Deadline Hollywood - AwardsLine - 06/12/19 by Deadline Hollywood

PRESENTS J U N E 12, 2019 E M M Y P RE V I E W/ D RA M A

FIGHTING TALK

DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

The future’s bright on the small screen say Grant Heslov and George Clooney, as they adapt Catch-22 for Hulu.

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MICHAEL KELLY A tragic swan song for House of Cards’ Doug Stamper FREDDIE HIGHMORE Tour the set with The Good Doctor DIALOGUE: DRAMA Julianna Margulies + Jared Harris + Janet Mock + Jharrel Jerome + Richard Madden 6/7/19 12:04 PM

FOR

YOUR

E M M Y® C O N S I D E R A T I O N

O U T S T A N D I N G

L I M I T E D

S E R I E S

“A MASTERPIECE.” NPR

F R O M T H E E M M Y® AWA R D W I N N I N G D I R E C T O R O F 1 3 T H

AVA D U V E R N AY

FYC.NETFLIX.COM

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MICHAEL KELLY A victory lap for House of Cards’ Doug Stamper in the finale

THE GOOD DOCTOR Go behind the scenes on Season 2 with Freddie Highmore

GEORGE CLOONEY & GRANT HESLOV Meet the Smokehouse team behind a new adaptation of Catch-22

DIALOGUE: DRAMA Julianna Margulies Jared Harris Janet Mock Jharrel Jerome Richard Madden

FLASH MOB Deadline’s Emmy cocktails FYC Events around Los Angeles ON THE COVER Grant Heslov and George Clooney photographed exclusively for Deadline by Josh Telles ON THIS PAGE Julianna Margulies photographed exclusively for Deadline by Michael Buckner

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Winning Hand

As House of Cards finished its final season, Michael Kelly gave both Doug Stamper and the scandal-rocked show the epic ending they so deserved BY ANTONIA BLYTH

PHOTOGRAPH BY

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Josh Telles

D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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WILD CARD Michael Kelly’s White House staffer avoiding the press.

MICHAEL KELLY’S DOUG STAMPER WAS THE STEEL-STRONG thread of integrity through six seasons of House of Cards. While the show’s leads Frank and Claire Underwood stopped at nothing in their Machiavellian scheming, Doug was driven only by his loyalty to Frank.

on with Spacey. “It wasn’t about the

and specifically, a hug from beloved

gossip or what was going to happen

camera operator Gary Jay. “He put

with a trial. I was like, ‘How do we get

his arm around me and immediately I

these people back to work? How

just started crying. That’s how much

do we wrap up this show for us, for

these people mean to me.”

the crew, for the writers who gave

With Doug’s death came peace-

their life to this?’ Even the state of

ful closure too. “There’s that finality

Maryland, the film commission there.

to it for me as an actor to com-

And although Kelly has three times

hard to navigate on so many fronts.

How do we just let this not finish for

pletely close that chapter of my life,”

been Emmy-nominated for the role,

Personally, obviously. You have this

Netflix, its first original show?”

Kelly says. There will be no Doug

it is in this sixth and final season

thing in which this is a person I spent

Kelly credits Wright with saving

that he shines brightest of all. While

six months of my life with every year

the day, the show, and those jobs.

television shows sometimes, they

Kevin Spacey’s departure from the

for the last six years at work. And

When he called her, she told him,

come back seven years later. That’s

show almost robbed House of Cards

then all of a sudden for that to be

“We’re going to do it. We’re going to

not going to be on the books for me.

of a proper ending, the rewrites that

gone. There were so many emotions

figure it out somehow.” The writers—

They were like, ‘Are you so bummed

emerged following that debacle

that went into what went down, and

who had already spent a year creat-

you died?’ I’m like, ‘No. There won’t

ultimately gave Doug his well-earned

how it went down. It’s just a lot to

ing a sixth and final season assuming

be any talk of a spinoff.’”

pivotal bow. In a finale scene so in-

take as an individual. I don’t care how

Spacey’s presence—had to scramble

tense it took some 15 hours to shoot,

old you are or how mature you are.”

to completely rewrite the show in just

more than just talk of a Doug spinoff.

Doug both confessed to murdering

But there had at one point been

two months. And what they came

A pilot had been written. It wasn’t

Frank and was stabbed to death

not go on. But it was the responsibil-

up with took Kelly to some “dark

Spacey’s departure, and Doug’s

by Robin Wright’s Claire. He even

ity to the crew that crushed Kelly the

emotional places”, he says. “The final

consequently altered story, that put

got to break the fourth wall in that

most. “That crew is my family and I

scene with me and Robin in the Oval,

paid to it, Kelly says. “They decided

episode—a move previously reserved

love them so much,” he says. A pos-

we were just running on fumes at the

that they didn’t like the pilot and

only for Frank and Claire. Thus, Doug

sibly permanent hiatus threatened

end and I think Robin really wanted

they weren’t going to move forward

emerged as a lynchpin; an almost

financial disaster for those workers.

two days to film it, and we only got

with it. It happens all the time.” But

Shakespearean figure of fate.

“The thought of them being shorted

one. But I remember there was a

while Kelly says he was “touched” to

Offscreen though, Kelly felt

that time, to me, was too much to

point when I was just out of tears. I

be thought of for that project, and

the shock of what happened with

handle,” Kelly says. “That’s where

was out of gas. I was out of every-

calls the premise “a fantastic idea,”

Spacey. “In all honesty, it was really

my mind went.” He focused on that

thing.” It was Kelly’s love for his crew

he once again brings the focus back

difficult,” he says now. “It was very

situation rather than what was going

members that kept him on track,

to the crew he loves. “Part of it was

It had looked like the show could

reboot now. “With these classic

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THAT CREW IS MY FAMILY AND I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. THE THOUGHT OF THEM BEING SHORTED... WAS TOO MUCH TO HANDLE. ” book, I was able to go and explore a slightly lighter side to this guy.” Kelly was wrapping up Cards when the Ryan offer came in. “They said, ‘You have this offer to go and join the cast of Jack Ryan for one season—a one-season deal.’ And I was like, ‘Wow. Isn’t that just the perfect, beautiful Band-Aid to put on the way that I’m feeling right now, I wanted to take the production

grieving over the loss, and the ending

back to Baltimore. The thought of a

of House of Cards?”

spinoff was great because I was like,

Kelly had also met Krasinski

‘I get to stay with my family.’”

before and liked him. While working

Since he first stepped into Doug’s

with Krasinski’s wife Emily Blunt

shoes, Kelly says he has noticed

on The Adjustment Bureau, the

the roles he’s offered have a similar

trio had hung out one night over

flavor. “The jobs that tend to come

beers and a game of darts. “I love

my way are very much in that head-

Emily Blunt,” Kelly says. “She’s truly

space, so to speak,” he says. “But

I think the funniest human being

then you find something compelling

I have ever met, man or woman.

in it.” Take Tom Hardy’s period drama

And John is equally as funny…

series Taboo, for instance. Kelly plays

Well, almost. I always give him shit

Dumbarton, a doctor dabbling in es-

because I’m like, ‘No, she’s funnier.’

pionage. “I think they were basically

They really reminded me of the way

looking for an 1800s Doug Stamper,”

that my wife and I get along. We

he says, “and I was very happy to

laugh, we take the piss out of each

oblige because I think that Tom Hardy is one of the best actors of our

FAMILY MAN From left: Kelly with Robin Wright; in rehearsal with co-star Constance Zimmer.

generation. I was like, ‘Wow, I have

other, and I was like, I really like that guy. So when the offer came, I thought, I know I’m going to have

a chance to go and learn from Tom

experiences I’ve had in my career. He

rule-abiding characters, Kelly himself

a good time on that job. And I did.

Hardy.’ For me, it’s always being able

was one of the kindest, most gener-

is, he says, “not a by-the-rules, by-

We got to do really fun shit.” That

to grow as an actor to see someone

ous people that I met in my life.”

the-book kind of guy.” And in Ryan,

fun included flying Black Hawk jets,

he’s really enjoyed stretching the

among other things.

else’s approach to acting.”

A certain ‘by-the-book’ quality

Humbly observing and learning

has also peppered Kelly’s resume,

from others is something Kelly keenly

from an early stint as a detective

“Mike November is a by-the-

will continue. “I’m really enjoying

embraces. As FBI agent Goddard on

on Kojak, to that Sopranos role, to

rules, very much by-the-book kind

the lighthearted nature,” he says.

the last two seasons of The Sopra-

playing real-life military officer Gary

of guy, but Jack convinces him

“I mean, that being said, if it was

nos, he fondly recalls working with

Volesky in limited series The Long

otherwise,” Kelly laughs. “It’s just a

David Fincher or Christopher Nolan,

James Gandolfini. “To have watched

Road Home. And now Kelly has just

fun show, you know? Really excit-

or Spielberg or Ron Howard, I

him play that character—to learn

wrapped Season 2 of Jack Ryan,

ing, and John is so great; Wendell

would go gladly. I would play a dark,

from him how he did that—that was

in which he plays CIA agent Mike

[Pierce] is so great. Just to go and

menacing guy. I would do whatever

invaluable and something I will take to

November, opposite John Krasinski

play with those guys was such a

those guys asked me to do. But

my grave as one of the most special

in the titular role. But despite his

blast. And although he’s by-the-

right now, I’m having fun.” ★

parameters a little.

