We're saying it now: The Staircase is one of Colin Firth's finest performances.
In a teaser released March 29, the actor masterfully conceals his British lilt and transforms into Michael Peterson, a real-life published author and the subject of the famous French documentary The Staircase. As scenes of the Peterson family are showed, Colin narrates in Michael's gruff manner of speaking, "Family is all we got. We're not perfect, God knows, but we've surprised because we stick together and we love each other."
It's the first time true-crime fans have gotten a glimpse of Firth's portrayal of the convicted murderer, who accepted an Alford plea—for which a defendant claims their innocence but acknowledges there's enough evidence for a jury to convict—in connection to his wife Kathleen Peterson's 2001 death.
Armchair detectives became familiar with the author's mannerisms and inflection after viewing the docuseries' more than 10 episodes, in addition to the Netflix sequel.
But for all the insight The Staircase offered to the cast, Firth was still baffled by Michael, who he felt was a mystery in many ways. "I very much wanted to err toward finding my own interpretation," the actor told Vanity Fair in an interview published March 25. "That's partly because I don't really feel I have answers."
His co-star, Toni Collette, had the even bigger challenge of portraying Kathleen's death and the many potential theories surrounding her ill-fated fall down a flight of stairs. Series creator Antonio Campos decided to re-enact every possible cause of death in the series, with Toni telling VF about filming, "It's a very weird thing to have to do because, (a) it's horrible; (b) it really happened; and (c) these are all the things that people don't like to think about in life, actually coming to the fore—and I have to bring some honesty to it."
But Campos said that it was the perfect way to depict the perplexing nature of the case, which is considered solved despite an abundance of outstanding theories. "The things you could never imagine that she does in the moment really surprise you—you go, oh, my God, maybe it was that," he said. "Or that. Or that must have been what it was like for her to be in that stairwell by herself."
Michael Stuhlbarg, Juliette Binoche, Dane DeHaan, Olivia DeJonge, Rosemarie DeWitt, Tim Guinee, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sophie Turner, Vincent Vermignon, Odessa Young and Parker Posey also star in the chilling series.
The first three episodes, written and executive produced by Campos and co-showrunner Maggie Cohn, premiere May 5 on HBO Max.