Oyelowo's 'Nightingale' sings solitary song

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Peter Snowden, the lone character in HBO's Nightingale, is isolated in his mother's house, yet connected to an infinite audience on the Internet.

Peter's life crumbles after he commits "a heinous act" at the start of the film (Friday, 9 p.m. ET/PT), but actor David Oyelowo (Selma) says the story extends beyond a troubled war veteran who communicates using video, social media and phone calls to the world, his family and a military buddy, Edward, whom he desperately wants to see.

"In many cities, people are suffering from acute loneliness," Oyelowo says. "Despite being cramped together with other people, there is disconnection... offset by a feeling of connection that comes electronically. But there is no substitute for human connection."

Oyelowo, 39, says Martin Luther King Jr., whom he played in Selma, is relevant to Nightingale.

"I would argue that Dr. King was trying to corral the truth and amplify it to the world and hope people would gather around and make their voices heard against injustice," Oyelowo says. "Social media is a platform to do exactly that."

A less positive side "is feeling connected when you're actually not connected," he says. "You can say I have hundreds of friends, but they're all electronic."

(Nightingale was filming when news broke regarding document leaker Edward Snowden, who is associated with the digital world in a different way, and the character names are "a complete coincidence," Oyelowo says.)

Peter's conversation with his online followers provides a means of conveying what he is thinking in the absence of other characters, says screenwriter Frederick Mensch, who was inspired by Martin Scorsese's 1976 classic, Taxi Driver.

"Both films are about incredibly lonely people," Mensch says. "In Taxi Driver, we're hearing what Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) says in his diary, so this is the contemporary equivalent."

Oyelowo, Mensch and director Elliott Lester acknowledge that a 90-minute film focused on one character struggling with his demons does not spell Hollywood blockbuster, but say it can reach more viewers on HBO than it would have with a small theatrical release.

That Nightingale made it to HBO is "a bit of a fairy tale," Lester says. Oyelowo's growing reputation, and the involvement of Brad Pitt as a producer, added momentum.

The director is happy more people will get to see Oyelowo's depiction of Peter, who is delicate in his approach to dinner recipes but violent when he runs into opposition. "He's meticulous in his approach and relentless," Lester says.

Oyelowo embraced Nightingale as an acting challenge based on its one-character structure and the intelligent but deluded Peter.

"I did it as a dare to myself. It doesn't scream commercial, but it certainly screams interesting and unique."