Summary
Ruth Negga’s acclaimed leading role in the new Apple TV+ miniseriesPresumed Innocentis a timely reminder to watch the devilishly dark superhero show she starred in a few years ago. Created byAlly McBeal’s David E. Kelley,Presumed Innocentis a legal thriller about a prosecutor who becomes the top suspect in the murder of one of his peers. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the prime suspect, Rusty Sabich, who struggles to balance his murder allegation with his failing marriage to his wife Barbara, played by Negga. Elizabeth Marvel and Gyllenhaal’s real-life brother-in-law Peter Sarsgaard also star.
This is the second adaptation of Scott Turow’s debut novel; it was previously turned into a film starring Harrison Ford and Brian Dennehy by director Alan J. Pakula in 1990. But, as an eight-part limited series,the Apple TV+ version ofPresumed Innocentwill be able to tell the story in more depth. That means exploring Rusty’s marriage to Barbara (previously played by Bonnie Bedelia) as a fully fleshed-out marital drama as opposed to a perfunctory subplot. Negga’s standout turn in the cast ofPresumed Innocentshould be taken as a reminder to check out her last major TV role.
Ruth Negga Played Tulip O’Hare In The Graphic Novel Adaptation Preacher
Negga played Jesse Custer’s hot-tempered ex-girlfriend
In 2016,Breaking Badwriter Sam Catlin teamed up withThis is the Enddirectors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg to bring Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s iconicPreachercomics to the screen. The series revolves around a heavy-drinking, chain-smoking preacher named Jesse Custer. During a crisis of faith, Jesse teams up withhis volatile ex-girlfriend Tulip O’Hareand a drug-addicted vampire named Proinsias Cassidy. They embark on a wild adventure to literally find God. While it wasn’t as big a hit as Rogen and Goldberg’s next Garth Ennis adaptation,The Boys,Preacherhad a respectable four-season run on AMC.
Catlin, Rogen, and Goldberg did an impressive job of maintaining the wild visuals and edgy material of the comics within the confines of a TV budget and network restrictions. For the lead trio, the producers cast Dominic Cooper as Jesse, Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy, andPresumed Innocent’s Ruth Negga as Tulip. All three lead actors did a great job with their roles. Cooper anchored the series with a nuanced yet fierce lead performance as Jesse, while Gilgun seized every opportunity to be the show’s hilariously unpredictable wildcard. Butit was Negga who stole the show in the role of Tulip.
Ruth Negga Was One Of Preacher’s Biggest Highlights
Tulip was a scene-stealing hellraiser
While Cooper and Gilgun each gave great performances, and each captured the essence of their characters from the source material, it was Negga who stole the show with her turn as Tulip. Fromthe very firstPreacherepisode, Negga’s Tulip burst onto the screen as an eye-catching character. She’s introduced in the midst of a brutal fight with a gangster inside a speeding car. The car veers through a cornfield and stops at a farmhouse. With more gangsters on their way to kill her, Tulip enlists the help of two children from the farmhouse to help her build a makeshift bazooka.
Suffice to say, it’s a memorable introduction, and Negga maintained the hard-edged, no-nonsense energy of her character throughout the rest of the series.Negga was effortlessly charming in the role of Tulip, which kept her endearingin spite of all the gnarly, violent, and ridiculously over-the-top things she did. Negga leaned into the twisted dark comedy of the series and inherent humor of the character, but never lost sight of the emotional drama at the core of the story.
Ruth Negga’s Roles In Presumed Innocent & Preacher Highlight Her Range
Is there nothing Ruth Negga can’t do?
Negga’s role as the unhappy wife of a murder suspect inPresumed Innocentcouldn’t be more different from her role as the trigger-happy ex-girlfriend of a vice-loving man of God inPreacher. But inPresumed Innocent, she’s proven thatshe’s just as adept at performing in a grounded, sobering, character-focused drama about a strained marriage as she is at starring in a surreal horror comedy about demons and vampires. This just goes to show the extent of Negga’s impressive range as an actor – it seems as though there’s nothing she can’t do.
Presumed InnocentandPreacherare just two examples that highlight Negga’s range. She earned a Tony nomination for her powerful performance as Lady Macbeth on Broadway. She earned an Oscar nomination forLoving, a touching drama about the couple whose love for each other got the laws prohibiting interracial marriage overturned. She’s played roles ranging from Queen Taria in theWarcraftmovie to the best friend of a grieving Dan Levy inGood Grief. Negga is one of the finest actors working today.
Presumed Innocent
Cast
An eight-episode limited series based on the New York Times bestselling novel of the same name by Scott Turow. Starring Gyllenhaal in the lead role of chief deputy prosecutor Rusty Sabich, the series takes viewers on a gripping journey through the horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorney’s office when one of its own is suspected of the crime. The series explores obsession, sex, politics, and the power and limits of love, as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.
