Episode 7 of HBO’s Lanterns delivered one of the series’ most haunting moments when Sheriff Carrie confronted a preserved version of Hal Jordan emitted from a power ring, forcing actress Kelly Macdonald to channel an ocean of grief with virtually no dialogue.
How Boardwalk Empire Prepared Kelly Macdonald for Lanterns
Breaking down the emotionally charged sequence in an interview with Collider, Macdonald revealed that the unsettling visual immediately reminded her of a career-defining shock on Boardwalk Empire. On that set, directors caught her raw reaction by keeping her completely blind to a gruesome on-screen casualty until the cameras were rolling.
“It makes me think about, I did an episode in Boardwalk Empire where my character is having an affair with somebody and then Nucky kills this character, and they were keeping the actor in this box that my character is meant to find him,” Macdonald explained. “I didn’t see him until I was on camera, and so they would get like the reaction of me seeing this actor all covered in blood and allified.”
While Carrie wasn’t opening a crate to find a blood-soaked corpse, staring into the digital projection of Hal Jordan presented a very similar psychological challenge. Even though Kyle Chandler was physically in the room, he had to completely detach from their characters’ shared emotional history.
“It’s sort of tricky ’cause you know Hal Jordan’s still Hal Jordan,” Macdonald shared. “Working with somebody so professional and brilliant at their job as Kyle Chandler, he walked on and he just, just one look in his eyes and he was not the person that’s got a history with Carrie.
“And so it just made it really easy…The scripts allowed for all sorts of things to be going on in Carrie’s mind ’cause she’s feeling everything all at once.”
Chandler’s chilling detachment allowed Macdonald to let the wave of shock, estrangement, and lost love register entirely across her face, turning an understated reunion into the emotional core of the episode.
Lanters is currently streaming on HBO Max. with episodes dropping Weekly on Sundays.
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