A “Strange World With Its Secrets”: Harry Lloyd and WGN America’s Manhattan Project

If a recent interview with Vulture—which was supposed to focus on Harry Lloyd’s current involvement with WGN America’s Manhattan (2014)—is symptomatic of the bigger picture, it is that the actor is still typecast as a character whom he played for all of six episodes in Series 1 of a show with five seasons now under its belt.  It’s no matter that Lloyd sizzled and shocked in The Fear (2012), for which he earned a well-deserved Best Supporting Actor BAFTA nomination in 2013.  His Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (2011) was delightful, loving, and romantically clueless: the most loveable a Dickens character can be.  And even Meryl Streep shared a deep affection for the talented actor during their work on 2011’s The Iron Lady.  Yet, it is the blond-turned-golden-crowned-head of Viserys Targaryen in Game of Thrones (2011-Present) that gains Lloyd the greatest recognition.  Although the Vulture interviewer, Jennifer Vineyard, tries endlessly to get Lloyd to reflect upon playing Viserys (and wearing that wig), Lloyd returns the focus to his current role.  Think less blond hair, more Brylcreem. He thinks audiences will be “surprised” at the direction in which his character, a scientist, goes, which is “the same for a lot of the characters in Manhattan — where they start off and where they finish, you really don't know where it's going” (Lloyd, qtd. in Vineyard).

Photo Above: Harry has a prime seat on that 1940s cycle—that should be a good sign of things to come, right?  The cast of WGN America's Manhattan features Ashley Zukerman, left, Rachel Brosnahan, Alexia Fast, Daniel Stern, John Benjamin Hickey, Olivia Williams, Michael Chernus, Eddie Shin, Katja Herbers, Harry Lloyd and Christopher Denham. (Photo © Justin Stephens, WGN America)

This is the project of Projects—literally. 

Not only is WGN America’s new 1940s period drama about the Manhattan Project, but it is also the latest project for Harry Lloyd, who (without a wig or mere background role this time) seems continuously better-poised to make more of an impression on American television viewers.  And not just because he plays a dragon-obsessed whiner who gets what he deserves in the end.  While Lloyd’s Big Significant Things (2014) continues to play at independent film festivals, gaining him some high accolades in smaller circles around the country, Manhattan has also kept the British-born actor busy and in the United States of late.  While Lloydalists often likes to joke about the Harry Lloyd “drought” that is often followed by the “deluge” of news on the actor, we are certainly feeling the diluvial nature of Harry Lloyd’s career at this time—ironically so, given how dry is that New Mexican desert featured so heavily in his new show!

Begun last year and filmed earlier this year on location in New Mexico—which has become the place to film following television favorite Breaking Bad (2008-2013) and current show Longmire (2012-Present)—Manhattan tells the story of what came before the atomic bomb was dropped in Japan during World War II.  Not to be confused with the borough of New York City, Manhattan’s title is a direct reference to the infamous Manhattan Project, the super-secret development of the atomic bomb in Alamos, New Mexico.  The official statement of the show explains that is a drama that “follows the mission to build the world's first atomic bomb in Los Alamos, N.M., and centers on the brilliant but flawed scientists and their families as they attempt to co-exist in a world where secrets and lies infiltrate every aspect of their lives” (Goldberg, “WGN”).  Furthermore, Matt Cherniss, President and General Manager of WGN America and Tribute Studios, has said that the company feels that the show “has all of the elements to make for a provocative and memorable series and are excited to have the support of Skydance and Lionsgate as WGN America continues its rapid expansion toward year-round original programming on the network” (qtd. in Goundry). 

Indeed, there has been a lot of faith in Manhattan from the very beginning.  Nearly as soon as the show was announced, a full season of thirteen episodes was ordered (Goldberg, “WGN”).  As of today (July 28^th), and following Season One’s pilot that aired on WGN yesterday night (Sunday, July 27, 2014), the television and movie streaming service Hulu Plus has secured exclusive streaming rights for the show—even before the first episode aired (Deadline).  Those people without WGN in their cable network or who do not already subscribe to Hulu Plus may find now the prime time to sign up for Hulu Plus and take advantage of their free trial.  Amazon Instant Video also has each episode of Manhattan the day after airing for $1.99 each (as of today, there is still no discounted “Season Pass” option), and iTunes also carries the show.  Fees may vary depending upon state taxes and countries.

