NTD held a screening of its original drama series “A Good Cop” at the Friars Club in New York City on Thursday night. The actors saw the finished product for the first time and shared their thoughts.
“It was more than I could want because it was just so beautiful to just see everybody just coincide together on screen so beautifully. And just to see it true and just on this big screen was just breathtaking,” said Rosario Amico.
“You could feel the camaraderie,” said Jermaine Wells. “You can feel the fun, the angst, the energy that was summed up every time a new person came on screen.”
The actors said this being NTD’s first original series made working on the show all the more special.
“It feels wonderful to be a part of something that has a mission, that wants to be great. And I feel that power and that energy in the room and it energizes me. And it makes me more critical, and it makes me more thoughtful, and it makes me more attentive. And I think that that is so incredible. And I’m so grateful to it,” said Taylor Karin.
“A Good Cop” is inspired by true events. It revolves around the lives of three NYPD officers during the “defund the police” movement. Each officer is at a different stage of their career, each one with a different perspective on policing.
“Taylor Karin [who plays Elizabeth Fox] does an incredible job of hooking the audience in, in the beginning of the series, with her incredible performance, creating an empathy for a point of view that other people—a lot of people—normally don’t share. We try to bridge the gap between the two sides of a polarizing world that we live in, and I think having her performance and having the rest of the cast kind of guide that is something worth watching,” said Ignacyo Matynia.
“I’m very interested in how people can find the similarities, rather than find their differences. And through this medium of storytelling, I try to bring characters that feel real and that are meaningful to me—the messages and the tribulations that they experience,” said David Chai, the director and writer of the drama.
A number of the cast and crew members are former police officers or come from law enforcement families. They say this brings authenticity to the show.
“For me personally—actually, being retired from law enforcement—it means a lot to me, first of all, when I read the script, that this was a show that’s real. And it’s real and it’s raw and it’s showing what really happens when officers are off the clock. And it’s showing a different perspective that people don’t get to see,” said Jeremiah Clarke.
Almost all the cast members NTD spoke with mentioned “humanity” when talking about the show. They say they hope it can be unifying and start important conversations.
“When we see a police officer, we see the uniform. And sometimes we forget there’s a human being there, that has a different dynamic to how he sees the world ... So the more we see the human being—whether it’s a doctor, a lawyer, a police officer—I think it’s important that we see how much we are alike. And if we can do that, that’s everything,” said Steve Lin.
In “A Good Cop,” viewers can also expect to see “pathos, emotional content, diversity, dealing with real issues that are actually happening right now. This is not generic. This is not a one-dimensional presentation. So very critical, important themes— philosophical, sociological, spiritual, human existence, the human condition—it’s all there in ‘A Good Cop,’” said Gilbrando Acevedo.
