SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for Netflix’s The Boroughs.
The Boroughs from Will Matthews and Jeffrey Addiss marks a major reunion between A League of their Own costars Geena Davis and Bill Pullman, who portrayed wife and husband in the 1992 Penny Marshall-directed film about the All American Girls Professional Baseball League.
A League of Their Own starred Davis as Dottie Hinson, catcher for the Rockford Peaches and sister to Lori Petty’s Kit. Pullman appears towards the end of the film as Dottie’s husband Bob, who’s been fighting in World War II, and he had a “very specific” recollection of portraying the discharged soldier.
“I come into it from the war. I’ve been injured. It’s in the script that I got shot in my foot, and I was at rehearsals we had in Chicago. The DP, [Miroslav Ondříček], had a limp, and I thought ‘This is kind of interesting, you know, to be doing these scenes, and he’s kind of there watching rehearsals, and he’s limping. And then in comes Tom Hanks, and I realized he’s decided to have a limp,” Pullman told Deadline. “[I thought] ‘This is a lot of limping people here, I might have to change [my performance].’ Because you know, you’re very self-conscious with your acting. My leg’s not really broken, but I’m acting it, and I just wanted to be as real as possible. So I just stuck with watching what [Miroslav] did and mimicked that.”
The pair had also previously appeared in rom-com The Accidental Tourist (1988), based on Anne Tyler’s 1985 novel of the same name, as Davis pointed out, speaking highly of their “natural connection” from past collaborations. The Thelma & Louise star also recalled working with the “formidable” Alfre Woodard on the ‘80s sitcom Sara. Woodard plays Judy, one of the core six ensemble in The Boroughs.
In the Netflix science fiction mystery series, produced by the Duffer brothers and their shingle Upside Down Pictures, Davis stars as Renee, former music producer who does her own thing in the New Mexico retirement community, and Pullman plays happy-go-lucky Jack, who befriends and eventually wins over Alfred Molina’s Sam Cooper, reluctant new resident who has moved into a vacant house that he was supposed to share with his late wife.
“I think back to when I was at a point where I didn’t trust being involved with television. I didn’t want to sign a five to seven year contract and not have any control of where the story goes, where my character goes, it just was so antithetical to what I trained in and what I understood to be really satisfying about beginning, middle, and end,” Pullman said. “And how it fits together, and so I had that [thought] a little bit back there, as much as I’ve enjoyed some great television experiences.”
Bill Pullman as Jack in ‘The Boroughs’
Courtesy of Netflix
Unfortunately for the tight-knit group of neighbors, and for viewers, Pullman’s Jack dies at the end of the first episode at the hands of a mysterious creature Sam discovers siphoning brain fluid from Jack’s sleeping body.
“But this one, ‘Oh Jesus, sign me up.’ Really? This is a great group of people. This is a great premise, and this is the one that I [die in] and then I don’t have to do the dirty work of going on all those other episodes and writers coming up with story lines and everything,” he added. “Yeah, I wanted it. So there was a little bit of loss and grief.”
Pullman joked that he felt awkward at the premiere for the series standing up there with his costars.
“I got the same strange moment when we were all lined up there, and we’re all doing the photo shots and everything,” he said. “I [felt] like the divorced husband who’s at the wedding. ‘Should he be here?’”
L-R: Geena Davis and Bill Pullman attend Netflix’s The Boroughs Premiere
Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Netflix
Woodard, whose character Judy has a somewhat secret side romance with Jack that Sam becomes aware of and that her husband Art (Clarke Peters) knows about, spoke for everyone — cast and others — who was outraged at Jack’s fate.
“We all rebelled. We knew what was gonna happen. We read the script, [and were] swearing and whining,” she said. “’We could figure out how to keep [him in]!’ Doing all of that, and it was very sad.”
In a separate interview with Deadline, creators Will Matthews and Jeffrey Addiss shared that even Netflix gave them a note, asking if Jack really had to die. Their answer, in short, was that “there’s no show if he doesn’t.”
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