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Daniel Radcliffe and the ‘Hollywood’ guys on their new shows and coping with COVID-19
Los Angeles — It is sometimes unthinkable that 19 years have passed since Daniel Radcliffe broke into Hollywood as Harry Potter.
Now the 30-year-old actor has branched out into several varied projects that do not pigeonhole him anymore.
We recently talked to the actor virtually, as he was quarantining with his girlfriend of eight years, actress Erin Darke in New York. He may be seen recently entering the world of Kimmy Schmidt as he portrays Frederick, Kimmy’s fiancée in the interactive special of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” with Ellie Kemper (Schmidt) going on her biggest adventure yet across three states.
We also talked to three of the guys from “Hollywood” — Dylan McDermott (Ernie West), David Corenswet (Jack Castello) and Jeremy Pope (Archie Coleman) — as they shared with us how it was being part of the Ryan Murphy creative universe, coping with the pandemic, what they love and don’t love about the Hollywood of yesteryears, their most embarrassing moments and that moment that changed their lives.
Daniel Radcliffe
Where are you isolating these days and how are you dealing with what’s going on in the world?
I am in New York right now. I'm in an incredibly fortunate position like I've got a lot of friends who are either isolating or quarantining alone right now [because] I'm with my girlfriend which is lovely, you know. I'm very, very grateful for that.
Also, we are not having to try to home-school children or entertain children 24 hours a day, which seems it would be very, very challenging. So yeah, we're in, you know, everyone is safe and healthy and staying indoors so, yeah, we're okay. Thanks for asking. I hope you're well too.
Are you finding yourself doing different things? How do you keep busy?
Well, I've done a lot of Lego. It's very good, passes a lot of time and is sort of meditative. You get to make a cool thing at the end. I recently built a “Jurassic Park” and a “Stranger Things” set with Lego.
I've been doing like a lot of reading, and yesterday I finally did some writing. I have been trying every day. It has been a thing of getting up and thinking that today is the day, do something productive and I haven't really for the previous however long it's been 6 weeks or whatever. So finally, I felt a little bit productive yesterday so hopefully more of that to come.
Talk about your relationship with Kimmy Schmidt and being part of this unique interactive episode?
The filming of it was tricky for lots of people, namely the director and the script supervisor and, costume and make-up having to remember where everything was at every moment but for the actors, all we had to do was learn all the various versions of the scenes.
Beyond that, it wasn't really – the burden of responsibility of making sure that we were in the right timeline every time was not on us so much but I loved it. I hadn't seen anything like that before.
I was a huge fan of “30 Rock” and Tina Fey. It's this style of comedy that I love and it's all these tightly wound, very like thoroughly plotted out things but there's also a joke every 10 seconds and it's the kind of writing that I could never do myself. So I'm in awe of it and I love watching and getting to be a part of it. It was so incredible.
What are you discovering about yourself during this lockdown? Are you learning how to cook, paint?
I definitely am not one of the people who have learned any new skills in quarantine yet. I have a lot of respect for anyone who's like learning to sew or bake or any of that stuff, that's very impressive. I have not done any of that.
I think I'm finding out about myself that for about 23 hours of the day, I'm pretty okay staying inside. At first it felt slowly inhibiting, but now I've settled into a rhythm and also we're incredibly lucky that we're here together.
We have got very little responsibilities during this time so all we have to do is stay inside and keep ourselves entertained so that's good.
How do you find time for yourself since you are isolating with your girlfriend right now? Do you go to another room?
I don't feel the need for it that much. We both like to read a lot so when you're reading and you've got your head in a book that's quite like “me time.”
You mentioned you are doing a bit of writing. What type of writing are you doing?
Attempting to write scripts. I know every actor is also writing scripts on the side now so it's something that we all seem to be wanting to do but I would love to be able to write and direct a film. They are in the realms of slightly dark comedies and so hopefully one day, I'll get to make one.
Dylan McDermott
This is based on Scotty Bowers’ books several years ago. Did you read that book and how much truth do you think actually existed with this infamous gas station?
Well the gas station did exist, yes. My character is not based on Scotty Bowers; it’s a fictional version of him. I did watch the documentary on him and stole a few nuggets for my character but I also used Clark Gable as part of my muse, if you will.
So it’s kind of a mix of Scotty Bowers maybe and Clark Gable and what Ryan brought to it and Ian (Brennan) and myself and put it in this little concoction. But what a fascinating character he was, Scotty Bowers, wow.
How did you get into the empire of Ryan Murphy and his world of creativity? Were you friends with Ryan?
No. I read the script for “American Horror Story” and I was, oh my god, I have to do this. And I called my agent immediately and said I love this. And I was just, oh my god, this show is going to be…I just saw it, there’s only two shows I ever read where I saw that it could be huge: “The Practice” and “American Horror Story.”
And “The Practice” initially was not but eventually it did become something significant. But when I read it, I just fell in love with it and I met Ryan and Connie and we all met at Ryan’s office and 10 years later now.
How do you think this pandemic is going to change how we celebrate events?
I think that this time, if you’re lucky enough to use it, which I’m trying to, I think it’s going to change relationships. I think that we’re all asking ourselves the big questions here.
