Jennifer Connelly Explains How Dark Matter Is “A Portrait Of A Marriage”

In Dark Matter Jason Dessen is a college professor with a wife and son living a mundane life in Chicago. When he is abducted and dropped into an alternate reality his life is turned upside down as he desperately tries to find a way home. Jason will embark on a harrowing journey across many alternate realities in the hopes of finding his own and returning from his family where he will need to protect them from the most dangerous threat there is, himself.

Blake Crouch serves as executive producer and showrunner of Dark Matter which is based on his acclaimed 2016 novel of the same name. While this is a multiverse story, Dark Matter is more in line with Everything Everywhere All At Once, which uses the science fiction concept to focus on the human problems that the characters are grappling with. Joel Edgerton leads a brilliant cast who play several characters throughout the series. Edgerton brings pathos and nuance to his performances.

Screen Rant interviewed Jennifer Connelly about her new series Dark Matter. She discussed working with Edgerton, including the subtle differences he portrayed when playing different versions of his character, Jason. Connelly also explained how working directly with Crouch was helpful to step into the world of Dark Matter.

Dark Matter Is “Sifting Through These Domestic Issues In This Really Spectacular Landscape”

Connelly explained how she approached playing Daniela across the multiverse with many being superficially different from one another. She also touched on how she approached the Daniela which she was able to delve deeper into, with the differences being based on the choices that led to the life she had built.

Jennifer Connelly: Some of them, totally honestly, quite superficially because you literally only get a glimpse of her, and so it was important for the story sometimes to look quite similar to our original Daniela or sometimes to be quite noticeably the wrong one as he’s looking for his home world. So sometimes it was as simple as that.

The second Daniela that we meet, we spend more time with. Those choices were more a function of the differences in her life, the choices that she had made, and how that might impact someone with certain base characteristics that she had in common, but who had sort of moved in a different way in her life.

Connelly broke down how the alternate reality aspect of the series is a device that allowed them to explore more domestic human stories. She specifically described Dark Matter as, “a portrait of a marriage.”

Jennifer Connelly: I think that it’s a portrait of a marriage, and it explores this couple and this man, who is having some doubts and some regrets and insecurities about his work. He’s sifting through these domestic issues in this really spectacular landscape of these alternate realities. I thought that was a really smart use of that kind of story, that kind of device, if you will, of an alternate reality show.

Connelly also reflected on how working directly with Crouch allowed them to stay true to the original novel. Crouch, as showrunner, was involved in every decision and every step of the process to bring the story he created to life on screen.

Jennifer Connelly: Well, [Blake] was there all the time and we had the book obviously to work from. He wrote so many of the scripts, he was on set every day, and he was involved in everything in all of the choices that we make. He was in our rehearsals, he was in our wardrobe and hair. All of those decisions we really made together. It was great having the writer and creator there with us every day.

Jennifer Connelly Describes How Dark Matter Plays With Genre

Connelly praised Edgerton’s skills as both an actor and scene partner. She noted the “subtle choices” he made with his performance especially as he portrays different versions of Jason.

Jennifer Connelly: [Joel’s] a great actor and I had really looking forward to working with him. It was really interesting what he did. He made subtle choices. There were subtle differences in his mannerisms, his behavior, and the way that he would respond to things as the different Jasons. It was a great experience working with him. He’s lovely, such a nice person, and so easy to work with. But like I said, just so talented that it was really a joy.

Connelly discussed Jason2, who is the more villainous of the Jasons, but whom Edgerton is careful to never portray as fully evil. She also explained how Daniela feels about this version of her husband throughout the series especially before she knows something has happened.

Jennifer Connelly: I think he gets kind of villainous at the end, but yes, he’s not arch. He’s not playing an idea of a bad guy. So I think it’s really interesting. I really love the choices that he made, and I think it was an interesting idea that this woman is confronted by this man who looks and sounds like her husband, but kind of different, maybe it feels like something’s happened. He does feel a little different.

He’s acting strangely, but she’s trying to solve the mystery of why he’s acting strangely. At first she kind of likes it at first she’s like, Okay, this is kind of nice. He’s paying a lot more attention to me and he’s taking me out. It’s kind of the way it was at the beginning of our relationship. I thought that was really fun, the suspense chapter of it where it’s sort of building this. It sort of starts turning into it confusion and then it starts turning into kind of dread as she starts to feel more and more that something’s wrong.

It’s so fun to watch.

Jennifer Connelly Doesn’t Have Much To Share About Top Gun 3

When asked about Top Gun 3 following the massive success of Top Gun: Maverick, Connelly didn’t have much to say. But she did touch on the rumor that a third one is potentially being worked on.

Jennifer Connelly: I haven’t heard anything specific or concrete. I heard a rumor that there’s will to make another one, but I don’t have anything definitive to share.

Dark Matter

Based on Blake Crouch’s international bestseller. Jason Dessen is abducted into an alternate version of his life. To get back to his true family, he embarks on a harrowing journey to save them from the most terrifying foe imaginable: himself.

Check out our other Dark Matter interviews here:

• Blake Crouch & Matt Tolmach
• Joel Edgerton & Alice Braga
• Jimmi Simpson

Source: Screen Rant Plus