Kelly hopes the post-Doug levity

D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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THE ACTOR’S SIDE Intriguing one-on-one conversations between Deadline’s awards editor and leading actors of film & television NEW VIDEOS EVERY WEDNESDAY WATC H N OW AT D E A D L IN E .C O M

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CHARTED TERRITORY

At press time, here is how Gold Derby’s experts ranked Emmy chances in the Drama categories. Follow all the races at GoldDerby.com

Short And Sweet

DRAMA SERIES

ODDS

Game of Thrones

5/1

Killing Eve

11/2

Succession

7/1

This Is Us

15/2

Better Call Saul

8/1

Nick Hornby crafts a premium short-form series with State of the Union ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

THE FIRST SHORT-FORM SERIES FROM OSCAR NOMINEE NICK HORNBY, State of the Union introduced the scribe to an exciting new world of creative possibilities. Starring Rosamund Pike and Chris O’Dowd, it centers on a couple that meets at a pub each week before marital counseling, discussing where things went wrong in their relationship, and how it might be fixed. For Hornby, who has spent his life “working in mediums that are not really quick,” there was joy in telling a series of dialoguedriven, 10-minute stories—which could be written in three days and shot in one—free from the constraints that come with feature work. “This show gave me more liberation than I normally get doing screen work,” the scribe explains, “because you can’t write five-page [dialogue] scenes.” When State of the Union landed at SundanceTV, executive director Jan Diedrichsen found the kind of project he’d long been waiting for—a short-form series made with a top pedigree of talent, which leaned into the unconventional. To the exec, this conversational, adult drama felt like “premium short-form,” tailor-made for a time when “bite-sized” content is more in demand. “State of the Union feels like a show that is not an appetizer; it’s a full meal,” Diedrichsen reflects. “What’s exciting for us is that it challenges people’s notions about what short-form can be.” Energized by his experience with the show, Hornby envisions “franchising” it going forward, centering a second installment on “a different couple, at a different stage of life, with different problems.” —Matt Grobar

SETTLING OLD SCORES

WHEN CUTTING HOMECOMING,

array of classic films, including Vertigo,

his retro paranoid thriller, Sam Esmail

The Conversation and The Thing—

needed a menacing musical backdrop

disparate pieces that could be edited

to support his surveillance-style

and combined into one cohesive sound

imagery, making an unusual choice

for the show. Given that many of the

when it came to the show’s score.

recordings used were over 40 years old,

How Homecoming music editor Ben Zales crafted sound for series out of vintage cues

Instead of hiring a composer, who could

they often came to the team with “hiss

only “rip off” the style he was going for,

and noise” throughout, elements which

Esmail decided to go straight to the

Esmail embraced as textural touches.

source. In concert with music editor Ben

“Because it was all in a feeling,” Zale

Zales and the surrounding sound team,

explains. “All of that was a part of how

Esmail curated over 100 cues from an

Sam wanted this to feel.” —Matt Grobar

ODDS

Bob Odenkirk Better Call Saul

9/2

Richard Madden Bodyguard

5/1

Jason Bateman Ozark

11/2

Sterling K. Brown This Is Us

11/2

Kit Harington Game of Thrones

15/2

ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

ODDS

Sandra Oh Killing Eve

69/20

Julia Roberts Homecoming

5/1

Laura Linney Ozark

11/2

Jodie Comer Killing Eve

6/1

Emilia Clarke Game of Thrones

13/2

HITTING HOME Julia Roberts and Stephan James star in the Amazon series.

D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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THE

PODCAST

WWW.DEADLINE.COM

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Go north, says The Good Doctor star Freddie Highmore. Way north. As Highmore begins to write and direct on the ABC hit, Joe Utichi travels to Vancouver to watch the action unfold on set.

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THE PATH OF EMMY HISTORY IS LITTERED WITH many injustices. Take, for example, Steve Carell’s failure, despite five nominations, to earn a trophy for playing Michael Scott on The Office. Or how about The Wire, which somehow, despite becoming one of the definitive exemplars of peak television, only ever mustered a measly pair of writing nominations over its five seasons on the air? So perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a

Shaun Murphy, a brilliant surgical resident

shock, given that rocky history, that Freddie

with autism, which struck a particularly

Highmore walked away from last year’s

touching chord with a scarcely represented

Emmy season without so much as a nod for

community. As Shaun struggled to find

his turn as Dr. Shaun Murphy on The Good

acceptance with his colleagues at San Jose

Doctor. But, at the risk of over-editorializing,

St. Bonaventure Hospital, the show not only

a shock is how it felt. After all, David Shore’s

shone a light on the challenges faced by

series had become one of ABC’s biggest

people with autism, but also felt like a rare

hits almost instantly, and had drawn

moment of validation for anybody who had

endless praise for Highmore’s turn as Dr.

ever felt unseen or other.

6/7/19 2:12 PM

IN CHARGE Freddie Highmore gets into the thick of it on set.

a large, continuous shooting space. Highmore is used to this sort of scale. He was once, after all, the Charlie of Tim Burton’s Charlie and the

about Shaun, and the way he would

Chocolate Factory (“That was sort of

react in certain situations.”

like a theme park inside,” he recalls.

No stranger to episodic televi-

“We had a real 40-foot chocolate

sion—Highmore, of course, also took

waterfall, with a hydraulic boat on

the lead as Norman Bates over five

the river. It was incredible.”) But, he

seasons of A&E’s Bates Motel—he

says, “Even though the set’s fairly big,

also feels increasingly more comfort-

and you could, in quotation marks,

able in his character’s skin. “You be-

call The Good Doctor a ‘big show’, it

come so close to the character that

doesn’t feel that way because the

you know them so well, and so inti-

stories are so intimate. We don’t have

mately. People often wonder if it gets

a lot of special effects and explosions.

a bit dull to play the same character

It’s a show that’s at its best when it’s

for so long, but I feel like there’s more

a couple of people in a room telling

and more nuance to bring out as you

these emotional stories.”

Highmore did come away from

Kim, who had been instrumental in

get to know that character better. So

Season 1 with a Golden Globe nomi-

finding the original Korean show on

many possibilities, or tiny things to try,

the scale of the operation he’s work-

nation for the role, though, and if the

which the ABC version is based. “It

or new sides to his personality that

ing on. “I don’t think it’s a conscious

Emmy snub hit him at all, he isn’t

has been really nice getting to intro-

maybe you haven’t dug out before.”

thing, but shutting everything out is

letting it show, and neither does it ap-

duce Daniel’s character as a director

Before cameras roll on his first

probably what acting is about,” he

pear to have dulled his work ethic.

of the episode,” Highmore says.

At Vancouver’s Bridge Studios

For Highmore—also a producer

He tries, anyway, not to think of

scene of the day, Highmore takes me

explains. “You can’t think about how

on a tour of the expansive set. He

many crew are standing around you,

in February, Highmore is days away

on the show since its inception—the

revels in pointing out the little details

or what the dolly’s doing, or how many

from wrapping The Good Doctor’s

reaction from viewers to The Good

of the interior of the hospital (the

lights are on you. Ultimately, your job

second season. Season 2 has pro-

Doctor’s first season was enough

exterior is played by the modern-

is to shut it all out and just focus on

vided its own suite of new challenges.

to inspire a doubling down on his

ist city hall building in Surrey, British

being as truthful as you can to your

He started the year in the writers’

commitment. “You’re encouraged

Columbia) and marvels at how new

character and the moment.”

room for the first time, penning

to continue building on what you’ve

and high-tech this TV hospital is. “If

the season debut, and this week

done,” he tells me. He has heard much

you were sick you’d want to get better

those things when he stepped up to

will mark the broadcast of the first

positive feedback from people on the

here, wouldn’t you?” he laughs.

direct. “I guess that’s different,” he

episode he has directed, “Risk and

spectrum since the show debuted.

Reward”, which will introduce a new

“And it’s been a constant learning

soundstages at the studios, and

other side of you. You switch between

Chief of Surgery, Dr. Jackson Han.

experience for all of us working on

has even knocked through the walls

two sides of your brain. In the scene,

The character is played by Daniel Dae

the show. You’re constantly learning

adjoining two of the stages to create

you’re trying to stay in character as

The Good Doctor takes up several

And yet he had to think of all of

laughs. “You do have to have that

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best you can. And it got complicated here, because Shaun doesn’t really maintain eye contact with people. It makes it a bit of a struggle to work out what the other actors are doing in a scene in order to offer suggestions from a director’s point of view. You find yourself trying to take a sneaky look over at them.” Despite the contrasting approaches, Highmore does feel that acting and directing go hand-inhand. “Especially on a television show, you feel a greater responsibility as an actor to help maintain the tone. Directors come and go, and sometimes maybe you’re working with someone who has never worked on the show before. So it requires a greater sense of leadership, not just in terms of maintaining character arcs, and continuity, but also in the sense of welcoming people who are new to the set. Especially on television, the actors’ relationship with the director becomes incredibly collaborative.” Bates Motel shot in Vancouver also. Returning to the city for this show—after only one hiatus away— meant largely reuniting with the team he’d spent five years with. “It feels like a family,” he says. And that family dynamic presents itself when Highmore gets called to set. Costumed in a hospital gown, he points to an empty windowsill for me to perch on to watch the crew block the next scene. For the season finale, Shore himself is directing. Highmore introduces me to the camera team—pals he worked with

Small wins for Shaun can feel so momentous. It’s a show that focuses on tiny, little nuances.”

on Bates Motel—old-school crew with Grateful Dead haircuts and

keep in place, “Yeah, it’s not exactly

ing,” Highmore recalls. “When you’re

a fondness for the kind of acerbic

the most complex scene I’ve had to

doing this many episodes a season,

humor Brits and Canadians do bet-

shoot this year,” Highmore laughs.

you can’t tell a story that is noth-

ter than anyone. Season 2 DP Chris

“You picked a bad day to visit.”

ing but those moments. You have

Faloona, and the A-camera duo of

Still, the drunken fight that led to

to build to that. It only really works

operator Mike Wrinch and focus

Shaun’s current predicament came

because you have that buildup of

puller Dean Friss. “You’re about to

after one of the season’s standout

pressure over many episodes in

witness the full range of Freddie’s

moments, as Shaun confronted Dr.

order to have the breakdown.”

acting skills,” one of them tells me,

Han for keeping him out of surgery,

with a sly wink.

and he lost his job at the hospital.

note for Shaun, restoring his position

Hopefully I’ll write an episode later in

We had seen Shaun struggle to

at the hospital and dangling the pos-

the year. I’m definitely directing again.”

mands that Highmore lay absolutely

keep his cool in the past, but this

sibility—forever elusive over its first

Still, he suspects, “that idea of

still—unconscious—in a hospital

moment was him at his most frus-

two years—that the young surgeon

Shaun dating will be explored. One of

gurney as his worried colleagues

trated and upset. Tears welled in his

might be able to find love. “I don’t re-

the things David Shore is so brilliant

discuss his prognosis—the result of

eyes as he beseeched Han, “I’m a

ally know yet where it’ll go,” Highmore

at with the show, and which seems to

an attack on Shaun in a barroom

surgeon. I am a surgeon.”

tells me a few months into his offsea-

give it such longevity, is that the small

son, when we speak again. “I was in

wins for Shaun can feel so momen-

the writers’ room this time last year,

tous. It’s a show that focuses on tiny

And indeed, I do. The scene de-

fight. Aside from a little struggle with a breathing tube he has to

“Those are the scenes that feel the most momentous, or satisfy-

Season 2 ended on a conciliatory

writing the first episode of Season 2, but this year I’ve been shooting a film.