Because there’s so much of society makes us all feel disposable and that we don’t count, that we have little value, that life just goes on and on and on. But I think this pause is making us maybe question that and that the people who unfortunately are dying right now are not just numbers, they’re people and they all count and they all matter and they all mean something and it’s not a number and life has importance and being here has importance.
I think all of those questions. When I watch the news every night, I think about these people or I’ll look them up on the internet to put a face to somebody and think about them for a minute in my day. All those things, because I’m quarantined I have to stay here and I have to deal with a certain part of myself. And I think that’s important, I think it’s good.
How does your children view you? Are they impressed by you by now?
Hopefully they see a father who’s present. I think that a big part of being a parent is really being present and listening and being there and having quality time and I think that’s exactly what we’re having now is some quality time rather than time spent just watching television.
David Corenswet
Who was that person who believed in you and gave you that opportunity to be where you are today?
For me, there are two versions of that. One is the person who gave me the opportunity, kind of spiritually, was my high school theater teacher. I had been acting for a long time as a kid in Philadelphia, but my high school theater teacher, Phil Brown, really challenged me and said, 'this is a serious discipline and if you're going to have a career as an actor, you need to take it seriously and you need to work hard.'
And that's a version of seeing somebody’s potential and seeing that they need challenge and need to be held accountable. So, I thank my my high school teacher, Phil Brown, for that. He set me on the path that I'm on now.
And then nobody better than Ryan Murphy to see you and believe in you. When you've got somebody who has had that much success in so many different shows; Ryan has a lot of power and is somebody who can pick you out and say, 'You, I'm putting you in my show and that’s going to be the beginning of your career.'
And so, early on you have a lot of people who believe in you, if you're lucky. But it takes somebody who can really make things happen to push things forward. And so, for me, having my two big first jobs be with Ryan, he's the guy for me.
Talk about your emotional scenes and how challenging they were.
For me, it really is about the other actors. To have great people, like Jeremy, who are just doing terrific work all around you, it starts to flesh out the world. When you're on set, when you're at the gas station it really feels like you’re in the 1940's.
And then Jeremy walks in and he's got a real part of what his character is going through and his electric energy that comes out. And such a great cast to be able to work with. So I find that the thing that really does it for me is connecting with those people who are doing such great work and convincing me just like they're going to convince the audience that they're going through what their character is going through.
And to watch Jeremy go through it ten or twelve times, depending on how many takes we do. When there's real stuff that he's connecting to every time, it's really hard not to be drawn into that and to get connected yourself. So that's the best gift for an actor; when you're surrounded by all these incredibly talented actors.
Especially people from the theater who have a special, I don't know, something special about that particular thing, those really tough emotional scenes. To get to just live in that energy and feel like you're just taking on the ride, is a great gift.
This is a love letter to Hollywood. Is there something in Hollywood during those years that makes you feel like you were in that part of Hollywood rather than the one today?
It's hard to top that. Just the way people looked and also the principle behind it, which was that unless you were literally behind closed doors in your own home, you were always about keeping up appearances and respecting one another.
There was a certain traditionalism about the fact that men always wore hats outside. There's something about that I really feel nostalgic for. And I love the way they talked. The dialect, the vocabulary, was colorful and fun. I like the idea that everybody went and saw the same movies on the big screen. There was a lot more shared experience when the Humphrey Bogart picture came out, or the Grace Kelly picture came out.
Anybody who was going to see movies was going to see those movies and the only experience of film was in that shared communal experience of the theater, which is obviously something we're especially missing these days of not being able to share space with people. So that: the idea that shared experience of film.
David, you say that Ryan Murphy is giving you these amazing roles. Do you ever feel that it was your looks that got you those opportunities? Do you feel that you have to prove more than the other actors?
Great question. I think a lot of actors spend a lot of time early in their career coming to terms with how they look to people and what roles people see them fitting into. I spent several years towards the end of my time in school and after I graduated school, auditioning and getting a lot of feedback that I did not fit into the places I was supposed to fit into. I wasn't quite the right look. I wasn't quite old enough to play a man but I wasn't quite young enough to play a kid anymore.
So, I think the only thing you can do there as an actor is just focus on the things you can control, which is the work. So, I have no idea what Ryan thinks I look like. It's really hard to get into other people's heads about how they see you. But the really cool thing was for both “The Politician” and for “Hollywood” the roles and the way Ryan described the roles to me, made it clear that he saw what not necessarily what I was good at as an actor, because I don't know whether I'm a good actor or not, that's for other people to decide, but he saw what I could do as an actor.
With River it was specifically the thing of stillness of being very still and calm and quiet. That's something I've worked a lot on as an actor. I was not always that way as an actor, and I've learned from a bunch of really great actors on that particular front.
And then with “Hollywood,” I grew up watching these movies from 1940's and I love imitating that dialect, the cadence of the voice, the way they walk and talk, the way they handle their hats. And just the spirit that Jimmy Stewart or Gene Kelly spirit of optimism and bright eyes. And that was not something he and I ever talked about.
