Want to get to know the real Philadelphia? Watch a Brad Ingelsby show. That's the approach that Emilia Jones, star of the latest HBO series Task, certainly took.
While Philadelphia has been the home of films and series for decades, no one has captured the city on a community level quite the way Ingelsby did.
That is part of why Mare of Easttown, his previous show starring Kate Winslet, became a global phenomenon, earning Emmys. And it is that promise of authenticity that has turned Task into one of the year's most anticipated shows.
Jones, who starred in the Oscar-winning 2021 film Coda, tells The National that part of her immersion into the spiritual prequel to Task was practical.
"If I watched something else and I heard a Texas accent, it would totally throw me off. So, I just kept putting on Mare of Easttown just so the accent got into my subconscious,” she says.
But the repetition was about more than mastering an accent – it was a way of absorbing the rhythms and cadences of life in Pennsylvania.
"It's about understanding the world and that's all in the way he writes characters. Mare of Easttown is very, very community-based. It's about Mare and her friends and her family.
"Task, meanwhile, is opening up the world, which I think was quite exciting, because they're very similar but they're also quite different."
The show, being released weekly on OSN+, follows the intertwining stories of a former priest turned FBI agent played by Mark Ruffalo, and a criminal executing heists against local gangs, played by Tom Pelphrey.
Task also explores the lives of two young women, Maeve (Jones) and Emily (Silvia Dionicio). As the drama unfolds in suburban Philadelphia, the show explores anger, heartbreak and loyalty amid their respective families.
For Jones, more preparation involved immersing herself in the emotional layers of her character. “The hardest side of Maeve was the anger and the sadness. You are seeing someone at the end of their tether, completely stuck and slowly losing their sense of identity,” she says.
“She's so strong and confident in what she believes is right. That contrast made playing her so compelling.”
In the series, Maeve is the niece of Pelphrey's criminal character, while Emily is the adopted daughter of Ruffalo's detective.
Dionicio describes the complexities of her role, saying: “For Emily, there is a layer of anger and heartbreak, but she cannot really show those emotions because she has to be the good kid of the family. Someone has to remind the parents they made a good decision."
Jeremiah Zagar, who directed several episodes of the series, says that creatiing real intimacy was key to capturing the heightened feelings on screen. To make it feel real, he encouraged actors to spend time together off set, creating bonds that translated into natural on-screen interactions.
“I ask that all the actors spend time together outside of the workspace… so they feel comfortable screaming at each other or crying together. It is not just artifice – it feels like these people actually know each other,” Zagar says.
Music also played a large part in how they inhabited their roles. For Dionicio, Mon Laferte’s Chilean ballads express Emily’s longing and discovery, while Maeve’s energy is captured in the edgy rock of Arctic Monkeys.
But for Jones, Ingelsby’s deep knowledge of his hometown remained her north star throughout production, adding that his authenticity was infectious. “You can tell that it’s the people he knows and loves and where he grew up. There is such an authenticity in his writing. Every character has a why and a rich backstory.”
Why did it all feel so real? Simply because this wasn't just a world that Ingelsby had learnt – it was his own. Many times while filming, Dionicio and Jones felt like they were quite literally on a tour of his childhood.
"He been took us to the ice cream place he would go to after playing baseball. as a child. It was so exciting to be brought into his world with him, because once we were there, we felt like we knew it and we could collaborate," says Dionicio.
"It's not just that he knows this world but he really loves it, too. You can tell."
Task releases every Monday on OSN+ in the Middle East
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League last-16, second leg:
Real Madrid 1 (Asensio 70'), Ajax 4 (Ziyech 7', Neres 18', Tadic 62', Schone 72')
Ajax win 5-3 on aggregate