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MURPHY’S LAW Above: Highmore as Dr. Shaun Murphy. Below: Daniel Dae Kim in the OR.

production on Season 3 of The Good Doctor once he wraps. For now, though, the pace of shooting a feature film (on which he’s only

language (plus French, and a little

acting and producing) has felt like

Arabic too), and familiar with the

a nice summer holiday. “It feels

city, having spent a year interning

much more luxurious doing a film in

at a Madrid law firm when he was

general,” he explains. “When you’re

younger. The set, he says, feels

used to 18 episodes a year, shoot-

“very European”. He remembers

ing for eight or nine days each,

some time spent making films in

there’s a lot more pressure to get

France, “where there was a union

things done.”

rule not only that you had to serve

Highmore aspires to one day

wine at lunchtime, but that it had to

direct a feature. For now, televi-

actually be served, too, with waiters

sion is proving the perfect training

coming around to pour it.”

ground. “Because you’re under a

little nuances, and the emotional

shooting Way Down alongside Sam

He has enjoyed having the

greater amount of time pressure,

beats in life that everyone knows and

Riley and Liam Cunningham. Di-

full run of Madrid on this shoot.

it stops you from going into self-

feels but that sometimes get lost

rected by Jaume Balagueró, the film

“The film, by dint of the way we’re

indulgent artist territory,” he says.

in a quest for a bit of high-concept

tells the story of “this English guy,

shooting it, feels kind of indepen-

“The practical quality of television

drama. The idea of finishing a whole

who is a recent university graduate,

dent, even though it’s not a small

production gives you a sense of

season with a character simply

and he’s roped into this interna-

budget,” he says. “We shut down

discipline, because if you want to do

asking someone out, and then be-

tional group that is robbing the Bank

the Spanish equivalent of Piccadilly

something ambitious in television,

ing happy to have gotten a positive

of Spain,” Highmore says.

Circus—the Plaza de Cibeles—the

you really have to plan it quite well.

other day, but it still feels like it’s

There’s no room for, ‘Let’s just get

just a few of us making this film.”

on set and figure it out there.’ You’ve

answer, is just so beautiful.” For now, though, Highmore is robbing a bank. He’s in Madrid,

It’s the first time he has acted in Spain. As befitting a multi-hyphenate, though, he’s fluent in the

He’ll be straight back into

got to think ahead.” ★ D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOSH TELLES 16

Smokehouse Pictures partners George Clooney and Grant Heslov are taking a stand, as their latest miniseries, Catch-22, hits Hulu. Mike Fleming Jr. meets them.

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THEREâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S AN HOUR TO GO BEFORE the pilot episode of Catch-22 unspools to Emmy voters at the Television Academy in the San Fernando Valley, and George Clooney is feeling pretty confident. He and his Smokehouse partner Grant Heslov have completed work on their six-part miniseries based on Joseph Hellerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s classic World War II novel, and it is days away from its launch on Hulu.

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oth men directed two episodes each and play small but pivotal roles in a drama that has top-flight writers—Lion’s Luke Davies and War Machine’s David Michôd—plus a stellar cast of vets—including Hugh Laurie and Kyle Chandler—who surround a strong crop of young actors headed by Christopher Abbott. Abbott stars as Yossarian, the pilot who de-

cides his survival is most important, amid rule changes that escalate the number of dangerous missions that he and his fellow soldiers must fly before being sent home. Clooney has a right to feel especially confident today, 24 hours after he learned that the Sultan of Brunei had rescinded the death sentence he’d threatened to impose on LGBTQ citizens of his country, which would have permitted fatal stoning

for those convicted of homosexual acts. This came after Clooney wrote two columns on Deadline to get the word out about a boycott of the Sultan’s five-star hotels around the world, most notably the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. When he thanks me for giving him the space for his cause, I tell him it’s like congratulating a spotter when someone has set a bench press record: it’s all you, George. D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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eorge, standing up publicly

sometimes, but they can’t lead the charge. People

Grant, as George’s partner, when you’re sit-

to the Sultan of Brunei and

always say, “Well, are you going to write something

ting there and the questions about Trump

watching him blink shows

about Trump?” I say, “Not yet—we don’t know how

or something else off-topic floats by on a

you pick smart fights. But

this ends.” All the President’s Men came out two

hook, do you ever think, ‘George, don’t swal-

as I read your interviews,

years after Watergate, but they stamped a mo-

low the bait?’

and see how journalists

ment in time so we can look back and say: “That’s

Grant Heslov: No. I don’t think you give up your

where we stood, and that’s what we believed in.”

right to be a citizen if you become a movie star.

focus less on your series and more on your politics, I wonder: how much do you worry

And that’s what Grant and I wanted to do in our

It makes me proud.

about polarizing a potential audience?

careers over the years. To have stuff where you go,

Clooney: Also, we don’t swallow all the bait.

George Clooney: I feel like every person has to

“Oh, that’s what they were thinking, and that’s what

You should see how much bait we let float past.

make their own decision. I grew up during the

they were looking at.” There certainly are people

Every day, there’s bait.

Civil Rights movement and the Women’s Rights

that would never go see anything that I’m in. That’s

Heslov: We get a lot of chum in the water.

movement in the ’60s, as well as the Vietnam

OK, I still make a good living, you know?

War protest movements. If you weren’t actively

I remember, there were only a few of us in the

And sometimes you get the Sultan of

participating in some form of questioning your

beginning of the [Second] Gulf War. Only a few. I

Brunei to back off stoning people to death

government, questioning society—if you weren’t

was against that war, and it was quiet out there. I

for being gay.

part of that—you weren’t really living. You weren’t

had big-time directors whispering to me, saying,

Clooney: Honestly, it just doesn’t happen like

in the room. Now, most people in our industry feel

“I agree with you.” People were doing protests,

that often. I just did Ellen DeGeneres’s show. She

like it’s probably not for them, and they shouldn’t

picketing my movies and stuff. I called my dad and

also stood up on this issue, and she said, “God,

do it. Me, I pick fights. I like to pick fights.

I said, “So am I in trouble here?” I said some stuff

this is great.” I said, “We’re not taking a victory

about how we shouldn’t go to war, and my dad’s

lap.” First of all, the law is still on the books.

They’ve been worthy battles and it is not

like, “You got money?” I go, “Yeah, I got money.” He

hard to admire someone who doesn’t suffer

goes, “Then just shut the fuck up. You’re a grown

awareness. I have a foundation called The Sentry,

bullies, but there must be a price.

man, you make decisions. You can’t demand your

and we chase warlords. The way it started is, we

Clooney: Yeah. My dad always told me to pick

right to speak freely and then say, ‘But don’t say

used to try to shame them, catch them doing

good fights. You know, films do this really well

bad things about me.’”

bad things. You can’t shame them. You realize

More important is what you do with that

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that, after you get them on the front page of The

it all during golden hours, didn’t he?

night, I’d come in and do it.

New York Times and nobody does anything. So then

Heslov: A lot of it, yeah.

Heslov: That one was particularly hard because

what we did is, we hired all these forensic accoun-

the dialogue doesn’t really make sense, so you re-

tants and we started chasing their finances. You

What do you mean by golden hours?

ally have to memorize it and find some emotional

find out, OK, they’ve got $400 million in a western

Heslov: Magic hour. Dusk. It’s an hour and a half,

connection to it.

bank. So then I go to the western banker and say,

when the light is most beautiful. The light is low.

Clooney: And he’s directing himself!

“You’re laundering money for a warlord.” And they

Clooney: So if you think about your days, if you’re

Heslov: That was the other hard part. Normally, if I

go, “I didn’t know, because it’s a shell company.”

just shooting an hour and a half… They shot for a

was in a scene, or if George is in a scene, and we’re

They obviously didn’t look so hard, but OK. So I

long time. That was the old days, when you had a

directing ourselves, the other one’s there. Particu-

say, “Well, now you know. And I’m going to hold a

little bit of cash.

larly in a scene like that, you don’t have to quite

press conference in a week, and either you’re going

Heslov: When Chris [Abbott] is up in a tree, naked,

worry so much about the directing. But George got

to say, no more credit, that you’re out of business

in the last episode? That was shot in magic hour.

sun-poisoning that day. Clooney: Yeah. I got really sick. Heatstroke. We were

with them, or I’m going to say you’re complicit.” It’s amazing how quickly that changes things.

