4 min read
WHEN YOU’RE TELLING a horror story that’s based around a family function or family dynamic, it’s important to make sure you’re getting the parents just right. Ari Aster’s Hereditary, which came out in 2018, hit the nail right on the head, casting Toni Collette as the film’s lead—and the increasingly unhinged (and haunted) matriarch of the central Graham family. That same year’s Ready or Not was slightly more comedic in its nature, but it nailed the casting of its central lead parents all the same, as Andie MacDowell and Henry Czerny showed the perfect comedic but darkly detestable energy for that story.
Netflix’s new horror series, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, kind of brings those two vibes together. It centers on a soon-to-be-wed couple named Rachel and Nicky (played by Camila Morrone and Adam DiMarco, respectively) who return home to Nicky’s wealthy family home for their big day. You can take the title of the show quite literally, as an undeniable sense of dread hits from the moment the show starts, and it flashes that title—SOMETHING VERY BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN—across the screen at the most opportune (and, darkly hilarious) moments to rewind viewers what’s coming. The result is a horror series that’s as surreal as it is funny, and also a commentary on modern relationships, marriage, and finding the right person.
Rachel and Nicky aren’t the only relationship put under the microscope in Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen either. As the show goes about exploring various relationships, we learn that part of why Nicky believes so strongly in the institution of marriage is that he’s always believed that his parents—played by the great Ted Levine and Jennifer Jason Leigh—have a perfect one. It’s a belief that is shattered not long into the run of the show.
Nicky’s parents, Boris and Victoria, serve as something of a mirror for Rachel and Nicky. We see not only who they are in this moment, but something of a potential glimpse into a future of what Rachel and Nicky could some day become. In those actors, the show finds some serious gravitas. Leigh is a proven commodity in Hollywood, having received an Oscar nomination for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight barely a decade ago. But it’s Levine, who plays Boris, who’s more of one of those guys who you definitely know, but may not quite remember from where.
Levine, now 68, has been at this for a long time. And that’s clear watching Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, as he moves through the show confident in his persona, always making the right choices as an actor. Boris is meant to be something of a hopeless romantic, but still a confident man who stands his ground. Levine is never afraid to make the character subtle, as a result, and the show is stronger for it. It helps, of course, that he still speaks with one of the most recognizably gruff grumbles in the game.
Below, we get into exactly why Ted Levine, who plays Boris in Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, seems so familiar.
Watch Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen Here
Ted Levine plays Boris in Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen
Levine has been working consistently in film and television since the ’80s, when he got his first big break in the Michael Mann-produced NBC drama Crime Story alongside Dennis Farina and Stephen Lang. He appeared in 19 episodes of that show as mob enforcer Frank Holman.
While he’s appeared in plenty of other TV shows between Crime Story and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen—including FX’s The Bridge, re-teaming with Mann on his short-lived HBO show Luck, and alongside Kirsten Dunst in On Becoming a God in Central Florida—the most famous of them was USA’s Monk. In Monk, he played Captain Leland Stottlemyer, who at first is resistant to the methods of the titular detective but eventually becomes one of his closest friends.
But Levine’s best known role, by far, has come on the big screen. In The Silence of the Lambs he plays Jame Gumb, aka Buffalo Bill—the deranged serial killer at the center of the story.
He’s best known for Buffalo Bill, but you’ve certainly seen him in other significant films as well. Levine has shown up in supporting roles in staple films like American Gangster, Birth, Jonathan Demme’s remake of The Manchurian Candidate, and The Fast and the Furious.
It’s also notable that Levine has a significant relationship with Michael Mann, whom he met when he crashed the wrap party of Mann’s film Manhunter. He showed up to hang out with actor and Manhunter star William Peterson, who he was friends with from the Chicago theater scene. In addition to working with the legendary director on the TV side (on the aforementioned Crime Story and Luck), he also appeared in two of his films: Heat and Ali.
A cool story and resume for a very cool actor. You’ll see Levine again soon—he’s got a role in Apple TV+’s take on Cape Fear, produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, due to release in June.
Evan is the culture editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE. He loves weird movies, watches too much TV, and listens to music more often than he doesn’t.
