We caught up with man who knocks Emmy winning Breaking Bad meth czar Bryan Cranston to discuss his role in current Best Picture nominee, Argo, hanging out at CIA headquarters in Langley and the importance of creating an imagined personal back story for his characters. Actors take note…
Tell us about your character, Jack O’Donnell. What his role is within the story? Jack O’Donnell is actually an amalgam of real people during that time. I think the producer’s felt, and Chris Terrio, our writer, felt it was more important to identify the CIA portion of the film with one person, as opposed a multitude of people. In the beginning of the film, you see a lot of people in the CIA, in the State Department, in the White House, and you don’t know who’s who. That’s good to have the audience realise the scope of how this operates; this huge maze of people, and subjects, and thoughts, and conferences and things. But as soon as we get going with the story, it was better to really focus in on one person representing the CIA, and that’s Jack O’Donnell. The relationship that he has with Tony Mendez is as sort of a mentor-mentee.
This character doesn’t have a real back story like some others. How did you begin to interpret the role? Since he is an amalgam of characters and not a specific real person, I do what I usually do and I write a back story for myself. Writing all different thoughts and concepts of who he might be and what his history is. I came up that he was divorced twice. He’s not a very good husband, good man, likes his Scotch, likes smoking. He probably has a little acid reflux problem. He’s a little overweight, a little stressed. He’s a Roman Catholic. He goes to church. I mean that’s for me. So once I start doing that, then it informs what you do. So I asked for certain crucifixes and religious artifacts on my desk. I had a rosary that I was spinning during crucial times, but we didn’t hold it up so “Oh, look at that.” I just wanted to have it for me; if it’s seen, it’s seen. But it’s for me to be able to feel more comfortable when I do a character, that I’ve developed a foundation. Once I do that with a character, then I can react and respond as that character in any given circumstance.
As you said, your character represents the CIA portion of the film. Did you do any kind of research? I know you did do some shooting at the CIA Headquarters in Langley. What was that like? Well, when I realized I had the role, the first thought was I need to find out what this culture was like. So I asked Chay Carter, our producer, I said “I need to go and talk to them.” He said, “We can arrange that.” I’m like, “Oh, okay. Good.” So they did background checks. It’s very clandestine, of course. You’re walking around and there’s a guide with me and showing me certain things. So I sat down with a few CIA officers of varying age and started asking them all kinds of questions. At first, they’re very tight-lipped and very close to the chest with their information. I would ask them a question about a certain mission, and they would have to refer a document to see what was declassified and what isn’t. One of the guys did write a book. He was waiting for this information to be declassified before it can be released, similar to Tony Mendez’s “The Master of the Skies” had to be declassed first before he was able to get a publisher and sell it. So I thought that there’s probably a need to purge yourself of all this information that you collect throughout your career, and yet you can’t talk about. So you must be feeling like you’re full of these things. And then once you retire, “Oh, I got to get it out, got to get it out,” and to have the [information] flow go outward, as opposed to just inward. So that’s where I came up with the idea of probably a little angst with my character Jack, he doesn’t stand erect anymore. That’s long gone. He’s got a lot of worries and concerns. Interestingly, the CIA officers have a tendency to co-mingle and marry within the ranks. Primarily, it’s because they know they can’t ask their spouse what they did today at work. It’s easy for them in a way. But if you married a civilian and came home and for 30 years never talked about your work, it could create some segregation in your marriage. This way, they know they just never ask. I was talking to one go who’s married to a fellow CIA officer; and their child is a CIA officer. It’s the family business.
Argo is available to own on DOUBLE PLAY for $44.95RRP and on DVD for $39.95RRP from February 27.
