Case Closed: How Uzo Aduba Mastered the Art of Playing Television’s Smartest Detective in “The Residence”
From the moment the first episode streamed on Netflix in March, The Residence has garnered millions of fans and great ratings. There’s also been a growing fan base for its lead character, Cordelia Cupp, known as the world’s greatest detective by those surrounding her in this unique mystery dramedy. The whodunit comes from longtime Shondaland collaborator Paul William Davies (Scandal, For the People), and is inspired by Kate Anderson Brewer’s nonfiction book on the history of The White House and its staff. Cordelia Cupp, played by a perfectly cast Uzo Aduba, is brought in after the White House chief usher is found dead during a state dinner. Cordelia, along with every member of the staff, the party guests, and other officials, including the president, spend a sleepless night in The People’s House as she tries to solve what others declare a suicide, but she knows is a murder.
Cordelia Cupp, like all great fictional detectives, comes complete with a bevy of quirky traits and singular skills. Beyond being a genius, she is an avid birder who is comfortable in her own skin and thinks faster than anyone else in the room. To head the star-filled cast as Cordelia, Davies tapped Aduba, who is known for her work on Orange is the New Black and the miniseries Mrs. America, both of which led to Emmy awards. The Credits spoke to Aduba about her headlining role in creating this great new addition to the world of detective fiction.
A lot of the character existed before you signed on, but Paul William Davies says you were his co-creator in realizing Cordelia Cupp. What did you see as the essential parts of her as a character?
We talked a lot about who she is and how she moves through the world. She takes up space, and that, for me, was a very worthy attribute. Paul wrote her as a very intelligent woman, but what struck me was that she didn’t seem to be apologetic for being great at her job. She doesn’t walk around saying she’s the world’s greatest detective, people say that about her, so something we really talked about was, how does she take up space? This is The People’s House, and it became clear that she doesn’t ever feel intimidated by whatever space she’s in. You’ll never see Cordelia do that thing where she enters a room and takes a pause to compose herself. She’s had to share spaces in which people see themselves as ranked or stacked above her, but she never approaches a space thinking that. She’s someone who is quite self-possessed, maybe knows she’s stood out her entire life, and she’s always been ok with that. Whatever room she’s in, whoever she’s interrogating, you’ll never see a difference in response from her, whether it’s an engineer or the president’s chief advisor.
She doesn’t get mentioned as a woman or as Black, but rather as the world’s greatest detective. What were some ways you used to embody that?
Paul had on the page that she finds a lot of information from a very small piece of evidence every time she speaks. I thought that was reflective of her intelligence, that she could extract so much from something as small as a pine needle. There’s a great example of how he sets the stage for her from the beginning. It’s how she first deals with the scene of the crime, the game room. Within seconds, she knows there’s no knife. They’ve been there for minutes, maybe even up to an hour, and they’ve ruled it a suicide with no weapon. She also has all these wonderful phrases, and so something from the physical that was really important for me was that she has no filter between her mind and her process. It just comes out. For that, there were two exercises. One was speaking as fast as her mind works, and the other was the exercise of stillness. Those were two things that were really important in terms of what makes her the world’s greatest detective.
She’s way ahead of everyone else.
Her mind works faster than everyone else in the room. In this room specifically, we hear and watch how fast that mind moves from the initial exam of the victim, A.B. Winter, that there’s poison, there’s a contusion on the back of his head, his wrists are slit the wrong way, and his shoes look slightly off, so he’s been dragged into the room. All those points she’s been able to notice in a minute, two minutes tops. I wanted to get the physical process of her mind. I talk a lot, but don’t talk that fast. I had to bring her voice down, if you can believe that, because I already have a pretty deep voice. For me, to be able to physicalize talking that fast, I had to put her pitch about a half step lower than mine, so that I could talk or prattle that fast, and also enunciate well enough to be understood by the viewer. I also had to refrain from moving my mouth as much to get the words out effectively, which then inspired the idea of stillness. I thought that was a worthy exercise in her interrogation process as well. She gives nothing away. No one outranks her in the room, and in her mind, at the end of the day, they’re all being kept there for the same reason. They never imagined a murder in the White House, but there they all are. Anyone could have done it, and no one is above the law, the system, or her investigation. She’s in a house where everyone is excellent at holding cards close to their vest, so it’s her responsibility to hold her cards just as close. These are people who broker deals globally and constantly juggle geopolitics, conducting press and interviews without showing a bead of sweat. She needed to employ those same skills.
She also doesn’t let on what she knows.
Right. I talk with my hands, and I give a lot away, but she’s not giving anything away. She’s really there to listen and make sure whoever she’s interrogating is giving her information that’s consistent with what she already knows to be true. All those elements are key pieces for me to build her out as a character. Her memory, her stillness, and her observational skills are what make her the greatest detective.
Her stillness is definitely one of her superpowers.
I think that’s part of the birder in her. She’s learned to wait for the thing she’s looking for, the “blink,” to come to her. She knows any quick movements or a sudden question might lead someone away from the thing she’d actually be looking to confirm.
Cordelia is such a powerful woman. You have a new daughter. What of Cordelia’s attributes would you like her grow up to have?
I’d love her to be long in the spine and confident about those things that she does well. Being confident about who you are and what you do is not the same as being arrogant. It’s ok to be proud of doing a great job, and it’s ok to be smart. Often it seems that’s not ok, especially as a female, and I want her to know it’s ok to be smart. I want her to confidently lean into her intelligence the way Cordelia always does. I really love how unapologetic she is about taking up space and owning her intelligence. I have to give credit to Paul in that regard, because he wrote her that way. He wrote a show that is smart. He trusted the viewer to keep up with the story and the characters and how fast they moved. I loved that, and had been longing to see it as an audience member; so, to be a part of creating it was just wonderful.
All episodes of The Residence are streaming now on Netflix.
Featured image: The Residence. (L to R) Dan Perrault as Colin Trask, Uzo Aduba as Cordelia Cupp, Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Larry Dokes in episode 102 of The Residence. Cr. Jessica Brooks/Netflix © 2024
