Daniel Dae Kim and Tony Goldwyn Star and Spar in Nat Geo's "The Hot Zone: Anthrax"

It39s a story vaguely recalled but not well known making it worthy of retelling The second installment of National Geographic39s Hot Zoneamp160limited series franchise titled Hot Zone Anthrax details this fraught time over three nights beginning November 28 and streaming the next day on HuluLike other Nat Geo scripted projects it39s based on facts but it features a composite character at the center Daniel Dae Kim pictured at top plays Matthew Ryker an intense FBI agent Showrunners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson recently explained to MediaVillage why they could tell this story best by using a composite personquotThe making of a TV show out of facts is very complicated because it still needs to be a TV show for startersquot Souders said quotThis is not a documentary which we are very up front about So you need to be brought along on a story with characters and arcs the way you would on a normal TV show if it didn39t have anything to do with true events But also this case took place over seven years so there were many FBI agents on it There were just dozens and dozens and dozens of people who were involved in this story In six hours six parts you can39t even remotely touch on all those people So it became very clear to us right up front that we wanted to fictionalize an FBI agent who could take us through the whole gamutquotThe role of FBI Special Agent Ryker is his first lead after more than three decades as an actor Portraying an American hero is a dream rolequotThere are many actors who are much more talented than I who have worked in this business much longer than I have who39ve never had that opportunityquot Kim said during a Zoom interview quotIn my case it was 31 years and I39m just very gratefulquotKim was also pleased that no big deal was made about the hero being Asian He simply is and happens to be the best agent for the job because of his background as a methodical microbiologistTo prepare for this role Kim who emigrated from Korea as a toddler spoke with three FBI agents amp8211 two of whom are Asian amp8211 while preparing for this rolequotThey recognized it existedquot Kim said of racism quotThey did their best to manage it to mitigate it and and then they did their job because the one thing that unites every FBI agent is a fierce patriotism and a belief that they39re doing good and doing right And you know the other thing I was really surprised to learn was that FBI agents are highly educatedquotAnd so we have a microbiologist FBI agent hellbent on capturing the monster mailing wargrade biochemical anthrax to journalists and politicians Ryker has one more motivating factor Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon at 937 on 911 flew right over him The vibrations from the plane shook him to his marrow Ryker was stuck in traffic as the news about the World Trade Center was on the radio Those moments continue to haunt himquotThere are some nuances to him that I really wantedquot Kim noted quotI hadn39t been able to play as an actor for instance what does it mean to be adopted as an Asian American And how do you define American when you look the way I do These were all really worthwhile explorations and all led me to want to take this rolequotThe search for the maniacal killer leads to microbiologist Bruce Ivins A twitchy creepy fellow Ivins desperately wants to be liked and women who sense danger in milquetoastlooking men would steer clear of this ingratiating fellow Behind that mustache which never rises to the level of pornstache shortsleeved white shirts with the requisite pocket protector is Tony Goldwyn pictured belowGoldwyn39s character is based on a real person and the actor relied on a book about Ivins to inform his portrayalquotIvins is someone who is extremely bright and I think a very gifted scientist and desperate to be acknowledgedquot Goldwyn said from his home on Block IslandThat stench of desperation trails Ivins who wants to be heralded for his work as a scientist at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious DiseasesquotPart of that is a need to be acknowledged for his giftquot Goldwyn said quotBut another part of it is to be socially accepted and to be a great guy and to be liked and to be sort of a paragon in every aspect of his lifequotWhile Ivins cracks dad jokes and lives with his family he leads a secret life quotEmotional intimacy is something that I think was really a strange concept for Brucequot Goldwyn added quotAt the same time I think he39s a pathological narcissistquotAll evidence leads straight to Ivins and it39s no spoiler to say that because it was international news Yet as the showrunners noted his death preceded formal charges Before that though the rogue microbiologist and the FBI agentmicrobiologist share a couple of taut scenes during an interrogationquotWe were super excitedquot to play these scenes Goldwyn recalled quotThe first one especially it39s like a oneact play I mean I think the scene lasts almost ten minutes which in television you don39t get to do very oftenquotWhile many forgot those days when we did not know if our mail would kill us Goldwyn remembered them all too well Living in Connecticut where one of the postal workers died he and his wife kept their mail on the porch for a couple of weeks They packed Cipro the antibiotic known to counter anthrax in their children39s backpacksThose days of perpetual anxiety have faded and perhaps it seems odd to remind people of them Yet that scary time made for a perfect second installment of The Hot Zone The first which was telecast in 2019 and starred Julianna Margulies became the network39s highestrated scripted seriesquotThe Hot Zone could be a kind of a super title and it gives us permission to produce suspensethriller storytellingquot Carolyn Bernstein National Geographic39s executive vice president global scripted content and documentary films quotIt is such a great genre For us to find suspense thrillers that are a great brand fit is the challengequotGiven that Hot Zone could keep going is COVID the next natural installmentquotWe have certainly talked about itquot Bernstein shared quotThere are ways into COVID19 that will feel more brand relevant than others The way in for us has to be hard science It feels like we are in the second act right now and we don39t know what the third act will bequotThe Hot Zone Anthrax will be telecast over three consecutive nights at 9 pm on Nat Geo beginning November 28Click the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Daniel Dae Kim and Tony Goldwyn Star and Spar in Nat Geo's "The Hot Zone: Anthrax"

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

Jacqueline Cutler

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

More Videos:

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Daniel Dae Kim and Tony Goldwyn Star and Spar in Nat Geo's "The Hot Zone: Anthrax"

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Jacqueline Cutler

TAGS:

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

Cookies