Entertainment

How a Sherlock Holmes obsession and personal loss informed Issa López's 'True Detective'

Published

2 years ago

January 15, 2024

How a Sherlock Holmes obsession and personal loss informed Issa López's 'True Detective'

In the thick of the pandemic, Issa López decided to test herself by writing a murder mystery. The screenwriter and director had been plugging away at drafts of scripts and was losing her mind a little bit, she remembers.

While other people might have turned to doing puzzles with friends, she decided to build one of her own. “I decided to tackle a challenge I thought was impossible,” she says. “I loved murder mysteries my entire life. I grew up with a truly not healthy obsession with Sherlock Holmes.” (When I ask what that means, she tells me to think of a tween girl with a “truly obsessive crush on a fictional Victorian cocaine addict.”)

“I loved murder mysteries my entire life. I grew up with a truly not healthy obsession with Sherlock Holmes,” says Issa López.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

López started to concoct a stew that combined her love of Holmes with some other pop culture fascinations, including the detective team in David Fincher’s “Seven,” the Arctic terror of John Carpenter‘s “The Thing” and a general interest in the real-life “unsolved mysteries of humankind.” She let it boil, and then put it aside. Then HBO called, asking her what she would do if she were handed the reins to the “True Detective” franchise.

The result is “True Detective: Night Country,” the fourth season of the series that premiered Sunday, which stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as detectives in rural Alaska investigating the circumstances that led a group of researchers to be found naked and frozen together on the vast and eerie ice. López directs every episode and is the creator and showrunner of this new incarnation of the series, which started with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson opining about the notion of time in the Louisiana heat (Nic Pizzolatto was the creator and writer for the first three seasons).

For López, who hails from Mexico City but is now based in Los Angeles, “Night Country” is both her biggest, most high-profile project to date and one that is deeply personal, with roots in the trauma she experienced as a child following her mother’s death. It’s an experience that has informed her work for years now, including her indie horror feature “Tigers Are Not Afraid,” a mystical tale about children caught up in cartel crossfire that became her calling card and prompted HBO to come knocking.

Working with López has been a unique experience for Foster, who says in a phone interview that she’s rarely collaborated with someone who has such a range of abilities — from the technical to the more intangible. “[She’s] just deeply emotional and articulate emotionally in a way that I’ve never really had with a director,” Foster says.

Before she was dealing with dead bodies and mysterious symbols, López made her name in her home country working in comedies, the most commercially viable genre when she started her career. But in 2009, when she tried to transition from the Mexican film industry to Hollywood, she found that comedies weren’t as popular as they had been. Her deal to come to America fell through. “I realized that the only way was to go back to my very, very, very dark, f— up roots,” she says.

López’s mother died suddenly when she was 8 years old. Not a violent death, but it was one where she never had the opportunity to say goodbye. She wasn’t even allowed to attend the funeral, the adults in her orbit thinking it would be too traumatic for a little girl to see her mother in a coffin. That lack of closure has followed her throughout her life and into her art.

Jodie Foster, left, and Kali Reis in “True Detective: Night Country.”

(Michele K. Short / HBO)

“Then you have this feeling, even if you know rationally that this person is dead and gone, a part of you is kind of expecting to find them around the corner throughout your entire life,” she says. “And I think that informs my storytelling — the sensation of the sudden loss of someone who is the center of your life is very much the story in ‘Tigers’ and is very much the story of ‘True Detective.’”

In “Night Country,” this manifests as a clash between Foster’s Liz Danvers, a pragmatist who buries her feelings of grief over the loss of her son, and Reis’ Evangeline Navarro, who wrestles with visions of the dead. After the mass of dead scientists are found in what López calls the “corpsicle,” Danvers and Navarro are thrust back into partnership to figure out what became of these men and how it relates to the death of a local indigenous woman and the local mine that activists say is polluting the environment.

López, a massive fan of “The Silence of the Lambs,” wrote the part of Danvers for Foster, and while Foster was immediately taken with the script, she wasn’t sure about taking on the role, concerned that she wasn’t quite right for it. Taking Foster’s concerns into consideration, López reshaped Danvers. “I’m not going to say this is one of the first times, but I feel like this is one of the best times of being heard,” Foster says.

