When a troubled art curator is forced to seek professional help, she is unknowingly manipulated by her therapist into being his replacement test subject, in a sinister experiment.

Director Statement

The Walkers is a concept short for a series with the same name. I wanted to explore the idea of trust which is essential in any relationship, especially between patient and therapist. But I think the concept of trust can be taken one step further. What happens when you can’t trust yourself. What do you do then? The short reveals Dr Finkel breaking Becky’s trust but the series is about Becky discovering the extent of the betrayal and the reality that she can’t trust herself. The thought that you are no longer in control of your own actions would be terrifying.

Q&A with Actors

Nicky, what was your approach to the Finkel character?

My approach to playing Finkel was not to even think about him as being evil or manipulative. In fact the more gentle I tried to make him, the more dangerous he would be because of the nature of what he was up to. He is like a grand chess master who gives nothing away as he plots the demise of his opponent. I had to win Becky, the patients, complete trust and the best way to do that was to have her feel she was in the company of an all-knowing, loving father.

Nicky, what was your first reaction to the concept of The Walkers?

When I first read the script I was immediately intrigued. I loved the sparsity of the language and the easy rhythm of the scene. I could feel the potential for creating a character that would be very subversive. On the one hand he appears to be a very professional, genuinely concerned health practitioner and yet without having to do much he oozes a menacing cold-bloodedness.

Lex, what were your first thoughts when you read the scripts, what attracted you to Becky’s character?

I loved the idea of effectively playing two characters – Becky, dealing with the fear, confusion and trauma of her current situation and how that has brought up her difficult childhood relationship with her father, and Becky, a cold, killing machine in a trance-like state, with razor focus for the task at hand.

Lex, how did you get involved with the project?

I’d seen some of Bauke’s previous work a year or so before we shot the short and had really wanted to work with him, so when the opportunity presented itself I felt like we needed to make it happen! I’d been in SA for a couple months shooting Netflix’s Troy: Fall of a City, but Candice and Bauke approached me just before I was set to return to LA. At the same time, I was preparing for exams for my Masters course in Psychology and Neuroscience.

Needless to say, there wasn’t a huge amount of spare time in between, but with a collaborative effort and much flexibility from production, I wrote my finals the morning before I left, raced to set immediately after, we shot into the night and then again the following morning, and then I headed straight to the airport for LA!