A Friend of the Family Stars Open Up About the Emotional Impact of the Project

Bringing to life a story full of betrayal, trauma, and kidnappings comes with an inherent emotional toll on any performer, and when that story is inspired by the real-life events that a family suffered through, that emotional impact is amplified. This happens to be the case with the all-new Peacock series A Friend of the Family, which required stars Jake Lacy and Lio Tipton to immerse themselves in a disturbing tale, one which also required them to find an emotional connection to what nefarious characters managed to inflict on others. A Friend of the Family debuts on Peacock on October 6th.

“I found that there’s a certain amount that I could attach to genuinely that the camera reads as other, that reads as grotesque or offensive or inappropriate, and rightfully so,” Lacy shared with ComicBook.com about playing Robert Berchtold. “But the thing that’s living in me in that is a genuine care or love or affinity for someone, and that, because we’ve framed this as this person has legitimately unhealthy intentions and desires, then depending on how it’s shot, it reads as such.”

He continued, “Then there’s also times where I think we made Berchtold emotionally connected to things that are real to him, but that are bizarre when you see it from the outside or you see the way that the pieces have added up or he’s having an emotional response, but maybe shouldn’t be. The final thing is there’s times where you, I found, really are just trying to fulfill the wonderful script that’s in front of you. Sometimes that is working externally in order to sell a thing for the camera that reads a certain way, but that saves me or anyone else on set from having to genuinely try to move to a place of what a pedophile thinks, which is something that physically repulses me. So it’s a mixture, but it’s a lot of fun to try to figure out what tool fits the job day by day.”

A Friend of the Family is based on the harrowing true story of the Broberg family, whose daughter Jan was kidnapped multiple times over a period of a few years by a charismatic, obsessed family “friend.” The Brobergs — devoted to their faith, family, and community — were utterly unprepared for the sophisticated tactics their neighbor used to exploit their vulnerabilities, drive them apart, and turn their daughter against them. This is the story of how their lives were permanently altered — and how they survived.

Tipton was tasked with playing Berchtold’s wife, requiring them to play a more nuanced role in the horrible incident.

“I did not approach Gail as being nefarious or especially meaning to be,” Tipton expressed. “Similarly, I really had to find what I could connect to. There are so many questionable, difficult things that are taking place to get yourself to somewhere that says, ‘Okay. That’s how I’m going to do this because that makes sense to me,’ just doesn’t really exist. I filtered everything through how much I love my family and that was the human element, that Gail is not a bad person, the way that I’m portraying the character. In my place, it was just no matter what, she loves her family. What would she do? She would do anything possible to save her family, keep her family safe. Doesn’t mean that she doesn’t care about anything else going on, but I think that’s what had to keep going.”

A Friend of the Family premieres on Peacock on October 6th.

Will you be checking out the series? Let us know in the comments!