The new version of Danvers that emerged was more of an “asshole,” López says. “It came so naturally, a lot of my friends were like, ‘Oh, now she feels like you.’ I was like, ‘Thank you, I don’t know if that’s a good thing.’” She has decided to take it as a compliment.

Initially, López had written Navarro as a Latina, like herself, but the more she came to learn about Northwest Alaska, the more she knew the series had to deal with violence against Inuit women. “The more I understood that, at least half of my detectives had to come from that background,” she says. “Because I’m done and I’m tired of police investigators that come from the outside figuring out the case of the murdered and missing Indigenous women.”

Because she started writing when COVID travel restrictions were tight, López’s initial research on the region consisted of immersing herself in TikTok and YouTube videos, listening to local radio stations and watching reality shows like “Life Below Zero.” As soon as they could, she and a small group of producers went on a journey to Alaska, specifically to Nome and Kotzebue, where they walked along the frozen ocean and met with residents. “We ate the caribou and ate the seals that they hunt as part of their culture,” López remembers. “Listen, I don’t eat meat, but I did eat meat with them.”

López says she never goes into projects thinking about the politics of them, but it became obvious that focusing on the clash between the Inuit community of a Northwest Alaska town and the white population was inevitable.

“Her worldview is very wide in scope, and I think it affects her personally, deeply,” says executive producer Mari-Jo Winkler.

López also didn’t approach this incarnation of “True Detective” with the intention of subverting the first season, but that happened as well. Instead of naked female corpses analyzed by two men, we see the inverse: two women inspecting naked male corpses. “Now that I look in retrospect, it’s so clear,” she says. But it wasn’t intended as “revenge.” It just happened naturally. “You don’t tell the story what it has to do, the story tells you,” she adds.

To write the series, Issa Lopez says she and some of the producers visited Alaska and spoke to native residents. “We ate the caribou and ate the seals that they hunt as part of their culture.”

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

López didn’t necessarily expect to direct every episode, but having come from the world of indie movies where she had a hand in all aspects of production, being involved every step of the way made sense both to her and her collaborators like executive producer Barry Jenkins, the Oscar-winning director of “Moonlight.”

Jenkins himself has directed an entire season of television with Prime Video’s “The Underground Railroad.” “It is grueling and yet it is also, when you come off the other side of it, one of the most satisfactory, one of the most fulfilling experiences you can have in this creative medium, and it just felt like Issa was ready for that because she is strong as hell,” he says. “Pardon my French, but a bad motherf—.”

Foster says that during shooting in Iceland, López, who is very funny, was beloved on set. “People just adored her and it made them work harder,” she says.

The, yes, very cold shoot was difficult but also beautiful, López says, remembering how they would pause shooting to take selfies when the Northern Lights shone above them. Still, she’s not rushing to make another project in those temperatures.

As for what López does next, that will depend on how “Night Country” is received, but she does have another television murder mystery in her arsenal. She’s gotten the bug for the genre and has been satisfied that, so far, no one who has seen the whole series has told her they guessed the twist.

“If you look at it, it is there,” she says. “I’m giving you enough so that when I give you the solution you don’t go like, ‘Oh, you tricked me,’ but you go like, ‘Oh, I didn’t see it.’ Because that’s so satisfying and that was exactly my ambition when I set out to write a murder mystery.”

It turns out, her pandemic gamble and childhood fixation with Sherlock Holmes paid off.

Movie Reviews

MOVIE REVIEWS: “Mercy,” “Return to Silent Hill,” “Sentimental Value” & “In Cold Light” – Valdosta Daily Times

Published

4 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

“Mercy”

(Thriller/Crime: 1 hour, 39 minutes)

Starring: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Rated: PG-13 (Violence, bloody images, strong language, drug content and teen smoking)

Movie Review:

“Mercy” is a science fiction movie based on one of the more common themes of moviedom lately, artificial intelligence (AI). This crime thriller cleverly creates an intriguing story using technology and the justice system, yet it fails to be consistently interesting and intelligent throughout. The conclusion is less significant than the initial setup, as the concluding scenes become typical action sequences.

