True Detective unmasks its new cast members

Time might be a flat circle, but the speculation over the casting of the second season of True Detective is finally drawing to a close.

Last Tuesday, HBO confirmed that Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn would be joining the critically adored series for its highly anticipated sophomore outing, which will swap the swampy desolation of rural Louisiana for the sun-baked coastal highways of Southern California. According to showrunner Nic Pizzolatto, who has written and will continue to write the script for every episode, the next season focuses on a new string of occult-tinged murders and a trio of brilliant but psychologically troubled investigators, one of them female, who are called upon to hunt down the Golden State’s latest man-shaped monster.

To say Farrell, Vaughn and their as-of-yet unannounced co-stars have a tough act to follow would be an understatement. True Detective’s first season, which premiered to widespread critical and popular acclaim last January, was a cult phenomenon driven by the twin engines of Matthew McConaughey as shamanic nihilist Rust Cohle and Woody Harrelson as his increasingly unhinged macho partner Marty Hart, who spend 17 years agonizing over a series of ritualistic homicides in the deepest, darkest regions of bayou country.

It takes luminous talent to wear darkness well, and the first season was a near-flawless convergence of powerhouse acting, mesmeric storytelling, dread-soaked atmosphere and technical bravura, the latter courtesy of director Cary Fukunaga and his fondness for long, seamless tracking shots, with a rattle-them-bones soundtrack supervised by T-Bone Burnett thrown in for good measure. Fan interest only grew more rabid when later episodes revealed a wriggling undercurrent of Lovecraftian-style cosmic horror lurking beneath the show’s procedural surface, one containing direct allusions to Robert W. Chambers’ 1885 weird short story collection The King in Yellow, which revolves around a play whose second act imparts such dark and terrible truths about the universe that it induces instant and incurable madness in anyone who reads it or sees it performed.

The news of Vaughn and Farrell’s casting also triggered its share of madness, the kind that clogs message boards and YouTube comments sections with hyperbolic tirades and knee-jerk provocations. The online consensus holds that no one can possibly top McConaughey and Harrelson, who are only returning in their capacity as executive producers, but the brunt of the fans’ skepticism seems reserved for Vaughn, who’s been languishing in lame paycheck comedies such as The Internship and Delivery Man for so long that everyone appears to have forgotten what a charming and naturalistic performer he can be when given the right material.

Want proof of Vaughn’s talents beyond Swingers, Dodgeball and Wedding Crashers? Look no further than his early, non-comedic work in Tarsem Singh’s psychotronic horror odyssey The Cell, or his demented turn as an aw-shucks serial killer in the 1998 Tarantino knockoff Clay Pigeons. If he can bring that same loose, freewheeling energy to Frank Semyon, the career criminal who’s forced to aid in the trio’s investigation after his business partner is murdered, the second season of True Detective could be a fresh start for the actor. After all, it wasn’t so long ago that McConaughey’s career was in similar trouble. Maybe this could be Vaughn’s Lincoln Lawyer moment.

The fans also seem leery of Farrell, which is understandable given the Irish actor’s recent rash of high-profile flops – the nonsensical Winter’s Tale and the slick but wholly unnecessary Total Recall remake are particularly egregious examples – but he’s proven himself a thoughtful and nuanced presence in roles that don’t require him to carry a film by himself.

Farrell’s True Detective role, a morally conflicted, mob-owned cop named Ray Velcoro, seems like a conscious echo of his best performance to date as the childish, guilt-ridden hit man Ray in Martin McDonagh’s masterful dark comedy In Bruges, which works primarily because of how well it complements Brendan Gleeson’s character, Ray’s remarkably well-adjusted mentor and father figure Ken. The nefarious pair’s musings on the subjects of death and atonement as they tour the churches and canals of Bruges are every bit as compelling as McConaughey and Harrelson’s existential chitchat, albeit in a very different tonal context. Farrell is also capable of filling out an ensemble cast with aplomb, as demonstrated in under-seen gems such as London Boulevard, Seven Psychopaths and his wonderful turn as country singer Tommy Sweet in Crazy Heart, where he showcased his musical chops as the flourishing former protégé of Jeff Bridges’ alcoholic troubadour.

Taylor Kitsch, another actor with some highly publicized bombs under his belt after the one-two punch of John Carter and Battleship back in 2012, is rumored to be circling the role of a second male detective, presumably Velcoro’s partner. The former Friday Night Lights star is still considered box office poison, but he’s coming off some terrific notices for playing a closeted Wall Street investor turned gay rights activist in HBO’s original movie The Normal Heart, so hopefully True Detective can accelerate his comeback.

Even if the other performers end up being ideal fits for their characters, the success of True Detective’s sophomore season will likely hinge on the actress who scores the third and final detective role, a hard-drinking gambling addict by the name of Ani Bezzarides. One of the few criticisms lobbed at the first season was its disinterest in showing a female point of view. Michelle Monaghan, who played Harrelson’s put upon wife Maggie, was believably sympathetic as a woman who can feel her husband’s inner demons slowly taking hold, but she was too often either relegated to the sidelines or used as a means of manufacturing drama between the two male leads. Rosario Dawson, Jessica Biel, Malin Akerman, Abigail Spencer, Oona Chaplin, Jaimie Alexander and Brit Marling have all reportedly auditioned for the role of Ani since last Thursday, and Rachel McAdams and Keira Knightley continue to be floated as possibilities, but Pizzolatto’s decision is still forthcoming.

So this is where we end it: solving one mystery and finding another, an eternal return to a vast, godless wasteland of rumors that dream of being facts. Rust Cohle, eat your Ligotti-loving heart out.

 

Landon McDonald is a graduate student studying public relations. His column, “Screen Break,” runs Fridays.