Toni Collette and John Leguizamo tell Tara Ward about the electric drama set in a world where gender equality becomes a sudden and shocking reality.
There’s a moment halfway through The Power where it seems Toni Collette could be channeling Jacinda Ardern. A mysterious medical event is sweeping the globe, and her character Margot Cleary-Lopez, the empathetic Seattle mayor, is tasked with leading her citizens through an unprecedented crisis. As she stands at the podium in front of the world’s press, Margot is the reassuring voice of authority during a time of panic, determined to protect her citizens. She’s also a progressive leader whose political decisions are subject to a barrage of sexist scrutiny, simply because she’s a woman with power.
“Jacinda, what an incredible human,” Collette says over Zoom. “Totally inspired by her, and what an honour to play someone like that.” New Zealand’s former prime minister was one of a handful of women leaders who inspired Collette in The Power, a science fiction drama adapted from Naomi Alderman’s bestselling novel. “It’s really exciting to play someone who is there for the people. There are so many people in power, particularly men, and it’s all about ego,” she says. “They’re not actually there to represent the people they’re meant to be representing at all, and she [Ardern] really did.”
The Power takes place in an alternate world where teenage girls suddenly gain the ability to release electricity through their hands. It’s the spark that ignites a shift in society, as women everywhere discover they’re more physically powerful than men. The series considers how power can both change and corrupt, and Margot finds herself at the centre of the electrical storm when she’s the first to publicly acknowledge the presence of the “skein”, the newly discovered organ that generates electricity in the female body.
It’s an intriguing and original idea, which is exactly what drew Collette to the role. She was especially thrilled to be part of a show that portrays women being empowered in a variety of thought-provoking ways. “That to me is just straight up exciting, you know, to have this fictitious world that entertains the idea of gender equality, and for it to feel so real and so achievable.”
Collette is joined by a stellar cast including John Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge), Auli’i Cravalho (Moana), Toheeb Jimoh (Ted Lasso), Ria Zmitrowicz (Three Girls) and Josh Charles (The Good Wife) in the series made by Sister, the prestige TV production company behind Chernobyl, This is Going to Hurt and The Split. Filming was delayed by the onset of Covid-19, but real-life events in the intervening years means The Power will resonate with viewers today in ways it couldn’t have in 2019.
“Looking at how we’ve evolved in reality versus the show, it’s incredibly aligned and succinct,” Collette says. MeToo, Black Lives Matter and the overturning of Roe v Wade in America all echo through the show’s storylines, while Leguizamo says The Power hits a nerve in the aftermath of the pandemic. “Covid made it really believable that something like The Power could happen. People were sequestered, taken from their homes, kids were taken from their colleges and put in hotels.” It’s not long since we watched a real-life mystery medical condition sweep the globe, and The Power has never felt more timely.
Leguizamo plays Rob, Margot’s doctor husband who handles the domestic responsibilities in the Cleary-Lopez home. It’s rare to see a television husband prioritise his wife’s career the way Rob does, and Leguizamo is proud of the way Rob redefines traditional masculine stereotypes. “I see a lot of my friends being like that,” he says, describing Rob as a nurturing and sensitive “sigma” male. “Rob supports his wife, who’s more powerful and ambitious, and how great to show that on film. It can work and it does work, and it’s the new reality.”
The Power follows different women around the globe as they embrace their new reality, with storylines stretching from Nigeria to London to the deep south of the United States. Some women use the electricity for liberation, others for revenge, but all become empowered in ways that upend the status quo. Their new power isn’t a novelty Marvel-esque superpower, but rather an energy that gives agency to the powerless and a voice to the silenced, overturning society’s power structures in the process.
The series features a cast of women from all over the world, another feature which Collette acknowledges is unique to The Power. “It’s bloody brilliant … I remember they showed us a trailer on set, and I found it so moving to see so many different women in a three minute trailer, just completely different to each other, all having their own incredible experiences. Nothing was cliched. It’s very rare to see something like that.”
The Power also shows how society still fears women gaining power, and we see Margot begin to fight the government as it tries to gain control over women’s bodies. Collette reckons this unease comes down to a fear of change. When you’re born into a patriarchal society, she says, you just believe that’s how things are. “It’s really exciting to be in a time where people are questioning the way it is, because it really doesn’t work,” she says. “I love that this premise entertains that equality might possibly be a reality, because it’s essential to our survival.”
The Power streams on Prime Video from Friday 31 March.
