Laid: Adding shock value to a darkly comedic love story
Posted on Feb 28, 2025 by Admin
Until death do us part
In Laid, the murder weapon is sex. DOP Judd Overton brings the shock value to this darkly comedic love story
Words Katie Kasperson | Images James Dittiger/Peacock
A show as morbid as the modern dating scene, Laid – based on the Australian series of the same name – follows 33-year-old Ruby, who realises her exes are dying in the order she was with them. Directed by Nahnatchka Khan and Maurice Marable and shot by Judd Overton, the eight-episode series blends romantic warmth with the shock of death, all while maintaining a comedic lightness.
Though gooey and ‘almost cliché’ at times, says Overton, Laid doesn’t shy away from a gruesome shot. “It was important that we went there with these shocking moments – almost like jump scares at some points – and have some fun,” he shares. The first occurs in episode 1, when Ruby’s ex walks into the road, is struck by a car and catapults into the air, landing on her windshield. Working within a tight schedule, Overton began blocking the sequence early, with his wife as a stand-in. The final sequence only lasts a few seconds, but his prep pays off – and sets a dark tone for the series.
Over the following episodes, we’re thrown further into the chaos, with each death seemingly stranger than the last. In episode 2 – titled Fb to the T – Ruby’s baseball-playing ex takes a hit to the head, which she watches on live TV. Overton filmed this clip in slow motion, exaggerating the moment so it leans slightly ‘ridiculous’. In episode 4, more exes die off in ‘rapid fire’, he explains, demonstrated via montage. In episode 6, Ruby visits Aubrey, her ‘one that got away’, at the tattoo parlour where she works. “We’re starting to finally hear about Ruby’s real story and break through the shell, and then at that moment there’s a tussle outside and a spray of blood, and [Aubrey] gets taken out,” Overton summarises. “We didn’t want to pull any punches on that; we wanted to make sure it was a real shock to the system.”
For this sequence, Overton filmed in layers. “We shot the performance in the foreground with a blue screen behind. We then took [the actors] out and shot the performance through the window. It’s hard to get both things in focus, but through the edit we could choose when to see the action in the background and when not to let it distract,” he describes. “When the gun goes off, it gave us the flexibility to dial in with the stunts in the foreground performance and put it all back together in post.”
Overton’s creativity shines through in every episode, whether during a drunken flashback (where he used an ultra-wide lens, enhanced with a Module 8 Tuner) or dialogue-led sequence (here, a split dioptre). The result is a romcom that’s truly a balance of genres – and one that keeps the audience guessing what comes next, a kiss in the rain or a disastrous death?
Laid will soon be streaming in the UK
Like Laid, The Gentlemen thrives on sharp wit and dark comedy – read this article to find out more.
This story appears in the February 2025 issue of Definition
