[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Cross Season 1]

The Big Picture

Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with
Cross
co-stars Ryan Eggold and Eloise Mumford.
In the Prime Video series, Alex Cross uses forensic psychology to analyze killers’ minds, delving into victims’ psyches to identify murderers & bring them to justice.
During this interview, Eggold and Mumford discuss their challenging scenes, including an emotional moment that made Mumford weep and the weight of maintaining these headspaces.

James Patterson’s iconic character Alex Cross is back in the brand-new Amazon original series Cross. The show has pulled together an incredible team of actors led by Aldis Hodge (One Night in Miami…) under the story safekeeping of showrunner Ben Watkins (Burn Notice). This time around, Cross must protect his family from a terrifying new killer while maintaining due diligence with his grounded partner, John Sampson, played by Isaiah Mustafa (It: Chapter Two).

For the latest reincarnation of Patterson’s seminal detective, Alex Cross (Hodge) uses forensic psychology to analyze and investigate the minds of murderers and psychopaths, delving below the surface into a victim’s psyche to identify their killer and bring them to justice. The series also stars Ryan Eggold as the murderous Ed Ramsey and Eloise Mumford as Shannon Witmer, a target of Ed’s cruelty.

In this interview, Eggold and Mumford sit down with Collider’s own Steve Weintraub to discuss their dynamic in Cross. They discuss spending weeks together as captor and prisoner, how much they actually very much care about each other in real life, and what ultimately made Mumford weep in her car.

Breaking Teeth Is a Typical Tuesday on ‘Cross’

COLLIDER: Congrats on being a part of Cross. I’ve seen the first season, and I’m just gonna say you guys did great work.

RYAN EGGOLD: Thanks, man. That means a lot. Thanks a lot.

ELOISE MUMFORD: Thank you.

I like throwing a curveball at the beginning of every interview and here’s the curve for you guys. You both have done a number of projects. Which shot or sequence do you think was the hardest you’ve done because of camera moves, dialogue, whatever it may be? Is there one sequence that you can remember that was just like, “That was really f’ing hard?”

EGGOLD: Wow. I mean, there’s a number from this project.

MUMFORD: Yeah, I have one from this project.

EGGOLD: You go.

MUMFORD: There is a scene where he’s knocking my teeth out… [Laughs]

EGGOLD: As one does. As you do on a Tuesday afternoon. What else you gonna do?

MUMFORD: Which was incredibly hard. It was the end of the day. It was the last shot of the day. As often happens on set, you sort of are running out of time, and we just need to get the shot. It was a close-up on my face, and the director was like, “Okay, Eloise, if you can–” I’m crying, as I am in much of the show — not off-screen, on screen.

EGGOLD: She’s a crybaby.

MUMFORD: He’s like, “When he pulls the scalpel away, if you could just have one tear come down.” And Ryan looked at me and was like, “Uhhh, I don’t know if she can do that.”

EGGOLD: I was like, “Guys, let’s not ask the actor to have one tear slowly fall on cue. That’s a little ridiculous.”

MUMFORD: Right when you pull the scalpel away! [Laughs]

EGGOLD: Yeah, exactly. Then they’re like, “Action!” and then Eloise was like: bam [mimes a single tear falling down his cheek], and I was like, “Wow, okay! Great!”

MUMFORD. And I don’t even think it’s in the show. [Laughs]

EGGOLD: I asked that it be cut. I was like, “That’s incredible. Get that out of here.”

MUMFORD: Ryan called later and was like, “Cut that.”

EGGOLD: “Guys that upstaged me, get it out of here.”

MUMFORD: That was hard. As every film set is, there’s a whole village of people off-screen. Everything gets really quiet, really calm, and you just have to do it. I’m sure Ryan had lots of moments like that in his life where it just all comes down to you and whether you can do something or not.

EGGOLD: I don’t have any stories as good as that. I had to do car stunts in The Blacklist. I remember doing wheelies, trying to figure out that stuff, and crashing into things. That was very action-packed and scary with real impact and cars moving fast and screeching. That was really a good time.

