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Warning: Spoilers for Beau is AfraidBeau is Afraid is the latest unexpected and nearly unexplainable odyssey from the mind of Ari Aster. But unlike his previous horror efforts, Midsommar and Hereditary, Beau is Afraid deals much more directly with motherhood and generational trauma even as the filmmaker blurs the lines between reality and fiction more than ever before. Joaquin Phoenix stars as Beau, with Armen Nahapetian playing his character in flashbacks, and each arc of his journey home has him interacting with a host of strange characters.

Parker Posey (Lost in Space) plays Elaine, Beau's first love and the only woman with whom he's interacted romantically. During one of the flashbacks in Beau is Afraid, teenage Elaine (portrayed by Outer Banks' Julia Antonelli) and Beau connect, and she demands that he wait for her when they are separated. This compounds his already existing fear of sex, which has been implanted by his mother,...

Exclusive: Parker Posey has signed with CAA.

The veteran actress was most recently seen in HBO Max’s The Staircase — she played the eccentric prosecutor Freda Black — and in Tales of the Walking Dead.

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Posey next will appear in A24’s Disappointment Blvd. opposite Joaquin Phoenix; HBO Max’s The Parenting, with Brian Cox and Edie Falco; and Prime Video’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith, starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine.

Her film credits include Dazed and Confused, Waiting for Huffman, Best in Show, Basquiat and The Anniversary Party.

Posey’s memoir, You’re on an Airplane: A Self Mythologizing Memoir, was published in 2018.

HBO Max’s “The Staircase,” which concluded Thursday, has its share of revelations for longtime followers of the true crime case. But even for viewers who watched every bit of the 2004 docuseries, one special line from the dramatized version undeniably stands out. It’s Parker Posey, playing Durham, N.C. prosecutor Freda Black, quoting a line from accused killer, Michael Peterson: “I was in the Marines, like to fuck, suck and rim.”

Although Posey grew up in Louisiana and Mississippi, her flawless execution of Black’s Southern drawl (most notable in the delivery of the line “pure-t filth”), was close to effortless — but not quite. There was a phrase she repeated to herself each day on set before the cameras started rolling.

“What would bring me into her voice was: ‘gay military men,’” Posey told Variety, perfectly re-creating her character’s delivery from the show.

Posey is perhaps best...

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Parker Posey and Michael Stuhlbarg play opposing counsel in HBO Max’s limited series The Staircase, which is based on the documentary of the same name that followed the trial of Michael Peterson following the 2003 death of his wife, Kathleen.

Because the trial itself was highly publicized at the time and was the focus of a docuseries from director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, Posey and Stuhlbarg say they had plenty of material to work with in preparing for their roles as prosecutor Freda Black and Peterson’s defense attorney David Rudolf. While Black died in 2018, Rudolf made himself available to both actors to help gear up for the complicated courtroom scenes. Plus, both actors say, creator Antonio Campos supplied stacks and stacks of courtroom files and autopsy photos of Kathleen Peterson to assist.

Posey and Stuhlbarg talk to THR about what drew them to The Staircase,...

The Staircase introduced plenty of twists and turns in its first three episodes, but the saga is just beginning as the case against Michael Peterson (Colin Firth) proceeds in the latest installment, “Common Sense.” Among those who are eager to see the accused killer behind bars is prosecutor Freda Black (Parker Posey) as she attempts to find anything damning enough to put him away. As viewers will recall in the third installment, as Freda and Jim Hardin (Cullen Moss) built their case against Michael, some interesting details came to light. It turns out that the mother of Margaret (Sophie Turner) and Martha (Odessa Young) Ratliff was found dead at the bottom of a staircase, presumably from an aneurysm, but doubts force the prosecutors to push for an exhumation of the Ratliff girls’ mom. As the incident eerily echoes Kathleen Peterson’s (Toni Collette) untimely demise, it could be the smoking...

Turns out, Colin Firth can convincingly portray a convicted killer — a little too well.

Firth stars as socialite novelist Michael Peterson, who was accused of murdering his wife Kathleen (played by Toni Collette) in 2001. The decade-spanning true-crime saga is untangled in HBO Max’s “The Staircase,” and Firth’s co-stars couldn’t help but be scared of Firth’s transformation.