What did the book mean to you, Grant?

shooting outside, I got heatstroke, and suddenly I had

Heslov: This was a seminal book for me. I read it

like a 104-degree fever—it’s hot out and I’m freezing.

when all the banks, when Citicorp and Goldman

first in my tenth grade English class, Mrs. Glashinko.

Heslov: I’d had it the week before. And it just com-

Sachs and all these guys say, “We’re out of the

That same year, I read The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice

pounded a scene that I was already very anxious

Brunei business.” That is how you screw with them.

and Men…

about. It was really the only scene I was anxious

You can’t make the bad guys do the right thing, but

Clooney: And To Kill a Mockingbird? Yeah.

about because it’s, you know, it’s…

you can make the good guys do the right thing.

Heslov: It was a big year. And I was, coincidentally,

Clooney: It’s an important scene…

a huge Marx Brothers fan—they were my favorites.

Heslov: It has the title in it.

Exactly how much of that tactical maneuver-

And this, even though it’s very different, spoke to

Clooney: It’s great.

ing would the character you play in Catch-22—

me that way, because there’s a lot of that kind of

Heslov: It worked out well.

the marching-in-formation-obsessed com-

humor in this movie.

mander Scheisskopf—have been capable of

Clooney: The repetitiveness.

How many takes before you felt that way?

figuring out?

Heslov: The repetitiveness and the insanity on

First one?

Clooney: Oh, none of it. I play maybe the dumb-

both sides.

Heslov: No. I nailed it…

And that’s what happened in Brunei. It changes

Clooney: In 30 takes?

est military leader you’ve ever met, but I’ll make Both of you have rapid-fire, absurdist mono-

Heslov: I probably did more takes on that than I

logues that certainly remind of the Marx

did on anything else.

There was so much ground to cover over six ep-

Brothers, the Three Stooges, or Abbott and

Clooney: It’s actually the most embarrassing thing

isodes of Catch-22. With all those extra hours,

Costello, with all the irrational logic. Grant,

when you’re directing yourself, and you do more

what was different from the original movie ver-

your Doc Daneeka gets the privilege of ex-

takes on yourself.

sion that Mike Nichols directed in 1970?

plaining what Catch-22 actually means.

Heslov: But only because I kept fucking the lines

Clooney: That was really broad.

Clooney: Grant got applause at a screening last

up. Oh, I fucked the lines up terribly. What com-

night, at the end of his Catch-22 speech.

pounds it is, not only are you trying to remember

a good parade.

It certainly felt more satirical in tone than

lines, you’re also directing as you’re acting. And you

your miniseries.

Aside from acting, you each directed two epi-

see the camera’s in the wrong place and you’re like,

Clooney: It’s interesting because [Alan] Arkin

sodes and you were executive producers. How

‘Aargh,’ or whatever.

wasn’t playing Yossarian that way, and [Charles]

hard is it to deliver that rapid-fire dialogue,

Clooney: Or you’re watching the camera move

Grodin probably wasn’t, but certainly Orson

with everyone waiting to see you screw up?

while you’re saying a line, and you’re thinking, ‘This

Welles and some of the other characters were;

Heslov: I’ll tell you. It’s a lot harder than it used to be.

is too soon,’ and it throws your head off a little.

and it’s of a time. When Mike used to talk about

Why is that?

George, when your character delivers the

it he’d say it felt like some guys were acting in

Clooney: It’s harder to remember things now. It’s

rapid fire lines, combined with the gauntness,

different films than other guys. That’s tricky.

the weirdest thing. Acting and memorization is also

it reminds me a little of Lee Ermey and his

What was his quote? That making that movie

a muscle. When I did ER we were doing 10 pages of

snappy boot camp insults in Full Metal Jacket.

Jon Voight and Martin Sheen. You look back at it

Clooney: We thought about that when we were doing it. But you know, that scene is twice as long as when you see it on screen, so it’s a really long monologue. It’s six or seven pages.

I grew up during the Civil Rights movement in the '60s. If you weren't actively questioning society, you weren't really living."

Heslov: The scene in the hangar was a long scene. We cut some of it because it was too long. We knew it. Clooney: The studio note on the script was, “Cut it down,” and we were like, “We are going to cut it down, but we just don’t know what will work and what won’t, so let us shoot the whole thing. It doesn’t cost you any more money.”

was like being pregnant with a stillborn baby? I

doctor dialogue. You show up and go, “Yeah, CBC

read the book when I was 17, and that’s a mouth-

across four units, supraventricular tachyarrhyth-

But you have to deliver. You alluded to how

ful to try to do in a two-hour movie. And he shot

mia…” Boom! Done. I wouldn’t have to study at

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How many takes?

Heslov: His tone.

Clooney: Well, not that many. I was ready because I

Clooney: And, you root for him.

means that you have to be able to not concern

didn’t have to direct anything. I had long monologues

Heslov: Yeah, he could do shitty things, and you’d

yourself with how it’s going to be seen. Just be

and not much else to do. I had to be really tight on

still like him.

concerned with the story. I think Chris gets that;

those, so I worked really hard on them because I was...

Clooney: Sam Rockwell was like that when we did

it’s sort of his process.

You know, you get in a place where you start to panic

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. If you get an actor

about things like, Do I know my lines? Also, particu-

who can do that Jack Nicholson version of acting,

It’s similar to something Kevin Costner said

larly if you’re directing at the same time, if you screw

where you can do really crappy things and people

in explaining why he’s starring in the series

up, you look like a dick. You don’t want to do that.

still want you to succeed in the story? I’m not sure

Yellowstone. He would love to be making the

Heslov: He was great, and that scene was par-

that that’s a skill as an actor, it’s just a quality. You

movies he did early in his career, but feels

ticularly tough because there’s a lot of snappy

can’t quite learn that. You just have it. And Chris

people might not come out to see them, and

dialogue. You can’t think, you just do it.

had it from the minute he walked in. There was a

there’s something to be said for telling a story

paranoia to his character that could really become

in 10-hour bursts. It does make one lament

You each have your onscreen moments, but

grating if there wasn’t a charm to him, and when we

the future of theatrical films, though.

this is about the young actors who fly the

were watching him we felt like, OK, we can put a lot

Clooney: Yeah. But in one sense theatrical is

planes and get killed all around Yossarian as

on his shoulders and let him run.

doing better than ever when you see Avengers

he watches his mission quota rise and tries

It doesn’t mean that movies are dead. It just

making $2 billion.

to do anything he can to get out of flying

Things have changed. When you did all those

Heslov: In two weeks.

more missions. This was quite a coming-out

series and finally hit on ER, it was a stepping

Clooney: In two weeks! So there is life. We’re hop-

party for Christopher Abbott in that role. You

stone to movie stardom. But unless you covet

ing to do that with our next movie.

watch, and immediately think, This guy is go-

the superhero or Star Wars films, movies are

ing to be a star.

lagging behind TV now, to the point where it

You’d better put the Batman suit back on, then.

Heslov: That’s how we felt when he walked in and

seems the smart move is to use momentum

Clooney: Yeah, you don’t want to see me in that.

auditioned for us.

to get on a limited series.

Heslov: No, he said we want to make $2 billion.

Clooney: We do taped auditions for some people.

Clooney: Limited series, yes.

Clooney: Yeah, not $200.

He came in and did, what, five or six lines? We were

Heslov: Look, if Chris was just doing theatre, he

I mean, some forms of this have created

like, “That’s our guy.” I mean, you could just tell. At

would be happy. He just loves to act. But I think

change, but I see a great world where both can

the premiere, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle were

that what you’re saying is interesting because

exist, and I think that where you get into trouble

both there, which was nice of them to show up, and

you can do these series now that are only, like, 10

is when you start trying to say, “Well, this is

I walked over and asked, “What do you think?” And

episodes a season, and then go do movies. It’s dif-

television, and that’s film.” I think the streaming

the first thing Matt said is, “That fucking guy’s a star.”

ferent than when George was doing ER—not only

services have made it good for us, because we

were they doing 26 episodes, they also ground you

get to tell stories.

Grant and I spend a lot of time looking for young, proper leading men that can carry a movie in a

down to nothing because they would shoot these

grownup, adult way. It’s harder than you think because

crazy hours, and he was still doing both.

I can still recall visiting you in your office,

they can do comedy and drama, that kind of thing.

Clooney: I was doing both the series and movies,

where there was a picture on the wall of you in

seven days a week for five years.

the Batman mask. Is that still there?

Why is it harder than when you first came up

Heslov: But now, you can do these and you can

Clooney: I was just in there looking at it today,

in the industry, George?

kind of have the best of both worlds.

actually. It’s right behind my desk.

periods of time. There was a long period of time

Is that the advice you would give a rising star,

Is it still a reminder to not take a role for the

in Hollywood where there was Paul Newman, or

George?

wrong reason? Back then, the thought was

Gregory Peck, or Robert Redford, or Warren Beatty,

Clooney: You know, when we did Good Night, and

that it would make you a global superstar…

or Steve McQueen… I can go down the list. And then

Good Luck, it was this black and white period piece

Clooney: Yeah. I’m a big believer that the lessons

Clooney: Everybody likes to look back at certain

you learn are not from successes. When you’re successful, you’re brilliant and everybody’s happy and they all love you. It’s when you fail… [You have to] understand that it is your fault, by your deci-

There's really good stuff happening in the streaming services that is great for actors. It doesn't mean that movies are dead."

sions or by your performance. There are tons of reasons why things fail, including timing and things like that. But you learn from failure. It’s good to have Batman sitting up there. We look at that and laugh a lot—it’s good to have as a proper reminder. After Batman & Robin I really realized that you can make a bad film out of a good

there were the character leading men, like Gene

for $6.5 million at Warner Bros. Well, Warner Bros.

script, but you can’t make a good film out of a bad

Hackman and Al Pacino. It’s hard to find those guys

isn’t going to make that any more, but Netflix will

script. It’s that simple. And for me, the next three

right now. And when Chris walked in we thought,

make Roma. I think the advice you’d have to give

films were O Brother, Where Art Thou, Three Kings,

Well, our problems are solved.

him is, “Don’t worry about the medium that you’re

and Out of Sight. Great films because they were

working in, worry about the story.” Because there’s

good scripts.