12:24 Related This Is the Biggest Difference Between the ‘Cross’ Series and James Patterson’s Books The team behind the Prime Video series discusses collaborating with James Patterson and the major changes from the books.

I don’t think people realize people train their whole lives to do something, and then an actor is asked to make themselves look like they can do it on this professional level after two hours of training.

EGGOLD: [Laughs] Totally.

MUMFORD: And car stuff is particularly scary because everyone who you have grown to love is around you and the camera operator who you adore is right there.

EGGOLD: “Okay, guys, we’re putting the ‘actor’ in the car now. She’s gonna go 75–”

MUMFORD: “Stop right on this mark.”

EGGOLD: “Joe’s gonna be standing here, you drive as fast as you can and stop right here.”

MUMFORD: Nightmare.

Image via Prime

This is a joke, but sort of serious — Ryan, you put her through the wringer on this show. When you see him and his face now, is there a little bit of…? Because there’s a lot of intense stuff that you guys are doing.

EGGOLD: I should explain. Before we had done this stuff, when she saw my face, she didn’t like it. I remember we met on day one, and she was like, “This guy? I have to work with this guy?”

MUMFORD: Immediate revulsion.

EGGOLD: I was offended, but I understood. It’s a weird-looking face, and you have every right.

MUMFORD: It’s actually why he dyed his hair.

EGGOLD: So it would be a little more palatable to you. That’s a good question, actually. I’m also curious. At least I don’t have the hair. I probably don’t look quite the same.

MUMFORD: It’s complicated. [Laughs] No, honestly, we filmed this a year and a half ago, and I’m actually just honestly thrilled to see Ryan. I feel like we really trauma bonded through what we had to do together, and there’s a certain level of trust that you have to build.

What Made Eloise Mumford Sob?
Image via Prime

EGGOLD: I think at the time though, it probably was that way. Don’t you think at the time, in the moment on set, when we saw each other? By the end of the shoot, when we were immersed in the world, in the character, and so many of our scenes were such a power dynamic — captor and captive, and torturing, instilling pain and fear and all these things. I’m sure a break from my face was helpful. [Laughs]

MUMFORD: It was complicated, for sure. I will say, I went to do ADR a couple months after we finished filming. Your face came on screen in ADR and my heart, I actually had a physical response. I got in the car after I finished ADR and I wept. I sobbed. I think it’s because it was still all — your body doesn’t know it’s fake, your brain.

That’s what I mean!

MUMFORD: Yeah! But I do feel like, yeah, it’s funny looking in his eyes.

EGGOLD: I think it’s a testament to the work Eloise did, and hopefully, I was there with you in terms of creating a safe space where we could go to those places that are a little scary, a little unknown, and a little darker. Live somewhere else and find those moments truthfully.

MUMFORD: I have such tremendous respect for Ryan and the amount of trust that we built. As you can tell, he’s an incredibly kind and generous man. So much love for that and that allowed us to go to those places.

EGGOLD: We had some laughs, too, amid teeth ripping out.

MUMFORD: You had to. We had to.

EGGOLD: Had to.

MUMFORD: I was spitting on him at certain points.

EGGOLD: There was the spitting. It was a good time.

MUMFORD: He’s seen more of the inside of my mouth than anybody.

There Are No Rules When Playing a “Psychopathic” Killer
“It was really fun to inhabit a ruthlessness.”
Image via Prime Video

Ryan, I’m sure playing this kind of bad person, the first few days on set must have been a joy to enter that headspace, but then, at a certain point, you’re staying in that headspace for a long time. At what point of the shoot were you like, “Okay, when does this shoot end? Because I need to stop doing this.”

EGGOLD: Wow, that’s very funny and insightful because I literally was just saying exactly that. Yes, so fun at first because it’s so freeing. The hero is bound by the rules. You gotta play by the rules, you gotta save people. There’s a morality and a compass there, and there are lines. For the villain, there aren’t those lines. There’s no morality; there are no rules you can’t break, especially if you’re sociopathic, psychopathic, killing people. So yes, it was. Especially coming from playing the hero for a handful of years. It was really fun to inhabit a ruthlessness and a complete disregard for anyone but his own selfish pursuits. There’s a freedom there that’s really fun.

