From creator Danny Strong and inspired by the best-selling book of the same name, the limited Hulu series Dopesick delves into how Purdue Pharma created the worst drug epidemic in American history when they pushed their opioid while lying about how addictive it truly is. Threading stories about Big Pharma, a small mining community, and the DEA, the villains become clear while the ordinary people try to struggle through each day just to make it to the next.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, which you can both watch and read, Kaitlyn Dever (who plays Betsy Mallum, a small town miner that gets injured and ends up addicted to OxyContin after being prescribed the opioid for pain) talked about why the story of Dopesick made her want to scream, what she enjoyed about getting to delve so deeply into her character, how she hopes this series will lead people to have more empathy for those suffering from addiction, the bucket list experience of working with Michael Keaton (who plays Betsy’s doctor, Samuel Finnix), and the special place that Justified (she played Loretta McCready throughout the run of the series) will always have in her heart.
Collider: This is clearly not easy material. This story is heartbreaking, it’s tragic, and it made me want to scream multiple times while I was watching it. What was it about this project that made you want to tell this story? Why was it important to you?
KAITLYN DEVER: It is something that makes you so enraged with anger and it made me wanna scream when I first read it because the injustice of it was just super surprising to me. I didn’t know a lot about the opioid crisis. I knew that it existed, but I didn’t know about Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family side of it and how it all began. I just immediately thought, for that reason, it was a story that deserved to be told because it caused so much pain and suffering between the victims of the drug and also the people being affected by that and the families with loved ones that they lost. And it continues now, even today. The fact that we were able to shed light on that and in an honest way was just immediately so important for me.
This is the second miniseries you’ve done in recent years. You also did terrific work in Unbelievable. What do you enjoy about the opportunity to really get to explore a character more deeply in that way, especially when it comes to someone like this character? What aspects of her did you enjoy exploring, that you likely wouldn’t have gotten to explore, if this were a film?
DEVER: That’s so true. That’s something I really think about a lot, when I’m diving in to do a film. With a film, you don’t have the amount of time to really take the time and to go deeper and explore even more. With a show like this, and the fact that I had many episodes to work with, we were able to really carve out and take the time and really explore the nuances of Betsy and go on that journey with her, and to really follow the tragedy and the heartbreak, and to see where she started from. She started from such happy place. I use happy lightly because there were a lot of things in her life that she was still internalizing and figuring out, but she was figuring it out and she was working it out, and she was coming from a place of really loving her job. And then, she wanted to move away with her girlfriend, but her life just completely takes a turn because of the drug. Because of the limited series format, we were able to really, really get a good glimpse at her storyline and what she deals with and when she goes through.
Her story is a very familiar story, in this particular epidemic and crisis. She’s a young woman who’s just trying to get by until she has an accident, gets hurt, ends up in pain, and takes a prescription given to her by a doctor, and then everything spirals. What do you hope viewers see in her story? Do you hope that watching what she goes through might help people have empathy for others like her, instead of just a quick rush to judgment?
DEVER: I think that’s the biggest reason why I wanted to be a part of it. It even changed the way I view the crisis. It gave me more information, but it also allowed even me to have more empathy. I think that telling this story in such an honest way, my hope is that the audience will really look at Betsy’s story, in particular, and have more empathy towards people dealing with addiction, or family members that have lost a loved one. I really do believe that it is a really, really powerful story and I think it will do that and more for people.
How did you find the experience of working with Michael Keaton? What was he like, as a scene partner? What do you learn from working with someone who is really an acting legend like he is?
DEVER: Working with him is honestly still settling in my brain because it’s just so mind-blowing to me that I got to have that opportunity to work with him. He really is a bucket list actor for me and working with him was such a joy. He didn’t even have to say anything to me, for it to be a master class. Getting to watch him was the master class. Everything he says, he says with such honesty and you believe every single word that comes out of his mouth. He’s just so good.
Do you personally have a favorite role of his, from his career?
DEVER: Obviously, it’s Batman. He’s amazing in Batman. But my personal favorite is a movie he did called Jack Frost because that movie shaped me. Me and my sister, we watched it non-stop growing up. It’s a role that I really, really enjoy. I love that movie so much.
Mine is Beetlejuice.
DEVER: Yes, that’s right up there as well.
You are truly terrific at doing dramatic work, but do you ever wish you could do more comedy? I know you’ve done some, but certainly not as much as the dramatic work that you do. Is that something you’d like to do more of?
DEVER: It’s funny because now the rest of this year is dedicated to comedy. I just did a comedy. I’m doing another comedy, at the end of the year. I’m mixing it up. With Booksmart in there too, I think it’s maybe even now.
I first became aware of your work when you did Justified, which was the first time you played a character almost from the start to the finish of that series. Is that a character that always will hold a special place in your heart? Is that someone that you really enjoyed getting to follow the journey of?
DEVER: I so enjoyed playing that character. I lived with it for such a long time. It has a special place in my heart, yes, because of the character, but also the people that I worked with were just so lovely and really awesome. They feel like my family. I still keep in touch with a lot of them. I just had a really, really special time on that show. It was really just an unforgettable experience, that one. It’s still one of the best. I love Justified so much. It’s very, very, very special to me.
How hard is it to become invested in a story like Dopesick, when you know there’s no resolution and the lives and the families that were affected by this are permanently altered? When you tell a real-life story like this, that doesn’t have a happy ending, is it hard to let go of that weight?
DEVER: It definitely is. I think I carried the weight with me for even longer than I even realized, with this role and even with Unbelievable. Both of these stories felt so much bigger than me, and they are. With Dopesick, I caught myself just completely forgetting about myself and the way I felt in the more intense moments. When I had a harder day on set, I just really just took myself away from it because I knew that I had a responsibility and a duty to serve this story and to serve the text and to make sure that I was doing it right. I felt like, if I were thinking about myself, that would just be completely unhelpful.
Also, it’s not about me. It’s about making sure that I’m telling the story of Betsy Mallum, which in turn represents a whole group of people. It was hard, but it was also nothing in comparison to what victims actually go through. It’s a hard thing to shake off, for sure, but eventually, I was able to just be proud of what everybody made. It wasn’t that long ago that I was wrapped on this, and now it’s coming out, so it was a quick turnaround and I’m very grateful that people are gonna finally see it.
Dopesick is available to stream at Hulu.