‘Teacup’s Creator “Went Too Far” Crafting the Horrific Death Scenes

[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Teacup Episodes 1 & 2]

From executive producer James Wan and Atomic Monster, Peacock’s new series Teacup is doing an excellent job building suspense up the suspense in the first two episodes. At this year’s Fantastic Fest, the cast and creator, Ian McCulloch, attended the festival for the World Premiere of the series, where Collider’s Perri Nemiroff had the opportunity to pick their brains.

What we do know about Teacup is that Season 1 has eight episodes that center around the Chenoweth family and their neighbors, the Shanleys, in rural Georgia. As sci-fi horror is wont to do, the picturesque country life we were first introduced to not only hides tensions brewing beneath the surface of the two families but a sinister threat has them trapped on their land.

While at Fantastic Fest, cast members Scott Speedman, Chaske Spencer, Rob Morgan, Emilie Bierre, and Caleb Dolden joined their showrunner to discuss the series in two groups. During this conversation, Perri sits down with McCulloch, Spencer, and Morgan to discuss their partnership with Wan and Atomic Monster and crafting unforgettable characters and their strengths and weaknesses throughout a show that will test all their limits. We’ll also find out what it was like constructing that first major death of the series and how Steven Spielberg‘s Jaws inspired the showrunner’s approach to how they handled the more macabre elements of the show. Watch their conversation in the video above, or you can read the transcript below. As more episodes hit Peacock, be on the lookout for the rest of Nemiroff’s Teacup interviews!

James Wan’s Atomic Monster “Made the Series Better”

PERRI NEMIROFF: First I’ll say congratulations because last we spoke, I had only watched the first half. Now, I have seen the back half, and job exceptionally well done in many, many respects.

IAN MCCULLOCH: Thank you so much.

Ian, I wanted to start with you. I’m a big, big fan of James Wan and Atomic Monster, and I’m just curious about your experience working with the team over there. What is something they do as partners that you think teed you up for success making this show?

MCCULLOCH: I’ve known Atomic Monster for a while. We’ve had meetings over the years and sat down and talked about things, and of course, I know who James is. Before I’d even met him, I’d seen a lot of his work. So, I was in good company before we even started this project. There’s a lot that they did, but the biggest thing was they trusted me, and they were there to support me when I wanted support, and then they let me do what I thought was the right thing to do when I didn’t need support. I’ve been doing this for a while, and trust is something that’s not in short demand, but it’s hard to get people to trust someone’s vision. Atomic Monster, all along the way, understood what I wanted to do and supported it, and they chimed in and made the series better, and that’s the thing that you want. It’s like everyone involved with this project — Atomic Monster, you start there, and then you have these guys — everyone made the idea better, and that’s what you really want.

There’s nothing better than having creative partners who elevate your own work. That’s what this is all about.

MCCULLOCH: Yeah, because it’s still my name on it! [Laughs]

Digging into that creation a little and some of the other names involved in it, I have a big character question for you. When you first sat down to start writing this, which character were you most excited to explore in your scripts but then I also want to know if there was one who wound up being more creatively fulfilling to write than you ever could have imagined at the start?

MCCULLOCH: When I first started writing, I didn’t know that McNab existed. I knew about Chaske’s character and I knew about the Chenoweths. So, the family dynamics, that was the most exciting thing in the beginning. It’s something we were talking about in an earlier interview — what do these characters do when something unexpected happens? When something inexplicable happens? How do they react as people? And that was really exciting to me. So, it was that whole group in the first episode.

But I have to admit, the second McNab became a character, he’s such a linchpin to the entire series that it was really exciting to go, “How do we create a ghoul, and then how do we peel that away and have a human being?” And what McNab’s journey is throughout the series is so heartbreaking, but also affirming because he thinks he’s crazy and the crazy thing about it is he’s not crazy.

Crafting the Characters of ‘Teacup’ Took a “Lot of Delicacy and Care”

Chaske, what would you say is Ruben’s greatest strength at the beginning of the show, the thing about him that’ll help everybody through the situation, but then I also wanna know what is his greatest weakness, the thing that could do him in with everything that’s going on?

