The first three episode of “The Staircase” are now availabe on HBO Max in the US and on Sky in Europe. To promote the series, Toni Collette and Colin Firth have participated in a virtual press junket earlier this week. Clips from Sunrise on Seven, E! News and Entertainment Tonight have been added to the video archive, alongside a compilation of interviews for various reviewers and online sites.

Screencaptures from the second episode of “Pieces of Her” have been added to the photo gallery as well.

Andy goes to Carrolltown to find the storage facility and car her mother has told her about, while Laura and her ex husband Gordon need to take care of the intruder who broke into Laura’s home and has been taken hostage by her. As Andy connects with a mysterious guy named Jake during her stay in the motel, Laura agrees to give a televised interview, so long as they promise not to edit anything and ensure it is broadcasted nationally. It sounds like she wants to send a message to whoever is watching her.

With many thanks to my friend Jess, screencaptures from the first two episodes of “Pieces of Her” have been added to the photo gallery. I’ll post each update with a synopsis of the episode, so be aware there might be spoilers in case you haven’t watched “Pieces of Her” by now (which you should, in its entirety, on Netflix).

Andy is a 30-year-old 911 operative living with her mother, Laura, a recovering breast cancer survivor. On her birthday, Andy and her mom go into town to have lunch. At the restaurant, things take a decidedly dark turn as an angry gunman opens fire. Seeing Andy’s police uniform, he assumes she is a cop. Laura throws herself between Andy and the gunman, and as he attacks her with a knife, Laura flips her hand with the blade and kills the man. Someone happens to record the entire incident, and within a few hours, Andy and Laura have gone viral. As soon as Laura leaves the hospital, she appears unnerved by her face being all over the news and tells Andy to move out immediately.

Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley”, a deserving 2021 Oscar nominee for Best Picture – has been released on demand and Blu-Ray during the last couple of weeks. I thoroughly enjoyed the film for its stunning visuals and wonderful acting. If you haven’t seen it by now, make sure to rent or stream it. Screencaptures from the Blu-Ray have been added to the photo gallery and most of the other film-related albums have been updated as well. Enjoy.

As part of their Awards Insider’s exclusive spring TV coverage series, Vanity Fair features a lenghty article, including interviews with Toni Collette and Colin Firth, on the upcoming HBO Max series “The Staircase”:It was four or five in the morning, the set had reverted to its bloody basics, and Toni Collette was tasked to die—again. She’d already acted out several ways that her character, Kathleen Peterson, could have met her grisly demise, but returning to the scene of the crime (or accident) for another freshly devised scenario struck her anew. “It just became so surreal,” she recalls. “This woman died. We don’t know how she died, but there’s a big responsibility that comes with bringing a truthful quality not only to that experience, but to her life.”

Collette found much of the job here to be like “choreography,” balancing raw emotion with technical precision on where to fall or yell or simply stand. It took a kind of toll. “You’ve just got to shake it off at the end of the day,” she says now. Listening to her, it’s clear the mission behind the role mattered a great deal to her. “Kathleen’s death is so gruesome and incomprehensible,” Collette tells me. “I just want her to be seen for all she was, as a person, prior to when she left her body. She had spunk and spirit, and she really lived and loved.” In The Staircase, death is only where one’s story begins.

The complete interview can be read over at Vanity Fair.

Sky today confirms The Staircase, starring BAFTA and Academy Award® winner Colin Firth (Kingsman: The Golden Circle, A Single Man) as Michael Peterson and Toni Collette (Knives Out, Muriel’s Wedding) as Kathleen Peterson is to premiere this spring on Sky and streaming service NOW. Co-produced by Annapurna Television, the eight episode limited series is written and executive produced by showrunners Antonio Campos (The Devil All The Time, Christine) and Maggie Cohn (Versace). Campos also directs six episodes, with Leigh Janiak directing two episodes. Based on a true story, The Staircase further explores the life of Michael Peterson, his sprawling North Carolina family, and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen Peterson. The Staircase will be available in all Sky markets including UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria & Switzerland.