NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� If there’s ever been a terrifying screen villain, it’s got to be Max Cady. He’s the sadistic, unhinged former inmate bent on getting revenge against the lawyer who put him away in 鈥淐ape Fear.鈥�
Robert Mitchum played Cady in 1962 and portrayed him in a chilling 1991 remake. Now it’s time for to slip into the menacing shoes of the cold-blooded murderer for a version on Apple TV. It debuts Friday with the first two episodes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great classic thriller, but each version so far is different in a way that reflects its time,鈥� says showrunner Nick Antosca. 鈥淚 wanted to do a new version that honored the classics that I love, but also is a nightmare for today.鈥�
The 10-part series stars Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson as well-to-do lawyers in Savannah, Georgia, whose family gets upended by Bardem’s revenge-seeking missile.
Exonerated after 17 years in prison in the killing of his pregnant wife, Cady infiltrates the couple’s lives and those of their daughter and son. 鈥淵ou deserve a good life. I had a good life,鈥� he tells them, menacingly. Each member of the family has a very exploitative secret.
Javier Bardem as Max
The American Film Institute ranks Max among the among the Top 50 greatest villains of all time, higher than Count Dracula, Freddy Krueger and Travis Bickle from 鈥淭axi Driver,鈥� another De Niro nightmare.
鈥淭his is a man who has lost it all and, so far, he has nothing else to lose,” says Bardem. “He has all the time in the world to enjoy the revenge. He doesn鈥檛 seem to care about any external approval of anything or any kind. So he’s unleashed.鈥�
Antosca had the blessing of who directed 1991鈥檚 鈥淐ape Fear鈥� and executive produces the Apple TV series alongside 鈥淗e was very generous and encouraging and like, 鈥楾ry this. Try that. Don鈥檛 be afraid to get crazy,鈥欌�� Antosca says of Scorsese.
Antosca looks forward and back, rooting his 鈥淐ape Fear鈥� in 2026 鈥� with TikTok, true crime podcasts, 鈥� but leaning on the instantly recognizable theme music from the 1962 movie by Bernard Herrmann and the 1991 version by Elmer Bernstein. There’s even a cameo or two from one cast member from 1991.
鈥淲e think of the show sometimes as like a nightmare remix,” Antosca says. 鈥淲hen I do an adaptation, I want it to feel like you watched the original and then you went to sleep and had a nightmare about it. So there鈥檚 new unexpected stuff that comes to it. There鈥檚 the visceral energy of the original that鈥檚 preserved, but maybe they鈥檙e in a different order or context and seen in a new light. So we had fun with it.鈥�
So fans will return to key scenes in the 1991 film 鈥� like the psychological seduction of the daughter, or Max Cady doing pushups in the prison gym revealing his tattoos or him behaving badly in a movie theater 鈥� but they’re made different.
鈥淲e also wanted to capture but not exactly copy some of the feverish energy that Scorsese brought cinematically. So there are a lot of camera moves and kinetic camera work, and we really gave ourselves permission to go nuts a little when the action gets heightened.鈥�
Two movies and 鈥楾he Simpsons鈥�
It is a franchise that refuses to die, so to speak, with two movies and a TV show, not to mention being parodied on 鈥淭he Simpsons鈥� 鈥� the “Cape Feare鈥� episode is a classic 鈥� and 鈥淔amily Guy.鈥�
Ten or so hours of plot runway gave Antosca a chance to slowly increase the tension on the family, as opposed to the movies, which are like two-hour runaway trains of terror.
鈥淚 wanted to pull back on some of the kind of brute force aspect of it and explore the creeping paranoia and sense of devastation of a family being picked apart,” says Antosca. “That, to me, is the scariest thing.鈥�
Wilson, who plays a dad fighting to stay connected to his rebellious teenage children and his spinning-out wife while also battling his own demons, says the longer running time means a deeper experience.
鈥淵our family in turmoil 鈥� that鈥檚 really, I think, something that鈥檚 completely universal. And that鈥檚 the benefit of having 10 episodes to tell it and adding other characters and other storylines and seeing the kids’ own storylines,鈥� he says.
Setting it in 2026 also gave the series makers plenty of ways for Max to infiltrate his prey in ways he couldn’t decades ago 鈥� cloned smartphones, drones, artificial intelligence and high-tech surveillance.
鈥淢ax is using surveillance in a much more highly technical and much more invasive way,鈥� says Adams. 鈥淏ut that feeling of being watched, I think that鈥檚 a very timeless terror.鈥�
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