CHASKE SPENCER: I think his greatest weakness is probably his anger. I think that could probably hurt him at some point. [His] greatest strength — I like how his bond with his family is. Even though they’re going through a lot of drama and a lot of stuff that’s happening with his family, I like how he’s still trying to maintain some type of hold on that with all the chaos going on around him and the information he’s received. I think his greatest strength is trying to maintain that stoic hold.

You feel that big time, and again, we will see what happens when that is rattled later in this conversation.

Rob, I wanted to ask you about one of your first big scenes in the show. It’s the part where you’re wearing a mask and you’re using a whiteboard. We will obviously learn more about your character later on, but that scene where your face is covered and you’re not speaking still needs to set the foundation for who McNab is, so what are some things you wanted to give to that scene so that when people tracked it back, they still saw that that was still the same person?

ROB MORGAN: We took a lot of delicacy and care with that scene. You know what I mean?

MCCULLOCH: That’s one way to put it. The other way is we really had to figure it out, like, “Okay, how does it come across?” We took a lot of time with that.

MORGAN: The delicacy and care that we put into establishing that scene in that world, I think, will translate on screen and show how much we really wanted to deliver a product that people could enjoy the journey from the moment you meet McNab. I think we did a great job.

MCCULLOCH: We got there! [Laughs]

I can confirm, as someone who watched all the way through and then went back and watched that scene. There are little nuances I picked up in your body language and how he operates. I’m like, “All this makes sense. It all connects.”

Designing Death: “It Has to Be Something That Is Horrific”

“We try to use the Jaws school of thinking.”

Ian, I’m so excited to get to ask you this now because we couldn’t talk about it at San Diego. I wanna talk about Claire’s death at the end of Episode 2. That is one of the first big moments where we see what happens when you cross that line, and it is just absolutely exceptional-looking. What was it like figuring out what it does to the human body and what it needs to look like when someone goes over the line?

MCCULLOCH: Well, there are three things. One, it needed to shock the audience because in Teacup, we try to use the Jaws school of thinking that the less you see the monster, the better it is. So, the less you see horrific things, the more horrific things will affect the audience when they do happen, and this is one of those big moments. So, we want it to be something singular, something that people hadn’t seen before, and you’re also saying, “This is what happens when you cross the line.” It has to be so affecting for the characters that they will not cross that line, so it has to be something that is horrific.

On the other hand, I didn’t want it to just be a big explosion — you go over it, and you pop. It needed to be something, for lack of a better term, artful. The design, the way that bones work when you cross the line, the choreography, both the actress and our stunt coordinator did an amazing job, that even without the effects, it’s incredibly effective. So then when you add in those VFX, what you wanna do is heighten that. There were definitely different versions where it went too far or you’d laugh because it made you so uncomfortable. What you want is this kind of fine line in the middle where it’s so upsetting and final that you’re just left in awe, hopefully.

Very much so. I was about to describe it as beautiful, which feels like a weird word to apply to something so gory, but it is. I remember last time you compared it to other things, as well, but the look of a bonsai tree — you see that, and it’s stunning.

‘Teacup’ Sets You Up for the Whole Halloween Season

Release strategy with these shows is always such a hot topic of conversation, like, “Do we do the binge-watch? Do we do week to week?” You kind of get the best of both worlds here, so can you give us a little peek behind the curtain in terms of the conversations you have with Peacock in finding a way to release your show that you think is gonna serve the story best for viewers?

MCCULLOCH: Peacock did a really great job. They came up with the idea of two episodes a week. I think if our show was all released on one day, then we’re one-and-done. What I hope, and what I think, is that if you watch one episode, you’re going to watch the next episode, and if you watch the next episode, you don’t wanna stop. Giving people a little bit of the satisfaction of not having to stop with one, but still having to wait a week, anticipation is far greater than the satisfaction. The mystery is far greater than the answer to the mystery. So, keeping people on the edge of their seats for the entire month of October up until Halloween, I couldn’t think of a better way to release the show. And it wasn’t conversations. They said, “This is what we think we’re going to do,” and I said, “That sounds fantastic.”

Smart choice, especially all the way through October.

You can stream Teacup on Peacock on October 10th. Keep an eye out for the second half of this conversation when Perri digs into spoilers!

Trapped on a farm in rural Georgia, a group of neighbors must put aside their differences and unite in the face of a mysterious and deadly threat.

Creator(s)

Ian McCulloch

Directors

E.L. Katz

Watch on Peacock