A Friend of the Family star Jake Lacy has revealed a moving note he received from the show’s subject and producer Jan Broberg, who was kidnapped and abused as a child by a trusted neighbour.
Her story was first told in a Netflix documentary titled Abducted in Plain Sight, but this dramatisation has been billed as a more comprehensive account of the horrifying events which unfolded in the 1970s.
Broberg was kidnapped on two separate occasions from her close-knit Mormon community by Robert ‘B’ Berchtold, who had spent years grooming her to believe that her subservience to him was key to preventing an extraterrestrial attack.
She chose to revisit this dark chapter in her life after feeling that Abducted in Plain Sight did not offer a fair depiction of her parents, who were also psychologically manipulated by Berchtold.
The White Lotus breakout star Jake Lacy plays Berchtold in A Friend of the Family and told RadioTimes.com he was struck by Broberg’s “grace” in reaching out to him as he prepared to portray her abuser.
“She was remarkable,” he began. “She offered up from the beginning any kind of contact information, discussions, anything that we wanted to have, she was available for it. And it was our choice as to whether to take her up on that or not.
“I was hesitant, to say the least, to reach out because I was just scared… I was so worried that, as a caring human being, I would meet Jan and be so f****d up from it that it would mess with the work that we were trying to do – out of love and compassion for her [and] for what she’s been through.”
Sensing that Lacy could be feeling some anxiety about approaching her, Broberg took the first step by leaving a personal note in his trailer on the first day of filming.
“The first half talked about how ‘B’ [Robert Berchtold] was warm and generous and kind and a great storyteller and made you feel so special in his presence, and that was his superpower; to make you feel that way so he could take what he wanted,” recalled Lacy.
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“And then, [in] the back half of the note, she said: ‘I’m in a healthy place, I’m okay. You don’t have to be prioritising telling this story and also worrying about how I’m doing. I’m okay. You can go forth and do this work, and you’re going to be great,’” he continued.
“And I am still at a loss for an ability to express what that meant to me… it’s just remarkable. So selfless of her to do that for just some actor playing a role and her knowing, ‘I bet this guy could use a little push toward doing this.’”
Lacy explained that, as a producer, Broberg also helped “build a world” for the show by providing details about her childhood years that added real “texture” to the scripts.
He explained: “She was both an invaluable resource, obviously, but also a champion for telling this story to make people aware that this still happens and this is what it looks like when you’re being groomed.
“A whole family is groomed, a whole town is groomed. It’s not just a stranger in a shadowy alley jumping out at you. It’s a person that you know and love and trust.”
Broberg’s intimate involvement in A Friend of the Family, along with her mother and co-producer Mary Ann, provides a clear distinction between this show and other entries in the true crime genre.
Both Lacy and creator Nick Antosca have clearly stated that they wouldn’t have told this story without them.
“The only way to do this with any kind of authenticity, but also compassion and purpose, was to have them involved,” concluded Lacy.
“It was described to me, by someone who I think is more intelligent than I, as ‘the story contains salacious elements, but it’s not told in a salacious way’. And I thought that was such a lovely encapsulation of what Nick and Jan set out to do.”
A Friend of the Family also stars Hendrix Yancey (Stranger Things) and Mckenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Afterlife) as versions of Jan, as well as Anna Paquin (True Blood) and Colin Hanks (Impeachment: American Crime Story) as parents Mary Ann and Bob.
A Friend of the Family is available on Peacock via Sky and NOW – find out about how to sign up for Sky TV here. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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