“We all freaked out at the Zoom readings,” Parker Posey, who plays assistant district attorney Freda Black, told The New Yorker, citing the Brit Firth’s eerie voice as American Peterson in character. “I just got creeped out because he was so uncanny. He just really stepped it up.”

In real-life, Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison. However, a judge vacated the verdict in 2011 after it was revealed one of the prosecution’s witnesses had allegedly lied under oat. Peterson was later released...

On Wednesday evening in New York City, Colin Firth and the cast of HBO’s “The Staircase” celebrated its premiere at the Museum of Modern Art.

Created by Antonio Campos with showrunner Maggie Cohn, “The Staircase” marks HBO’s turn at the true crime story of Kathleen Peterson, who was found dead at the bottom of her staircase in 2001.

The story of what followed and came before — her husband Michael Peterson’s indictment and trial, unearthed secrets, treatment by prosecutors and twisting family drama — was first the subject of a 2004 documentary miniseries, then republished and given new episodes by Netflix, and now fictionalized in HBO’s limited series led by Firth and Toni Collette.

“I think about Truman Capote and ‘In Cold Blood,’ which was itself a first of its kind,” Parker Posey, who plays the prosecuting attorney Freda Black in the series, told Variety at the premiere. “There used...

The mystery surrounding the death of Kathleen Peterson has been a hot topic for over 20 years.

Netflix attempted to lift the lid on what led to the tragic death in its docuseries, The Staircase, but many pivotal components didn't make it to the final edit.

HBO Max's drama series The Staircase offers a more informed approach to the details of the case.

Five of the eight episodes were screened for critics before the premiere, and the show's best aspect is how it examines all possibilities.

The series confidently highlights the weeks leading up to Kathleen's death, the case against her husband, Michael Peterson, and plenty of shocking details about those in their orbit.

Unless you paid close attention to the case as it played back in the early 2000s, there is probably a lot you don't know about it.

Then again, the people who took the Netflix series as...

True crime folds back in on itself with “The Staircase,” perhaps the only recent, high-profile miniseries to feature a scene where documentarians sit outside a recording booth as musicians work on the mournful score for a true-crime miniseries. Yet “The Staircase,” an eight-episode HBO Max miniseries, isn’t exactly a meta exercise, either. It’s full of tricky, complicated ambiguities that are often riveting and sometimes just baffling. (It’s all the more slippery only having seen the first five episodes provided for review.)

The documentarians making sure the background music strikes those familiar notes of gravitas are a pair of French filmmakers who have taken an interest in the real-life crime drama of Michael Peterson (Colin Firth), an American on trial for the 2001 murder of his wife Kathleen (Toni Collette). Michael claims that he came across his wife’s bloodied body at the foot of a staircase, indicating that...

The popular documentary series “The Staircase” is now an HBO Max limited series, with Colin Firth filling the role of convicted murderer Michael Peterson.

HBO Max released the first trailer for the new series on Tuesday, which finds Firth playing a man who was accused of murdering his wife (played by Toni Collette). The case was well covered in the early 2000s, but gained more prominence with the arrival of a documentary series that premiered in 2004 and documented Peterson’s trial. New episodes with further updates were later made for Netflix in 2018.

Created by Antonio Campos (“The Devil All the Time”), the HBO Max limited series take on the case offers a dramatization of the events courtesy of a pair of Oscar-caliber performers in Firth and Collette. The show will delve into all aspects of the case including, yes, the owl theory. “We took it as seriously as any other theory,...

HBO Max’s upcoming murder-mystery series “The Staircase” will indeed examine the so-called “Owl Theory” as a potential explanation for the death of Kathleen Peterson, co-showrunner, writer and director Antonio Campos said Tuesday.

“We will address the Owl Theory,” Campos said in a Television Critics Association call with media.

“We took it as seriously as any other theory,” he added. “So you’ll get a deep dive.”

The Owl Theory episode will be “down the road,” Campos said.

