Jonathan Groff on the Netflix Drama Mindhunter…

On October 18, 2017, Jonathan Groff sat down with BUILD Series to discuss his new Netflix psychological thriller drama, Mindhunter at the BUILD Studio in New York City. In the series based off of the 1995 true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker, Mindhunter revolves around FBI agents Holden Ford, played by Groff, and Bill Tench, played by Holt McCallany, along with psychologist Wendy Carr, played by Anna Torv, who operate the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit within the Training Division at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Together, they launch a research project to interview imprisoned serial killers to understand their psychology with the hope of applying this knowledge to solve ongoing cases.

The interview is a little over a half hour in discussion, where Groff discusses everything from his favorite scenes in the series to the contradictions of his character, the ambitious young FBI agent Holden Ford, where his special agent interviews notorious serial killer Edmund Kemper, who is the first to assist Ford and Tench in understanding how a serial killer’s mind works. The first season takes place from 1977 to 1980, in the early days of criminal psychology and criminal profiling at the FBI. Cameron Britton has a recurring role in this season as Kemper.

Groff also discusses with BUILD Series the casting of the notorious serial killers that are featured in the first season with Britton, the featured serial killers in this season that Ford and Tench interview include  Montie Rissell played by Sam Strike, Jerry Brudos played by Happy Anderson, Richard Speck played by Jack Erdie, and Dennis Rader also known as BTK, played by Sonny Valicenti.

BUILD Series also discusses with Groff the cerebral nature of the series, and the challenges of making it engaging to viewers. Most viewers assume that because the Netflix series is about serial killers, they assume the series will have gratuitous killing with blood and gore, but the series deals with the late 1970s when the FBI was learning about criminal profiling and how to better understand the criminal mind. So the series does not have any gratuitous violence because when Ford and Tench are interviewing the notorious serious killers, it is occurring while they are already serving time on their sentences after their mass murder sprees, some even decades later. Mindhunter focuses on the cerebral minds of these killers and the lifestyle, trauma, motives and even natural evil that motivates them to kill.

Groff and BUILD Series also discuss his relationship with his co-star in the series, Holt McCallany, who plays veteran FBI special agent Bill Tench, and for whom he spends a majority of his screen time with intensely emotional and visceral scenes that include notorious serial killers and Ford and Tench’s conversations about how their criminal minds work. Groff also discusses the parallels between his personal life and the Netflix Series, as well as his favorite scene in Mindhunter, and lastly he discusses with BUILD Series what his favorite project in his career has been this far.

You can watch the full BUILD Series interview with Jonathan Groff below:

Mindhunter is available now on Netflix…