Andrew Garfield & Gil Birmingham Interview: Under the Banner of Heaven
Under the Banner of Heaven is a heavy show, depicting the true story of the 1984 Lafferty murders that haunted a town and shook the foundations of the Mormon religion to its core. The FX original series, which premiered April 28 on Hulu, follows Detective Jeb Pyre (played by Andrew Garfield) and his partner Bill Taba (Gil Birmingham, Yellowstone) as they attempt to unravel the truth of the case and prevent outside parties from interfering.
The limited series, which consists of 7 hour-long episodes, dives deep into not only the motivations of the killers but also the responses of the community and the moral quandaries the detectives face. Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black spent a great deal of time researching beyond Jon Krakauer's best-selling novel in order to capture the real-life people involved in the tragedy, but he also fleshed out the fictional police officers who serve as commentary on the story.
Related: Who Killed Brenda Lafferty? Under The Banner Of Heaven True Story
Garfield and Birmingham spoke to Screen Rant about how they broke up the darkness on set with more light-hearted moments, and also how much respect they had for each other as scene partners.
Screen Rant: Gil told me that this is actually a love story between two detectives.
Andrew Garfield: Yes, two opposite sides of the tracks. It's Romeo and Juliet, but it's same sex and interracial and intergenerational. And it's set in the 80s in Utah. What more do you want?
Exactly. Since you are at work partners, what's one thing you learned about each other that really stuck out to you? Gil, is there anything you want learned about Andrew that you were like, «Love this?»
Andrew Garfield: Don't talk about the knitting.
Gil Birmingham: Oh, dammit. You're going
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