PopHorror Let's Get Scared
One of my favorite things is someone, like an actor or filmmaker, that’s known for comedy or another genre, decides to make a horror movie. A lot of the time, it’s super impressive to see what they bring to my favorite genre and can be completely unexpected. So, you can imagine my excitement when I learned veteran comedian Billy Crystal was starring in Before, a new psychological thriller series coming soon from Apple TV+. I was ecstatic. Created by Sarah Thorp, written and directed by several talents, and also starring Rosie Perez and Judith Light, this show is such a departure for Billy (he’s covered in blood A LOT in the show). It’s creepy and atmospheric, and it makes me want to see more genre work from him. Something else that stood out to me is Billy’s costar, Jacobi Jupe, who plays eight-year-old Noah and boy, does he play him well. I was absolutely blown away by the acting from everyone, but especially Jacboi.
After tragically losing his wife to suicide, child psychiatrist Eli Adler encounters a troubled young boy who seems to have a haunting connection to Eli’s past.
To celebrate the release of the show, I chatted with Billy and Jacobi about how the show came about and preparing for shooting.
PopHorror: Before is fantastic so I’m super excited to speak with you today.
Billy Crystal: Great!
PopHorror: My first question is for you, Billy. You’re the one who got the ball rolling for the show. What sparked the idea for Before?
Billy Crystal: We were developing it, Eric Roth and I, who is a wonderful screenwriter. He won an Oscar for Forrest Gump and Killers of the Flower Moon and Dune and on and on and on. We were working on a show about a very elderly man, a 100-year-old man, who’s telling his life story to an aide or a gerontologist or someone who’s helping him through this portion of his life and so on, and it wasn’t quite working. In the interim, my grandson was looking for a book for a book report that was different from what might be for a seventh or eighth grader. I talked about a book that I had read, which was about this woman who had a past life experience. The book is called The Search for Bridey Murphy and it later became a movie. Under hypnosis, she described this life she had had a couple hundred years before, in Ireland. I said it might be interesting for him, and he said, “Well, that’s interesting because I did research on kids who had past life experiences at the University of Virginia. There’s a study there.” So, he gave me this book called Life Before Life. I read it and I thought it was really fascinating. And then in a writing session once with Eric, I said, “Now, alright, so wait a second. What if he’s not 100? What if he’s eight, but he’s got these memories?” And we went, “Oh, boy. Now that’s a concept.” He said, “Listen, now I know who could write this. Her name is Sarah Thorp. Let’s bring her in and see if she sparks with the idea.” Which she did. About 10 days later, she came in and she said, “Here’s what I think.” And she laid out this very detailed vision of Eli Adler with Noah, how Noah arrives at his house. Are they connected? Where are they? Who is his wife? His wife may have committed suicide. He’s mourning her, she’s still around him. And in the middle of it I said, “I’ll play him.” I wasn’t intending to play him ever until Sarah started talking and laid out what this vision could be. Then I saw the show, I saw the world, and then eventually, I saw him. And then we were off to the races.
PopHorror: I’m glad that you decided to play him because I think this is a departure for you. I love it when people who are known for comedy then do horror or thrillers, I love that. That is my favorite.
Billy Crystal: Oh, good!
PopHorror: And Jacobi, you really blew me away. I was really impressed with your performance. Your role deals with a lot of heavy themes like mental health, abandonment, hospitalization. How did you prepare to play Noah?
Jacobi Jupe: I just love playing. I like to play, and I like to feel all those emotions. I had everyone there supporting me and I just really, really… I fell in love with Noah’s character so it’s a lot easier. I just became him when I was on the camera.
PopHorror: I’m highly impressed and I can’t wait to see what you have coming up for us in the future.
Jacobi Jupe: Thank you!
Thank you so much to Billy and Jacobi for taking the time to speak with us. Before premieres Friday, October 25, with one new episode every Friday until December 20, only on Apple TV+!