Detective Chris Raven (Pratt) of the LA Police Department is a huge supporter of the city’s new judicial courtroom. Crimes are now judged by an AI program (Ferguson) in the Mercy Court. The court is run by an artificial program that makes decisions based on all of the evidence before it without any prejudice. Detective Raven is all for this system until he is convicted of killing his wife. Now he must use all of the data, including the AI‘s ability to tap into everyone’s electronic devices, security cameras, and even into government files, within reason, to prove he did not murder his wife.

Mercy is an interesting movie. It entertains throughout, even when the story gets sloppy and characters’ actions are irrational. This mainly occurs during the final scenes. The movie tries too hard to insert unneeded narrative twists. This is disappointing because the story is interesting. What makes it fascinating is that it happens in real time. This is the most brilliant facet.

All the other theatrics are unnecessary. Director Timur Bekmambetov (“Profile,” 2018; “Wanted,” 2008) and “Mercy’s” producers should have just kept the ending simple, no plot twists or superfluous action sequences.
Grade: C (This flick needs some mercy. Let the trial begin.)

“Return to Silent Hill”

(Horror: 1 hour, 46 minutes)

Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Hannah Emily Anderson and Robert Strange

Director: Christophe Gans

Rated: R (Bloody violent content, strong language and brief drug use.)

Movie Review:

“Return to Silent Hill” is about one man’s quest to return to the love of his life. The problem is she has moved on to the afterlife. Meanwhile, audiences lose part of their life watching this movie, which is unlike any of the two prequels in this series. This one is a psychological horror that bores.

Artist James Sunderland (Irvine) decides to return to Silent Hill, a place where many people died during a devastating illness that nearly enveloped the entirety of the city’s population. What is left there is a horror show of freakish creatures, all with violent intent. Still, Sunderland searches for the love of his life, Mary Crane (Anderson).

Think of this movie as a slow suicide, where a guy goes back to retrieve his dead girlfriend. To do so, he must travel to the modern land of the dead that Silent Hill has become. This one is a type of swan song by the main character, and the movie becomes less scary while lackluster romantic notions wander aimlessly.

Grade: D (Do not return to see this.)

“Sentimental Value”

(Drama: 2 hours, 13 minutes)

Starring: Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning

Director: Joachim Trier

Rated: R (Language, sexual reference, nudity and thematic elements)

Movie Review:

“Sentimental Value” is a Norwegian film that won the Grand Prix in France’s Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Motion Picture. It is a solid drama filled with symbolism and family connections. It is brilliant performances by a talented cast under the direction of Joachim Trier (“The Worst Person in the World,” 2021).

This screenplay is about Gustav Borg (Skarsgård). He is a father, grandfather and a famed film director. He stayed away from his two daughters, actress Nora Borgwhile (Reinsve) and historian Agnes Borg Pettersen (Lilleaas), while he was creating works as a filmmaker. The director comes back into the lives of his daughters after the death of their mother. Their reunion leads to a rediscovery of their bond at their family home in Oslo.

Stellan Skarsgård is always a solid actor. He takes his roles and makes them tangible characters that seem like you know them, even when they’re speaking a foreign language. That is the quality of his act and why he gets nominated for multiple awards each season.

“Sentimental Value” is a valuable movie filled with enriching sentiment. It is an enjoyable film for those who value a good drama. The acting and original writing alone make the movie worth it. “Sentimental Value” starts in a very simple way, but everything in between, even when low-key, remains potent. Joachim Trier and writer Eskil Vogt have worked together on multiple projects such as “The Worst Person in the World” (2021). Their pairing is once again worthy.

Grade: A- (Any motive valuable movie.)

“In Cold Light ”

(Crime: 1 hour , 36 minutes)

Starring: Maika Monroe, Allan Hawco and Troy Kotsur

Director: Maxime Giroux

Rated: R (Violence, bloody images, strong language and drug material)

Movie Review:

“In Cold Light” sticks to a very straightforward story, primarily taking place over a short period. The problem is the story leaves one in the cold. Audiences have to guess what is being communicated because this movie uses American Sign Language (ASL) without subtitles. For those moviegoers who do not know ASL, they are left deciphering characters’ actions and facial expressions during some pivotal scenes.

