In Academy Award nominee Tobias Lindholm’s Netflix film The Good Nurse, former NFL cornerback and actor Nnamdi Asomugha and The Americans’ Noah Emmerich play two cops investigating a string of curious deaths within a single hospital. Based on author Charles Graeber’s 2013 novel of the same name, screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns’ screenplay reveals nurse Charlie Cullen’s (Eddie Redmayne) serial atrocities through his fellow nurse and friend Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain). Asomugha says that what sets The Good Nurse apart from the typical true-crime stories we’re used to seeing on the big screen is that director Lindholm chose to "talk about the heroes that brought him down and that really uncovered what this institution was trying to cover up."

In their interview with Collider, the actors talk about NFL interceptions, Emmerich’s longest-running role in The Americans, and the importance of directing viewers’ attention to the heroes of true-crime stories like The Good Nurse rather than sensationalizing the violence. You can watch the interview above, or read the interview below. For more on The Good Nurse, check out our sit-down with stars Redmayne and Chastain.

COLLIDER: I really want to start with congrats on the movie. I thought this was very well done, and it made me very angry. But before we get into talking about it, I like throwing a curve at the beginning. If someone has actually never seen anything that you've done before, acting-wise, what is the first thing you'd like them to watch and why?

NOAH EMMERICH: I might go with my first real role in a movie, which was a movie called Beautiful Girls. That is one of my favorites still. And you never forget your first. It was my first real Hollywood experience, so it has a very special place in my memory, in my heart, and I'm really proud of it. I think it's a really strong movie. So that's one I might recommend first.

NNAMDI ASOMUGHA: You know what? First of all, I love that film and I love that scene when you guys are in the bar, and you're playing, is it “Sweet Caroline” on the piano or something?

EMMERICH: Yeah, yeah.

ASOMUGHA: And it's also just a great film. But I was going to say a similar thing for me is the first real role that I ever did, a film called Crown Heights, which is where I played at Trinidadian. So I had a Trinidadian accent the entire time, and it's an Amazon film. I produced it as well. So I think that's the one to dive in on if there was a first to watch.

Individual questions for each of you. I'm going to start with Nnamdi, with you. What's cooler, catching an interception in the NFL or being in a movie with Noah, Jessica, and Eddie?

ASOMUGHA: Oh, why would you put me on the spot like that?

EMMERICH: Won't be offended. I won't be offended, Nnamdi.

ASOMUGHA: They both share equal value in my heart. Is that okay? Does that work?

A nice diplomatic answer.

EMMERICH: Let me help you out. But as a singular moment, that moment of catch, as a singular moment. Nothing can touch that, I would guess.

ASOMUGHA: Yeah, if you won't be offended.

EMMERICH: Not at all.

ASOMUGHA: Yes. Yeah, that is the answer.

EMMERICH: That's my answer too, and I never even played.

ASOMUGHA: Yeah, yeah. There's nothing really like that feeling of doing that in the NFL.

I will never experience it. I will just live vicariously through the smile. Noah, I obviously loved your work on The Americans. Is it, do you miss making the show or do you feel like, because now that you've wrapped, you have more time to take on a role like this, which maybe you couldn't have done when you were making the show?

EMMERICH: I miss the people. I miss the family of the show. We were together for five, six years, and you get very close over that extent of time and that intensity of work. And I'm still in touch to some degree, but I miss every job that goes away eventually. I mean I've never done one for as long as The Americans. So it's most resonant and the deepest, in a way. But I don't know if I miss, I mean, I think we told our story and I don't think there's more to tell. So I don't feel any desire to do Stan Beeman anymore. But I do miss the people.

Jumping into why I get to talk to the two of you. What is it like reading a script like this and realizing this is a true story, and it's probably still happening? That people are just getting shuffled to other hospitals.

EMMERICH: Yeah, it's horrifying. I mean, it's just a horrifying, infuriating, incomprehensible, reality that in the most modern nation, the most technologically advanced, the richest nation in the history of the world. We don't have healthcare as a human right, we have it as a for-profit business. It just seems criminal. In this case, literally.

I completely agree with you. One of the things that I thought the film does very effectively is that it doesn't focus on Charlie's motivations. It's not trying to get into showing the violence of it all. It is about exploring the humanity. And anyway, could you sort of talk about that aspect of the film, that it's not the typical story where you're, you know what I mean, most films focus on the villain.

ASOMUGHA: It's just something that Tobias has talked about a lot, our director, just in terms of wanting to focus on the heroes in the story; versus focusing on the villain. So obviously when the film starts, you're going to find out and know that this is the guy, he's the guy that's committed these crimes, but we're not going to get into his life and sort of lionize him in some sort of way and pay that much attention to him. We want to talk about the heroes that brought him down and that really uncovered what this institution was trying to cover up. And I thought that was very heroic in its own sense as a filmmaker to choose that route versus the salacious route of just sticking with the serial killer, which I'm sure tons of people would've wanted to see.

For both of you, I love learning about how actors like to work. So let's use an example, if you don't mind, from this film. Say you have an important scene on a Monday morning, something dramatic or emotional, that you know might be a little challenging. How early on are you actually getting ready for that scene and thinking about it and breaking down how you might want to do it? Because I've spoken to some actors that say they're getting ready weeks in advance and others are like, it's Saturday morning.

EMMERICH: 2018 is when I started! I mean, I don't think you can ever be over-prepared. I mean the caveat there is that what preparation means can be a wide variance. So I don't mean prepared like knowing exactly how you're going to do the scene. I think you can be over-prepared if you have a result in mind. But I think you can never be over-prepared in terms of understanding another human being.

How long does it take you to understand another human? It's never about the scene. It's always about the whole person. So I think it's a mistake to think, Oh wow, Monday's a big scene. I better prepare for Monday. Monday's just a day in the life of your character. Maybe big things happen on that day, but in real life, you never need to prepare to be yourself. You are yourself, but we're playing people that we're not. So there's an unlimited amount of preparation that can go into the full understanding of another human, a lifetime. So that's why the great roles are revisited years and years later. If some actor played the same role over the course of 40 years, you take a Shakespeare character, you can revisit that role forever. So that's my point of view. There's no such thing as being over-prepared.

ASOMUGHA: Agreed. I agree.

Oh okay, I thought you were going to say more.

ASOMUGHA: No, I agree completely. I don't know that there's, I mean I can try to say something else. But the preparation for the role starts when you get the project. And so if there's a big scene that's coming up on a Monday, just like Noah said, you're preparing for that character, and you've done that the moment that you've gotten the material. Your preparation as an actor starts way before that. So there are little tools that you can throw in here and there on that day that can help you. But for the role, it's when you get the material. It's not the day of the big scene.

The Good Nurse is now streaming on Netflix.