodunnit”, a term used to define murder stories, Editor’s note) So we became interested in thrillers. it turns out that the genre really took off between the two world wars, another time when we were also wondering how we got there.

Another idea that spawned the series was to create a detective series where the character who traditionally plays the victim, namely the young woman, becomes the detective. This first seemed possible to us because Generation Z, which has spent most of its life behind a computer, is potentially capable of solving cold cases on the Internet. From then on, the character of the young female detective, in her early twenties, became credible.

I am interested in captivity as a metaphor. we all feel imprisoned sometimes.

Brit Marling

As in “O.A. it’s about characters being held captive… Why are you continuing to explore this idea?
I am interested in captivity as a metaphor. we all feel imprisoned sometimes. Prisoners of our identity, of what we are asked to be, of the rules imposed on us. Boxes we all want to escape from. The other, broader metaphor is that of capitalism. We see that this system is broken and completely unable to address the ecological crisis, but we feel stuck inside. We need to create stories that imagine ways to escape this confinement without being nihilistic. Stories that don’t just lament the state of the world, but instead ask how we can come together to do something.

Exceptionally

Thinking outside the boxes. This is how your work with Zal Batmanglij is often described. We especially care about choreographers “O.A. . Where does this ability come from?
One of the reasons I wanted to be an author or an artist is to find a way to break out of those boxes. When I was younger, my education consisted mostly of retrieving and retrieving information. Until I realized that the true way to feel alive is to break out of these patterns. It is they, I think, who make us feel powerless, unable to change things.

Murder at the end of the world it’s about progress and technology, how they help us, but also how we depend on them. Why did you want to pursue this topic?
I owe my work as an author to the fact that I grew up at the very moment when it was possible to make films with a simple computer. Filming or editing equipment used to be so expensive that it could only be accessed in film school or if you had a lot of money. But thanks to technology, everyone was able to shoot movies from their dorm rooms. I’m aware of all the incredible things it brings us, but also the fact that my smartphone hurts my ability to focus and imagine. What the algorithms choose for me in social networks changes my value system, they influence what I discover or what I look for in the world; they are made for it. In Silicon Valley, I’ve met engineers who lock their kids’ phones in boxes in front of their houses when they go home. When I asked them why they closed it, they told me it was drugs. And yet, they themselves created them.

Reinventing Love

Your heroine, Darby, is aided in her investigations by Bill, a young man with whom she falls in love. What can you tell us about their unique couple dynamic?
We see many relationships on screen told from the male point of view, where the women are overly emotional, demanding, annoying. Meanwhile, men are just trying to cope with what is happening to them. It’s a perspective we’ve been evolving with for so long that it’s good to change things up a bit. I wanted to reflect a side of the stories I’ve lived or witnessed where the opposite happens. Bill is very sensitive, in tune with his emotions. He continues to encourage Darby to be more. I thought it would be cool to see that difference on screen.

I also believe that there is something very beautiful about being a first love. Darbi always feels marginalized. this is what I experienced myself when I was young. I struggled to understand who I was, to find purpose. The first time I fell in love, I succeeded. My personality was strengthened by someone who saw me for who I am and vice versa. There is something so beautiful about this journey, these first stories where we discover who we are at the same time we fall in love.

Why did you choose Emma Corinne for the role of Darby?
She is a great actress. Zal and I were nervous when we were writing this script because this role was a real challenge and everyone we read it to said Darby was iconic; how could he be when he was just a two-dimensional paper figure? He was already so alive that we were horrified by the idea of ​​finding his translator. It is a very demanding role, both physically and intellectually, where you are involved in every aspect. But as soon as we met Emma, ​​we were relieved. I remember the first shot of him with a red hat on his head, his hair dyed pale pink. Seeing her first glance at the camera made me realize that Emma was somewhere else and it was Darby who was there. He’s someone who can transform himself inside and out, who played Darby for six months in an almost molecular way. He is also a wonderful person, warm and kind, who works hard. It was an incredible collaboration.

Murder at the end of the worldDirected by Britt Marling and Zal Batmanglij, the first two episodes are available on November 14, followed by one episode per week on Disney+.