00:00I'm Tiffany Taylor for The Hollywood Reporter News, and I'm sitting down with
00:13Calum Worthy. He plays Nick Godejohn in Hulu's The Act. So for anyone who hasn't seen this
00:18show, just briefly describe your character's role in this story.
00:21Well it's a very complex story because it's about these three people who all make very
00:25big mistakes along the road. It's about this girl who her mother has been chosen by proxy
00:31and she's basically been captive for most of her life. And then she meets myself, the
00:36character I play online, and they end up murdering Dee Dee Blanchard, her mom.
00:41What are you giggling about?
00:45I met my Prince Charming. Hi!
00:50And even though your character, Nick, is a killer, and so you kind of know that throughout the
00:54story, and he has these sort of creepy moments, you also feel sorry for him a lot and really
00:58empathetic toward his character. So how did you balance those two sides of him?
01:02Well the key was empathy and having a lot of compassion for the character. In my opinion
01:07as an actor, it doesn't matter what kind of character you play, you have to approach that
01:10character with empathy no matter what they've done, even if they've done horrific things.
01:14So that was my approach to this character. In the process of investigating him, every headline
01:19I saw just referred to him as a murderer, and they didn't really talk about the rest of
01:22his life. And I kept thinking to myself, well there's a lot of life he lived before that
01:25moment, and a lot of life he lived after. So my investigation was about the rest of the
01:31other parts of his life.
01:32I'm so trapped!
01:34I can't tell anyone!
01:36You can tell me!
01:37And you did a lot of research before playing the role, right?
01:40Yeah.
01:41Talk to me about that a little bit.
01:42Yeah, it was a very intense research process. I spent about two months leading up to the filming
01:47of the first episode, just kind of getting a sense of who this guy was. I spent a lot
01:52of time at a center for adults with autism, because he's on the spectrum, and I really
01:57felt a massive responsibility to get that right, to be respectful to the autistic community.
02:03So I read five books about that, I worked with specialists one-on-one, and then there was
02:08the academic side in terms of learning about him and all of his traits, but then it was also
02:12the emotional side as well. So I knew he had a lot of very dark thoughts throughout his
02:19life, so I played disturbing videos at night before I went to the set, and I'd wake up
02:24and they'd still be playing. So I'd kind of be haunted by those images, and then after
02:27we filmed the murder scene, because we filmed it in chronological order, I would have the
02:32picture of D.D. Blanchard's crime photos on my phone, and so it would be the last thing
02:37I'd see before I go to bed at night, and the first thing I'd see when I woke up, and I'd constantly
02:40be haunted by those images.
02:42How did going to those dark places and being in that dark space for so long affect you personally?
02:48I felt like I was pulling away from a lot of family and friends. I didn't reach out
02:51as much. I was off social media for about five months while we filmed it, because I just
02:55didn't feel right to be on social media, playing such an intense character. But what was nice
03:00was Joey and Patricia. They kept things light, which was nice.
03:05Is there one scene that was particularly hard to film?
03:07Yes. There was a scene where we finally get caught by the SWAT team, and we're in a closet.
03:13Joey and I decided to just film it without actually leaving the closet. So in between setups and takes,
03:21we wouldn't leave. So it was a couple hours of us just filming and holding each other and crying.
03:25And we wanted to feel as real as possible, obviously. But that was particularly important because it was our last
03:33moment of freedom. And it was really setting up the rest of their life and the way that they handled
03:39themselves throughout the court proceedings and the confession as well. And for Nick, I knew because we had a
03:45idea that he would likely get a life sentence. I wanted to make sure that I really tackled that moment
03:51appropriately because it was his last moment as a free man.
03:53Now, there's been a lot of Emmy buzz surrounding this show. With you and the cast, when you guys start
03:57hearing that, oh, we might get nominated, what conversations do you guys have about that?
04:01You freak out. I mean, it's insane. When you're filming something, you never expect...
04:05You're hoping people just enjoy it and that someone watches it because you're in such a bubble.
04:09So then when you find out that people are actually enjoying it quite a bit, it means a lot.
04:15And I think you do exactly what you think you do. You text the cast and say,
04:19oh, my God, people are actually liking the show a lot. It's very sweet and unexpected.
04:25And you freak out just as much as you think you would.
04:27Well, thank you so much for talking to me. And we can't wait to see what happens with the act
04:31and the Emmys when the nominations come out.
04:33Yeah, I cannot believe even being asked that question. That's really cool.
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