What qualities did he have that made you feel

really good stuff happening in the streaming ser-

that way?

vices that is great for actors.

I got killed for Batman & Robin. The next film I did was Out of Sight. I didn’t learn how to act along

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Heslov: So the idea really was to tell Yossarian’s story, and from the big picture, it’s like, you kill somebody off every episode, and each episode takes a little bit more of him. Clooney: Yeah, we’re just trying to take a little piece of his sanity away every hour. I think that was an important thing to keep. I haven’t read the book in 40 years. You know, it’s a funny thing with reference material. I remember the story pretty well, but I like to read a script, and do that script, and not be too slavish to the book. Because times change. This is a book that was written by a guy who was a bombardier in 1944 in World War II. Then there was the Korean conflict, and then Vietnam. So things change. People thought it was a protest book on Vietnam, which it was, but military guys didn’t hate it either, because they liked making fun of the bureaucracy of war and how shit rolls downhill. And so I looked at it as, “Let’s serve these six pieces in the best way we possibly can.” The book didn’t hold women in high regard. Clooney: No. I didn’t read the book again before we started this, but I thought the female characters were great in the script. We cast my cousin, Tessa Ferrer, as the most moral character in the whole show. She plays Nurse Duckett, to whom Yossarian confesses his fears and tries to get her to keep him out of the skies. In the book, she was his lover. Clooney: I didn’t recall that, and then a couple weeks ago Luke [Davies] started talking about how the women were treated terribly in the book. I had forgotten or probably didn’t pay attention when I was 17 years old, but we certainly don’t do it in the show. Most World War II films are about selflessness and sacrifice in the last Great War. There is a timeliness to this story that shows someone whose priority is survival, which is a basic human instinct. Clooney: Grant and I looked at this first because the way. I was just supported by a much better

watch this as a viewer, he’s me. It’s like he’s the id, but

we thought they were really well written scripts.

script. Over my career, I came to feel it comes

it’s outside, because we’re all full of fear. We all have

Secondly, we are in an absurdist moment in our

down to screenplay; if you’re going to spend a lot

that feeling that we’re cowards, but he acts on it, he

history; not just American history, but world

of time on something, if you’re going to direct or

really talks about it. I was attracted to that.

history. You look around the world and you see

produce it, that’s going to be a year and a half out

what’s happening in Brazil’s new elections and the

of your life, every day.

What was most important to preserve from

Philippines, in Venezuela and places like Hungary,

Heslov: Absolutely. You know it’s very rare that

Joseph Heller’s book?

which we thought was moving in the right direc-

you read a script that you feel like this one [for

Heslov: The most important thing to me was

tion. There’s lots of insanity going on. Italy’s doing

Catch-22] from Luke Davies and David Michod,

tone. But the idea for this really was to turn it more

some pretty crazy stuff. And we think, Well, so the

that was so ready to go, and where you just say,

into a much more linear story. Do you remember

absurdist thing is in some ways reflective of that,

“Let’s do this.” It’s only happened to us a couple

the book at all?

but it’s also important to have these conversations

of times. We just read them, we loved them and

about how idiotic war is in general.

we loved the story. We loved the idea of taking this

I haven’t read it since college.

Heslov: We have always talked about it’s never a

journey with this coward.

Clooney: It bounces all over the place, and

bad time to discuss the absurdity of war.

that’s what the movie tried to do in 1970—just

Clooney: I was asked a question the other day—

bounce around.

aren’t there righteous wars? Of course there are

And just back to that question that you asked earlier about Yossarian: for me, Yossarian is me. When I

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righteous wars. World War II was a righteous war,

like you’re apologizing and it will look like you’re

but here he isn’t, he just knows what he

but it came about because of someone behaving

saying, “Well, we’re not really making a satire.” So

wants, which is to make it out alive.

absurdly. Well, several people: the Italians and the

you have to go for it, but it has to be based and

Clooney: So he was dumber in this one, you think?

Japanese and the Germans. So it’s still about the

grounded in some sort of reality.

absurdity of mostly old men making decisions that young men have to pay for with their lives.

[To Heslov] I think probably the secret that

I guess he had less foresight in what would

you and I have had over the years in things that

happen when he made moves like changing on

we’ve done is casting. When we wrote Good

a map where the German occupation line was,

to us was that we wanted you to look at them and

Night, and Good Luck, we wrote it for me to play

and leaving a commander walking into the

see how young and happy and sort of beautiful

Murrow. And, as an actor, I wanted to play the

hands of Nazis he thought were gone.

they are—and how they’re going to lose their lives.

part. But as a director it’s like people don’t feel

Heslov: But, even in the book, that’s what he does.

How unfathomable that is, no matter any way you

sadness when they think of me. We needed

And, yeah, these things get people killed. That

look at it. Even if you’re a huge pro war, pro-military

somebody who had some of that, and David

made an interesting opportunity. Over a six-hour

hawk, and you believe those are all the things that

Strathairn fit that. You put the right people in

character arc, he completely changes and be-

have to happen, it’s still absurd.

the right roles and let them go. We found this kid

comes a guy who cares about these kids.

Daniel David Stewart out of nowhere. He plays

Clooney: In a way, he actually was getting to the

Milo Minderbinder, and he’s sort of perfect for it.

place where he wanted to help, to do something

Part of what we thought was really interesting

There are some horrific moments of carnage. Heslov: That was the big challenge. Balancing that.

right, and it’s like the Grinch’s heart growing three The baby-faced entrepreneur who is trading

times larger. You need to take this journey with him,

One moment you’re laughing and the next

contraband with every country involved in the

and that’s why we liked the idea of six episodes. If you

you’re floored by what has happened to a char-

war, on either side.

stopped it after two you’d go, “Well, this guy’s a jerk.”

acter, a young soldier you cared for. Does much

Clooney: He’ll be a killer, later in life.

I’m bothered by films that I see where the filmmaker’s

rewriting go into establishing that balance?

trying to tell you constantly from the very beginning

Heslov: We didn’t rewrite much; mostly we

Was he a symbol for the capitalism that is at

that everything’s going to be OK, that everything’s go-

talked about the idea that everything had to be

the root of all wars?

ing to work out, and these are really good people. You

played for real and serious—that was the only

Heslov: That’s what he represents, because the

want to take that journey and be surprised.

dollar is more important than anything else to

We are at an absurdist moment in our history, and it's important to have conversations about how idiotic war is."

him. That one is a little closer probably to home,

The power of this storytelling medium—the

at least in the world we’re living in today.

limited series with movie stars—really hit

Clooney: Certainly, if you look at how, for in-

me when Matthew McConaughey and Woody

stance, we went into Iraq unwisely. Some of us

Harrelson did that first season of True De-

believed, and during our occupation—which is

tective. I recall McConaughey talking about

what that was —we didn’t use the local cement

how most of that first episode would have

guy, we brought in Halliburton, which charges

been cut if it was a movie, and how he had

ten times the going rate. That also builds a deep

to pace himself to reveal a character over

distrust and anger at us, because we’re not

a season-long arc. Imagine how that would

using their people. That’s very similar to Milo

have been diminished in a movie.

Minderbinder, when you think about it.

Clooney: You have Francis Coppola, with all his success, recutting his films. Steven Soderbergh

What did Yossarian represent?

just took the existing film and recut Heaven’s Gate,

Clooney: He’s obviously a sort of antihero and

just for himself and his friends on a movie that

there’s an interesting thing with the idea of war

actually could have used a little editing. I said to

in general. There’s a reason why 18-year-old kids

Grant, “Could we have cut Catch-22 down to a

get sent to war. It’s because they won’t question

two-hour-and-30 minute film and still retain the

way that we thought we could really pull that off.

authority by design. It’s harder to tell a 35-year-

idea that you care about the characters?” The

We could never be winking during the funny stuff

old guy to do that. Because they’re going to say,

movie killed all the same people we kill, but you

because, if you did, then you could never make

“Whoever wins this next battle, in 10 years time a

don’t know them at all. So when they die, it just

that transition. Chris has the hardest transition

McDonald’s is going to be here.” Yossarian is that

feels like a joke. It’s set up as…

probably in Episode 6, where there’s this horrific

guy at a younger age who feels like, “Is everyone

Heslov: A gag.

scene where a guy dies in his arms and, literally,

losing their minds and I’m sane?” Now, the beauty

Clooney: It comes off like a gag. We couldn’t cut

he turns to madness. And then, just a few min-

of it is you take that character and you put him into

this down, there was no way to do it.

utes later, the audience is in hysterics laughing.

what everyone would argue is a just war, and that

Heslov: Doing it the way we did gave the chance

That was a tricky turn.

complicates it and makes it much more fascinat-

to explore things a little bit more and care about

Clooney: That was a big turn also because we

ing. I just love him because his version of survival is

those characters before you had to kill them.

start with the balls blown off stuff.

anyone who wants to kill him is the enemy.

Which is where the two of you get an unusual

It’s also interesting that his actions get a lot

Cathcart, the career-ambitious leader who

screen moment with Yossarian’s two testicles.

of people killed.

kept raising the mission quota on those young

Heslov: Yeah, it’s a funny episode.

