Global Courant
Annie Murphy might be an unlikely star to lead the first episode of Black Mirror’s latest season.
Back after a four-year hiatus — in part because creator Charlie Brooker felt his show’s terrifying messages were ill-timed for a world that was already scared enough — the Netflix anthology series is once again here to explore the depths of our tech-fueled nightmares. fathom.
But while Murphy’s comedic career, a Schitt’s Creek alumnus, may not be much in keeping with that sci-fi tone, she immediately saw parallels.
“We’ve talked about it a lot and we feel like Charlie has some kind of psychic power to come up with scenarios that manifest in reality a little bit later,” Murphy said in an interview with CBC News ahead of the show’s premiere.
“When we were shooting the episode, we were talking about it, and it seemed like something in the, you know, near future,” co-star Salma Hayek added. “And now, it’s only a few months later, it feels like it’s in the now.”
LOOK | The official trailer for the final season of Black Mirror:
The parallels can be found in their episode Joan is Awful, a story about the terrible Joan (Murphy), and an Orwellian tech who takes control of both her and Hayek’s characters from their likenesses.
While that’s as specific as possible without giving the game away, it’s fair to say for both Hayek and Murphy that their episode echoed real concerns: actors were digitally replaced and made to perform in productions without their knowledge or actual participation.
With the advent of artificial intelligence writing software, hologram artists, and computer-generated music and actors, Murphy sees writing more than on the wall.
“With the writers’ strike part… asking that AI not take over their jobs and that AI not be trained in their jobs,” she said. “We don’t know how that will turn out. The potential for lost jobs is huge right now.”
However, on this shoot, she said the reality was pretty much the opposite. Along with a direct, named Schitt’s Creek call-out and Michael Cera cameo, their episode was directed by Canadian-past Schitt’s Creek writer Ally Pankiw.
In addition to making sure the Canadiana was high in that episode, Murphy says Pankiw “broke for as many women as possible to be a part of the show, which was so incredible.”
“I had never been on a set with so many women in front of and behind the camera.”
The sixth season of Black Mirror premiered on Netflix in its entirety on Thursday morning.