Ava Bly (Monroe) attempts to start a legit life after prison. Her life changes when Ava’s twin, Tom Bly (Jesse Irving) is murdered while seated next to her. As her brother’s killers pursue her, Ava must evade law enforcement, which contains some crooked cops led by Bob Whyte (Hawco).

For a brief moment, this movie hits its exceptional moment when Oscar-recipient Helen Hunt enters the picture as a motherly Claire, a crime boss who seems more like a social worker/psychologist. Her long scene is wasted as it arrives too late.

French Canadian director Maxime Giroux’s style has potential in his first English-language film, but it does not fit a wayward narrative. A rarity, this crime drama has characters commit many dumb actions at once.

Moreover, Giroux (“Félix et Meira,” 2014) and writer Patrick Whistler forget to let their audiences in on their story. They allow much to get lost in translation, especially during heated conversations between Monroe’s Ava and her father, Will Bly, played by Academy Award-winning actor Troy Kotsur (“CODA,” 2021).

Grade: C- (Just cold and dark.)

More movie reviews online at www.valdostadailytimes.com.

Entertainment

Paramount-Warner Bros. deal stirs fears about what it means for CNN

Published

6 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Paramount-Warner Bros. deal stirs fears about what it means for CNN

As the media industry took stock of Paramount Skydance’s startling acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, one question lingered on the minds of many in the news business and beyond: What will this mean for CNN?

The iconic 24-hour cable news network is among the various Warner Bros. assets that would be scooped up by Paramount in a deal announced Thursday that could transform the media landscape.

Paramount has undergone a swift transformation under Chief Executive David Ellison following his family’s acquisition of the company last summer. These changes reached CBS News almost immediately with the appointment of Bari Weiss, the controversial Free Press co-founder, as its new editor in chief.

Bari Weiss moderated a town hall with Erika Kirk, widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

(CBS via Getty Images)

Weiss’ tenure so far has been rocky.

Her decision to pull a “60 Minutes” story about conditions inside an El Salvador prison that housed undocumented Venezuelan migrants from the U.S. received widespread criticism and accusations of political motivation. The network said the story was held for more reporting, and the segment eventually aired.

There was more upheaval last week at the news magazine, when “60 Minutes” correspondent and CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper announced that he’d be leaving to spend more time with his family.

And earlier this year, a veteran producer at “CBS Evening News With Tony Dokoupil” was fired after he expressed disagreement about the editorial direction of the newscast.

Now, the concern is that similar changes could be in store for CNN, which has long been a target of President Trump’s ire. He has personally called for the ouster of hosts at the network who have questioned his policies.

CNN Worldwide Chief Executive Mark Thompson tried to quell some of those fears, particularly inside his own newsroom.

In an internal memo dated Thursday and obtained by The Times, Thompson urged employees not to “jump to conclusions about the future” and try to concentrate on their work.

“We’re still near the start of what is already an incredibly newsy year at home and abroad,” he wrote in the note. “Let’s continue to focus on delivering the best possible journalism to the millions of people who rely on us all around the world.”

Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide Mark Thompson and media editor for Semafor, Maxwell Tani, speak onstage.

CNN declined to comment beyond Thompson’s memo.

Ellison has said his vision for a news business is one that is ideologically down the middle.

“We want to build a scaled news service that is basically, fundamentally in the trust business, that is in the truth business, and that speaks to the 70% of Americans that are in the middle,” he said during a Dec. 8 interview on CNBC, shortly after Warner said it had chosen Netflix as the winning bidder for its studios, HBO and HBO Max. “And we believe that by doing so that is for us, kind of doing well, while doing good.”

Ellison demurred when asked whether Trump would embrace him as CNN’s owner, given the president’s past criticisms of the network.

“We’ve had great conversations with the president about this, but … I don’t want to speak for him in any way, shape or form,” he said.

First Amendment scholars have raised concerns about press freedom and free speech rights under the Trump administration, particularly after last month’s arrest of former CNN journalist Don Lemon and the Federal Communications Commission’s pressure on late-night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert.

