‘I Am the Night’ Star Chris Pine on Working With Director Patty Jenkins Again

Damian Holbrook January 15, 2019, 10:00 am

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I am the Night - Chris Pine — Turner / Clay Enos

A six-part atmospheric mystery set in the 1960s, I Am the Night tells the fact-based tale of down-and-out Los Angeles journalist Jay Singletary (Chris Pine), who crosses paths with a young girl from Nevada named Fauna Hodel (India Eisley).

Fauna has a murky family history that may be tied to 1947’s unsolved Black Dahlia murder. “To shoot a noir thriller on glorious Kodak film… I’d wanted to play in that world, with those midcentury tropes, for a long time,” says Pine, who also serves as an executive producer on the limited series.

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Singletary’s suspicions about Fauna’s grandfather George Hodel (Jefferson Mays) and his role in the notorious homicide fuel the reporter’s desire to crack the case, despite his washed-up career. “He has nothing left to lose except for the last remaining drops of his soul,” explains Pine.

While admitting that Night’s similarities to Chinatown and L.A. Confidential were a big draw, Pine’s top reason for signing on was to work with executive producer (and his Wonder Woman director) Patty Jenkins on a scale different from a superhero movie: “It was a chance to see how she breaks down character given greater time.”

On top of nailing the look and feel of the era, Night boasts an added level of authenticity, thanks to the participation of the real-life Fauna Hodel, who served as a consultant on the series before her 2017 passing. “Her presence was with us all the time,” says writer Sam Sheridan, Jenkins’s husband. “Here’s someone who finds out the worst thing about her [past] and yet, she didn’t let it destroy her.”