LOCAL
Tim Landes, Tulsa Flyer
The show follows a self-proclaimed Tulsa “truthstorian.” Photo courtesy of FX.
Days before the FX Network premiere of “The Lowdown,” show creator Sterlin Harjo and cast members held a virtual press conference to discuss the Tulsa-based show.
“The Lowdown” follows citizen journalist Lee Raybon, a self-proclaimed Tulsa “truthstorian” played by Ethan Hawke. Hawke is also an executive producer of the show that debuts Tuesday, Sept. 23, with two of its eight episodes.
“‘The Lowdown’ is about searching for the truth when it feels like it’s not reachable,” Harjo said, “and you know, balancing your life and moving forward and still trying to grasp the truth, and that is a very noble endeavor today. We need people like Lee.”
“We need journalists,” Harjo, the show’s executive producer, writer and pilot director, said. “We need people on the front lines of morality and finding what the truth is, and we need people not to give up in that search for truth … It’s a noble thing to fight for the truth, and I think that’s what this show is at its heart.”
Here are some of the other things we learned during the presser:
Harjo set the show in Tulsa because it hasn’t been explored like other cities such as Los Angeles, New York and New Orleans, he said. “There’s so much sort of political and cultural activity happening in the middle of the country and Tulsa felt like the right place.”
The cast members were asked what their favorite finds were while in Tulsa, and Kyle MacLachlan gave a nod to his “Twin Peaks” character Dale Cooper by saying he enjoyed a nice cup of coffee at Cherry Street Bakery. (We’re pretty sure he meant Cherry Street Kitchen).
“When I did the pilot I had a wonderful guide. Her name is Jeanne Tripplehorn. You’ve heard of her,” said MacLachlan, who plays Donald Washberg. “She took me around and showed me some sides of Tulsa that I never knew existed and I needed to see.”
Speaking of Tripplehorn, the former KMOD DJ returned to her birthplace for “The Lowdown” to play Betty Jo, a woman she described as “a hellcat” and “a survivor.”
Her favorite thing was “just going back home. When I was on my first conversation – a call with Sterlin – within 10 minutes of our conversation, you said, ‘You ready to come home?’ And I said, ‘I am.’ … I hadn’t been back home in about five years.”
Actor Keith David stars as Marty, who seems unusually interested in Raybon’s investigation into the Washberg family. He said his favorite thing was a connection he made with a Tulsa historian.
“I got to meet one of the consultants, Chief Egunwale (Amusan), and got to explore Tulsa with him,” David said. “It just doesn’t get better than that. I had a wonderful time.”
Hawke returned to Tulsa after filming an episode for the third and final season of Harjo’s award-winning “Reservation Dogs.” Hawke said it was an easy choice.
“There’s such a strong sense of community in Tulsa, Oklahoma,” the Academy Award nominee said. “People are really rooting for each other. They’re pulling for each other. A lot of people are making art for art’s sake.
“[Tulsa] was an amazing place to get to meet a huge community of people that were all in a like-minded vision and all serving the same goal,” Hawke added. “My kids went to school down there. It was a long shoot, and we were so welcomed that it made it one of the best experiences of my life.”
MacLachlan worked with the late great filmmaker David Lynch on multiple projects. Working with Harjo, he noticed some similarities between the two filmmakers — enough that while on set he said he felt really happy and said to himself, “Wow, I feel like I’m back in the land of Lynch here.”
Creatives involved with the show are set to return for a premiere at the Philbrook Museum of Art on Monday. Episodes of “The Lowdown” are available on Hulu the day after they air on FX.
Tim Landes is the food, arts and culture editor for the Tulsa Flyer. You can reach him at tim@tulsaflyer.org.
