{"id":1809,"date":"2019-06-20T20:36:27","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T20:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/?p=1809"},"modified":"2019-07-11T20:38:07","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T20:38:07","slug":"how-the-hot-zones-warning-from-history-about-the-ebola-crisis-made-its-way-to-screens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/how-the-hot-zones-warning-from-history-about-the-ebola-crisis-made-its-way-to-screens\/","title":{"rendered":"How \u2018The Hot Zone\u2019s Warning From History About The Ebola Crisis Made Its Way To Screens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"deadline-hollywood-logo-o\"Included in American Scientist magazine\u2019s list of \u201cbooks that shaped a century of science,\u201d Richard Preston\u2019s non-fiction classic The Hot Zone has long been considered the definitive study of the origins of the Ebola virus. It is also, as chiller writer Stephen King would testify, a gripping read: \u201cThe first chapter of The Hot Zone is one of the most horrifying things I\u2019ve read in my whole life,\u201d he famously wrote, \u201cand then it gets worse.\u201d It was this perfect mix of drama, information and entertainment that drew in its writer-showrunner duo of Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson. \u201cRichard\u2019s book was such a page-turner,\u201d says Souders, \u201cthat I\u2019d say about halfway into it we realized we wanted to do it and that there was no turning back.\u201d Add the involvement of Ridley Scott\u2019s Scott Free company and the deal was sealed. \u201cIt was a no-brainer,\u201d adds Peterson.<\/p>\n

In development since publication, with producer Lynda Obst, The Hot Zone was initially envisaged as a standalone feature until Nat Geo showed interest in running it as a six-part miniseries, focusing on the pioneering lab work of Dr. Nancy Jaax, played by Julianna Margulies. \u201cI\u2019m sure it would have made a good feature film,\u201d says Souders, \u201cbut being able to do six hours of it allowed us to get into the characters a lot more. Not just our hero, Nancy Jaax, but also her husband Jerry\u2014we were able to look at their relationship, going through something like this together. So what ended up happening was that it gave us a chance to take the things that were in the book and create and develop storylines and character arcs that really were just tailor-made for a TV miniseries.\u201d<\/p>\n

To create the series, Peterson and Souders had to look at the practicalities of adapting a book with a wide cast of characters and a number of locations. \u201cThe book does focus on Nancy quite a bit,\u201d says Souders, \u201cbut, there were a lot of other people who were on the ground in the event that happened, who all acted heroically and were wonderful scientists and dedicated military personnel. Obviously, as a TV show, we can\u2019t have a cast of 40 people \u2013 you had to try to narrow it down so people would have someone to really root themselves in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nancy and her husband Lt. Col Jerry Jaax (Noah Emmerich) were a given, while Dr. Peter Jahrling (Topher Grace) also made it into the main focus of the drama. \u201cAll the other people we kind of melded into singular characters,\u201d says Souders, \u201cso that we could have a cast that wasn\u2019t made up of hundreds of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way Richard introduce Nancy in the book is just so engaging,\u201d says Peterson. \u201cAnd, also, we thought there was something interesting about being a woman in a man\u2019s world at that time \u2013 especially in 2016, when we started developing this project. It was, and still is, incredibly relevant, and so having a women in this world, this military world, this scientific world of 1989, felt like the freshest and most unique point of view to enter the story through.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the very start, say the pair, they always knew that The Hot Zone would be a psychological thriller. \u201cOne of the things that appealed to us about the book,\u201d says Souders, \u201cwas that it took everyday people and threw them into this really extraordinary, insane situation, and you got to imagine what you would do in that situation. So we loved the idea of having to figure out a way to put the viewers in these people\u2019s shoes, in the middle of such a crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as well as writing relatable characters for the audience, Souders and Peterson had to stay true to the actual heroes of the Ebola crisis. \u201cThe science is real,\u201d says Peterson, \u201cor at least as real as we could get it, and we had multiple scientific advisors. We worked with Nancy and Jerry Jaax themselves and Michael Smit, our technical advisor, who happens to be the Jaax\u2019s nephew and the leading expert on Ebola, so that was handy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The science may not have been a problem for Souders and Peterson, but it put an extra burden on the production team\u2014although the nightmare scenario presented in The Hot Zone is still very a clear and present danger, some of the once-cutting-edge scientific instruments it shows us belong in the past. Which might be reassuring for the viewer, but it posed substantial challenges for its crew and even its cast, who had to perform in weighty, outdated biohazard suits. Along with art director Britt Doughty, it was up to production designer Mark Hutman to tackle the minutiae of antiquated technologies and the complexities of laboratory protocol in order to make the experience feel urgent\u2014and real.<\/p>\n

Zeroing in on the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), where the series takes place, Hutman and Doughty engaged in exhaustive research in order to understand the look and the geography of the building. Examining photographic and written materials from sources such as Getty and National Geographic, the pair were also aided in their endeavors by the Jaaxes, whose harrowing experiences are seen in the series. \u201cTheir information trickled in to us,\u201d Hutman recalls, \u201cand it was copious.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was ultimately down to property master Emma Monaghan to track down all the appropriate varieties of centrifuges and electron-scanning microscopes so that sets could be dressed correctly with period-accurate equipment. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t an easy task, but she did a lot of digging,\u201d Doughty says. \u201cIt was those little details that I think were really key to selling this reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

But despite their sterling work in replicating the era, the team would prefer viewers just to focus on the drama and forget about the set dressing. \u201cI think what we really responded to in the book as writers,\u201d adds Peterson, \u201cwere the different types of dilemmas that each character faces. They have to ask themselves, \u2018Who do I have a duty to protect in this moment\u2014do I have to protect the general public or do I just keep my family safe? Or do I just look after myself?\u2019 That\u2019s why the book really spoke to us. And so our hope is while people are watching it, they\u2019re sitting there thinking, \u2018Whoa, what would I do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The result is a series that, from its terrifying opening scenes, takes a forbidding subject matter and turns into something human, relatable, and strangely life-affirming. Says Souders, \u201cObviously, it\u2019s a TV series and not a documentary, so we did create it to be entertaining and to be something that people are excited to tune into and love talking about. But also, as a bigger takeaway, we would like people to realize this isn\u2019t a nation-versus-nation issue. This is a human issue, it\u2019s a global issue, and it\u2019s something that we all need to come together to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

View this article at Deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Included in American Scientist magazine\u2019s list of \u201cbooks that shaped a century of science,\u201d Richard Preston\u2019s non-fiction classic The Hot Zone has long been considered the definitive study of the origins of the Ebola virus. It is also, as chiller writer Stephen King would testify, a gripping read: \u201cThe first chapter of The Hot Zone
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