Max Cady is back, and this time he’s played by Javier Bardem.
Apple TV’s limited series adaptation of Cape Fear has just debuted its first two episodes. This reimagining of the classic 1962 film and Martin Scorsese’s 1991 remake finds Bardem taking on the role of the former prisoner set on revenge. He told ABC Audio he felt pressure stepping into both Robert De Niro and Robert Mitchum’s shoes.
“Of course, the pressure is about me being a huge admirer of De Niro’s and Mitchum’s iconic performances,” Bardem said. “But also, the pressure was off when I first read the scripts and I felt that there was a different take, different character to play because it’s a different time in history.”
Bardem said he didn’t have to emulate anything specifically from De Niro or Mitchum’s takes on the role, outside of the “sense of humor” and “the irony of those performances,” although those aspects “were present [in] the writing.”
This take on Cape Fear gender swaps Max Cady’s lawyer into a woman — a new, reimagined character named Anna Bowden. Amy Adams portrays Anna, and she spoke about what this change brings to the story.
“I really love that aspect of it, this dynamic between them and the sort of power play. … There’s a depth and sort of a complexity to the relationship that we got to explore,” Adams said.
Going further, Adams said the story has more nuances when Max Cady’s lawyer is a mother, with audiences “understanding the risk and the protective nature that she would have.”
“Women’s relationship with shame is also something that I was interested in exploring through this. And pressuring yourself and being unforgiving to yourself,” Adams said. “It gave me a lot to play with.”
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