Clooney: Yes. Always by accident.

pilots with the idea he was going to win the

George, you originally were set to play Colonel

Clooney: A really funny episode. A big emo-

war, or at least get promoted for trying, no

tional rollercoaster. There is a heightened reality,

I’d had it pinned in my brain from the book

matter how many pilots died in the process.

because you can’t underplay it. If you do, it’ll look

that Yossarian was the smartest guy around,

You went instead with Kyle Chandler, and it’s

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interesting both of you at one time would

cast somebody and it’s not the right fit. And then

one, when they’re on the deathbed, nobody

have made an ideal Yossarian.

it’s pushing a rock up a hill.

sits back and says, “Yeah, I had nine films that

Clooney: For me it was just bandwidth. At that

Clooney: Yeah, it’s hard.

opened number one.”

producers, Grant and I are there for every single

Julia Roberts is doing her second series, Reese

Paul Newman the other day again, for the hun-

shot. It’s different than films where the director is

Witherspoon, Kevin Costner, Meryl Streep…

dredth time. You just watch it and you think, That is

the king. This is one where we had to be there, and

Suddenly it feels like every movie star is doing

a proper big-time, world-class movie star saying to

this was before Ellen Kuras came on to direct two

a series. Would you star in a series, all these

the world, “I’m a character actor now.” He busted his

episodes. Grant and I thought this was way too big

years later?

ass. And you couldn’t make that as a film now. Not

a part to try to do while directing and producing.

Clooney: Absolutely. Absolutely. Again, in a way I

like that. The films that you used to get—Three Days

And then the first person we thought of was Kyle

think that’s probably how it’s going to have to work

of the Condor and those kind of films—you couldn’t

Chandler. Part of it was because he is sort of the

because studios aren’t making the films. Michael Clay-

make now. Even Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Gipper, you know?

ton we made for $17 million, and studios aren’t going

would be hard to make, because the guys die in it.

point, I was directing four episodes, and as exec

Who gives a shit? I watched The Verdict with

THE ART OF WAR From left: Abbott as Yossarian; Kyle Chandler behind the wheel; Clooney in command.

He will forever be Coach T from Friday Night

to make that. Part of it is the mentality that says, “If

Lights.

I’m going to spend $50 million on a print and ad cam-

old now and you’ll be 56 soon.

Clooney: Yeah, but as honorable a guy as he is in

paign, I can’t spend $17 million to make the film."

Heslov: Easy!

real life, we just wanted to take him and make him

Up in the Air and The Descendants, those

[To Heslov] Also, the other thing is, I’m 58 years

Clooney: We get to do the stuff we like to do, and

a blowhard. He did something with the part that I

movies are very seldom being made at studio

work on projects we dig, and we’re not forced out

wouldn’t have thought of—he made him a buffoon,

level anymore because they don’t fit the mold.

of the industry because we’ve gotten too old or

in a way. He made him big, but still he somehow

Fair enough, because they’re making big great

because our taste has a much smaller or much

connected. [To Heslov] Tell him about his first

films and making a lot of money, but that’s not

narrower appeal. So for us this is a great time.

scene. You were directing.

me. That’s not the kind of stories that Grant and

Heslov: And there is something nice right now,

Heslov: Yeah, the first scene that we shot with

I have been telling our whole lives. So, we have to

in that we’ve got this project coming out and it’s

him was the one where he shoots the gun [to

work where the work is, and we have to go where

like, well, we don’t have to think about box office.

get the attention of the fliers]. When you meet

people want to tell stories the way we believe that

We don’t have to think about that right now.

him, it felt similar to the first time we saw David

there’s still an audience for it.

Clooney: Yes. That’s funny. We haven’t actually

Strathairn [play Edward R. Murrow].

I don’t believe everything has to be a block-

had that experience. But in general; the acco-

Clooney: Yeah, the first line.

buster. Grant and I, our thing has always been

lades are fun. We’ve won Oscars, and it’s great.

Heslov: You see it and just turn to each other and

we want our films and our projects, whatever

But the most fun is making the stuff you love,

know that you can relax because you know that

they are, to last longer than an opening week-

and being on set, and working with the sound

that part is going to sail. Every once in a while you

end. That’s what matters to us. Because no

guy and the mixer and the composer. It’s fun. ★ D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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D THE DIALOGUE

EMMY CONTENDERS/ DRAMA

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Julianna

For me, the sad truth is that science-deniers have their heads in the sand. It’s the govern-

MARGULIE S

★

ment’s job to believe the scientific facts and to start moving forward and finding a vaccine and a cure. People think, “Oh, Ebola, that’s in a far off place, that’s another nation. It doesn’t affect us.” Of course it affects us. Wake up. So I felt like this whole project was a wake-up call, a chance to hopefully at least shine a spotlight on what

Returns to medicine as NatGeo’s The Hot Zone takes a closer look at the Ebola crisis

truly could be an epidemic that hits our country in a way that we will not be prepared for unless we start really taking it seriously.

BY DA M O N W I S E How did the Hazmat suits help your perfor-

AFTER SIX YEARS ON ER, playing Carol Hathaway in NBC’s hit medical drama, Juliana Margulies made a vow to stay away from roles that involved delivering complex scientific jargon. She was so strict with herself that, when Scott Free first approached her with The Hot Zone, a six-part tale about the origins of the Ebola virus in the late 1980s, she turned it down flat. Curiosity got the better of her, though, and soon after picking up the script she found herself in a Hazmat suit, surrounded by test tubes and petri dishes, as Nancy Jaax, a colonel at the United States Army Medical Research for Infectious Disease Institute (USAMRIID).

mance—or hinder it? I’m embarrassed to tell you that those Hazmat suits were the bane of my existence. I did not realize how claustrophobic I truly am until they put that suit on me. There are a few different ones, but the Hazmat suits that I wear in the lab, in the biohazard level four labs, were modeled on, and made up of, the original ones from 1989. I’m sure nowadays they must be lighter, but back then they weighed 50lb. And in order to keep the air circulating in there, they have these two fans that are attached into the back of the suit.

Why did you change your mind about

But, luckily enough, Nancy Jaax’s

Once the suit is put on, they’re turned on, and

The Hot Zone?

nephew, Michael Smit, happens to be one

there’s a whirring sound. You can’t hear yourself

When I read the script, I thought, Why

of the top specialists of infectious diseases

think, let alone say the dialogue, let alone hear

didn’t I know about this? And why are we

in our country. He came, generously, and

your partner speak.

still in the same place we were 30 years

gave me time, and showed me how you

ago? It’s amazing—just this morning I was

manipulate the instruments, how you test

1989, Nancy Jaax was the only woman in her

listening to BBC News on NPR, and they

the tissue, what you’re looking for under

department. Where the weight of the suit

were talking about Ebola in the Democratic

the microscope. He showed me what

would come down on a man is the collarbone,

Republic in Africa. Over 800 people have

to do, what not to do, and how to fake it

but where it comes down on me is the tip of

died since August from Ebola, and it’s 2019.

enough to make it look real; those kinds

my shoulder, so with every movement I made

So, every day, I keep thinking, My God, it’s

of things. And, honestly, for me that was

in the lab, I was lifting an extra 50lb every time I

not getting better. It’s getting worse—and

the most important thing: once I was in

moved my arm. I wrote to my agents and said, “I

no one in this country is paying attention.

the lab, to make it look as real as possible,

don’t care if someone wants to pay me $10 mil-

because of course the people that I care

lion, I will never step foot in that suit again.”

What appealed to you about playing

about watching the most are those who

the part of Nancy Jaax?

work at USAMRIID.

She was just really dedicated to her

And reading the book was important,

And these suits were made for men—in

Did you ever have any contact with Richard Preston, who wrote the book?

profession in a way that I’d never seen be-

which of course wasn’t good night-time

No, only in an edition of his book that he gave

fore—she was putting herself at risk every

reading.

me and signed, saying, “Thanks for putting this

day, walking into these labs and trying to

on film.” I haven’t met him yet. I’m hoping to,

understand these infectious diseases. She

Even the trailer is terrifying.

researched not just Ebola, but Anthrax, and

Yeah, it’s frightening. There’s nothing light

the Marburg virus, and AIDS. She’s alive

and airy about it. I mean, I love that Brian

book, because there was a little bit of contro-

and well today. I haven’t met her yet in

[Peterson] and Kelly [Souders], our show-

versy when it came out—some of the charac-

person, but I spoke to her at length on the

runners, really tried to put a little humor

ters were either omitted from the book, or not

phone just to sort of try and understand

wherever they could into the dialogue,

in the book enough. And so I wanted Nancy’s

what I was doing.

because it’s so devastating when you really

blessing. I didn’t want to do a character who is

but, no, I didn’t speak to him. I did ask Nancy about how she felt about the

strip it down to the bare essence of what

alive and well today who wouldn’t have given us

What kind of research did you do—or

we’re dealing with. The fact that Ebola had

the thumbs up to do it.

can you do—for a project like this?

not ever been on U.S. soil until that mo-

Well, I’d never have enough time to do it

ment [in 1989], and we were caught with

cated exactly what was going on at the time,

properly [laughs]. These people do this for

our pants down. We didn’t know what to

and if there was any controversy, it was just

years and years and years.

do. There was no protocol.

egos getting in the way, that kind of thing. ★

PHOTOGRAPH BY

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Michael Buckner

She said that she really felt the book repli-

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Ja re d

other person has to play. There was none of that with Stellan. We understood it was

HARRIS

★

almost like a double act. There’s a real bromance element to our relationship. And yes, there’s a journey that these characters go on with one another. There was some discussion, for example, over the first time that his character would call me “Valery”, and the first time I call

Leading the ensemble in Craig Mazin’s watercooler-dominating Chernobyl on HBO BY J O E U T I C H I

him “Boris”. Little things like that, which you’re aware of, signal the journey without smacking the audience over the head. These two characters really come to rely on one another, and appreciate not

RAIG MAZIN’S FIVE-PART ADAPTATION of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 begins with Jared Harris’s Valery Legasov taking his own life. It is, says Harris, the inciting mystery in a story that will examine both the human cost of the event, and the social and political fallout. Freshly wrapped on HBO, the series became as much of a conversation starter as the cabler’s Game of Thrones finale, perhaps because of the show’s unsettling parallels with the disinformation age in which we live. For Harris, Mazin’s scripts were too enticing to refuse.

just the gifts that each of them had, but in terms of the sacrifices and the compromises each has to make. I felt like these two people, who become bonded by this horrific situation, share the same fate. They’re both going to die before their time, and there’s nothing they can do about it because they can’t leave. They share that unique story together in that sense. In the end, the show has become a real cultural touchpoint. Why do you think it has hit so hard for people, and what do you think it has to say about today?

