Written by Ed Brubaker and Nicolas Winding Refn, with the latter also serving as director, Too Old to Die Young is a 10-episode limited series that was released on Amazon Video on June 14. The story follows two bad cops, partners Martin (Miles Teller) and Larry (Lance Gross). Larry is killed by Jesus (Augusto Aguilera) whose mother – sister of a drug lord- was murdered by both Martin and Larry.
Martin eventually meets retired FBI agent Viggo (John Hawkes) who kills the worst of the worst – rapists, criminals, and anyone else as requested by Diana (Jena Malone). Diana is a new-age therapist, victims advocate, and the “metaphysical crime boss.”
The show unearths a lot of what goes on in the game of politics and authority.
“It’s a very classic narrative genre of the underbelly of crime in Los Angeles, something that a lot of people make stories about,” Malone told The Hollywood Reporter In Studio. “I think this one’s a little bit different because it’s not just Los Angeles, but the full palette of the California coast, including Mexico, and the activities that are happening. The underbelly but also what’s coming from the top down. The enforcers, the rules, the politicians, but also people who are trying to navigate that and change things and make their own way.”
Malone has collaborated with director Refn before in his 2016 film, The Neon Demon.
“There’s just a trust level of I really respect him as an artist and I feel free to give lots of options because I always know that he has the finest-tuned, whittling visional insight of what the story needs to be,” she explained.
Malone was given the creative freedom to build her character, Diana.
“I had a lot of ideas on Neon Demon, and also on Too Old to Die Young, and he’s kind of allowed me to write my own material and sculpt and create and figure out timelines, and the whole design of Diana, even her name I picked,” she continued. “Every element he invited me into the process, and so I was able to collaborate a character from the ground up with a beautiful team, but I’ve never had so much freedom and trust from a director.”
All episodes of Too Old to Die Young are available to stream now on Amazon Prime.