Every few years a script arrives with a man in it I would cross the road to avoid. I have learned not to turn those down, and not to play them as a warning either. Audiences can smell an actor holding a character at arm’s length.
The work starts with his logic, not mine. I write out, in his words, why every terrible thing he does is reasonable. The list is always shorter than I expect, and the reasons are always smaller: fear, pride, a bill he cannot pay.
Defending a character is not excusing him. It is refusing to make him easier to dismiss than he really is.
Then I leave the list in the rehearsal room. On set, he simply wants what he wants. The judgement belongs to the audience, and they do it far better when I stay out of the way.
