Billy Crudup On Mapping his Character’s Mind in The Morning Show
We were joined by Billy Crudup to talk about his Emmy nominated performance in Apple TV Plus’ The Morning Show and creating more dimensions for his character in the second season. Billy characterized his role as someone who is both curious about the world but also a bit of a mystery in the first season. He enjoyed prying into the layers of a character that was difficult for those around him to understand, noting that people are either delighted or baffled by his character’s calculus. Since it was his first time doing a show with two seasons, he found it a creative challenge to move away from having the full script and understanding the arc taking a character from beginning to end.
Describing his character as an agent of capitalism, Cory is only capable of understanding the world in the language of capitalism. But when it comes to relationships, he’s haunted by simple feelings that most functioning adults manage in life. According to Billy, Cory is a specialist who allows most things to drop away, like health, friendships, and family, but can be infantile in other aspects as he doesn’t understand the language for daily life.
Billy found this juxtaposition to be extremely charming and he relished the opportunity to approach such an aspiring and complex piece of material. As an actor, Billy really focused on the text analysis and grinding of the speeches and monologues, especially since it was so difficult to replicate Cory’s expertise. It was important to Billy to try and map his way through the character’s minds, especially since Cory was someone who “thinks in paragraphs”. For Billy, the fun was in playing the person in power rather than those reacting to him.
Watch the full conversation below.
Q&A on the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show with actor Billy Crudup. Moderated by Mara Webster, In Creative Company.
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