Colin Firth stars on the show as Michael Peterson, a North Carolina novelist who was convicted in 2003 of murdering his wife Kathleen. Michael Peterson spent eight years in prison. Toni Collette plays Peterson’s wife, Kathleen, on the HBO Max series.

Essentially, the Owl Theory speculates that a barred owl could have attacked Kathleen outside of sprawling Peterson home, causing multiple, deep lacerations to the back and top of her head.

It...

Move over, Mr. Darcy — Colin Firth is now Michael Peterson. HBO Max released a pair of first-look images Tuesday for its upcoming drama series, “The Staircase,” a scripted adaptation of the Jean-Xavier de Lestrade true-crime documentary series of the same name.

Firth stars on the show as Michael Peterson, a North Carolina novelist who was convicted in 2003 of murdering his wife Kathleen. Michael Peterson spent eight years in prison. Toni Collette plays Peterson’s wife, Kathleen, on the HBO Max series.

The scripted show also stars Michael Stuhlbarg as Michael Peterson’s defense attorney David Rudolph; Patrick Schwarzenegger as Michael’s son Todd Peterson; Dane DeHaan as Michael’s other son Clayton Peterson; Olivia DeJonge as Caitlin Atwater, Kathleen’s biological daughter; Sophie Turner as Margaret Ratliff, one of Michael Peterson’s adopted daughters; Odessa Young as Martha Ratliff, Michael’s other adopted daughter; Rosemarie DeWitt as Kathleen’s sister...

Here’s who is playing who is HBO Max’s limited series “The Staircase,” based on the original true-crime docuseries of the same name, directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade.

Colin Firth as Michael Peterson

Colin Firth will play Michael Peterson, who in the early 2000s told authorities that his wife died at their home after falling down the stairs, but a medical examiner determined that she had been bludgeoned to death, turning Michael into a murder suspect. He was convicted in 2003 of murdering Kathleen Peterson and spent eight years in prison.

In 2011, Michael Peterson was granted a new trial, but before it could start, he submitted to an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. He was sentenced to time already served and was set free.

Toni Collette as Kathleen Peterson

Collette is playing Kathleen Peterson, Michael Peterson’s wife who allegedly fell down the stairs and died — a...

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son, Patrick Schwarzenegger, is going to play Michael Peterson’s son, Todd Peterson, in HBO Max’s scripted “The Staircase” series.

Patrick Schwarzenegger joins the previously announced Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Rosemarie DeWitt, Juliette Binoche, Parker Posey, Odessa Young and Sophie Turner on the show, which is based on the docuseries of the same name.

This “Staircase” is an eight-episode limited series exploring the life of author Michael Peterson, his North Carolina family and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen Peterson.

Firth will play Michael Peterson, while Collette will play Kathleen Peterson. Turner will play Margaret Ratliff and Young will play Martha Ratliff — those are Michael Peterson’s adopted daughters. DeWitt will play Candace Zamperini, Kathleen’s sister who is certain of Michael’s guilt. Posey will play prosecutor Freda Black. HBO has not yet disclosed who Binoche is playing.

In the early 2000s, Michael Peterson...

Sophie Turner is the latest high-profile star to join HBO Max’s Michael Peterson limited drama series The Staircase.

Game of Thrones alum Turner will play Margaret Ratliff, one of Peterson’s adopted daughters, in the scripted telling of the infamous murder case.

She will feature in the eight-part drama alongside Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Juliette Binoche, Rosemarie DeWitt and Parker Posey.

The series, which comes from Christine director Antonio Campos and American Crime Story writer Maggie Cohn, explores the life of Michael Peterson (Firth), his sprawling North Carolina family and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen (Collette).

DeWitt plays Candace Zamperini, Kathleen Peterson’s sister; Posey plays Freda Black, assistant district attorney and prosecutor in the Peterson case; and Binoche’s character is being kept under wraps.

2020-21 HBO Max Pilots & Series Orders

Margaret Ratliff and her sister Marth were adopted by Peterson after their mother Elizabeth Ratliff,...

Lost vet Elizabeth Mitchell is taking on a bloodthirsty new gig in the Netflix vampire hunter series First Kill.

