[This story contains spoilers to the finale of Based on a True Story.]
The first season of Peacock‘s comedy Based on a True Story ends with its protagonists in a precarious position. Married couple Nathan (Chris Messina) and pregnant Ava (Kaley Cuoco) are discussing baby names as they mop up the blood of their friend Ruby (Priscilla Quintana) who was murdered by their business partner Matt (Tom Bateman), a serial killer they recruited to make a podcast. And then Simon (Aaron Staton), Ruby’s husband walks in on them. “Who’s blood is that?” he says. The credits roll.
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It’s a shocker of a cliffhanger from creator Craig Rosenberg, but one that excited Messina. “I was happy to think, ‘Oh, maybe we get to do more and I could explore going even darker and further into the kind of vortex with Nathan,'” he tells The Hollywood Reporter.
Nathan starts the series as a morose tennis pro, mourning his failed career. His life gets a jolt of excitement when Ava, a true-crime obsessive, figures out that their plumber, Matt, just happens to be the Westside Ripper, who has been terrorizing Los Angeles. Instead of turning him into the police, Ava concocts a plan to revitalize her and Nathan’s marriage: They’ll turn Matt into content, getting him to share his side of the story with blood-thirsty listeners. It works — to a certain extent. By the end of the series Nathan and Ava are in a much better place than when they started, but they are also, you know, accessories to murder.
With all eight episodes now bingeable, Messina chats below about why he wants to play Nathan again and how he figured out the series’ tricky tone.
In that final scene, Nathan and Ava are sweetly chatting while cleaning up the blood of their friend. What was it like finding the beats of this couple connecting in this extremely dark moment?
It’s funny because the entire season, even up to that end moment, I was constantly turning to Kaley, who’s so facile in this genre and with this tone. I was often wondering how to do it, because it’s really a little bit of a tightrope to walk. One minute you’re in a screwball comedy and the next minute your heart’s breaking because you’re kind of losing your sense of self or the love of your wife. And then you’re in incredible fear of your life and kind of looking in the mirror and wondering what you’ve become. So that was the fun of it and the challenge of it. It was all very much like that last scene. I would just kind of turn to Kaley. If I followed her lead and just listened to what she was doing, it often took me to the right place.
What specifically did you learn from her?
She has such ease with her acting. So one of the things I tried to steal every day and then will try to steal on other projects moving forward is her ability to just pop right into the moment. And she’s got a great bullshit detector, so she knows if something on the page or something that I’m doing or something in the scene just doesn’t feel right or real. And so I guess if I was to distill it, it would just be getting to a real childlike quality sense of play.
Were you fascinated with true crime before this role came along?
No, I wasn’t. I mean, I definitely watched them. They just grab you because you’re devastated for the people involved and then you are also trying to be a detective and figure out who did it. Then you’re also trying to figure out any kind of tips if you’re ever in a terrible situation, how to stay alive. So the combo platter of all those things has taken me, but it’s not usually where I choose to spend my time. What really got me about this was wanting to work with [Kaley], and then I read the script. And I really love the idea of two people who have fallen so far apart and they choose the craziest, darkest, most twisted way to find their way back together. That was something that really grabbed me. But really, I think the DNA of this show is a love story.
How did you and Kaley chart the course of this relationship?
A lot of it was in the text. Craig did a great job of layering that. I liked that the character in the pilot talked about being invisible. That really struck me and I can relate to that. And then you’re just never sure where it’s going to go. So this was a really fun read. Every time we got a new episode, you’d always be turning the page thinking, “I never thought it was going to go this way.”
A lot of it was kind of charted in the text, but I think we really fell in love with each other, Kaley and I, as friends, as scene partners. And I think that translates and hopefully comes onto the screen. It was really important to me that they try to find their way back together and this man would do anything really, and he does. He ends up burying a body under the tennis court with his wife really to get her back. And it’s ridiculous and it’s incredibly stupid, but he did it for her. I think if this couple was healthier and more okay with their position in life and were kind of holding onto each other tighter, there’d never be this TV show.
What excites you about potentially taking Nathan to an even darker place should there be a second season?
I’ve been very lucky in my career. I’ve gotten to play some great parts. But a lot of the time, it wasn’t one of the leads; it was supporting. And you only get to show the character from so many lenses. So one of the great things about this was to show this guy that you meet sitting on the toilet bowl watching a YouTube video of his younger self in his heyday, someone he really wanted to be. And then you get to take eight episodes of an arc where you are now burying your friend under a tennis court and there’s blood all over you and dirt all over you, and you are really in that hole with the body. You lost a sense of self. So that’s really fun.
Although eight’s a great number in terms of episodes and what I like to watch as a viewer, I think there’s so much more room to explore — I don’t know if Craig even wants to do this — even more of a Bonnie and Clyde aspect of these characters. That they get so in over their head, but even just drunk with power; drunk with feeling like they’re finally doing something. And again, it’s incredibly stupid and ridiculous and dark. But that would be interesting to explore. I mean, the way Bryan Cranston got to do it in Breaking Bad. Obviously, it’s got a totally different tone, but he kind of starts off as this dorky teacher and look at the places he got to go to. And that was just an incredible show, an incredible performance. But I always kind of wonder how far you can take these characters and how far I would be able to take Nathan into the darkness.
Speaking of darkness, I wanted to ask you about collaborating with Tom Bateman and finding the dynamic between Matt, Nathan and Ava?
He’s got the hardest job in the show, because we can be zany and kooky and in that screwball comedy, and he has to keep almost grounding us in the reality and the fears and the stakes are so high. At any moment, this guy can kill us. And then at the same time, he’s super funny. So he has a very difficult role and I thought he did a tremendous job. And like Kaley, he is just a very kind, beautiful soul. So I loved working with both of them. I really loved dancing with Tom and finding their arc together, finding their friendship. We would talk a lot about, “When has Nathan stopped being scared of him?” And really, he never stops being scared, but he also likes this guy, but Nathan doesn’t have a lot of friends. And then he started to become friends with this guy that now is a serial killer. That’s its own heartbreak.
And again, there’s a lot more to be had. I mean, can you imagine? If there was a season two, can you imagine Nathan getting some really good advice from Matt about marriage, about love, or even talking about the things he did right with his child and the things he felt like he did wrong? And Nathan actually listening to that and having those scenes be tender and sweet, but then realizing, “This fucking guy’s crazy. I can’t listen to him.” So there’s a lot of fun.
Interview edited for length and clarity.