While it is inevitable that the period-piece Manhattan should draw comparisons to AMC’s popular Mad Men (2007-2014), and while the two dramas do share—at least so far—a similar aesthetic in the way of the subdued visualization and cinematography, Manhattan latches more firmly onto a realistic world due to the very nature of the story it is telling.  Plus, it takes place a good generation (or two decades) before AMC’s show.  Still, as Mad Men makes its final bow this year, Manhattan allows mid-twentieth-century aficionados to roll their love right over to the new series.  (Bonus: in comparing the two series, you get to see just how slowly men’s fashion really changes in time.)

The Show

Manhattan is as much about the two years or so leading up to the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima as it is about the secret community that surrounded the scientific premises, like a cellular wall around its fragile nucleus.  The season opens in 1943 (August 6, 1945 is when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima), and while the pilot episode seems to build tension, mystery, suspense, and characters alike at a pace that almost made me nervous (“save some room for later!,” I found myself crying in the voice of the greedy Augustus Gloop’s mother from 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), dramas like this also tend to start with a bang and turn into a slow-burn once the desired audience is ensnared.  Interestingly, and hopefully, show creator and executive producer Sam Shaw reveals that he has already mapped out stories that could span multiple seasons, should the series be renewed (Keveney).  While it is too soon to tell whether or not the pacing of the storylines should prove to be an issue, Lloyd’s own comments about his character (see below) suggest that the show’s writers know precisely what they’re doing.

In Manhattan, charismatic actor John Benjamin Hickey stars as Frank Winter, “a brilliant and self-destructive physics professor tapped to help lead the Manhattan Project, a mission that will jeopardize his family and his sanity” (Goldberg, “Big”) and the head of the six-man-team of scientists (five men and one woman) that includes Harry Lloyd’s character.  Meanwhile, Olivia Williams—always a sheer joy to watch onscreen—plays Frank’s headstrong and perceptive wife Liza, the kind of character who you just know has more brewing beneath the surface.  So far, Hickey’s character seems the one to watch, especially after the premiere’s suspicious and semi-cliff-hanger-y ending.  But I have a sneaking suspicion that Liza (and Williams) may very much steal the show: already, her refreshingly cool, natural presence in the series seems to float seamlessly from the domestic to the scientific elements that merge in Manhattan.

Lloyd himself describes the premise of Manhattan as unexpected, a “strange world with its secrets, and [where] the stakes are so high, there are so many different stories to tell. You really don't know where it's going to end up, other than that the bomb will get dropped in August 1945. But within that, we need to be kept on our toes” (Lloyd, qtd. in Vineyard).  He adds that the milieu of Manhattan is that of “an impossible situation,” a “morally complicated, sinister world” (Lloyd, qtd. in Vineyard).  Thus, “just trying to see people deal with that, trying to deal with doing the right thing in an impossible situation, I think that gives you a world you'll be fascinated by” (Lloyd, qtd. in Vineyard).  Although Manhattan is a series taking a look back at an America (an ugly world in general) over 70 years ago, the show still resonates with contemporary audiences.  For instance, writer/creator Sam Shaw has mentioned how there still exists, as there did then, a “question of how we treat issues of secrecy in our culture, what kind of faith and trust we place in hands of politicians and our leaders, how we wield military force in the world and what the morality of power is” (qtd. in Keveney).  The writer, who claims to have truly dug into the research of the actual Manhattan Project, learned that it “came to feel like the fundamental origins story of 21st-century America and the world in a way. It was the moment when this one America ceased to exist and another was born” (qtd. in Keveney).  Anyone who has spent two seconds on the internet lately, watching the news, and/or reading a newspaper will understand just how correct are Shaw’s assertions.  When, in the pilot, one character asks another what will happen if there is another war, it is as if the writers are asking the audience that same question—what if there is a World War III?  What if there is something bigger, worse, than the atom bomb that becomes a necessity in a tragically ironic way of gaining peace?

