Is FX Thriller Series ‘The Patient’ Based on a True Story? – The Patient is a limited-run American psychological thriller series made for FX on Hulu by Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg. The first episode of the ten-episode series aired on August 30, 2022.
The producers of the long-running FX drama “The Americans,” Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg, are behind “The Patient,” which has a strong ensemble that includes Steve Carell and Domhnall Gleeson. You might wonder if “The Patient” is based on a true story amid the excitement surrounding the upcoming series, which will premiere on August 30. Here is what we know about the thriller’s sources of inspiration.
FX Thriller Series “The Patient” Trailer / Promo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpmMxXfBn-Y
What Is FX Thriller Series “The Patient” About?
Alan Strauss (Carell), a well-known therapist, has a successful background in patient care. Alan leads a typical life and takes pleasure in guiding others to a deeper understanding of themselves, their connections with others, and the world around them. In his most recent case, Sam Fortner poses a challenge (Gleeson). Sam admits that he requires assistance throughout their meetings since he cannot control his compulsions. Soon enough, Sam kidnaps Alan and holds him captive while acting on murderous compulsions. To avoid becoming one of Sam’s upcoming victims, Alan must now battle for his life while still obediently fulfilling Sam’s demands to cure him.
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Is The Patient a True Story?
The plot of “The Patient” is NOT based on a true story. The original concept was written by showrunners Fields and Weisberg jointly; they have not stated that a specific true-crime story served as inspiration.
The actors did admit that their actual lives served as inspiration for Carell’s Jewish character outside of the narrative. On August 2, Weisberg outlined Alan’s depiction during a press tour for the Television Critics Association.
According to him, “When we came up with the original idea, the character wasn’t originally Jewish,” he said, according to Variety. “And then you start, as you always do, looking for ways to add specificity and depth. And we came up with that idea pretty quickly. But it allowed us to tap into things from our own lives . . . [it] added just certain dimensions and it became really a lot more fun to write in a certain way after that.”
Given that Carell is not Jewish, his casting as a Jewish figure has drawn considerable criticism. Weisberg addressed the issue and said, “And casting Steve, who is not Jewish, I think our feeling has always been, as television writers, that we’re kind of in an area where people are pretending to be other people. That’s what everyone does all the time. And that’s just our main outlook on it. But we understand some people feel differently about it and that is also fine, too.”
Weisberg and Fields drew on their personal therapy experiences, extensive research into serial killers, and close collaboration with therapist Dennis Palumbo to bring the narrative of Sam and Dr. Alan Strauss to life.
Psycho. Therapist. Steve Carell and Domhnall Gleeson star in FX’s The Patient. Streaming 8/30. Only on @hulu. pic.twitter.com/iDbpQyJ3ER
— FX Networks (@FXNetworks) July 14, 2022
Fields stated to Newsweek, “We definitely did some research into serial killers read some books, articles, watched some documentaries and we also spent time working with, a bit later in the process but not too much later, an amazing therapist named Dennis Palumbo who is a co-producer on the project. He’s also a writer, he’s written some extraordinary books about writing from a therapeutic point of view, and you know all of that sort of came together for us in these characters really.”
Real-life writer and certified psychotherapist Palumbo, who focused on creative concerns, may strike audiences as having a strong resemblance. And Carell’s Dr. Strauss, who is both a well-known author of books on treatment and a licensed therapist.
In order to avoid making the characters seem like cliches, Field said, “What we tried to do was always keep the characters feeling authentic and dimensional and we felt like if we could do that and not fall into them feeling like cliches, then we could have something that would be of interest to us and we hoped it if was of interest to us, maybe it will be to others too.”
Are There Any Cases in Real Life That Relate to “The Patient”?
Numerous shocking real-life cases resemble “The Patient” in many ways. According to Florida news station WPTV, a social worker in Palm Beach County, FL, was allegedly kidnapped, beaten, sexually raped, and held hostage by her patient in July. The victim, who has not been publicly identified, allegedly endured a terrifying 15-hour ordeal while working with suspect Tzvi Allswang, 20, to teach him social skills and prepare for a job interview.
The story came to a conclusion when the cops shot Allswang. He is currently accused of several offences, including attempted murder and sexual battery. Allswang is currently being detained after being denied a bond.
A therapist from Fullerton, California, was taken hostage and stabbed by a woman back in 2018; however, their working relationship wasn’t made public at the time, according to CBS Los Angeles. In 2021, a phone hoax targeted two social workers in San Francisco, holding them captive by a conman posing as a law enforcement official who sought thousands of dollars in bail money from the two for skipping a trial (via the San Francisco Chronicle).
