When Yale law school professor Stephen L. Carter received a $4.2M advance from publisher Knopf for his 2002 novel The Emperor of Ocean Park, journalist David Gates scoffed at the large figure, writing in an article for Newsweek: “So why did anyone pay more than $4 million for this book? Well, there might be a way to make, say, a Denzel Washington movie out of it and get some synergy going.”
Fast forward 22 years and Gates’ prediction is almost on the nose. Except Carter’s murder mystery has been adapted for an MGM+ TV series and, rather than Washington, its Forest Whitaker who is at the helm. Inf the thriller, he stars as Judge Oliver Garland, a failed Black conservative nominee to the Supreme Court whose death from an apparent heart attack is interrogated as part of a larger conspiracy by his daughter Mariah (Tiffany Mack), a former journalist, and her reluctant investigative partner and law professor brother Talcott (Grantham Coleman).
Interest in adapting The Emperor of Ocean Park was immediate upon the novel’s release on June 2, 2002, with screenwriters Stephen Schiff, Attica Locke and Katori Hall being attached to different development projects over the years.
“I was aware of the book because I remember when I was younger, they were casting for this,” Whitaker recalls to The Hollywood Reporter. “I thought Sam Jackson ended up doing it. I was looking into it then, so it’s interesting that it came back around.”
Shameless writer Sherman Payne ultimately wrote the 10-episode series from John Wells Productions and Warner Bros. Television set in the world of politics, Ivy League academia and the Black elite of Martha’s Vineyard. (The series made its debut on July 14 and rolls out new episodes weekly.) The parallels between the diplomatic system the Garlands are immersed in and the real-life governmental angst unfolding daily in the media are impossible to overlook, but the series steers clear from siding with any of its characters’ personal or political plights.
“I don’t think you’d look at it and say, ‘Well, ‘I’m gonna go vote this way, I’m gonna go vote that way.’ But if it provokes thought, then I’m excited about that,” says Whitaker. “It’s a difficult time politically. Obviously, it’s an extraordinary time in the history of the country, the election itself. I think we avoid that very much. We’re just dealing with some issues that are always in the sort of zeitgeist of the public.”
Below, Whitaker chats with THR about his approach to Judge Garland and why depictions of the Black elite remain rare on television. [Editor’s note: This interview took place prior to Sunday’s news of Biden dropping out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.]
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What interested you most about the role of Oliver Garland?
He’s a very complex man. I’m always listening to his quotes about codes and how they affect people in their lives. In his case, there’s honor and a duty as justices, a code by which he has to live his life. I thought his conservatism was interesting to be able to bring a light to and to try to understand that better. That’s an opportunity to expose people to a different world. And I guess, not necessarily in a good way, he represented Black excellence in the sense of his achievements and the way he governed his life. If you analyze it, he’s got so many different facets.
What were your early conversations with Payne like when it came to shaping the character from the novel for the screen?
The exciting thing about Sherman was that he had a really special opportunity, because he wrote all 10 scripts, you had the scripts already there. Normally, as the process goes, there’s a writer and they’re continuing to write all the way through. But in this case, it was quite different. It’s helpful to be able to see the arc and then to be able to talk to him about certain things. He was very open and remained open all the way through the process to any changes or questions to try to shape the character in an even more specific way.
Did you also have conversations with Carter?
I did not; I didn’t have any conversations with him, just with Shukree [Tilghman], Dr. Sherman and the other producers. That probably would’ve been a good idea (laughs).
Well, you’re the expert.
It depends on what I’m doing. If it’s a fictional piece, sometimes I look at the characters as real and I start to investigate that part of it to figure out how you get the layers of the character from reality. And then other times, I want to meet with specific people to play a character. It really depends on the character.
Chess is a huge element of Talcott and the judge’s relationship and, consequently, the mystery he and his sister attempt to solve. How proficient are you at the game in real life?
I started playing chess when I was, I don’t know, 10. I played chess off and on for years. I had training with chess masters. I’m not a master myself, but I had training with them. It’s a component that seems to be following me. In the Godfather of Harlem I play chess, too, and it’s kind of a statement of a strategic mind. I think that’s the metaphor that’s used in the show.
When this novel was first published, Carter said, “If the success of this book means that publishers or filmmakers will be more interested in this class, that’s a good thing.” There was a brief moment between 2021-2022 where there was a small surge of shows that centered the Black elite — Riches, Our Kind of People, The Kings of Napa — but they all only had one season. Do you feel like stories centering the Black upper class are an overlooked opportunity in Hollywood?
I don’t think you see that area of Black society very often on television or film. The culture hasn’t completely accepted the integration of Black excellence into the marketplace, all of these different individuals who are running things, running American Express, who are running investment companies, so they haven’t explored it. And I think also there’s a notion that they want to explore part of the visceral area, which is violence, crime. So it’s still something to be overcome, showing the full breadth of the Black experience.
The timing of the series feels important given that it’s an election year. The show is obviously more of a mystery-thriller than a political drama, but are you hoping there’s some renewal of interest in public policy or citizens exercising their rights and power because of this series?
Obviously, he’s a judge, but a politician, really, and a pundit. That’s part of what’s explored in the show, this conservatism. I don’t think you’d look at it and you’d say, “well, I’m gonna go vote this way; I’m gonna go vote that way.” But if it provokes thought, then I’m excited about that. It’s a difficult time politically. Obviously, it’s an extraordinary time in the history of the country, the election itself. I think we avoid that very much. We’re just dealing with some issues that are always in the sort of zeitgeist of the public.
This is your second series on MGM+. Is there anything else in the works with you and the network?
We did a Black Hollywood documentary that’s going to be coming out soon, but no plans right now for anything else other than completing that. I’m in the middle of shooting Godfather. We’re at the halfway part of this new season, season four. So I’m going to finish that first, and then we’ll see where I go.
The Emperor of Ocean Park releases new episodes Sundays on MGM+.