If Manhattan seems to have the half-shadow of history intermingled with the half-light of hindsight lingering over it so far, it would be an accurate assessment.  Shows like Manhattan that are rooted in history, especially such a specific event or project, can often feel clinical, expected, and even overdone.  Already, though, the series opener maintained an unexpected element of the “non-scientific”—the focus on the wives who mingle about the shanty-town-meets-Dust-Bowl-looking arena, attempting to make the desert into “home” with their painted wooden house with too-thin walls adds a dose of reality and an escape from the “gadget” lab.  So far, Rachel Brosnahan’s Abby Isaacs—a newcomer from Boston who has followed her Ph.D.-touting husband Charlie (Ashley Zukerman) across the country expecting to find a new place reminiscent of Cambridge and Oxford—is the character who aligns most readily and immediately with also-newcomers, the show’s audience members.  Her disgust at her new home and the way in which her infatuated-with-work husband revels in his new surroundings while simultaneously becoming sickened by them not only allows Manhattan’s viewers the necessary empathy to engage with the story immediately but, even more so, represents microcosmically the ordeals of the other wives and outsiders (including non-Anglophones) in the community.

The (mostly) male scientists may be keeping secrets as to what they’re really doing at “work” in the middle of the desert but their wives, too, wear the masks and maintain the facades of happiness when, meanwhile, food is scarce, water is constantly lacking, lice epidemics require children shave their heads and consequently look like “convicts” (another microcosmic reminder of how everyone on the Manhattan Project compound is just that, slaves to secret lives), and a second World War is waging in the world beyond.

Following the Television Critics Association press tour less than a week ago, Washington Post’s Opinion Blogger Alyssa Rosenberg had this to say about Manhattan: “The show could stand to lighten up a little bit: even this far removed from World War II, it is hard to imagine its potential audience does not know at least the basics of the atomic bomb project. But [Manhattan] has a reasonably deft sense of how to communicate scientific competition and the claustrophobia of being in a closed community.”  Bill Keveney of USA Today explains the show in more alluring, if unbiased, terms: “At its heart, Manhattan is a story of secrets — big and small, those affecting the security of the world and others influencing individual lives – in a place whose existence was classified.”  Because the Manhattan Project is, by now, such a well-known project—and atomic bombings well-known events—it will be quite a task to keep the show fresh and mysterious, and this is where it will be imperative for the show-runners to feature the characters’ backstories and home-lives as opposed to simply relying on the mathematics and tests being run in the claustrophobic, boondock-looking labs. Already, though, and from what the first episode reveals, the writers and producers have found startling yet subdued ways to build an audience investment in the show.  Somehow, a lot happens in the premiere—but you’re really no closer to knowing anyone or anything more than when you began watching.

Harry’s Role: A Reflection on “You Always Hurt the One You Love,” the Pilot Episode of Manhattan

Announcement of Harry’s role—of a scientist—was first made in early 2014 (Andreeva), but it wasn’t until shooting on the show from writer Sam Shaw and director Thomas Schlamme, Skydance TV, Tribune Studios and Lionsgate TV, began in March 2014 that more about the actor’s contribution to the series came to light.  Despite Manhattan being about an actual historic event, the characters are fictional, combining some elements of real people here and there.  Anyone with even a passing knowledge of History will recognize some of the names referenced, although, “the series isn't trying to be a docudrama, says executive producer Thomas Schlamme,” who is directing three of Season One’s episodes, including the first two (Keveney).

In truth, had Harry’s character been a real person, it may have been easier to find information about him in advance of the series premiere—thereby removing some of the allure of the role, not to mention disallowing Lloyd from putting his own self and spin more richly into this character.

