Something is amiss with theBroberg family’s neighbor in the chilling new trailer forA Friend of the Family.
The Peacock crime thriller is based on theharrowing true storyof how obsessive family friend Robert Berchtold (Jake Lacy) manipulated the Broberg family in order totake their daughter from them.
Colin Hanksplays family patriarch Bob, who seems to sense there is something wrong with his neighbor’s relationship with his wife, Mary Ann (Anna Paquin) and his daughter, Jan. Hanks, 44, is nearly unrecognizable in his role as the “big-hearted, kind” Bob, whose description calls him “the very model of a suburban patriarch.”
A Friend of the Family.Erika Doss/Peacock
In a stunning statement from Jan, she shares that the series tells the story of her “loving, trusting, educated family” and how her entire world changed one day.
PHOTO: Fernando Decillis/PeacockPHOTO: Peacock
The trailer shows federal agents arriving at the Broberg’s home to interrogate them about their relationship with Berchtold. “He’s practically a member of the family,” Mary Ann says.
“No one thinks that their best friend is a monster,” Agent Pete Welsh (Austin Stowell) tells them. “But he has all the hallmarks of a psychopathic personality.”
Later, Hanks’s character erupts at Berchtold’s wife Gail (Lio Tipton). “Your husband kidnapped heragain!”
Showrunner Nick Antosca (Candy, The Act) called it a “wrenching, complicated story to work on.” He thanked the entire Broberg family, and Jan in particular, for their openness throughout the process. “This is a story about survival, and a larger story about the American psyche and the institutions of family, religion, and community,” he said in a statement.
As the series tells the dark story of her family and their neighbor’s manipulation of them, Jan hopes it will make people “angry” in order to raise awareness for these kinds of stories of abuse and start a conversation.
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A Friend of the Familypremieres on Oct. 6 on Peacock.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
source: people.com
