Who plays Richard Sackler in Netflix's Painkiller?
The upcoming Netflix drama limited series titled Painkiller will star American actor Matthew Broderick as Former chairman and president of Purdue Pharma, Richard Sackler. The series will showcase the inception of the American Opioid crisis along with the rise of Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical company that manufactured OxyContin.
Alongside Matthew Broderick, the series will also star Uzo Aduba as Edie, Sam Anderson as Raymond Sackler, Taylor Kitsch as Glen Kryger, Carolina Bartczak as Lily Kryger, John Ales as Dr. Gregory Fitzgibbons, Ron Lea as Bill Havens, Ana Cruz Kayne as Brianna Ortiz, West Duchovny as Shannon Schaeffer, Jack Mulhern as Tyler Kryger, John Rothman as Mortimer Sackler and several others.
Painkiller on Netflix: Tracing Matthew Broderick's career and filmography
Born on March 21, 1962, to actor James Broderick and playwright Patricia Broderic in Manhattan, Matthew Broderick attended City and Country School in Manhattan. He later studied at Walden School and trained in acting at HB Studio.
Broderick's first major acting role came in the play, On Valentine's Day, in which he starred opposite his father. He then starred in Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy and began receiving attention from prominent Broadway theatre critics.
He went on to appear in films like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Lion King (voice of Simba), WarGames, Glory, The Freshman, The Cable Guy, Godzilla, Inspector Gadget, You Can Count on Me, The Last Shot, etc. He has even directed the films Infinity.
His voice can also be heard in films like Good Boy!, Bee Movie, and The Tale of Despereaux. Broderick is also a recipient of two Tony Awards and has been nominated for Primetime Emmy Award and a Grammy.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, the actor spoke about his upcoming Netflix project, Painkiller. He spoke about the dangerous drug OxyContin and how its destroyed a generation of Americans:
"My mom had very bad pain from cancer. She was on those kinds of drugs for years – not OxyContin, but it was an opioid – and they helped her. So it’s difficult, because I can see the need for painkillers. I think the original intent to develop the drug is not inherently evil. It’s only when you get people hiding the evidence of how addictive it is that it becomes an awful story."
Broderick then wondered what exactly caused the drug epidemic:
"Is it the man who developed OxyContin? Or is it the doctors who prescribed it, or the drugstores that sold it? There are a lot of villains. It’s too simple to blame it all on one person. I’m sounding like Richard Sackler here. But it’s true. A lot of people have done bad things in their life but if you talk to them, they never think they’re doing bad things. That’s what’s really scary: people’s capacity for self-delusion."
Currently aged 61, Broderick married actress Sarah Jessica Parker on May 19, 1997. Together they have a son and two daughters (twins via surrogacy).
The synopsis of Painkiller
The official synopsis of Painkiller according to Netflix reads:
"Painkiller, a fictionalized telling of real events, explores some of the origins and aftermath of the opioid crisis in America, highlighting the stories of perpetrators, victims, and truth-seekers whose lives are forever altered by the invention of OxyContin."
Painkiller is created by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster.
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Vinay Agrawal