Have you been watching the MGM+ drama ‘Emperor of Ocean Park’?
Source: Courtesy / MGM+
Based on Stephen L. Carter’s best-selling debut novel, Emperor of Ocean Park stars Academy Award-winning actor, Forest Whitaker as Judge Oliver Garland, a powerful patriarch whose death leaves his children with a multitude of unanswered questions and danger looming from outside forces. The dramatic series also stars Grantham Coleman, Paulina Lule, Tiffany Mack, Bryan Greenberg, Torrey Hanson, Keith Powers, and Jasmine Batchelor. Tiffany Mack plays Garland’s daughter Mariah, a former journalist. While Bryan Greenberg plays Mariah’s wealthy husband Howard Denton. BOSSIP’s Sr. Content Director Janeé Bolden spoke with Tiffany Mack and Bryan Greenberg about playing the ultra-rich Dentons in the MGM+ drama.
“Personally I don’t come from that, so it was really nice to play in that world,” Greenberg told BOSSIP. “Our entrance into the show we drop in on a helicopter. Our house we got to shoot in was amazing, it was looking over a lake. I think it was the same house that they actually shot the show Empire in, so it’s just cool to like be able to play in this world of luxury. But I think ultimately you know I mean the money is fun and everything but I think what was the coolest about playing this these characters for me, as Howard Denton, was just the love that he has for Mariah. They like big things, they have a big house, they have a big family, they have a big life which raises the stakes for everything and for especially for Mariah’s journey that she’s about to go on, so she’s risking a lot and she goes down the rabbit hole.”
Source: Courtesy / MGM +
“I feel like Mariah was not born into poverty,” Tiffany Mack chimed in. “I think honestly this was like a natural trajectory for her at least in her mind. I don’t see a world where she would have expected or accepted anything less for herself than being able to live as lavishly as she does. Even though I think that the career and all that stuff is where she is feels that she’s lacking.”
Speaking of that career, Mariah is a former journalist (a Pulitzer prize-winning one at that) who settled into the role of monied housewife due to publishing layoffs — but her father’s death and the subsequent confusion that follows revives her investigative skills.
“For me this was just such an exciting role,” Mack told BOSSIP. “I think she’s really a dynamic character and to get to explore her inner life, it’s always fun — a whodunnit or a thriller and to sort of track that along and I think audiences really enjoy that, I certainly enjoy that as an audience member. We’re obviously based on a book but I was always waiting to see [what would happen] because we deviated quite a bit from the book and I didn’t see where our story was headed.”
Source: Courtesy / MGM+
At it’s core, Emperor of Ocean Park is a family drama and at times Mariah and her brothers Talcott and Addison hold extremely opposing views about how to proceed following their father’s death, but as in any situation, Mariah maintains her very strong personality.
“That’s families right?” Tiffany said. “During the audition process I shared with our producers that I have two brothers. It’s very much understand a lot of the dynamics that play where you fight hard but you love hard you make up hard you know and you ride hard for each other at the end of the day.”
While in our eyes, Mariah is the most formidable of the Garland siblings, she has a husband and children to think about as well. While her husband wants nothing more than to support his wife during her time of grief, once he witnesses his children’s lives being threatened he has no choice but to start to create some boundaries.
“One of the most interesting things about what attracted me to the project was their relationship,” Bryan Greenberg said. “Mariah, she’s clearly grieving, I think Howard is trying to walk that fine line of being respectful of her loss, like any husband would, and I think Howard also loved the judge as well, so it is a tough blow to the family, but he’s trying to maintain their life and their kids, in their lifestyle and he can see Mariah slipping down this path. She’s such a strong woman and as someone who’s married to a strong woman, I could definitely relate to this. It was a really fun dance that we got to play of like, ‘OK here’s here’s some more rope, here’s a little bit more rope back. OK that’s fine it’s your rope. I don’t even know why I touched it. I’m so sorry.’”
The first three episodes of Emperor of Ocean Park are streaming now on MGM+