{"id":8067637,"date":"2026-08-24T08:13:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T15:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/?p=8067637"},"modified":"2026-08-24T08:13:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T15:13:39","slug":"joy-sunday-dtf-st-louis-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/industry-news\/awards\/joy-sunday-dtf-st-louis-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"In \u2018DTF St. Louis,\u2019 Joy Sunday Thrived on Oddball Chemistry With Co-Star Richard Jenkins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

When Joy Sunday<\/a> first read the script for the “DTF St. Louis”<\/a> pilot, there was one thing that struck her immediately about her character, “porn positive” special-crimes police officer Jodie Plumb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Her rhythm,” Sunday said. “It was just so staccato and weird. Throughout the show, pretty much everyone is, but I was playing this character who is supposed to be this source of empathy and compassion for all these people, while still being stilted in a way. That was really fun to discover.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday\u2019s Jodie stands out for that very reason in the HBO limited series, creator and director Steven Conrad\u2019s somber, darkly comic story of a messy love triangle involving a sexually frustrated weatherman (Jason Bateman), his bumbling, debt-ridden best friend (David Harbour) and the latter\u2019s no-nonsense wife (Linda Cardellini). Jodie is one of two law enforcement officials tasked with unpacking the consequences of that entanglement, which ends with Harbour\u2019s Floyd Smernitch dead under mysterious circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\t'DTF St. Louis' Creator Unpacks Finale Twists, Floyd's Fate: 'No Such Thing as No Consequences'<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The other is Richard Jenkins\u2019 county detective Donoghue Homer, an old-school, trench-coat-wearing investigator. He knows how to find the truth but is not nearly as well-suited to understanding the sexual complexity of “DTF St. Louis'” tangled romantic geometry as Jodie, who handles each character\u2019s individual, private desires and sources of shame with understanding and grace. Unexpectedly, the two prove to be a complementary pair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenkins and Sunday have an oddball kind of chemistry that reinforces the unlikely sweetness of their characters\u2019 bond. Sunday, notably, credits him with helping her master the very same staccato rhythm that drew her to her character in the first place. “Richard was really instrumental in helping me along the way,” she explained. “He taught me to just say the words.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n