‘Only Murders in the Building’: Nathan Lane Learned ASL for the Series
Nathan Lane returned to his role as Teddy Dimas in Only Murders in the Building Season 2. Teddy is an old friend of Oliver’s and lives at the Arconia with his son Theo. Teddy and Theo mostly communicate through ASL (American sign language) because Theo is deaf. While Theo actor James Caverly is deaf in real life and knows ASL, Nathan Lane had to learn to sign for the Hulu series.
‘Only Murders in the Building’ features an episode without spoken dialogue
Only Murders in the Building Season 1 featured an episode with almost no spoken dialogue, told from the point of view of Theo Dimas. Episode 7 is titled “The Boy from 6B,” and it explains how Theo accidentally pushed Zoe off the roof of the Arconia. Teddy then covered up the incident, and the truth stayed hidden for years.
Like his character, James Caverly was born deaf. Caverly was concerned with making the episode feel authentic for deaf audiences. “James said to me, ‘How is the Deaf community going to know that we’re in Theo’s point of view versus the hearing world?'” director Cherien Dabis said in an interview with The Los Angeles Times.
“It was a really amazing question. I decided I wanted Theo’s point of view to feel a lot more subjective and intimate. We shot wide-angle close-ups on him so that we really were with him emotionally and we would feel his distress.”
Nathan Lane learned ASL for ‘Only Murders in the Building’
Nathan Lane uses ASL in most of his Only Murders in the Building scenes with James Caverly, but he isn’t fluent. In fact, Lane only had about six weeks to learn enough ASL for his emotional scenes with his on-screen son in “The Boy from 6B.”
“I was just learning the dialogue for [my] scenes,” Lane told The LA Times. “It’s such a beautiful language, and when you see someone do it really well, it’s very intimidating because you wish you had the time to learn. To become fluent in American Sign Language would take at least six months to a year, really.”
Lane and Olivia Reis, who played Zoe, worked with an ASL instructor named Douglas Ridloff in preparation for the episode. “It’s very challenging, but Doug coached me through the whole thing,” Lane said in a Featurette. “And, of course, James Caverly was very supportive of me trying to speak his language.”
Lane continued to discuss the extremely emotional moments that Caverly had to portray. “He’s an extraordinary young actor. His ability to do something that was very difficult and very emotional take after take after take — I was so proud of him.”
Teddy and Theo Dimas are back in ‘OMITB’ Season 2
Nathan Lane returns as Teddy Dimas in Only Murders in the Building Season 2, and Oliver makes a shocking revelation. Oliver’s son Will takes a DNA test that reveals that he is half Greek. Oliver deduces that it’s very possible that Teddy slept with his wife back in the day and is Will’s biological father. As of episode 7, he is still awaiting the results of the paternity test.
Additionally, Oliver spied Teddy and Theo in the middle of a terrible fight earlier in the season. However, a conversation with Mabel in episode 7 seems to have convinced Theo to patch things up with his father.
New episodes of Only Murders in the Building drop Tuesdays on Hulu.
