An Interview with Justin Haythe and Erwin Stoff, Executive Producers of ‘The Serpent Queen’

Justin Haythe is an accomplished screenwriter and producer who has worked on such films as Bohemian Rhapsody and Red Sparrow and Erwin Stoff is has been an Executive Producer for some of our favorite films such as The Matrix and I Am Legend (2007). Currently Justin handled writing duties for the upcoming STARZ series, The Serpent Queen, and he serves as an Executive Producer with Erwin on the show and we here at NTG were lucky enough to sit down with both gentlemen to discuss their work on this series.
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John Betancourt: So, I would love to know, what motivated the two of you to team up and explore the life and times of Catherine de’ Medici. 

Justin Haythe: Well, Erwin and I are a team, we've known each other and worked together for 20 odd years, good friends. And this material came to me through Erwin and Francis Lawrence, another producer on the show. And I wasn't looking for a royal show, I wasn't looking for a period show. What I was looking for was an anti-hero show. And I thought when I read this, I thought this is a uniquely modern character. This is an anti-hero, like a Corleone, or a Soprano or Walter White, who happens to be a woman, and happens to be a woman in 16th century France, where there are some frightening parallels to our own times. So, that just seemed incredibly unique. I couldn't think of a female character like this. So that's what attracted me to it.

Erwin Stoff: The way I initially got involved, is that about, I think it's now probably 15-16 years ago, Francis Lawrence sent me a review of the book, from Vogue magazine, and I had the review, I thought it was really interesting. We both read the book. We were intrigued by it. We both got busy doing other things. But we sort of never really forgot about it. And then a couple of years ago, it came up again, we call Justin, Justin had some time, read it, and decided he wanted to do it. So then after 15 or 16 years, we said, “Okay, let's go.” And we sold the show to STARZ.

John Betancourt: That’s an incredible journey for certain. Now, what went into the decision to make this series a parable that flips back and forth between the past and the present?

Erwin Stoff: There were a couple of things that sort of informed that decision. You need to understand how Catherine got to France. And you need to understand Catherine as a young woman, and the trials and tribulations that she faced. On the other hand, you kind of go okay, we have Samantha Morton, you can't just you know, do three episodes. And you know, fourth episode, you drop Samantha Morton in. So, we had to find a way of weaving those two stories together. And then we sort of also thought, okay, the whole idea of just telling a story chronologically, is kind of expected, not interesting, and so on. So, Justin, I thought really ingeniously found a way and a reason for Samantha Morton, to tell the story of her life to someone. And clearly, if you watch the show through, it had a purpose. I mean, she had a purpose for telling the story to this young woman.

Justin Haythe: Well, you know, as everyone said, there's an inherent challenge the fact that you want to dramatize her as a very young woman being plucked out of her life dropped in France, I mean, to consummate her marriage in front of a roomful of strangers, that's essential, right? And then what's also essential is seeing how long she ruled, how she outmaneuvered people for so long. And so, one actor can't do that. But as Erwin said, you know, when you when an audience bonds with an actor, and then you abruptly change it, oftentimes the audience can feel or I can feel well, I bonded with that actor. So, we needed Samantha to be on the screen early. But at the same time, that was the practical reason for devising that structure. At the same time, having never had an ambition to do royal show and say, “Well, why do you want to now?” I've always wanted to have a villain address us and say, “Let me tell you why I did what I did. You guys think I'm a villain, right? I'm terrible. I'm something, but this is why I did what I did. And you guys would have done the same thing, or you would never have heard of me, right?”

So, and I wanted her to also say and I thought what was unique about Catherine was, she's such an outsider. She's not considered pretty, not royal, her dowry is gone. I wanted her to talk to somebody who says, “you don't think the story has anything to do with you? Well, it does.” Right? So, to take somebody who's the ultimate outsider, you know, a servant girl and say, “Hey, I'm just like’ -- that first scene -- She says, “I'm just like, you.” And she’s just like, “Yeah, right. Okay, you're the queen, whatever.” And so, the direct address becomes not to the audience, but to her. And it's an act of manipulation, because this is a world where everything's an act of manipulation. And she's slowly moving Rahima down the board to do something she needs her to do later on. So, those are the challenges, but that came with huge opportunity. I also liked the idea of indirect address, it has been around since the ancient Greeks and Shakespeare, but I liked the idea of her -- I couldn't think of one where we know who she's addressing. I liked the idea of having Samantha's voice and the voiceover in the same scene we're Liv is turning to the camera and talking and finishing Catherine’s sentences. I just thought it really blended them together, it made memory, soup and active invention. And at the same time, when you transitioned all the way to Samantha, you were also bonded with her.

John Betancourt: Last question that I have for you gentlemen today, what is it you are most proud of when it comes to this show?

Justin Haythe: Well, you know, I think that we accomplished the tone we set out to do. But most importantly, I think that we accomplished it… under incredible pressures. We were shooting in the middle of COVID. And it really meant that everybody rose to the occasion. This was an incredible crew, French crew, and the French crews are tough, like you have to win their respect. And they did an extraordinary job, worked unbelievably hard for us. We had an incredible series of artisans making these costumes, which are all bespoke, shooting in these locations, building sets, and creating an environment with this cast, which I think it's a truly incredible cast, it feels like a theater ensemble. And all of these parts elevated the show, I think, like far beyond the challenges and the unique challenges of shooting it during that time. And under those pressures made us all better. And so, to stand back now and say, “Wow, that tone when I first read the book, when I said I want to do something funny and absurd and dangerous. All of those things at the same time, it seems an unusual tone.” I stand back now and say, “You know, we did better than that.” Because of this collective effort.

Erwin Stoff: Having done it. (Laughter from all.) No, what I'm really proud of, frankly, is sort of, I don't know, what I'm proud of, I guess is defying expectations. One of the journalists that we talked to earlier said, well, “Wow, the show really took me by surprise in terms of how much I liked it.” And what I'm proud of is defying what the expectations of a historical quote unquote costume drama are and of creating something that feels fun, engaging, contemporary, et cetera. Yet, never anachronistic yet you do feel like you were in that period. But you don't feel like you just got a history lesson. What I'm proud of is that the show is thoroughly entertaining. That it offers a good time to people. That's what I'm really proud of.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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