How would you sum up John Lithgow’s career in a short introductory paragraph? It’s best not to try to pick a few of his (roughly) achievements at random. Like his work in the cinema on orders Bob Foss (“All Jazz”), or Brian de Palma (“magic”, “effect”, “in the name of Cain”), or James L. Brooks (“The Power of Affection”). Or already on TV, his iconic roles in “Martian stuff” (for which he won three Emmys), “Dexter” (for which he won his fifth Emmy) and ‘the crown’ (Sixth figurine of the group). Now back to give a master class in “old man” (Disney+, Wednesday, 28),’Morally complex thriller ‘makes him an opponent of Jeff BridgesHe was also brilliant in his first regular role in a series, that of a former CIA agent who is mysteriously harassed after thirty years of his life as a hermit.
How did you feel when you got a script called “The Old Man”? Were you relieved to hear that they didn’t want you for the title role?
The title is interesting, actually. Obviously, well, that “old man” is Jeff Bridges, but as the scenes go by, you realize that it could also apply to two or three other characters. The series is basically a reflection of what it means for a young man to grow up. And what happens when your youth comes back to haunt you in old age.
Did you already know the Thomas Berry novel based on it by Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine? Are you a reader of thrillers?
No, I didn’t know her. I read it when the project arrived. I really enjoyed doing it, but I think the script goes a lot into the relationship between Dan Chase. [Bridges] and Harold Harper [Lithgow]. The complications are so It’s easy to describe as the villain of the show, but it’s probably … simplification. I think it would be a simplification, that’s right. I should be careful not to reveal anything, but … Harold is forced to do things that only a bad movie would do. However, my job here was to make sure the audience fully understood why I had to do these things. It was quite a challenge, but the script really gave me all the guns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uigog3R7g3o This villain is not presented as a shadow puppet with a cigar in hand. When we first see him, his grandfather is playing with his orphaned grandson and later mourns, alone, the death of his parents. He experienced the greatest tragedy of his life, in his old age. Then the plot comes: he receives a phone call and realizes that he will have to deal with a disaster that occurred three decades ago. He will have to face this as he tries to survive the biggest tragedy of his life. The series does a lot with this approach. And the book didn’t use it as much. Would you say that Dan and Harold are connected in the present, above all, by each other’s sense of loss? It’s a nice way to put it. But they do have some deeper connections, and that’s where I have to be careful, because those things are revealed as the series progresses. You are not aware of them at first. and the fact that they had to stay away, pretending that the other didn’t exist, though there were things that bind them like magnets and mldr; This is what makes you watch. The series is basically a reflection of what it means for a young man to grow up. And what happens when your youth comes back to haunt you in old age? What other roles in your long career can you draw inspiration from? At times, Harold can be as cold and sensitive as the unforgettable Arthur Mitchell from Dexter. I would say, above all, I left behind old habits. People are used to using grand gestures, and seeing me do high-energy comedy or hopeless horror. I am a theater actor, first and foremost, and spend my time suppressing my theatrical instincts. In this case I had to throw them right out the window. This character has a lot of turmoil under the surface, but he has to maintain that look of control originally. Production of the series has been halted twice: the first due to the epidemic and the second after Bridges had lymphoma. [ahora en remisión] Which was followed by a life or death struggle with covid-19. It must have been a difficult experience. We started shooting two years ago, and of all those months, there were eighteen we couldn’t work. In fact, Jeff and I have only worked together for the past few months. It was a pleasure to finally cross our path. He’s a great acting partner. Related news The Old Man could easily have been a movie a while back; Perhaps directed by De Palma, with whom he collaborated a lot. But now it can only be a streaming string. Do you thank the platforms that host these complex and adult projects? Of course, there are many fun things going on on TV. All of these classics, “The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” or “Breaking bad” have changed our perception of the medium and the way we consume entertainment. People now love long stories, those that unfold in chapters. It’s quite a challenge to make an enjoyable series for years, rather than just two hours.
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