Welcome to the Carnivale

SINGAPORE – There’s something strangely arresting about HBO’s Carnivale (to premiere tonight at 8) that haunts you. It’s just that you can’t single out the one scene that grips — no, shocks you — driving you to the edge of your seat.

Many scenes vie for the title "Most Arresting", even "Most Jarring," in the first two episodes we saw. An old woman spits out a shower of coins before small-town minister Brother Justin Crowe. A house of sin simply called Chin’s goes up in flames as its owner shoots himself dead. The walls cave in on a group of diners peacefully enjoying their meal.

What gives? Carnivale creator Daniel Knauf himself asks the same question and refuses to elaborate. The series of guessing games take you from one bizarre episode to another. But the weird part is, much as you want to bump yourself in the head for not getting it, you hang on. The images – graphic, forceful — refuse to let you be. You’re helplessly hooked.

No wonder HBO decided to produce the Carnivale screenplay, even if the author, Daniel Knauf has never had any TV screenplay credits to his name. Executives of the channel behind Sopranos, Sex and the City, Six Feet Under, etc., know a standout when they see one. Never mind if it required tons of work: research on the Depression of the 1930s (the setting), period costumes for the ensemble cast, outdoor shooting under extremes of weather (in California), the works.

With quality comes the cost. Carnivale, as Knauf himself admits, was one of the most, if not the most expensive HBO has done so far.

But no matter. The gamble had to be done. This is one project that had to push through. And HBO, true to its instinct, was correct. Carnivale romped off with seven awards in the just-concluded EMMYS for Outstanding Costumes for a Series, Outstanding Makeup for a Series (non-prosthetic), Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series, Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series, Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series and Outstanding Main Title Design. No harvest can be richer.

The road to victory was not easy, though. For the casting of the background players alone — and there were many of them – Knauf and company went through hundreds of photos to find just the right guy.

"I chose faces who looked lived in. That’s very important to me. People looked different back then, and I just don’t want pretty faces," Knauf relates.

The result is casting that goes against the grain: it doesn’t bank on superstars to haul in the viewers, but sheer acting talent to keep them glued on the TV set week after week.

Lead actor Nick Stahl as troubled young man Ben Hawkins may not be a Tom Cruise, for instance. But his helpless-puppy eyes make you want to reach out to him as he carries on a lonely battle against evil.

Clancy Brown as Brother Justin Crowe may not be a Jack Nicholson, but his rich theater background clothes him with the knack for playing someone with authority in the community.

Their period costumes were hot and uncomfortable under the intense California sun, especially when shooting outdoor scenes. But who cares? Everyone was enjoying themselves. So they not only pulled it through, they did an excellent job.

"Casting fine actors who are not over-publicized in media helps people identify with the characters more," Knauf explains.

The everyman look is written all over Ben Hawkins’ face and slow, deliberate shuffle as he washed his clothes in a communal faucet. You see it in Sofie, the catatonic tarot reader Apollonia’s daughter, as she seesaws between obeying and rebelling against her psychic mother.

The events may be bizarre, and so are some of the characters (e.g. Samson the dwarf, the Siamese twins, the Bearded Lady, etc.). But make no mistake about it. They are, deep inside, much like all of us — weighed down by the burdens of day to day.

Okay, okay. Some would like to see Tom Cruise get down and dirty in a grubby neighborhood. But that face can be so distracting you’ll tend to forget what the story, or its message is all about.

Carnivale avoids this trap like the plague.

It’s the creator’s way of telling you: No, sir. My story doesn’t need superstars to propel itself forward. This engrossing tale can stand on its own merits.

As Clancy Brown, who plays Brother Justin Crowe, put it, "HBO cares more for stories than who you’re having lunch with."

So, you step into a world caught in the web of mystery and intrigue that is Carnivale. The world and its citizens baffle you, but you can’t let go. Do they stand for anything deeper? Who will win in the classic battle between good and evil? Who is Management, that all-powerful something in the episodes whom Samson the dwarf (Michael Anderson) obeys to the letter?

Knauf’s answers are general. "(The Carnivale characters) represent a family. There’s a mother, father, a responsible older sister, a smart-ass little brother." Yes, just like in everyday life.

As for Management, Knauf’s lips are sealed. He concedes though, that Management is someone who pulls strings but you don’t see him or her.

Considering religion’s strong presence in the story, could it be God? Again, Knauf is silent.

His silence has become so intriguing people have ventured as far as guessing what the names in Carnivale stand for. Milfay, the first town the Carnivale goes to, for instance, has, for others, become another word for "family" after the letters have been rearranged.

"I would love to think I’m smart," is Knauf’s amused reaction. "But Milfay is just an accident. I just looked at a period map and arbitrarily picked up Milfay as the name of the town the characters first went to. It freaked me out. But it’s the most flattering thing in the world."

This feeling of not being able to pin things down in the story says a lot about its message. Just as you can’t label, say, the pastor as a force of evil, or religion, for that matter, as a positive or negative element in the story, Carnivale says neither can you pass judgment on people just like that.

Knauf explains: "The message is more complex than good versus bad. Good and evil are not easily defined. People who have led perfect lives can be capable of great cruelty. Those who have committed crimes are capable of great nobility."

Clancy Brown saw this in his character. "He has this position in the community. But he has this primal urges — human stuff," Brown reveals.

It is this "human stuff" that makes the pastor such a joy to portray. Brown is so proud of his acting in the series, he feels that should anything untoward happen to him, "I’ve shown everybody what I can do through Brother Justin."

It is this honest look at humanity — flawed yet potent in its ability to do good or evil – that makes Carnivale an interesting, though baffling story to follow. The characters, promise Knauf, develop as the story unfolds. And what may appear black and white in the beginning will — somewhere along the way — evolve into various shades of grey.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, this gradual unraveling of characters and events will challenge the mind. And, until the puzzle is solved, Carnivale will keep viewers on their toes, watching and waiting.