Russell Hornsby Previews ‘Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector’
The 2020 lineup for NBC includes a new forensic genius. Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector is the latest adaptation of Jeffrey Deaver’s best-selling novels.
The show follows Lincoln Rhyme, a retired NYPD detective who is pulled back into the fold when a notorious serial killer reemerges after disappearing for three years. For Rhyme, hunting this killer is personal, since a trap set by the killer left him a quadriplegic.
He is joined by Amelia Sachs, an MTA officer whose ambition to be a profiler compliments his cerebral personality.
Russell Hornsby, who plays Lincoln Rhyme sat down with reporters at New York Comic Con to discuss his role and the importance of empathy in taking on a character like Lincoln Rhyme.
Hornsby started by talking a little bit about his approach to Lincoln.
“I look at Lincoln now as a very cerebral cynic and curmudgeon,” Hornsby said. “He’s here to find himself again, and so I think what happens is, when The Bone Collector resurfaces, it gives him a new lease on life and a reason to sort of get up in the morning.”
“In the past, he started to push people away, he was a loner, he had everything he needed in his home, at his disposal,” he said. “So now he’s having to deal with life on life’s terms.”
Hornsby will be playing Lincoln Rhyme both pre and post-injury. Hornsby talked a little bit about the challenge of playing a Q5 quadriplegic person.
“Having to deal with the stillness of being a quadriplegic is something different and challenging for me as an actor.”
History plays a big role in this series as well. Throughout the series, Lincoln Rhyme is going to put clues through a lens of New York history. To get into the mindset of what Lincoln might have experienced, Hornsby’s research involved visiting several sites.
“I took four days where I literally just walked as much throughout the city as I possibly could, just looking at building and landmarks, just different places,” Hornsby said.
Hornsby was inspired by the book The New York Nobody Knows by William Helmreic. In the book, Helmreic chronicles four years of exploring over 6,000 miles of New York City, getting familiar with boroughs, streets, avenues, and talking to people. Hornsby used the book to inform some of what makes Lincoln unique.
“[Helmreic] did what Lincoln did over the course of twenty years as a Detective,” Hornsby stated. “Lincoln has this photographic memory where he has total recall of what he’s seen, what he’s experienced, what he’s read, and I think that’s what sets him apart from everyone else and makes him special as a character. And why you need his expertise.”
“Amelia is the legs, the ambulatory one. Lincoln is the cerebral one, who can look at a scene or look at a fiber or piece of evidence and deconstruct it. Those are the things I started doing so now when I’m on set, and I’m sitting in the room, I can now have this method, this total recall, of having done all these things,” explained Hornsby.
One of the other things Hornsby discussed was the mental preparation for playing Lincoln Rhyme, and the importance of empathy in the acting process. It was especially important to get the experience of playing a character with a disability right.
“I think that when we’re dealing with people with disabilities, you have to feel,” he explained. “When you listen to their story, when you listen to how their disability came about, there’s a moment of empathy.”
“What it enables me to do is say, how can I best serve this actor, how can I best serve this disability, and be as accurate as possible, but also as responsible as possible.”
To make sure he delivers a responsible performance, Hornsby has been working with the show’s medical consultant, gone to physical therapy sessions, and met with other Q4, Q5, and Q6 quadriplegics. The medical consultant is on set with him every day giving notes.
“When I walk out of a scene, after they say, ‘Cut, check the gate,’ and he gives me a thumbs up, I know I’ve honored him and I’ve honored other disabled people as well.”
Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector premieres Friday, January 10th on NBC.
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Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.