Newsweek - USA (2019-10-11)

OCTOBER 18, 2019

Culture

48

Illustration by BRITT SPENCER

“when i got the first round of materials, i remember my blood

started boiling, my adrenaline was pumping, my cheeks started flushing

and my chest got really red.” Marie Adler’s true story of being charged with

lying about being raped had a visceral effect on two-time Emmy award-winning

actress Merritt Wever, who plays Detective Karen Duvall in Unbelievable, now

streaming on Netflix. She’s joined by Oscar-nominated actress Toni Collette

and Kaitlyn Dever in the new series based on “The Unbelievable Story of Rape,”

a 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning article. It’s not until two female detectives team

up to take down a serial rapist that the truth about the teenager finally comes

out. Wever’s compassion is unmistakable from her first scene. “I did so much

research about the right way to investigate these cases and to interact with

survivors and to hold that space for them,” she says. “The tricky part is, you’re

not a counselor or therapist. You are playing a detective and doing a different

kind of job. I got a little hung up around doing it the right way.”

Merritt Wever

What attracted you to Karen’s role?

It was more about the story. I cared

a lot about Marie and had a lot of

respect for Detective Stacy Galbraith,

who my character is based on.

How was working with Toni Collette?

She’s pretty spectacular. The

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are part of the fabric of my creative

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been a big deal to me.

Do you think Marie’s case was

able to be solved the second time

around because it was being

investigated by female detectives?

It’s not that simple. One of the painful,

nuanced and interesting parts of this

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believe Marie and who brings it to the

attention of the police—who should

have investigated it fully—is one of

her foster mothers, a woman who has

been sexually assaulted herself. So

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reason that this case went one way.

What did you learn from this role?

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job without torturing myself so much

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of agonizing over doing it well

enough. There’s got to be a balance.

—Maria Vultaggio

“Enjoy the work

instead of agonizing

over doing it well

enough. There’s got

to be a balance.”

PARTING SHOT