We have some general sense that a lot of these are second and third generation English, some Scots, a mixture of the British Isles, Dutch obviously. And it is practically impossible to be accurate with accents.
Seeing as not much is known about the historic Abraham Woodhull, how did you tap into that character? Was there a breakthrough moment when you figured out how to connect with him? Moral compasses in war, especially as a spy, are kind of questionable. And as the show progresses, he does get more entangled and he does do things that he wishes he hadn’t, and that he won’t ever be able to take back. There is also something to be said of the good person who’s forced to do bad things, who’s forced to lie to his wife, who’s forced to betray his father. Yes, well, the Walter Whites of the world are fascinating to watch the Tony Sopranos are endlessly fun and entertaining. Are we going to see him move into more of a gray area as the show goes on? We ’ re used to seeing antiheroes on AMC, but Abe is a genuinely good guy who lives by a strong moral code.
I do think it’s dangerous when you start out a show with someone who’s seemingly so cowardly, so repressed, so passive - it’s a risk. So the journey of the character is stepping into that role of taking control, trying to fight for a better future for his son, and finding out what he believes in, finding his political voice. And the events surrounding this war just keep pushing him further down the wrong path. He shut himself down, he shut his love down, he’s lied to his family he’s strayed from his own story, his own destiny. I think certain events in his life have forced him to become repressed. Your character, Abraham Woodhull, starts out very much not wanting to take sides. So who do you get to do that, you know? And this one guy, Benjamin Tallmadge, he went to the people he trusted the most: his best friends. And it’s done by professionals and they’re stealthy and you don’t see them, and there are drones, mobile-operated machines that go out and do dirty work - non-traceable entities, you know? But back in 1776, the idea of intelligence-gathering to try and win you a war was a brand-new concept. As we understand it today, espionage is seemingly so important to a country’s infrastructure, to a country’s security, that we’ve come to accept it as part of our lives. The show very much is dealing with the origins of espionage.
But Turn takes the genre in a different direction. You hear “ spy drama ” and you think James Bond, gadgets, disguises. We just need a bit of time to get there.” Vulture spoke to Bell about the challenges of historical accuracy, the influence of Leonardo DiCaprio on his character, and - spoiler alert! - an iconic moment we can expect to see before the season is out. “But I think the quality in this show is in the gray areas, the fact that the spies were kids together and they turned against their families and their occupiers.
“We have to establish a war, which side people are on - there’s a lot to lay down,” Bell says of the slow-burning drama.
But it’s clear that a transformation will happen. The 28-year-old lead actor got his start tap-dancing in the streets in Billy Elliot and was last seen whipping Charlotte Gainsbourg in Nymphomaniac.Īs Abe Woodhull, Bell makes the compelling choice to play against the hero archetype his character doesn’t magically transform into a super spy when called upon, and is reluctant to even choose sides in the Revolution. It’s an ambitious series, striving for historical accuracy while trying to locate the elusive sexiness in 1776. Turn, AMC’s new Revolutionary War drama that airs prior to Mad Men on Sunday nights, is based on the true story of Abraham Woodhull, a young farmer who became the lynchpin of America’s first spy ring.