Can a TV show about a prostitute working in the porn industry in Seventies New York be a feminist project?
That was the question Maggie Gyllenhaal asked herself when approached for the role, and thankfully — because it really is very good — she decided it can.
It helped that she was given a producer credit, too, which convinced her that she would be able to bring a multitude of dimensions to her character of Candy.
Another major plus point next to this drama is the team behind it — creators David Simon and George Pelecanos have some serious clout, with Simon being the man responsible for The Wire, and Pelecanos one of its main writers.
While the subject matter may seem different, The Deuce (named after the slang term for 42nd Street, where most of the, ahem, “action” takes place) still focuses on the larger societal issues that were taking place at the time — just like The Wire.
Here we see how a drug epidemic led to increases in both violence and booms and busts in real estate prices, with Simon and Pelecanos cannily showing how intertwined these apparently separate issues really are.
Most of all, though, it’s a story about people. This is where Gyllenhaal and her co-stars (including James Franco and The Wire’s Gbenga Akinnagbe) really come into their own.
How easy it would be to tell this story in a sensationalist, voyeuristic fashion, forgetting that there were — and still are — real people on both sides of the camera.
The Deuce starts on Tuesday, September 26 at 10pm on Sky Atlantic.
