The Slap: Zachary Quinto Dishes on What Comes After That Jarring Moment

Exclusive! The NBC event series' stellar cast talks about what's in store for viewers after the series premiere on Feb. 12

By Tierney Bricker Feb 13, 2015 1:30 AMTags
The Slap, CastJeff Riedel/NBC

"Everyone gets slapped in some way."

Boasting a stellar cast, which includes Zachary Quinto, Peter Sarsgaard, Thandie Newton, Uma Thurman, Brian Cox, and Melissa George, NBC's new miniseries The Slap delivers one of the most jarring and chilling moments of the season: a grown man slaps a child, who is not his own, across the face. Hard. In front of an entire party. But the slap is just the spark that ignites the rest of the series.

The slapper? Quinto's alpha male with anger issues, Harry, and the actor tells E! News he had no qualms about taking on the controversial role. 

"There was no hesitation because I feel like good storytelling should be controversial and provocative," he says. "I'm an actor so I want to play characters that are dynamic as possible. This is certainly an example of that."

And Harry will be the focus on the series' next episode, airing, Feb. 19, with Quinto spilling, "We start to explore the impact of his decision—or lack of decision—has on him and his family and his life. Beyond that, all the episodes are told through the point of view of another character."

Including the child's free-spirited parents, Rosie (George) and Gary (Thomas Sadowski).

George (who won the Aussie version of an Emmy for her work in the same role in the original Australian adaptation of the novel of the same name) spills that Rosie and Gary will decide to take legal actions against Harry, "We're trying to get justice for our son," but may lose some of her family and friends along the way, including Aisha (Newton) and Anouk (Thurman).

"I can't believe that my two best friends don't support me in my mission," George says. "It's really, really sad. Not only is she losing them, she's losing her structure."

Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Speaking to Aisha's hesitation to back Rose's pursuit of legal action, Newton explains the series will find the group of inter-connected characters asking, "Do we deal with this as a family or do we take this further? That's really interesting...that would be something to talk about because obviously the legal system is set up to help us."

Sarsgaard, who plays Hector, Aisha's husband and the central character in the premiere episode, adds, "What is the appropriate response for an action like that? Is it taking legal action? Is it worth it...because it's not just the life of [Harry], it's going to affect the lives of everyone all around him; his own family, he's got a child, he's got a wife, he's got a family."

Quinto stresses that the slap is the catalyst, not the focus of The Slap. "It's really a story about a group of very complex and layered characters who are interconnected with one another. Each of them is really struggling with and carrying their own internal conflicts and failures and disappointments. The slap brings all those things into focus."

The Slap airs Thursdays, 8 p.m. on NBC.

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)