‘Parish’: Giancarlo Esposito Reveals His Personal Connection to the Gritty Crime Thriller
The wrong way is the only way out for New Orleans native Gracian “Gray” Parish (Giancarlo Esposito), a reformed thief and getaway driver who’s reluctantly pulled back into the dark underworld to save his family from financial ruin in Parish, AMC‘s riveting six-episode series. And Gray’s choice to take on a job as a driver for a fledgling kingpin has consequences that sends everyone into a deadly spinout.
It’s not just all the illegal activities that have Gray on edge. “Gracian will keep coming back to that [question] of, ‘Am I a good man? Is this who I really am?’ That’s the plight of our show and what will keep you on the edge of your seat,” says Esposito, who executive produces alongside Eduardo Javier Canto and Ryan Maldonado (Death and Other Details). The passion project, based on U.K. hit The Driver, took eight years to come to fruition.
Esposito, known for his nuanced and layered work in AMC’s massively popular Breaking Bad and spinoff Better Call Saul, portrays all the shades of, well, Gray. He’s mourning the death of his teen son Maddox (Caleb Baumann, seen in flashbacks), who was shot in a carjacking, and facing insurmountable debt at his once-thriving luxury car service. To save the life he’s built with wife Rose (Paula Malcomson, Ray Donovan) and high schooler daughter Makayla (Arica Himmel, mixed-ish), Gray agrees to a big payday after much convincing from his old friend Colin (Scream star Skeet Ulrich). It goes sideways, and the fallout leads to Gray becoming the driver for a Zimbabwean gangster, the Horse (Zackary Momoh, The Nevers).
How Gray’s monetary distress breeds actions that he’d ordinarily consider morally wrong is close to Esposito’s heart. “This is a big part of my life that I’ve lived. Desperation drives you to do desperate things,” says the actor. Esposito once went bankrupt, first trying to stave it off by selling his own dream car, a 1964 Volvo 122S. But he lost his house, the roof over his family’s head. “How many times did I think when I was bankrupt of robbing a bank and doing something reprehensible to have my family come through? All for a good reason, but is that trading in your moral compass and your integrity?” he asks, echoing Gray’s dilemma.
Gray’s saving grace is that he often acts as the good man in a bad situation, even if it means risking his life for people who might order killings themselves. He can’t help but admire and relate to the Horse’s love for his young son Luke (Dax Rey) and becomes protective of them.
In a nail-biter of a scene, the three come under attack while Gray’s at the wheel. He uses his trick driving skills and paternal instincts to save them even as bullets fly.
There are plenty of car chase scenes to keep action aficionados happy, but they always include a high-stakes emotional component. That adrenaline is something Esposito appreciates. “I’m a Popular Mechanics guy. I love speed. But when I drive fast, I have to ask myself, ‘What am I running away from?’” He adds, “There were things I had to learn about being safe on the set [while filming], in regards to driving.”
The terrifying gunplay seals Gray’s trustworthiness for the Horse, but his siblings in the Tongai crime family are suspicious of the outsider. Gray is equally wary, and repulsed by their business of human trafficking.
In contrast to Gray’s maneuvering at work, he’s trying to be a good, loving dad at home. Esposito, who has four daughters of his own, says, “It’s really important to me to care for [them], to create a family that understands each other and has an open line of communication.” He brings relatable tenderness and frustration to Gray’s attempts to connect with Makayla, who’s irritated with how he is grieving Maddox’s death. In a very different car scene, Gray gives Makayla a driving lesson with a blend of affection and anxiousness that any parent will recognize.
But as Gray learns to balance his unsavory job with his softer home life, there’s a twist. That’s the midseason intro of industrialist Anton (Bradley Whitford), whose criminal enterprises are as entrenched in NOLA as Louisiana kudzu.
Anton has a past with Gray and a present beef with the Tongais, which is bad news for Gray’s family. To protect the people he loves—his wife, daughter, Colin and now even the Horse and Luke—Gray has to walk a moral tightrope. You’ll breathlessly watch, praying he doesn’t fall.
Parish, Series Premiere Sunday, March 31, 10:15/9:15c, AMC
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