Photo Above: Harry Lloyd suits-up and slathers on the Brylcreem to play Oxford-educated scientist Paul Crosley, whom Lloyd calls “a bit frustrated and impatient” (Lloyd, qtd. in Vineyard). (Photo © WGN America)

In Episode One, about 12 minutes in, Harry Lloyd makes his Manhattan debut.  His role, as are 95% of them, have a medias res feel: we are not at the beginning of much here, save what the Isaacs family endures from their cross-country move.  The only difference is that the idea of an atomic bomb has become more and more possible and now it is more a matter of figuring out a way to shave a week (or more) off the creation of such a device, the horror of which is euphemistically dubbed a “gadget.”  It may not seem like much—working three months to save 7 days?—but, as the boss puts it, every moment counts, especially when the enemy is on the other side of the world and concocting who-knows-what at that very moment. 

Because Manhattan focuses not specifically on the inherent violence of nuclear weapons but on the power that comes with brain-activity and knowledge—scientific insights over violence—we can expect that Harry’s character and his cohorts are well-educated, motivated, and ambitious.  That they’re already pulling all-nighters and even making bribes of the computers (in 1943, “computers” are the secretaries—women—who compute!) in order to complete tasks on time indicates that despite the few lighthearted moments in the lab (and an Independence Day party), at the end of the day, these scientists are work-first kinds of people.  And work comes first because their country and patriotic (or human) duty comes first.

Harry Lloyd plays Paul Crosley, “an ambitious Oxford-educated physicist whose loyalties are called into question as he works to build the world's first atomic bomb,” according to media reports (Goldberg, “Big”).  Yes—that means that despite Manhattan being an American period drama—and despite Harry having played an American with a convincing American accent for the aforementioned Big Significant Things—the actor is able to keep his lovely lilt intact.  But don’t let the lushness of the British accent lure you into thinking this character is a regular gentleman, the Mr. Darcy of a Jane Austen novel.  There isn’t a soul on the scientific team that seems taken by Crosley’s posh sound: he’s just another one of the rats in the lab.  You don’t have to listen closely, either, to understand that Harry’s scientist is a bit racist and misogynistic (two qualities much more frequently encountered during this era, sadly).  Yet, these “shades of grey,” so to speak, characters are more fascinating and realistic: we never know what they’ll do next, what their true colors are, and where their greatest loyalties and abilities lie. 

After episode one, we have had some glimpses of Crosley’s questionable personality and behaviors, but not enough to give away an entire portrait of his character.  Perhaps it is wise that the series producers have Lloyd lingering on the outskirts of the show so far, interjecting with a few quips or rude responses at the most irreverent (if not irrelevant) moments.  We feel his presence but not in a way that will make viewers grow tired of him as a mere character actor with shtick and throwaway lines.  Indeed, we want to know how this Briton earned his place amongst these other five scientists—just as we want to know about his colleagues.  

While Harry Lloyd is one of the ten main actors listed in the show’s opening credits (with names listed alphabetically, Harry clocks in as number seven), The Internet Movie Database so far has the actor listed for only two of the thirteen episodes of Manhattan.  The accuracy of this report is questionable at this time, considering the series premiered less than twenty-four-hours ago, but rest assured that Lloydalists will be watching Manhattan with rapt attention, waiting to see how things (and the character of Paul Crosley) develop…and unravel. Already, Harry Lloyd has offered a glimpse of what is to come.  Of he and his fellow scientists, the “implosion team,” Lloyd says, “we get some of the stranger stories, deep and dark stories about how morality and how people feel about this weapon of mass destruction. But it's also a strange place to look at domestically, because everyone was having sex, because it this thing where men and women were thrown together in the middle of nowhere” (Lloyd, qtd. in Vineyard).  The actor adds that the kinds of people like the one he plays “were working hard, but they were playing hard as well. So there are all kinds of interesting story lines that have nothing to do with science, the office drama that's fun to play. It wasn't just all these scientists sitting there and doing math. All kinds of things happen” (Lloyd, qtd. in Vineyard).  Of course, with only one episode in, viewers will simply have to stick around for the next 12 weeks to see what “kinds of things happen.” 