Describe that initial reaction to Craig

The story deals with the shades of gray

You only need to look at what’s happen-

Mazin’s scripts.

in human personalities responsible for

ing right now to see that the show has

Very quickly, as you’re reading it, you realize

managing events like this.

touched a nerve, and touched a nerve in

it’s the sort of thing you always hope is

Yeah, mostly. I mean, the first responders

a really clever way. It’s not preaching, and

going to land on your desk. It was so well

are complete innocents, and of course

it’s not trying to draw obvious parallels, but

written, and you could tell it would make a

Jessie Buckley’s character, Lyudmilla, is a

anybody who wants it can see it.

good show.

complete innocent. I think it’s important

What I found in the script was that this event was potentially so much more dan-

that you’re introduced to those characters. But yes, everybody else has a degree

I think it would be fair to say that Craig had an understanding about that resonance. The idea of talking about the cor-

gerous than just the fallout from the initial

of culpability to them. They’re part of the

rosive effect of lies upon a society, is right

accident. Of course, nobody at the time

system, and in that sense they bear some

there from the very beginning of the show.

heard about the tremendous sacrifice and

responsibility for the way the system oper-

It was always a part of our conversations,

heroism of the people on the ground who

ates. Although there really is no mecha-

with regards to the script, the direction it

were trying to contain the damage. It be-

nism to hold power to account. Everybody

took, and the narrative. It was in the DNA.

came such a gripping story in the way that

knows that and there’s a certain cynicism

Craig put it together. And it’s a mammoth

to them that has been bred in by the

rubbish to say that you always knew it was

task, if you think about him sitting down to

system. Nobody tries because everybody

going to be received in the way it has been

cast his mind around this entire event.

realizes it’s pointless.

received. No one knows what an audience

You had one writer, and also one direc-

The relationship between Legasov

be a trillion dollar talent for anyone to have.

tor, Johan Renck. What did that consis-

and Stellan Skarsgård’s Shcherbina

With anything you do—any story you tell—if

tency offer?

crescendos beautifully in the final

there’s something in it that strikes a chord

We were really lucky in that there was only

episode as Legasov realizes his now-

in you, you hope it will be received in the

one director. I did ask, when I signed on

friend is sick, and they discuss their

same way.

for it. I wanted to know if there would be

relative importance in the system.

only one director, and if the showrunner

I’m so fond of Stellan, and we got on really

right moment where there’s this preoc-

[Mazin] would be there the whole time.

well immediately. We both understood the

cupation about the nature of the state we

Because you need one or the other. You

story we were telling, and how each story

live in, and under. That’s a dialogue that’s

either need the showrunner there every

complemented the other. Sometimes—not

ongoing all the time, not just in the U.K. or

day, or you need one director. Otherwise

often—there’s an insecurity between ac-

the U.S., but in Europe and across the rest

you have to start having conversations by

tors where you start looking over the fence

of the world. And it is, I think, the overarch-

proxy and it frustrates the whole process.

and the grass is always greener in what the

ing theme of these five episodes. ★

But, of course, it would be absolute

is going to want two years from now. It’d

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I think this show is hitting a nerve at the

PHOTOGRAPH BY

Josh Telles

6/7/19 12:41 PM

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6/7/19 12:42 PM

Janet

you and love me too?” That’s so complicated. I remember being in those spaces. Not in that same way, but in the sense of

MOCK

★

being with partners when I was younger who kept me as a secret and then had a girlfriend in the daytime. And so that part of that piece, I know that so many trans and queer people know how that feels, to

★

be loved in secret, to be loved in the dark.

Stepping up to the plate with a directorial debut that many are calling the finest hour of television ever

So much of Angel’s journey in Season 1 is about that. I know that feeling so much and so I pour myself into that.

BY D I N O - R AY R A M O S When the episode came out, there

S A JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR, Janet Mock has always searched for the truth and she has brought that sensibility to bear in a new direction this year as a writer, co-executive producer and director of Pose, created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals. The series has broken new ground for LGBTQ storytelling—specifically around trans people of color and the destigmatization of HIV— and continues Murphy’s pledge to be a driver of representation on screen. The episode titled “Love Is the Message” marked Mock’s directorial debut, and it was received with tremendous critical acclaim.

were a lot of critics saying that this was one of the best hours of television in the history of the medium. It’s so wild, because for me that episode aired in the summer and then those “best of the year” lists started coming out. That’s where I started hearing all of this; it wasn’t in my calculation. All I was trying to do was do the work and be true to the world. Be true to the script that I wrote with Ryan, and be true to our characters. Speaking of perspective, Season 1 leans into an HIV narrative in a way television has never seen before. What do you hope other TV shows and films

What was the first scene you filmed?

to get on because Ryan [Murphy] is such

learn from Pose when it comes to

I remember one of the first scenes was

an overachiever and wants that for me. We

queer, trans and HIV stories?

probably the simplest—but the most

scripted a fight scene for me, a couple of

Shattering stigma. You know, that’s the

difficult to think about—and it was the

ball scenes for me, and musical numbers

number one thing for me. You shatter

cold open, at the top of the episode. You

as well. That episode really was our most

stigma by empathically telling a story that

have two characters sitting in a diner—two

ambitious of the season, beyond the

enables people to understand those unlike

characters who had never met before—

pilot. It was the one that we knew would

them. And then you realize, through that

who both were kind of sizing each other

become our calling card. The way that I

unlikeness, you find the likeness. And so for

up. There was great tension. It was the

approached that first day was just with

us, all of that is the same thing.

first time we ever did a cliff-hanger; from

that weight on my shoulders. If I don’t do

Episode 5 to Episode 6. I knew that I had to

this well as a person of color, as a relatively

and be who you are, you’re met with love.

pay that back to the audience, to make it

young person in this position, as a trans

You’re met with acceptance. You’re em-

worthy for a week.

person and as a woman, they may not let

braced, and you’re embraced for all of who

someone else like me back in. And so we

you are. We’ve had so many moments like

have no choice but to slay, right?

that in Pose.

member just thinking about Ingmar Berg-

How do you pull from your own life

You’ve grown as a writer, and now a

man’s Face to Face. In it, he has these really

experiences to bring these characters’

producer and director. But how has

tight close-up shots of the women, and of

stories to life?

Pose changed you on a personal level?

the characters talking to one another. And

For me, there’s no character closer to me

This show has empowered me. There

I thought I wanted to end it after Angel

than Angel (Indya Moore). She is so much

are so many things that I had never done

makes her revelation that she’s trans. I

of my own self. When I was younger, I had

before and I felt so uncomfortable doing.

wanted it to be just closely on both of their

been just as lovesick as she was, wanting

I showed myself, because someone sup-

faces—these two beautiful women who

someone to stand by me and embrace

ported me; because I had these collabora-

had this man in common; this confused

me for who I am. I wanted partnership; I

tors. I showed myself things that I never

man who doesn’t know who he really is.

wanted grander dreams for myself. And so

even dreamt that I would be able to do.

Because it was so simple and they were just sitting there, I was thinking about the

With our show, when you step forward

kind of moves I wanted to make and I re-

her reaching, her hoping and her longing That is a very demanding first scene to film as a first-time director. For me that was the most intense scene

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represents me in so many ways. There is a moment where she asks Patty (Kate Mara), “Do you think he can love

I have a whole new career that I never thought that I would even have, and now it has come to fruition and there is something that stays behind. ★

PHOTOGRAPH BY

Michael Buckner

6/7/19 12:42 PM

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6/7/19 12:42 PM

J h a r re l

Do you have thoughts on what the case of the Central Park Five tells us

JEROME

★

either about the America of that time before you were born, or the America that we’re living in today? I think it tells us that unfortunately there’s not too big of a difference from America then and America now. You still have stories like Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner.

The Moonlight star “flipped out” when he was cast in Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us

On the opposite end, you have stories like Casey Anthony, where she gets let off. It’s a very warped justice system.

BY M AT T H E W C A R E Y Before When They See Us you had this

O SAY JHARREL JEROME’S ACTING career is off to a hot start would be an understatement. At 21, he has already starred in an Oscar Best Picture winner— 2016’s Moonlight. And his latest role, in Ava DuVernay’s four-part Netflix series When They See Us, is winning rave reviews (Oprah, an executive producer on the show, went on Instagram to praise his “incredible performance”). In the series, Jerome plays Korey Wise, one of five teenage boys of color wrongly convicted in the notorious Central Park Jogger case of 1989.

remarkable experience of Moonlight, playing Kevin at age 16, a character who is possibly gay. It’s another atypical, challenging role. Yes, absolutely. When I shot it, I knew that it was going to be beautiful, I knew that it was going to be a good project, but I didn’t realize the impact that it would have. And I didn’t realize the impact that I would have, getting messages from all over the world from all kinds of people saying, “Thank you, thank you for doing this film,” and, “You have inspired me.” That hit me in such a precious way.

What did you know about the Central Park Five before you auditioned for

me how old you are.” I read the young part, and then she

How did you get into acting, and reach a place to take on very complex roles

When They See Us?

gave me the older part to read. The next

like that?

