But previous reimaginings of Oscar Wildes 1890 novel proved more difficult for the showrunner to shake.
It was at the Art Institute; I saw it every time I went there.
And Ivan Albrights one of my favorite American painters.
Credit: Showtime; Walter McBride/Corbis via Getty Images
So I said, Well, we cant do that, so we have to do something else.
How do you show sin appearing on a painting?
How does it manifest itself?
Is it sort of like a plague?
Does it look like an illness?
Ultimately, the showrunner realized he was drawn to a more internal pain.
To me, what is poignant about Dorian Gray is that hes everlasting, Logan says.
Hes eternal, and he will live forever, and the loneliness inherent in that I find very moving.
It was too literal, it was too something, Logan says.
It wasnt quite capturing what it needed to capture.
Initially, he recalls, I wanted it to feel modern, but I definitely wanted a painting.
But the new direction required actor Reeve Carney to suffer for his art.
The results were then rendered to look like a painting, giving the portrait a handmade effect.
He thrills at imagining the hedonistic character having an affair with Saint-Just under the shadow of the guillotine.
With that history in mind, the showrunner envisioned a portrait influenced by the arts of the time.
I wanted something that feltMan in the Iron Mask-y, something that felt Alexandre Dumas, he says.
So we got sort of a castle-y look with candles.
Youd never know it looking at the painting, but that was infusing it.
Think about those costumes, those clothes, and the feel of those paintings.
And a familiar face made a cameo in that backstory, however indirectly.
But we dont really focus on it in the show.
As Logan describes it, Hes in the heart of darkness.
Its him and his soul.
I think theres a reason the Greeks left the violence offstage, Logan suggests.
