Miniseries adapted from the novel of the same name by Walter Mosley, who signs the six episodes, The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray (The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray) recounts the astonishing friendship between a man with dementia, Ptolemy, 91, played by the dashing Samuel L. Jackson, 73, and an orphan, Robyn, 17, played by the juvenile Dominique Fishback, 31.
Nothing predisposed the second to become the first’s natural caregiver, but on the death of Reggie (Omar Benson Miller), Ptolemy’s nephew and the only member of his family to care about him, Robyn, best friend of Reggie’s daughter , saw it as an opportunity to flee her adopted aunt, Niecie (Marsha Stephanie Blake), with whom she has a toxic relationship.
“I discovered this story 10 years ago, explains Samuel L. Jackson, also producer of the series, in videoconference with the foreign press. I found this story wonderful about a man who tries to understand what has happened in his life while he is in a state that is familiar to me, since my grandfather, my mother, his brother and his sister suffered from Alzheimer’s and dementia. I wanted to explore this character who no longer remembers how his life changed the lives of the people around him. »
If she did not know the novel by heart like her on-screen partner, Dominique Fishback immersed herself in it after reading the script. Subsequently, she wrote a document of nearly thirty pages where, with supporting passages from the book, she explained her vision of Robyn.
“I added different elements to the character, including the idea that she wanted to become an astronaut, confides the actress in a virtual interview with The duty. Her childhood traumas are so deep that taking a plane is not enough for her to escape her reality, she wants to fly into space. I was happy that the production accepted that she had a scar, because I wanted her body to tell her story, the hard image she wanted to project. »
Cure of youth
In the first episode, we discover with amazement an overwhelming Samuel L. Jackson in the skin of a man diminished by illness, haunted by the loved ones he has lost. The actor soon finds his superb, when Ptolemy agrees to test a revolutionary drug that will temporarily restore his memory.
“I know very well this frustration, which can go as far as anger, of not being able to answer the questions that we are asked when we have no more memory. I also know the impression one has of boring one’s sick parents by dint of asking them questions, of the weariness of hearing them change the subject because they are no longer in the present moment. For me, it was very important to succeed in making this understood by the spectators. When I read the sadness in Reggie’s eyes, I was happy, because I knew we had made it. »
With Robyn’s complicity, Ptolemy will set out to find out who shot Reggie. of melodrama, The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray turns into a dreamlike detective drama — the old man’s dreams and memories feature prominently in the story. As Ptolemy traces his memory, his relationship with Robyn will grow stronger. From natural helper and maternal figure, the young girl will become a granddaughter in the eyes of the old man, to the great displeasure of Niecie, who fears seeing her uncle’s inheritance slip through her fingers.
“As a child, Robyn took care of her mother, explains Dominique Fishback. She knows how to take care of Ptolemy, but with him she’ll allow herself to behave like a child, because she didn’t have a childhood. With Sam, we had a natural chemistry. We didn’t study our characters together, we didn’t rehearse the way they interact. When he saw me he said, ‘I think we’ve found our Robyn’. He had confidence in my art and my technique. It was very comforting for me, as an actress. It was for Sam too, because he didn’t have to worry about what I was going to do with Robyn. »
Addressing both racism, police violence and scientific ethics, The Last Days of Ptolemy Graydirected by Hanelle Culpepper, Guillermo Navarro, Debbie Allen and Ramin Bahrani, nevertheless includes lighter moments, makes a point of specifying Samuel L. Jackson, who shares with Dominique Fishback, whom he describes as “sensational”, the most moving moments of the series.
“I think this story couldn’t really be told in an hour and a half, that it needed more time to be told and to allow viewers to get to know all these colorful and picturesque characters that accompany Ptolemy in his quest. Ptolemy is not Alzheimer’s disease, it has many more dimensions than that. »
Ensuring that he had done everything to ensure that the actors found on the set a comforting space to express their creativity, the actor concluded that he first and foremost wanted the story to be told with the greatest possible honesty: “I I wanted viewers to recognize themselves in this story, and I also wanted them to understand that, despite their illness, the people they love are always there for them. »