Currently airing on Sundays on Starz is the eight-episode original series Hightown, starring Chicago Fire’s Monica Raymund and James Badge Dale.
Created and executive produced by Rebecca Cutter (Gotham) with Gary Lennon, Jerry Bruckheimer is serving as one of the executive producers and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Black Panther, Fruitvale Station) directed the first two episodes of the series.
The series stars Monica Raymund (Chicago Fire), James Badge Dale (Only the Brave), Riley Voelkel (Roswell, New Mexico), Shane Harper (Code Black), Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break), Atkins Estimond (The Resident), and Dohn Norwood (Mindhunter).
Hightown is set on iconic Cape Cod and follows one woman’s journey to sobriety, intertwined with an unfolding murder investigation. Jackie Quiñones (Monica Raymund), a hard-partying National Marine Fisheries Service agent, has her free-wheeling life thrown into disarray when she discovers a body on the beach – another casualty of Cape Cod’s opioid epidemic.
As a result of this trauma, Jackie takes the first steps toward becoming sober— until she becomes convinced that it’s up to her to solve the murder. Now at odds with Sergeant Ray Abruzzo (James Badge Dale), an abrasive but effective member of the Cape Cod Interagency Narcotics Unit, Jackie starts to spiral. And she’s not alone. Ray, too, spins out of control; losing himself in the investigation. The lives of everyone connected to this murder crash and converge, reminding us just how complicated – and deadly – our addictions can be.
For Bruckheimer, who’s been producing TV series and films for over 25 years, Hightown is his first with a LatinX as a lead and a crime genre series with colorful characters. The city of Providence also serves as a characters itself.
While promoting the series, Bruckheimer spoke to Blackfilm.com and other journalists about getting involved with the series, from its setting, pilot director and storytelling.
Can you talk about bringing in Rachel Morrison to direct the pilot episode?
Jerry Bruckheimer: I worked with her briefly on on two pickups and the 12 Strong movie we did with Chris Hemsworth. I thought she was so bright and understood character and story. She’s so energetic and a great person to be around. We’re lucky that she sparked to the screenplay. I always love to give new talent a shot. I work with a lot of first time directors, or directors that have limited exposure as far as some making smaller movies like Bad Boys For Life, where Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are Belgium filmmakers who’ve made a couple of small movies previously, but I thought they were enormously talented. The same thing with Rachel. She’s terrific. She’s a real talent and she brought such energy and depth of character, along with our writing team Rebecca and Gary to the series.
What did you think about the location, and how the location of Cape Cod and Provincetown really play into the story that Hightown is telling?
Jerry Bruckheimer: Well, it’s a beautiful area. I haven’t been to Provincetown but I’ve been to Cape Town. I wasn’t there for the few weeks that we filmed there but it’s a gorgeous area and the people are wonderful. We had a really good experience filming there and we hope to come back and do some more filming here. I understand why people love the area so much and why so many people not only spend their summers here but live there year round.
Do you think that the dichotomy of P-Town, having it being a resort area and it being so beautiful, goes with that dark story and the whole addiction edge of that?
Jerry Bruckheimer: It just shows you how this addiction creeps into every part of society and also to areas as beautiful as this P-Town and Cape Town. I want to show that this affects every aspect of society not just places that you would think they would be but that it’s all over the country and around the world. We got to show the highlights on how dangerous and brutal this addiction can be.
At this point, you really can do whatever you want as a producer. How do you choose your projects, and especially how did you choose Hightown?
Jerry Bruckheimer: I really wish that what you said is true. I wish I could just pick my projects and I have a bunch of them I’d like to send to you. Maybe you can find people that will finance them, but it’s never that easy. There’s always a young studio executive or television executive that knows a lot more than you do and doesn’t like what you present them. So it’s unfortunate that that’s the way it is. And your next part of your question was how did I pick Hightown was that I love Rebecca’s writing. It was just fantastic how she takes you inside these damaged characters, and how they look for recovery and redemption. It’s just the brutal honesty of this show is what I love about it.
What do you think sets Hightown apart from other shows in the crime genre?
Jerry Bruckheimer: I think the reality and diversity of these these characters. I’ve seen a lot of the shows that are streaming and I’ve never seen a show that is this brutally honest with these type of characters. It really give you an inside look at what this world is really like and what these people go through and the trouble you have with addiction recovery and redemption. It’s it’s really a powerful, powerful series.
Could you talk a little bit about the having this crime drama with a female lead and with a lesbian lead and a LatinaX?, That’s a very unusual in this genre, or for TV series at all?
Jerry Bruckheimer: There’s so many challenges with Latinos and African Americans and there’s so much diversity in our city today. We have to highlight them also. We just can’t can’t keep going back to what we’ve added in previous years there. There are issues with every segment of society and we got to bring it to light. With the amount of African American and Latino actors. it’s amazing how talented they are. We’re very fortunate to be able to tap into that really cool. talent pool that’s out there.
With the amount of you have produced over the years, it seems that everything old is new again. With the success of Bad Boys For Life, will there be another sequel to that franchise? Are there sequels coming back from your previous films?
Jerry Bruckheimer: Well, obviously we have the Top Gun coming out and we’re working on another Beverly Hills Cop film for streaming. But Bad Boys For Life is big surprise and success around the world. It’s the highest grossing movie the year so far. It’s just great to get Will and Martin back together again. They’re such great actors and and fun to be with. They worked very hard in the screenplay, worked seven days a week during the filming to make it great to very young directors, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. We thought thought they were really talented, and introduced them to Will and Martin and everybody got along and they worked very hard and delivered a very successful movie. Interesting it was the number one movie screaming recently. It beat Star Wars if you can believe that. So that’s that’s quite an accomplishment for our two terrific actors.
You’re also EP en LA’s Finest, which is coming back for season two. What’s going to be different this year with the characters and is there any possibility of Gabrielle’s character could come back to another Bad Boys film?
Jerry Bruckheimer: That’s always a possibility. We love working with the ladies, Jessica and Gabrielle. They’re so talented and fun to be around. They work very hard in series. They’re very involved in every aspect of it and that’s great for us because they bring a lot to it. That’s why the show has been such a big success on Spectrum.
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