In the drama — based on a short story by author Victoria “V. E.” Schwab — “it’s time for teenage vampire Juliette (played by Sarah Catherine Hook) to make her first kill so she can take her place among a powerful vampire family,” per the official synopsis. “She sets her sights on a new girl in town named Calliope (Star‘s Imani Lewis). But much to Juliette’s surprise, Calliope is a vampire hunter, from a family of celebrated slayers. Both find...

Parker Posey will star alongside Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Juliette Binoche and Rosemarie DeWitt in the HBO Max limited series “The Staircase.”

The eight-parter is based on the docuseries of the same name and various books and reports on the Michael Peterson (Firth) case. Peterson was accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen (Collette), in 2001. He claimed she died after falling down the stairs at their home after consuming alcohol and Valium, but police suspected he bludgeoned her to death and staged the scene to look like an accident. An autopsy revealed that Kathleen died from blows to the back of her head with a blunt object and other injuries. The docuseries was originally released in 2004, with creator Jean-Xavier de Lestrade updating with new information years later. Netflix released it as a 13-episode series in 2018.

Posey will play Freda Black, an assistant district attorney and prosecutor. DeWitt will play Peterson’s sister,...

Parker Posey is set to star alongside Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Juliette Binoche and Rosemarie DeWitt in The Staircase, HBO Max’s limited series drama adaptation based on the true-crime docuseries.

The eight-episode series from Christine director Antonio Campos and American Crime Story writer Maggie Cohn explores the life of Michael Peterson (Firth), his sprawling North Carolina family and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen (Collette).

Posey will play Freda Black, assistant district attorney and prosecutor in the Peterson case.

The series is based on the docuseries and various books and reports on the case of Michael Peterson, who was convicted in 2003 of murdering Kathleen two years earlier. The charge was reduced to manslaughter in 2017, and Peterson subsequently was released from prison. He had claimed his wife died after falling down the stairs at their home after consuming alcohol and Valium, but an autopsy concluded she died from multiple injuries,...

“The 40-Year-Old Virgin” actor Shelley Malil has been granted parole after he was convicted of attempted murder in 2010.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Malil appeared before a panel of parole commissioners in Riverside County on Tuesday. The panel was set to revisit a previous ruling that the 45-year-old actor should be paroled due to him being at low risk of committing violence again in the future. Gov. Jerry Brown had spoken out against the decision, arguing that there still was no explanation as to why Malil’s “rage escalated so far out of control, and resulted in such a prolonged horror.”

Malil was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon in 2010 and convicted of attempted murder for repeatedly stabbing his girlfriend at her San Marcos home. The attack, which occurred in August 2008, left Kendra Beebe with 23 deep stab wounds and chunks of her skin on her chin “nearly sliced off,...

Reel-Important People is a monthly column that highlights those individuals in or related to the movies that have left us in recent weeks. Below you'll find names big and small and from all areas of the industry, though each was significant to the movies in his or her own way. Denis Akiyama (1952-2018) - Canadian Actor. He co-starred in Johnny Mnemonic, Pixels, Resident Evil: Afterlife, The Pacifier, Repo Men and Dead Ringers. He actually died of cancer on June 28. (THR) Gary Beach (1947-2018) - Actor. Mostly known for stage work, he played the director Roger DeBris in the musical remake of The Producers after playing the role on Broadway. He died on July 17. (THR)  Freda Black (1960-2018) - Lawyer. As an assistant district attorney in Durham, she was one of the...

Freda Black, the former assistant district attorney who was featured in the documentary series “The Staircase,” has died at the age of 57.

According to the News & Observer, Black was found dead in her North Carolina home over the weekend. No cause of death has been made public, though law enforcement told the paper that her death “does not appear to be suspicious at this point.”

A Durham County assistant district attorney from the early 1990s until 2005, Black was part of the team that helped convict Michael Peterson for murder following the 2001 death of his wife.

Also Read: 'The Staircase': Here's What Happened to Greg Taylor, the Man Exonerated After 17 Years in Prison

The Peterson murder trial was publicized by the 2004 French docu-series by filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. It was most recently repurposed as a 13-episode series by Netflix last month.

Black ran for Durham County district attorney in 2006 and 2008, but was never elected.