In another, albeit related, sense, although Crosley is more part of the scientific team than his own individual person, Lloyd uses that haughty-meets-snarky attitude fans will recognize from prior roles in order to explain how he uses a stash of nylons to woo (to put it nicely) women.  Of course, this “stash” comes into use for more valid purposes later, but that’s beside the point.  Perhaps Crosley will wind up as one of those characters whose deviance always seems forgiven due to his shenanigans being reappropriated by the more civil-minded for a greater good.  Still—there’s something about the sight of Lloyd holding out a pair of stockings that unfurl like a white flag indicating a peace offering as a room full of tired yet desperate for nylons women look on that is at least a bit funny—even though this is, of course, a show about the creation of the atom bomb.  What’s that Rosenberg said about the show needing to “lighten up a little bit”?

Sadly, with the entire first arc of Season One episodes filmed, there isn’t much likelihood that Harry will draw enough of a following to urge producers to give him more dryly-witty lines and screen time, but we shall see what happens.  In truth, there are lots of people involved in the project—the Manhattan one and the show itself—and, thus, the time dedicated to each character has to be portioned depending upon the needs of the storylines. Yet, the British actor has described his character fondly, with promising projections of what is to come.

In a recent interview, Harry has talked about the difficulty of “look[ing] like I own” 1940s fashion and nuclear physics alike, absorbing a history he’d never learned (when asked what he knew before accepting the role, Lloyd responded, “[p]retty much zero. Don't think I even knew the bomb was built here in the desert...”), yet loving the research part of his job (Bentley). Says Lloyd, “you can build this world before you step into it” with research (Lloyd, qtd. in Bentley)—something of which he would not have so much flexibility or luxury if the scientist he plays was a strictly real person.  The actor does confess to disliking “sticky hair” (Lloyd, qtd. in Bentley), but perhaps there is a little relief when the actors are allowed to let their daily Brylcreem routine fade a bit when they’re meant to play the worn-out, pulled-an-all-nighter scientists with a wave of dark hair sweeping their foreheads and wholly out of place.

Lloyd has also called Paul Crosley “frustrated and impatient,” a bit Viserys-like in his selfish abilities to think only of his own career (Lloyd, in Vineyard).  Lloyd promises that, as Manhattan continues, Paul “becomes more interesting. We start off thinking we know this guy, and he keeps confounding us. He starts off, he's snide and he's sarcastic and you think he's clearly bitter to be on that team, to be on this team of misfits, which isn't even the main bomb design team. But as we go on, we realize everyone has a story about why they ended up there” (Lloyd, qtd. in Vineyard). While the pilot episode hasn’t given Harry too much screen-time yet, the actor promises, “[q]uite early on, we have a big story line for my character that challenges everything, and we realize, the more we learn, the less we know” (Lloyd, qtd. in Vineyard).  It almost sounds as if the actor is speaking in riddles—but it’s enough to pique my interest.

Photo Above: A look at the young male scientists in the group of six at the heart of Manhattan.  From left to right: Christopher Denham as Jim Meeks, Eddie Shin as Sid Liao, Harry Lloyd as Paul Crosley, and Michael Chernus as Louis ‘Fritz’ Fedowitz. (Photo © Greg Peters/WGN America)

In Conclusion

After completing my first viewing of the Manhattan Pilot episode, my initial reaction was, “well, so far so good.”  But with the advent of online-only television series, the rising ubiquity of three-digit cable channels, and various media platforms that allow for the purchase, download, and/or streaming of various television and film programming, shows like Manhattan are going to have to be more than “good.” 

In the meantime, the show’s producers should consider a wider distribution beyond select WGN America markets, even with the ability to watch the show on Hulu Plus (after three days, episodes will be stream-able for free on Hulu; the five newest episodes will remain available until the series ends), iTunes, and Amazon Instant Video.  People buy Cable Packages with the goal of watching all their worthwhile options, not to have to supplement the already-expensive cable-package with an online package as well.  Still, with no WGN America available in my area (and because I haven’t owned a television for thirteen years), I’m happy to find the show online the day after its premiere.

Only time will tell how audiences take to Manhattan, but I hope that the initial great faith shown in the series, not to mention the excellent talent involved in the show, continues to grow with each coming episode.  As the old Brylcreem advertisement campaign slogan used to insist, “a little dab’ll do ya.” A little “dab” of Manhattan so far just leaves me wanting more.

