'Ratched' Preview: Sarah Paulson plays the iconic Nurse Mildred Ratched in 'extreme' psychological thriller
'Ratched' is a psychological thriller drama set to be released by Netflix and is based on the novel authored by Ken Kesey in 1962 titled, 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'. Created by Evan Romansky and Ryan Murphy, it is the latest adaptation of the novel that chronicles experimentation of the human mind. After originally being adapted in Broadway, the novel was adapted into a film by Bo Goldman in 1975, which went on to win five Academy Awards. 'Ratched' would be the second screen adaptation of the novel, and the first web television series brought to you from the creators of 'American Horror Story' and it stars the extremely talented Sarah Paulson in the iconic role of Nurse Ratched originally played by Louise Fletcher.
The trailer is beyond thrilling, especially for fans of the novel and the 1975 film. Not to mention, we believe that there couldn't have been a better actress to deliver the cold-hearted and psychologically damaging nurse that is Nurse Ratched.
With Netflix's trailer, the focus is put purely on Paulson, as we see how her erratically manipulative ways fit so easily into this adaption. "Save one life you're a hero, save a hundred lives, well then you're a nurse," is what we hear Ratched say in the trailer. But the woman is far from a good nurse. But what else can we expect from an intense psychological thriller? While the original film and novel spoke of the sensitive times in America around the deinstitutionalization movement in the 1960s, 'Ratched' trailer seems to give the story a modern twist. This is not to say that history will not be depicted in the 2020 adaptation, we'd have to wait and watch. But, we have to agree with the head of the institution when he says, "I should have never let you in this hospital."
We're expecting the series to follow the extreme character plotline that the original did so well because that itself is the allure and "scary thing" about Nurse Ratched. Her ability to exude total control and use manipulation and the instilling of fear to penetrate the mental health care system in the Northern California psychiatric hospital is almost uncannily and ironically psychotic.
It has been reported that 'Ratched' is considered to be a prequel series. If the trailer is any indication, we feel that Nurse Mildred Ratched is heavily explored as the lead character, and as Paulson so aptly put it for The Hollywood Reporter: "There's so little known about Mildred Ratchet from the film. So everything was sort of open for interpretation and everything was on the table, and because it's Ryan, he sort of went to some very extreme places. And I was very grateful for that because it meant I had a lot of room to move around where I didn't have to adhere to one locked way of playing her. It was very interesting to have an endgame insight of knowing where she ends up and sort of rewinding at warp speed to a time when she was in her developmental stage as a person."
The official synopsis reads: "In 1947, Mildred arrives in Northern California to seek employment at a leading psychiatric hospital where new and unsettling experiments have begun on the human mind. On a clandestine mission, Mildred presents herself as the perfect image of what a dedicated nurse should be. But the wheels are always turning and as she begins to infiltrate the mental health care system and those within it. Mildred’s stylish exterior belies a growing darkness that has long been smoldering within, revealing that true monsters are made, not born.”
Catch 'Ratched' on September 18, 2020, on Netflix. Watch the trailer below.