hello
i was mindy in lullaby of darkness
equalizer fanatics know what a trouble production the episode was for me and the other child actors and child stand-ins
i'm happy to still get letters from you all all these years later
ellen
Ellen, I first saw this episode when I was 18 (on its release date). I also found it to be the most chilling of any episode in season 4, and quite possibly the entire series. How did you find it playing that little girl who was forced to retreat into a world of make-believe to escape that horrible father? How did Stephen Lang (who played Joseph Morrison, the psychopathic father) find playing that role? Do you think he found it difficult?
You mention that it was a troubling episode, especially because of the terrible but very real issue of domestic violence. That of course makes sense - Joseph Morrison's acts of victim-blaming (like he does in the first few minutes) and his weak attempts to justify his abusive conduct as 'discipline' (which it clearly is not), and his proclamations that he doesn't like to hit his wife & child (clearly a lie), are all known characteristics of abusive men. When I saw this one I remember feeling the same loathing for Joseph Morrison that McCall & Kostmayer, and likely Mindy, also felt.
How did you find it working with the late Edward Woodward & the cast of 'Equalizer'?
Stephen Lang was a monster playing a monster. He was so cold and horrible to me that my mother insisted that him and me not be on set together unless we had to be in the same shot.
He also made the little girls who were my stand-ins feel terrified. I had stand-ins for some scenes because of child labor laws. Those little girls didn't deserve Lang's vicious and horrible behavior. The girls were so nice to me - they both had really long hair and agreed to have it cut to match my pixie cut.
Woodwood was a quintessential British man.
WOW. I had no idea that Lang was such a monster in real life. Given his role as the loathsome, sinister Colonel in James Cameron's 'Avatar' in recent years, it no longer seems far-fetched. The character of Morrison that he played in that episode was truly despicable and vile. That he was a monster even in real life is that much more frightening.
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