Schlamme has mentioned that this isn’t a show concerned with factual truth, but is one that highlights “the emotional truth of what was going on there [during the Manhattan Project], what it felt like to be in this place where once you entered, you couldn't leave; what if felt like to be transported from a rather traditional lifestyle into this kind of a POW camp that was all in transition, with no sidewalk, no addresses” (qtd. in Keveney).  He has faith that this is a chance to tell the types of stories deemed too pedestrian for history—the stories of those not only in the science labs or part of the U.S. Government but the immigrant workers, children, wives, and outsiders also affected by the “gadget” at the heart of the show’s eponymous project.  From the clues gathered so far, it seems most critics, show-runners, and production companies have faith in the “Project project,” if you will, and for now, audiences like those of us at Lloydalists will continue to have faith that this show will continue to bring something new to television, as well as for Harry Lloyd.

For more on Manhattan, see the articles and links in the reference section below.

Works Cited & Consulted

Andreeva, Nellie. “Harry Lloyd Cast In WGN’s ‘Manhattan’, Mark Deklin Joins ‘Devious Maids’ As Regular.” Deadline.com. 9 Jan. 2014. Web. 9 Jan. 2014. <http://www.deadline.com/2014/01/harry-lloyd-cast-in-wgns-manhattan-mark-deklin-joins-devious-maids-as-regular/>.

Bentley, Jean. “‘Manhattan’: Harry Lloyd is Just as Comfortable with '40s Fashion as Nuclear Physics.”Zap2it.com. 22 July 2014. Web. 22 July 2014. <http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/harry_lloyd_manhattan_wgn_america_nuclear_physics_40s_fashion-2014-07>.

Deadline Team, The. “Hulu Plus Picks Up Streaming Rights To WGN Drama ‘Manhattan.’” Deadline.com. 28 July 2014. Web. 28 July 2014. <http://www.deadline.com/2014/07/hulu-plus-gets-wgns-manhattan-as-streaming-exclusive/>.

Ge, Linda. “TV: First Promo for WGN America’s Historical Drama ‘Manhattan.’” UpandComers.net. 18 Apr. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. <http://upandcomers.net/2014/04/18/tv-manhattan-first-promo-teaser-trailer-wgn-america/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+upandcomers%2FCixf+%28Up+and+Comers%29>.

Goldberg, Lesley. “'The Big C's' John Benjamin Hickey to Star in WGN America's ‘Manhattan.’” HollywoodReporter.com 6 Feb. 2014. Web. 28 July 2014. <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/big-cs-john-benjamin-hickey-677934?mobile_redirect=false>.

Goldberg, Lesley. “WGN America Orders 'Manhattan' Drama Straight to Series.” HollywoodReporter.com. 4 Sept. 2013. Web. 5 Sept. 2013. <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/wgn-america-orders-manhattan-drama-620873>.

Goundry, Nick. “New Atomic Bomb Drama Series Manhattan to Film on Location in New Mexico.” TheLocationGuide.com. 6 Sept. 2013. Web. 28 July 2014. <http://www.thelocationguide.com/blog/2013/09/ng-television-new-atomic-bomb-drama-series-manhattan-to-film-on-location-in-new-mexico/>.

Keveney, Bill. “Take a First Look at WGN America’s ‘Manhattan’ Cast.” USAToday.com. 15 May 2014. Web. 28 July 2014. < http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2014/05/15/wgn-american-manhattan-photo-and-premiere-announcement/9103783/>.

Rosenberg, Alyssa. “The Friday Five: ‘Manhattan’ and ‘Maine.’” The Washington Post. 25 July 2014. Web. 28 July 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2014/07/25/the-friday-five-manhattan-and-maine/>.

Vineyard, Jennifer. “Harry Lloyd on His New Show Manhattan, Game of Thrones’ Viserys, and Epic Targaryen Hair.” Vulture.com. 25 July 2014. Web. 25 July 2014. <http://www.vulture.com/2014/07/harry-lloyd-manhattan-game-thrones-viserys-chat.html>.

~Written, Researched, & Posted by C; Edited by K & C~