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Daniel D'Addario
Chief TV Critic
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Perhaps the most emotionally and physically demanding sequence of “Half Man” — and given the high drama of the HBO limited series, that’s saying a lot — took less than a day to shoot. “We finished 15 minutes early,” series creator, director and star Richard Gadd tells Variety in a Making a Scene conversation presented by HBO Max.
That’s a testament to the amount of preparation that went into planning this Episode 4 showdown. In the scene, Niall (Jamie Bell) wakes up in a hospital bed to find his lifelong bête noire, Ruben (Gadd) seated, waiting to do battle. Years prior, Niall’s truthful testimony — though he’d promised to lie on the stand — had sent Ruben to prison, and now Ruben is seeking revenge. He assaults and humiliates Niall, who, since his testimony, has seen his life fall apart; Ruben’s dominance is only compounded by the fact that, since leaving prison, he’s been on the upswing and is enjoying his life.
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