Watch: Living Cinematically; ‘Rectify’ Cast Talks About Shooting in Griffin, Georgia

Over the past decade, cable dramas such as “Breaking Bad,” “Mad Men,” “Justified,” “Boardwalk Empire” and now also SundanceTV‘s “Rectify,” have demonstrated a powerful proclivity for treating the setting like a living, breathing character. This practice of landscape allegory is a critical component of these nuanced dramas, as it infuses an authenticity into the narrative that, in the past, could never have been achieved when shooting exclusively on a studio lot.

Shot in Griffin, Georgia — a city with a population of approximately 24,000 — “Rectify” centers on one Daniel Holden, fresh out of prison after DNA evidence provided reasonable doubt as to his involvement in a rape-murder charge levied against him as a teenager. Rather than functioning as a stand-in for a location in some other part of the country, world or universe, in “Rectify,” Griffin plays a version of itself — except under the pseudonym, Paulie. Holden’s struggle to adjust to life outside prison walls is just as much his own, as it is the struggle of those around him, and, by extension the town of Paulie.

To provide insight into the role that Paulie a.k.a. Griffin plays in the show, main cast members Abigail Spencer, Adelaide Clemens, Aden Young and Clayne Crawford gave on-camera interviews that can be viewed below, exclusively on Indiewire:

Spencer on living in a small town.

Clemens on going to the town church.

Young on bringing his family with him to Griffin, where they lived on a farm.

Crawford on never feeling too far from his character.