'The Act' Trailer: Patricia Arquette And Joey King Disappear Into A True Story Of Betrayal

After her chameleonic performance in Showtime's Escape at Dannemora, Oscar winner Patricia Arquette is heading back to television. This time, Arquette joins young actress Joey King (The Kissing Booth, Fargo) in the first season of Hulu's The Act, an anthology series that tells true crime stories, and it looks like she delivers another standout performance here, too. Check out the trailer for The Act below.

The Act Trailer

If you're intrigued by that trailer and don't know how the true story played out, stop reading here, because spoilers are inbound.

This first season of The Act is based on a popular Buzzfeed article about Dee Dee and Gypsy Blanchard, a mother/daughter duo whose relationship was built on lies. Gypsy discovers that her mother has been manipulating her into thinking she has several types of disorders and health issues. As the young girl learns the truth, she plots revenge with a boy she meets online, ultimately resulting in Dee Dee's murder.

If all this sounds familiar, you may have seen HBO's 2017 documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, a sturdy piece of filmmaking which methodically laid out the details of these crimes. And earlier this year, Lifetime released a movie called Love You to Death that is heavily based on these events.

Arquette has fully committed herself in yet another unrecognizable role, and if this trailer is any indication, I wouldn't be surprised to see her competing against herself in the limited series category at the Emmys. The supporting cast includes Chloë Sevigny, who absolutely ruled in last year's murder movie Lizzie, AnnaSophia Robb, who is very good in the underseen comedy The Way Way Back, and Calum Worthy, who has had a strong run recently with appearances in American Vandal season one and Joseph Kahn's rap battle film Bodied.

Here's the official synopsis:

The Act is a seasonal anthology series that tells startling, stranger-than-fiction true crime stories. Season One follows Gypsy Blanchard (Joey King), a girl trying to escape the toxic relationship she has with her overprotective mother, Dee Dee (Patricia Arquette). Her quest for independence opens a Pandora's box of secrets, one that ultimately leads to murder.

The first two episodes of The Act will premiere on Hulu on March 20, 2019, with the remaining six episodes debuting weekly after that.