Miss Flicks

Jessica Chastain found it stressful filming The Good Nurse with the real Amy on set

Netflix’s new true crime thriller, The Good Nurse, tells the incredible story of Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain), a nurse who helped bring down her good friend and colleague Charles Cullen, possibly one of the most prolific serial killers in US history.

During a brief Q&A to introduce the film at the London Film Festival, Jessica admitted it was “incredibly stressful” having the real Amy on set watching her play the film’s version of Amy.

“Amy was incredibly generous with me in sharing her time and insight that I might not have found in the book or in the script. I can tell you it’s the first time I’ve ever experienced playing a scene and having the person watch me play a scene from their life and that was incredibly stressful. I would see her and (go) over and give her a hug and then she’d hide and so I wouldn’t see her again. That’s just the kind of wonderful, generous, and all-knowing person she is, so it was a wonderful asset to have to be able to talk to her.”

– Jessica Chastain

During the introductory Q&A, her co-star Eddie Redmayne also spoke about the real Amy and how she helped him better understand who his character Charles really was:

“One of the most extraordinary things about making this movie was getting to meet the real Amy Loughren, and it was during Covid so our first interaction was via Zoom. She was incredibly generous in talking very intimately about Charlie and that this man was kind, gentle, empathetic, self-deprecating, but there was also another person, another side to him, and that she only witnessed that person a couple of times. But the investment in the friendship, it was real, that friendship, and that was something that was really important for Jess and I to play.”

– Eddie Redmayne

After the screening finished, director Tobias Lindholm surprised the audience by bringing out the real Amy, who received a long – and very moving – standing ovation. In her brief Q&A, Amy revealed that seeing the movie for the first time was “triggering” but it allowed her to forgive herself.

“It was very triggering, certainly, it was very emotional. But the most beautiful part of that is that I truly judged myself; that nurse from 20 years ago, that mum from 20 years ago. Watching Jessica and watching her portray me, she finally offered me a space where I could forgive her for not knowing I was right next to a murderer. Also (I could) finally take credit for the fact that I showed up every day, I still showed up and I was so sick, I was incredibly overworked, but I still showed up. I finally forgave myself.”

– Amy Loughren

She also praised Eddie for being able to portray the two different sides of Charles at the same time:

“I knew Charlie, my friend, and only met the murderer a couple of times. For Eddie to channel both of those people and to do it so brilliantly, it was very hard, because as much as my friend Charlie, he was a monster, he deserves to be behind bars, but my friend Charlie was someone who helped me and I missed him. And even though I felt guilty for missing him, watching Eddie become my friend Charlie, it allowed me to be OK with the fact that I did care for him and he did have some humanity within him. But he definitely was not a mercy killer and he deserved and does deserve to be behind bars.”

-Amy Loughren

The Good Nurse is streaming on Netflix now. Here’s my review and here are my interviews with screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns and director Tobias Lindholm.