Fans of Netflix’s psychological thriller Eric have been left in awe of the ‘A+’ show after it left its mark on them, but many may also be racking their brains to remember where they’ve seen one of the stars of the Serie.
Gaby Hoffmann, 42, from New York, impressed viewers with her performance in Eric as Cassie Anderson, a heartbroken mother searching for her missing son.
The six-episode limited series simultaneously follows Cassie’s husband, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, 47, as he battles his demons on the dangerous and intoxicating streets of 1980s New York in a race to bring home his missing son
But the show’s plot is not the only thing that has caused a stir, as viewers have just discovered that Gaby was the star of a popular Hollywood movie when she was four years old.
In 1989, Gaby starred in the hit comedy series Uncle Buck as the youngest daughter of characters Bob and Cindy: Maizy Russell.
Actress Eric Gaby Hoffmann (pictured in May) starred in a popular comedy series in 1989 at the age of four, can you guess which one?
The film follows a quiet Uncle Buck (played by John Candy) as he takes care of his brother’s disobedient daughter and his sweet younger brother (played by Macaulay Culkin) and sister (played by Gaby Hoffmann).
After starring in Uncle Buck, Gaby landed several impressive roles, including Caroline Sackler on HBO’s The Girls.
However, it is his role in Eric that has dazzled viewers, with the show ranking third on the UK Netflix charts.
While the series is not based on a real-life story, the inspiration for the show comes from creator Abi Morgan’s own experiences living in New York and seeing the faces of missing children appearing on milk cartons.
Speaking in an interview with RadioTimes Before the show’s launch, Morgan, 56, cited personal experiences of finding cases of missing children in the United Kingdom and the United States as something that helped her write the show.
Morgan said: “Well, I mean, actually, in a strange way, I think when I was growing up in the UK in the ’80s, I remember being haunted by these stories of children who had gone missing, and then when I went to New York, I babysat a young man in New York in the mid-80s.
‘While I was there, I saw the milk carton children and the missing people. “That has always been very disturbing.”
Gaby plays a heartbroken mother in the new Netflix limited series alongside Benedict Cumberbatch
Gaby (pictured) made a name for herself as a child actress on the hit 1989 comedy series Uncle Buck.
Gaby starred alongside Macaulay Culkin (left), Jean Kelly (center back) and John Candy (center) in Uncle Buck.
Directed by John Hughes, the Hollywood comedy followed Uncle Buck as he took care of his brother’s children.
She added that Eric was not based on a real or specific case that she herself had witnessed, but rather wanted to explore the period of the 1980s in New York.
Morgan also said he wanted to draw attention to cases of missing children not only in New York, but in towns and cities around the world.
He continued, “I guess that’s the kind of central claim of the show, that we all want to live in that world, but unfortunately, there are monsters in the most surprising places.”
“I guess that’s what’s at Eric’s heart, this quest of a father to find his son, but also a man who then has to explore the monsters in himself and in the town he grew up in.” “.
In Netflix’s production notes for the series, Morgan also informed the platform of the research he had conducted on pertinent social issues in the ’80s, highlighting the AIDS outbreak and topics such as homelessness and institutional racism.
He also made a comparison between the contemporary struggles faced by citizens living in 1980s New York, such as strikes and corruption within the New York Police Department, as evident, in his eyes, with those of the United Kingdom Metropolitan Police.
Morgan also praised Netflix for being open to streaming a show that explores a missing person case.
When Edgar (Ivan Howe, pictured) disappears on the way to school on the streets of 1980s New York City, his parents are left grieving and desperate.
Edgar’s absence forces the father to come face to face with his demons as he travels the dangerous streets of the Big Apple to find him.
Desperate to find his son, the self-hating father believes that if he can get his son Eric’s drawing on the air, he will be able to return home.
She explained to Netflix: “When I proposed the idea of a New York puppeteer on a quest to find his missing son, with a seven-foot-tall blue monster in tow, it’s to Netflix’s eternal credit that they came on board.”
Morgan added: “Eric is a deep dive into the Big Apple of the ’80s, dealing with rising crime rates, internal corruption, endemic racism, a forgotten underclass and the AIDS epidemic, exposing the divisions that abound among parents who they are looking for their children,” said a detective. fighting a broken system and a lost child who may never return home, and questions where the real monsters are. With puppets… many puppets.’
Speaking about the show in an article published on Netflix’s official website, Cumberbatch said that he perceived Vincent’s journey as a “great odyssey that will unfold over six episodes.”
Elaborating on Vincent’s character, he added: “He starts to bring home his vanity, his idiosyncrasies, his ego and all kinds of toxic behavior, which affects the way he overlooks his son and how abrasive he is in a marriage that he has (already) had 10 years of quite tumultuous moments of infidelity, arguments and disconnection.’
Elaborating on the decision to make Benedict unrecognizable from more familiar looks in his previous roles, director Lucy Forbes said: “That’s why his hair has grown out, he has a beard and we put glasses on him.”
“Not just for the time period, but also to make him feel like Vincent as much as possible.”