We’ve all heard the phrase “of sound mind and body.” But in the future, screw the body — it’s all about the mind! At least in one show. Deco futurist Chris Van Vliet has more.
You know that’s what I always tell you, Lynn and Shireen, at least in front of other people — your minds are the most beautiful things about you. The new Netflix show “Altered Carbon” centers around the idea of living forever and why it might not be all it’s cracked up to be. I flew to New York City to sit down with the cast.
James Purefoy (as Laurens Bancroft): “All I ask of you is that you solve a murder.”
Joel Kinnaman (as Takeshi Kovacs): “Whose?”
James Purefoy (as Laurens Bancroft): “Mine.”
That sums up the main plot line of “Altered Carbon,” but it also makes the show sound like a kind of weird, futuristic murder mystery, which in a way it kind of is.
Joel Kinnaman: “‘Altered Carbon’ takes place 350 years in the future, where this new technology has completely changed society, where the human consciousness has been able to be stored in a chip that is put in the back of your neck.”
That chip is called a “stack,” and when you die, it’s placed inside a new body called a “sleeve.”
When the richest man in the universe is murdered, he gets a new body, and he also brings a convict, played by Joel Kinnaman, back to life and forces him to find his killer.
Martha Higareda (as Kristin Ortega): “Whoever murdered him must be found or we’re all in danger.”
Chris Van Vliet: “Now, in the idea of making this show, did you start thinking like, ‘Do I want to live forever? Would I want to live forever.”
Joel Kinnaman: “I don’t like the idea of, you know, not being able to die, but if I could extend life and then when I’m tired of it I’ll just go for a long swim.”
James Purefoy: “I like it, but only for me.”
There is some serious action in this show, which meant some serious training.
Joel Kinnaman: “I prepared like six months before we started shooting.”
Joel Kinnaman: “We had a great stunt team, but for me personally, I had the ambition to go in and, for the first time, kind of do all of my own stunts.”
And the action wasn’t just reserved for the guys.
Renee Elise Goldsberry: “As women, we have the privilege, I think, and the honor, finally, of not waiting to be saved. We did a lot of saving ourselves. We did a lot of fighting with each other.”
The show is streaming now on Netflix, and while it hasn’t been confirmed yet for a second season, it’s based on a book series, so there is lots of material to work with.
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