Press freedom groups have long asked questions in other countries about how authoritarian regimes use their power and “oligarchical alliances to belittle, silence, and punish independent journalistic voices, or to steer media ownership toward … a preferred version of the truth,” said RonNell Andersen Jones, a 1st Amendment scholar and distinguished professor in the college of law at the University of Utah, in an email.

“We see them asking at least some of these questions about the U.S. today,” she wrote.

Apprehension about the merger also extends beyond its implications for CNN and the media business.

Lawmakers such as Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have raised concerns about how the consolidation of two major Hollywood studios could affect industry jobs and film and television production — which has significantly slowed since the pandemic, the dual writers’ and actors’ strikes in 2023 and corporate cutbacks in spending.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called the deal an “antitrust disaster” that she feared could raise prices and limit choices for consumers.

“With the cloud of corruption looming over Trump’s Department of Justice, it’ll be up to the American people to speak up and state attorneys general to enforce the law,” she said in a statement.

Already, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has said the merger isn’t a “done deal,” adding that he is in communication with other states attorneys general about the issue.

“As the epicenter of the entertainment industry, California has a special interest in protecting competition,” he posted Friday on X.

The deal is subject to approval by the U.S. Justice Department. Bonta and other state attorneys general are expected to file a legal challenge to the mega-merger on antitrust grounds.

Ellison addressed some of these concerns in a statement Friday.

“By bringing together these world-class studios, our complementary streaming platforms, and the extraordinary talent behind them, we will create even greater value for audiences, partners and shareholders,” he said. “We couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead.”

Times staff writer Meg James contributed to this report.

Movie Reviews

Movie Review: ‘Goat’ – Catholic Review

Published

16 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

NEW YORK (OSV News) – “Goat” (Sony) is an animated underdog sports comedy populated by anthropomorphized animals. While mostly inoffensive, and thus suitable for a wide audience — including teens and older kids — the film is also easily forgotten.

The amiable proceedings center on teen goat Will Harris (voice of Caleb McLaughlin). As opening scenes show, it has been Will’s dream since childhood to play for his hometown team, the Vineland Thorns.

The inhabitants of Vineland and the other areas of the movie’s world, however, are divided into so-called bigs and smalls, with professional competition dominated, unsurprisingly, by the former. Though Will stoutly maintains that he’s a medium, those around him regard him as too slight and diminutive to go up against the towering bigs.

Despite this prejudice, a video showing Will more or less holding his own against a famous and arrogant big, Andalusian horse Mane Attraction (voice of Aaron Pierre), goes viral and inspires the Thorns’ devious owner, warthog Flo Everson (voiced by Jenifer Lewis), to give the lad a shot. Though Will is understandably thrilled, his path forward proves challenging.

Will has idolized the Thorns’ sole outstanding player, black panther Jett Fillmore (voice of Gabrielle Union), since he was a youngster. But Jett, it turns out, is not only frustrated by her situation as a star among misfits but scornful of Will’s ambitions and resolute in helping to deprive her new teammate of playing time.

Given such divisions, the Thorns’ fortunes seem destined to continue their long decline.

“Roarball,” the invented game featured in director Tyree Dillihay’s film, is essentially co-ed basketball by another name. As produced by, among others, NBA champion Stephen Curry, the movie — adapted from an idea in Chris Tougas’ book “Funky Dunks” — is an unabashed celebration of hoop culture both on and off the court.

Viewers’ enthusiasm may vary, accordingly, depending on the degree to which they’re invested in the real-life sport.

Moviegoers of every stripe will appreciate the fact that the script, penned by Aaron Buchsbaum and Teddy Riley, shows the negative effects of self-centeredness as well as the value of teamwork and fan support. Plot developments also showcase forgiveness and reconciliation.

Will’s story is, nonetheless, thoroughly formulaic and most of the screenplay’s jokes feel strained and laborious. Still, while hardly qualifying as the Greatest of All Time, “Goat” does provide passable entertainment with little besides a few potty gags to concern parents.

The film contains brief scatological humor and at least one vaguely crass term. The OSV News classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.