But then by the end, yeah, you show up, and you’ve got scissors in one hand and a scalpel in the other, and you’re like, “I’m gonna torture you again. I’m sorry.” And she’s like, “Really? Again today?” I’m like, “They wrote it. I’m sorry about that.” And then you do it again. After a while, your body does start to take home that experience, which is heavy, especially when you’re acting opposite Eloise. The fear and the anxiety and everything feels so real. As the character, you’re loving it because Ramsey gets off on this power thing, the control and the fear, but as the actor, you’re like, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to hurt you anymore.”

MUMFORD: But how good is he in the show?

If you don’t buy into what you two are doing, the whole thing does not work . It’s such an integral part of the scene.

How Did Ryan Eggold and Eloise Mumford Prepare For ‘Cross?’
Image via Prime Video

I love talking to actors about the way they get ready for a project. You guys are so vastly different in what you’re asked to do this season. So the first day of filming is coming up, what is it like for both of you the weeks leading up to that? What are you doing to prepare? What is it like those last few days when you’re just about to start filming?

MUMFORD: I think we were both watching a lot of documentaries about serial killers alone in our hotel room.

EGGOLD: We should have gotten a screening room. We should have prepared together.

MUMFORD: I know! I didn’t know you were also watching that Aileen Wuornos documentary.

EGGOLD: Yeah, of course. I had to.

MUMFORD: That sort of intellectual prep. Then, personally, I actually went a zig-zag way in prep for Shannon in that, as an art lover, I figured the thing she would be thinking about in the moments where she needs to calm herself and find strength would be an art piece. For me, it would have been music. As you’re locked in a cabinet, trying to figure out what would make you feel safe when you feel incredibly unsafe. And for her, I thought it would be art. So, diving into fine art and figuring out what art pieces I could imagine in my mind’s eye that would bring me to that same place was a really interesting and cool way in for me. I walked around Toronto a lot listening to podcasts about art history.

Related ‘Cross’ Creator Credits the Entire Crew for Season 2 Renewal Before the Premiere [Exclusive] The Aldis Hodge-led series debuts its first season on Prime Video this November.

EGGOLD: I wish we could have had a side-by-side of you listening to podcasts about art history and me playing like Dahmer and Bundy at the same time. Obsessing. Obviously, this is not a part you can go method with. This may be quite a surprise, but I’ve never killed anybody before. So, you try to figure out why and how does someone get here, and what makes you tick? What drives you to do this? And figure out as a human being — not just as a caricature — how does somebody get to this place where you have animalistic, brutal, ruthless, horrific, behavior?

Then also, of course, I don’t want this to be misleading, but you find the places in yourself where you can connect. By that, I simply mean we’ve all been cut off on the freeway, and you go, “That motherf–,” and you have that feeling. You take a moment like that, and you magnify it, you explore, you go into it and go, “Where does that rage come from?” You explore those parts of yourself.

On that note, I gotta stop. I’m gonna say congrats and good luck with the rest of your speed dating.

MUMFORD: Thanks very much!

EGGOLD: Thank you. This was a match!

Cross is available to stream on Prime Video.

TV series based on James Paterson’s Alex Cross novels. Alex Cross uses forensic psychology to analyze killers’ minds, delving into victims’ psyches to identify murderers and bring them to justice.Cast Aldis Hodge , Isaiah Mustafa , Juanita Jennings , Alona Tal , Samantha Walkes , Caleb Elijah , Melody Hurd , Jennifer Wigmore , Eloise Mumford , Ryan Eggold , Johnny Ray Gill , Stacie Greenwell , Mercedes de la Zerda , Sharon Taylor , Dwain Murphy , Karen Robinson , Matt Baram , Siobhan Murphy , Jason Rogel , Chaunteé Schuler Irving , Ann Hamilton , Ashley Rios , Richard Waugh Creator(s) Ben Watkins Writers Ben Watkins Streaming Service(s) Prime Video Franchise(s) Alex Cross Expand

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