Perry Mason
Matthew Rhys vaguely recalls Raymond Burr’s Perry Mason playing in the background as a child, but when it was time for him to portray the famous defense lawyer in a version set in 1930s Los Angeles, the actor stayed far away from all previous iterations. “I have a slight tendency, consciously or not, to mimic,” he says. “If I started watching [Raymond Burr], I don’t know how or where he would manifest himself, but I know he would.” Rhys instead focused on the character presented through the script — a scarred war veteran finding his calling against the backdrop of the Great Depression. “As soon as I read the first scene about World War I, I remember being really shocked. Where’s this going to go?” recalls Rhys. “They’ve struck upon a defining moment that set him on a very clear path about what’s right and what’s wrong.” A strong throughline runs between Rhys’ Mason and other versions, however, in the unwavering sense of justice established by author Erle Stanley Gardner. “He was the early founder of a system whereby people who genuinely felt they had nowhere else to turn were set up with a legal team to help them. That’s who Mason ultimately is; when you think all hope is lost and the odds are so unfairly stacked against you, there is someone who will help you.” While Rhys can see himself playing the character for as long as there’s meat on the bone, he doesn’t see this becoming the long-running series it was before. “One of the greatest challenges of this is redefining the show, and not just doing a case in court with a verdict to surmise,” he says. “It’s what we do differently that will keep it fresh.”
Will Smith
When West Philadelphia teen Will Smith pulled out a gun in the pilot of Bel-Air, the actor portraying him knew this wasn’t his mother’s Fresh Prince. “I was like, ‘OK, this is different,’ ” says Jabari Banks. “That was the moment that brought the show to 2023. It is something that happens every day, unfortunately. I’m glad that we didn’t shy away from that.” Since that opener, separating his character from the one Will Smith made iconic in ’90s NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has not been difficult. The pressure of reimagining one of the most famous characters in TV history, however, is a different conundrum. Imagine, for example, uttering words from the famous theme song (“I got in one little fight, and my mom got scared”) as dialogue when he arrives at his new home. “I was very scared to say those words. There’s a fine line between corny and the truth,” says Banks. “I checked in with Morgan [Cooper, series creator] multiple times because I was like, ‘Is this cheeky? Is this serious?’ He was like, ‘Just be genuine. That’s his truth.’ ” Banks says he was not just aware of the original sitcom — it was the first thing he remembers seeing as a child. “It’s a big responsibility to carry the weight of this show on your shoulders. I definitely had some impostor syndrome,” he says. “But life comes at you fast, you know? Sometimes you don’t get to reflect. So I focus on one line and say it the best that I can. Then the scene will be the best it can be. And the episode will be the best that it can be.” It also helps that the real-life Smith shared some words of encouragement. “He told me they picked me for a reason. He’s allowed my light to shine,” says Banks.
Dan Gallaghar
Before reading a word of Alexandra Cunningham’s expansion of Fatal Attraction, Joshua Jackson had doubts about playing the character originated by Michael Douglas in 1987. “It felt like a trap, honestly,” he says. When Cunningham explained that her version was not a retelling but a jumping-off point, Jackson was intrigued. “What hooked me is that men, particularly white men, are having a moment of crisis right now. I’ve played several characters grappling with entitlement and privilege, and when it’s pushed back, [they] lash out in toxic ways,” he says. “Dan Gallagher is the fragile product of modern male ego. When that ego construct is jostled a bit, he starts flailing.” What instantly sets this Dan Gallagher apart is an evolution in both culture and storytelling. “The lack of contrition around having an affair was not something I thought would be useful in 2023,” says Jackson. “When he tells his wife, she holds him accountable for it, which, to me, is the crux of [this show].” Despite a modern lens and broader canvas, he didn’t shake Douglas’ incarnation entirely. “I wanted to embody Michael Douglas’ swagger and charm, because that was an interesting counterpoint to who Dan becomes after he’s been incarcerated.” Jackson knows it’s out of his hands how people receive his character — and he also knows who is watching. “I bumped into Glenn Close before we started, and what she said boiled down, essentially, to: ‘Just don’t fuck it up.’ I love a direct woman. ‘Yes, ma’am, we will do our best to not fuck it up.’ ”
Pip
Fionn Whitehead may not have read Charles Dickens’ classic novel Great Expectations before the opportunity to play its protagonist, Pip, came around, but that doesn’t mean the 25-year-old didn’t feel the pressure of its legacy. “You can get wrapped up in the gravity of a piece of literature that everyone worships so much,” he says. Whitehead initially decided that not watching previous iterations would be the solution to creating his own version of the orphan who, through an eccentric apprenticeship, tries to transcend his class. “I didn’t want to mimic anyone else, so I tried not to study any of them,” he says. “But I did end up watching a couple of versions in a moment of weakness.” For Whitehead, the best way into a well-known character was to take his cues from Steven Knight’s scripts, whose frank exploration of class gave Pip and his cohorts a bit of a contemporary edge. “Steven said that at the time that Dickens was writing, he wasn’t allowed to talk about a lot of stuff because of social norms, whereas Steven wrote in all of the nasty little details,” he says. “There’s also an element to Pip that is universally relatable — young men not talking about how they’re feeling, and thinking that they need to stand on their own two feet without any help. That really connected with me, seeing someone going through that and struggling because they haven’t figured out that we all need each other.” Add to that the present-day language and a diverse cast, and it wasn’t hard to see that the production stood apart from its predecessors. “With period dramas you can sometimes create a bit of a disconnect. What felt important to me was making sure that people could connect with Pip in a non-dissociative way,” he says. “To really have an audience go through what the character is going through, sometimes you need a slight contemporary feel.”
This story first appeared in a June stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Source: Hollywood