So, when he said he wanted me to do this, I felt as though he had seen into my soul somehow, and he seems to have a gift for doing that. So, on the one hand you always want to make the person who believes in you, you always want to make them proud. And you always want to prove them right.
But with Ryan, I don't know. I felt like a slightly gentler, calmer thing of just like he saw me so clearly that I felt all I need to do is show up and do what I do because clearly he sees what I'm good at and he sees what I'm not good at and not going to expect to do the things I'm not good at. So, totally a dream to have somebody like that. Who sees you in that way?
What has been the most embarrassing moment in your life and your “Aha” moment or life-changing moment?
The most embarrassing moment that still embarrasses me today is. I'm not sure I've ever told anybody this; I snuck out of my house when I was five or six to go down the street have a playdate with my friend. And I didn't tell my mom I was leaving and my mom understandably called the police because I wasn’t in the house anymore. I had this great plan for a secret playdate. When I got home, my mom was so worried and the police officer showed up. The embarrassment in that moment of having caused so much trouble for no reason really stuck with me.
And then my “Aha!” moment: I got to do a play with Reed Birney, who's a terrific Broadway actor, and has had a long and storied career, and is just incredible. And my “Aha!” moment was watching him on stage, a Tom Stoppard play. A very funny, very complicated play. And Reed spent the whole play standing and talking, or sitting and talking. And it was the most compelling thing you could imagine. So I thought that was my “aha” moment of like, if I can learn to do that, I'll be golden.
Jeremy Pope
Who was that person who believed in you and gave you that opportunity to be where you are today?
Honestly, it goes back to when I moved to New York. I had finished school and was auditioning, you know, trying to get a job. And it was Tarell McCraney, who is a playwright and who really gave me my first opportunity at working. I had no credits, all I had was the sides and the material they had given to me, but they really saw something in me. And I think being able to be in this production, which was “Choirboy” ended up being my Broadway debut, and was the show that Ryan Murphy saw. It had a domino effect. But it was the first time I felt like I had been seen for all that I was and that was in that special moment. So I thank Tarell McCraney for that.
Talk about your emotional scene when you learned that they were not going to use your character’s name on the big screen as the screenwriter.
This is my television debut. I'm younger, but I'm still absorbing as much as I can. I feel like in all the projects I've worked on, I've been able to grow and come to learn who I am, what type of man I am, and how I want to walk this life.
Dealing with Archie who, in the scene you mentioned where they’re talking about taking his name off his one creative project that he has. And I think for me, as a black artist, I often wonder if there's room and space for me.
I know in my gut that I have a gift and a talent that I want to share with the world, but I don't know if the world wants to hear it. So, I think being able to connect to that feeling emotionally is something that I question often.
I've been so fortunate to work with Ryan Murphy and so many great people, but there are those moments where you could doubt yourself, it's easy to doubt yourself. I think Archie is experiencing that. But I strive for Archie to be bold and be unapologetically himself and to keep fighting. Because he is bringing his peers with him.
Then cut to the end of the series where we watch people that come from maybe Archie’s narrative and they feel seen for the first time, and piggybacking on the question we had earlier, it only takes one person to see you and tell you that you have what it takes or that you're good enough or there is room at the table for you to continue to fight for your dreams and your desires. So, that was what I was able to latch onto with playing Archie.
This is a love letter to Hollywood. Is there something in Hollywood during those years that makes you feel like you were in that part of Hollywood rather than the one today?
Yes and Amen. For me, it's the style. It's the clothes. I think that's one thing that's definitely changed. We're more relaxed, we're wearing sweats and all this to be comfortable but back in the day, people dress to the nines. They wanted to dress to impress. And I think that's such a gift. I missed that. I wish I saw more of that we got to experience that onset because we would get to set and everyone would be dressed up so glamorous and so cool. I do have to admit I attempted to steal a lot of my costumes because of that. Archie had so much swag and suave to him.
So, it was really exciting to just get to set and see what it is we were going to wear today. And then pop on set and see David and be like, oh you're looking good too you’re looking pretty clean. So if anything, I would definitely steal the style and the fashion.
Jeremy, this is your TV debut. But you have come from Broadway. In which way did that help you when performing for television?
The thing about theater, and a lot of my friends and artists that work in theater will say especially Broadway, is it's like military training because you're doing this show eight times a week over and over, and sometimes the audience is there, sometimes they're sleepy.
I love theater. I love that it's an intimate experience that you share with a new audience every night. But something about coming to set and knowing that all you got to do is get it right one good time was so freeing to me because here I was, I've done takes eight different times, eight different weeks with so many things going on. So, it trained me to have a work ethic to prepare.
And then to come in with the Ryan Murphy’s family. They're so loving and you can really lean on them, especially being that it was my first experience on camera. But after day one with the cast and the crew it was so easy to just feel at home. And there were certain things that I was learning about, but I caught on very quickly. And it was freeing to know that I could just like drop into this character. Find this moment right now and then we throw it away and go to the next one. And for where I was at having come from doing so many repetitions of shows, it was cool to really invest in a moment and then throw it away and let it be. So, that was really special and cool for me. — LA, GMA News