Growing up [in the Bronx], it wasn’t like I

day she called me and said, “I want to give

It actually for me happened in a span

studied it. If it was spoken in my house, it

you a challenge. I want to give you young

of four years. I went to LaGuardia High

was a story among other stories. It was

Korey, but your challenge is I’m also going

School; it’s a performing arts school [in

almost a lesson—“Be polite to the police,

to give you old Korey.” And I flipped out. I

Manhattan]. Before I went there, I didn’t

don’t be out late, and don’t hang with the

couldn’t even breathe, it was unreal.

have any acting training or knowledge at

wrong crowd.” I didn’t hear of the story in

all. I didn’t know what a monologue was.

depth until Ava posted an article on the

As part of your preparations for the

It wasn’t until I was 13 when I decided

Central Park Five on her Instagram page

role you met with the real Korey Wise.

I didn’t want to be in high school in the

and said, “I’m going to bring this story to

A lot of being grounded in myself was

Bronx. I wanted to step out and leave my

life for these men.”

spending time with Korey, understanding

community, and leave the negativity and

that who he is today is exactly who he was

the dangers that could possibly present

You’re the only one of the young actors

before he was in prison. I think he rebuilt

themselves if I went to high school there. I

to play your character as both a teen-

who he wants to be and who he is. You

wanted to just expand. And my mom came

ager and an adult.

could not even tell he went through what

up with the genius idea of acting. It was an

It wasn’t the plan for me to play both

he went through. Just his spirit, how strong

audition process to get into LaGuardia, and

parts. I went out for young Korey Wise, but

he is—he will give you a hug no matter who

I got in. It was a blessing.

the problem was I had this beard. I was

you are. He says hi to everybody in the

working on a show [Mr. Mercedes] and I

streets of Harlem. He went and bought me

How are you handling all the attention

could not shave it. When I have the beard,

a pair of sneakers and I begged him not to.

you’re getting at age 21?

I look about 35. When I don’t have the

That’s just who he is as a person.

I’m just learning. I just feel like a kid all

beard, I look about three-and-a-half years

Spending time with him is how I found

the time, like I’m a 12-year-old boy on a

old. I auditioned with all the facial hair,

those qualities of the younger Korey—that

playground, just watching the adults do

and Ava couldn’t see past it. So four, five

naïveté, that joy, that happiness, that

things, and learning and adapting as I go

months go by, I wrap the show, and I find

youth that he had. Then it was just simply

along. And just hoping that I do it right. I

out that she had not cast Korey. I shave

about breaking it down slowly as I got older

have a very grounded family, I come from

my face, go straight to Ava’s office in New

in the scenes. It was about stripping those

a lot of support and love. As long as I stay

York. When I came in with a babyface, she

one by one. And then year by year as it

with that and they stay with me, I think I’ll

was so confused. She was like, “Wait, tell

goes along, it’s weaker and weaker.

be good. ★

D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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PHOTOGRAPH BY

Shayan Asgharnia

6/7/19 12:43 PM

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6/7/19 12:43 PM

R i c h a rd

What kind of relationship do you have with Jed Mercurio?

MADDEN

★

Jed’s always on set, all day, every day. You actually see him in the back of quite a few shots, because when we were shooting scenes in the Home Office, Jed would take a desk, on the set, and work for the day. So, as an actor, I could go up to him and ask him how the scene was going to go.

He may not have survived the Red Wedding, but in Bodyguard, the Scottish star proves a strong King of the North BY DA M O N W I S E

Or sometimes I would say, “Don’t tell me what’s going on here, because my character doesn’t know, so I don’t want to know.” He’s the best extra you can get, because he’s really working, drinking his coffee, going to

HIS TIME LAST YEAR, RICHARD MADDEN was best known for his brutal death in the Red Wedding episode of Game of Thrones. But after the first episode of Jed Mercurio’s six-part action drama Bodyguard aired, the Scottish actor became a household name practically overnight as David Budd, the buttoned-down personal protection officer drawn into a high-level conspiracy. Madden presented a damaged everyman for these turbulent political times—an image he promptly turned on its head with his portrayal of Elton John’s ex-lover in the pop biopic Rocketman.

the bin, going to the watercooler… He’s the best extra a director can get, because he’s actually doing those things. But it’s also good to have him on set because the plot is so complicated and there are all these different intertwining storylines. And also for his military knowledge and his police knowledge—he’s so clued up on that. A lot of the details that I put in to give the character that authenticity, I’d get them from him. How did it feel to step away and do something as different as Rocketman? After I finished Bodyguard I had to take a couple of months off, because I was

Were you always confident that you

with Jed that was true to my research into

so emotionally drained and very isolated

could pull this role off?

PTSD, which is not how you see it in the

from everything else in my life. It had just

No, I absolutely didn’t have a clue if I was

movies. It’s often been conveyed in a very

engulfed me for such a long amount of

going to be able to do it or not, and that’s

clichéd way. It’s a constant, everyday thing.

time, and, as you know from the series, he’s

why I took the part. That’s kind of why I

It’s not that you hear a glass smash in a

an insular man on a mission, so I did take a

chanced it, to see if I was good enough

restaurant and you duck for cover. It’s much

couple of months off afterwards to just kind

to pull it off. I was intrigued to see how I

more complicated and detailed than that.

of come back to life, because it had taken

would try and deal with someone that was

So I tried to focus on how to convey a man

so much out of me. And then Rocketman

so complicated, and also try to deal with a

who’s… He’s suppressing everything, and it’s

came along, where I’m singing and dancing

role that involved so much restraint, both in

bursting out in other areas of his life—with

as well as acting, so I thought, “Let’s see if I

terms of the character and as an actor—not

his wife, his children, his friends—in ways he

can throw myself into this…”

giving away anything instantly. In fact, doing

can’t control, because he’s a man in denial

the opposite of that and trying to hold a

about what he’s going through.

lot of things back. This is a character that

Will there be a Bodyguard season two? It’s something we’re actively discussing.

doesn’t show what’s going on underneath.

How did you approach the physicality

When we did the show, it was just going

So that’s a challenge in itself, and I was

of the role? What kind of routine did

to be a one-off, its own thing, because Jed

really excited by that—how do I convey

you have—or didn’t you have one?

was still writing the show as we were doing

everything that’s going on in a man that

I had to have one for this. He’s a bodyguard,

it. But the show’s engaged with so many

shows nothing? How do I access a man

and he’s an ex-serviceman, so he has to be

people, and it’s engaged with me, because

that doesn’t give anything away?

fit. The shooting schedule was such that

I’m fascinated by that character. I’m very

some of the action sequences were repeat-

keen to see what happens to him two years

What did you do to prepare?

edly done over, so I had to be fit for that too.

later. Where will this man be, in terms of his

The problem with preparing to play some-

I had to be in the gym at 4am before we

mental health, in terms of his wife and chil-

one suffering from PTSD is that most peo-

started shooting for the day. My bulletproof

dren, in terms of his career? He’s not going

ple with PTSD—most people—don’t want to

vest was actually a real Kevlar bulletproof

to sit back and retire, and he’s not going to

talk about it. I mean, the average time is 14

vest, and that really helped. You’re strapped

pick a normal job. He’s going to be engaged

years from the trauma to someone seeking

into it this thing, which gives you this stat-

in something interesting. So I’m very keen

help, so it’s quite a hard thing to research.

ure. It’s like a forced corset in terms of keep-

to work with Jed and work out how to move

But I did speak to some soldiers, some

ing my back straight, my posture straight,

on the next bit of the story. But we decided

ex-servicemen, who’d been going through

and my chest looking large. Costume

we’re not going to rush it and shoot some-

that, and I just tried to create something

sometimes does that.

thing this year. ★

D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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PHOTOGRAPH BY

Michael Buckner

6/10/19 11:16 AM

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6/7/19 12:44 PM

Jason Dohring

Michael Kelly

Lisa Edelstein

Angelique Rivera and Arnal Robles

Deadline Emmy Season Kickoff Party

Mishel Prada and Ramy Youssef

J U N E 3, W H O T E L H O L LY WO O D RO O F T O P, L O S A N G E L E S A rogues gallery of television’s finest showed up to celebrate the start of Emmy season. See more photos at Deadline.com

Jake Borelli

Ntare Mwine

Adam Conover

Tony Hale and Matt Walsh

Paul Scheer

D’Arcy Carden

Ser Anzoategui and Chelsea Rendon

M I CH A E L B UCK N E R

Kalen Allen

Brian White and Candace Paul

D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E

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6/7/19 2:16 PM

Netflix Behind The Lens

M AY 3 1 , N E T F L I X F YS E E AT RA L E I G H S T U D I O, L O S A N G E L E S

Russell McLean, David Slade, Carla Engelbrecht and Andy Weil

Morgan Freeman

John Karna, Dakota Shapiro and Oliver Cooper

National Geographic Contenders Showcase

G E T T Y I M AG ES FO R N E TF L IX A ND N AT I ON A L G EO G RA P H IC /S H U T T E RSTOC K

J U N E 2 , T H E G R E E K T H E AT R E , L O S A N G E L E S

Patrick Somerville

Carly Mensch

Alex Honnold

Benjamin Wallfisch and Judith Hill

Ryan O’Connell

Sacha Gervasi, Peter Dinklage and Jamie Dornan Brit Marling, Natasha Lyonne and Robin Wright

Netflix Change In Focus

J U N E 6 , N E T F L I X F YS E E AT RA L E I G H S T U D I O, L O S A N G E L E S

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HBO My Dinner With Hervé J U N E 6 , L A N D M A R K 57 W E S T, N E W YO R K

6/7/19 12:04 PM

Untitled-21 1

4/18/19 3:27 PM

Deadline Hollywood - AwardsLine - 06/12/19

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