Kate Mara On Her New Series ‘A Teacher’: “It’s an Important Story to Tell”

A Teacher follows the story of a female teacher who has an inappropriate relationship with a male student. This premise is sort of switched from society's vision of a what a predatory relationship looks like. When asked how society looks and males and females differently in this sense, Mara told Hall:

"I think this show sort of opens those questions up to people, to sort of see how you react as an audience member, really thinking to yourself, 'Would I react this way if it were a male teacher or would I have different judgements on them?' I think it's probably - maybe people have different responses to that, I don't know.

Because of its concepts, the show can be considered controversial. Mara explained how she has been asked why she chose to take on such a role, which she feels is not asked towards male actors:

"It's been interesting because a lot of people have asked me, you know, 'Were you concerned about playing this role? Did it take you a long time to decide whether or not to play her?' and I don't - I could be wrong but I feel like that question maybe isn't asked all that often to - you could think of a great male character on a very controversial show, you know, Tony Soprano. I find that interesting that people want to ask me if I thought that somehow it was a problem to make believe that you're someone."

When asked about how and why she created A Teacher, Fidell said:

"For me, and what I think we were able to capture, what's the most traumatizing thing for survivors is often not the act itself, it's the aftermath. A lot of the show is about that aftermath and how confusing and complicated it is to see yourself as a victim, especially for men. As women, you know, we're often told we're victims so it's easier for us to accept that, but not the case for men."

A Teacher is now available to watch on Fx on Hulu.