ALISON BOSHOFF: The truth is out there: X-Files descendant West Duchovny illuminates drug drama Painkiller.
Watch out for newcomer West Duchovny – the 24-year-old daughter of actors David Duchovny and Tea Leoni – who is among the innocents destroyed by opioids in new TV drama Painkiller.
Matthew Broderick plays Purdue Pharma CEO Richard Sackler; and Duchovny is dumb and dangerous like Shannon Schaeffer, one of his “OxyContin Kittens” whose job it is to sell the dangerously addictive painkillers to doctors.
“You’re a drug dealer with a ponytail!” she is told at one point.
Producer Eric Newman describes Duchovny as “amazing,” adding, “She blew our minds in her audition and is a shining light on our show.”
“Shannon is representative of the many neighboring OxyContin victims who never took it, and I think that’s an important story to tell.”
Newcomer: West Duchovny, the 24-year-old daughter of actors David Duchovny and Tea Leoni, is one of the innocents destroyed by opioids in new TV drama Painkiller
Father and Daughter: West Duchovny pictured with her father, David Duchovny
“To really get a sense of the destructive power of opioids, you have to go beyond the sheer number of deaths.
“You have to imagine not only all the people whose lives were touched by these deaths, but also the many ignorant players who were involved with the opioid machine and are living with it.”
Painkiller is a fictional retelling of OxyContin’s invention and is now streaming on Netflix.
Set in the midst of the opioid crisis, the drama tells the story of the origins and impact of the epidemic that has ruined hundreds of thousands of lives across America.
It also follows how Richard Sackler’s Purdue Pharma business skyrocketed during the country’s opioid crisis – which lingers to this day.
Purdue Pharma’s connection to the epidemic has been the subject of several lawsuits and fines, including paying $600 million in 2007 because the company pleaded guilty to misleading the public about OxyContin’s risk of addiction.
Painkiller drew inspiration for its plot from two texts: the book Pain Killer by Barry Meier and an article in The New Yorker by Patrick Radden Keefe entitled “The Family That Built an Empire of Pain” published in October 2017.
As a result, Meier is listed as a consulting producer while Keefe is listed as an executive producer.
Newcomer: At 24, West Duchovny is the show’s youngest leading man and plays newly hired Purdue saleswoman Shannon Schaeffer
Praise: Producer Eric Newman describes Duchovny as “amazing,” adding, “She blew our minds at her audition and is a shining light on our show.”
Actress: Duchovny also starred in Saint X – another series that premiered in 2023
“The crisis didn’t just happen like a hurricane or a flood,” Gibey says in the show’s press releases.
“It was something that was made; manufactured by companies that want to make huge profits.
“I realized that this opioid crisis that I’ve heard so much about was not just a crisis, it really was a crime,” explained producer Alex Gibey in the show’s press releases.