Calum Worthy Talks "Intense Research Process" for 'The Act' Character | THR News - video Dailymotion

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Hulu's true-crime miniseries 'The Act,' based on the story of Gyspy Rose Blanchard and the murder of her mother DeDe Blanchard, has caught the attention of audiences ever since its debut in March.

Transcript

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.

Calum Worthy Talks "Intense Research Process" for 'The Act' Character | THR News

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