Berwyn Native Brad Ingelsby On HBO's 'Mare Of Easttown': 'I Got To Work With Kate Winslet And Do It At Home'
(CBS Local)-- A new HBO series about Pennsylvania is coming to HBO. Archbishop John Carroll High School and Villanova University alum Brad Ingelsby created a new limited series called "Mare of Easttown" that stars Academy Award winner Kate Winslet and tells the story of a detective in a small Pennsylvania town who investigates a local murder while trying to keep her family life and personal life intact.
The show was shot in Chester County and Delaware County and Ingeslby wanted to give the nation a snapshot of the area that he called home for so many years. CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith talked with Ingelsby about growing up in PA, working with Winslet and what TV watchers can expect when the show debuts on April 18.
"On a lot of levels, it was a great experience. I got to go home and shoot something at home, which I never had the chance to do before," said Ingelsby. "That was obviously a great experience and then I got to work with Kate Winslet, who is an incredible actress and she took on a part that I had written and I got to do it at home. I couldn't ask for a lot more than that."
Doing this project gave Ingelsby the opportunity to visit his family and his friends he grew up with in Chester County. It was really important to the screenwriter and producer to shoot the show about Pennsylvania in the state itself.
"We shot it exactly where it takes place and that lends it a level of authenticity you don't often get in these productions," said Ingelsby. "I grew up in Berwyn and I spent a lot of time at Berwyn Pizza and Casey's Pour House growing up. Then there was Devon Lanes and I went to Villanova and Archbishop Carroll."
While Winslet has been in a lot of great films in the past like "Titanic," "Revolutionary Road" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," this is the first time she's done a Pennsylvania accent on screen. The accent is incredibly specific and Ingelsby was blown away by how the actor perfectly nailed it.
"It's such a tricky accent. It's a very specific place and even within Delaware County there are people with a really strong accent and then there's people with a less strong accent," said Ingelsby. "We did a lot of research recording people and narrowing the focus and then landed on the spot of somewhere in the middle where it's definitely Delaware County, but it's not as severe as some accents you get to hear in that area. I wanted to tell a story about where I grew up and how I grew up. I certainly grew up with a lot of these characters in this part of the country. I wanted to portray these people with a lot of empathy."
