How Matthew Macfadyen Went From Mr. Darcy To Playing That Total Dick On “Succession” - Buzzfeed News
Buzzfeed has an interview with Matthew Macfadyen the reviews the various roles he has had as an actor, most recently as Tom in Succession.
During a recent trip to Los Angeles, Macfadyen spoke to BuzzFeed News with delight about Succession —both about the show itself, which was created by Jesse Armstrong (Peep Show), and about the experience he had making it. He would occasionally slip into Tom’s American accent for emphasis. “Those writers are so funny,” Macfadyen said about that bachelor party scene. “They get to the nubbins. They getright to the cruxof what’s excruciating. Which is: He’s desperate for himself and for his friend Greg to think it’s sexy and OK and —” Tom voice! — “wild.”
“And then there’s that awful dawning realization that it isn’t any of those things,” he continued. “It all happens in that moment — that light dying in his eyes.”
In an ensemble show filled with quotable — and GIFable — performances, Macfadyen has emerged as Succession’s scene-stealer. In the Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Fienbergwrotethat Macfadyen delivers an “Emmy-worthy performance blending obliviousness, insecurity, darkness and optimism in a potent brew.”
On playing Mr Darcy in Pride & Prejudice:
He did feel pressure during his most famous film role, Mr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice, in which he played opposite Keira Knightley. “Oh, Mr. Darcy —don’t fuck it up!” Macfadyen said. “It just felt like a job,” he said. “It was OK.”
When pressed on the topic, Macfadyen continued. “I wish I’d enjoyed it more. I was uncomfortable doing it. I think I felt the pressure about it,” he said. “Because it was sort of difficult not to. It took me a long time to get the job. It took mesolong that I was like,Cast somebody else, please.” It took so long, he said, because “someone didn’t want me.” Eventually, he didn’t care, thinking to himself, “I’m doing very well, thanks very much.”
But then he did get the part: the iconic Mr. Darcy. “And then when I got it, I...” he paused for several beats. “I don't know. I just wish I’d enjoyed it a bit more. Maybe I worried too much.”
About Succession possibly running for 5 seasons:
Successionwill begin filming again in January, and Macfadyen can’t wait. “As an actor, the writing is just such a safety net and a magic path,” he said. “It was so much fun — we’re really desperate to start again.” I mentioned that most acclaimed HBO shows run for five seasons at least, and he lit up. “Do you think? I don’t know! I hope so,” Macfadyen said. “It’s quite an undertaking to go and do a show somewhere else. That’s part of the actor’s condition — you have to go where the work is. To be doing something as lovely as this, and if it stays as lovely as it was — as fun, then...” he paused to think again. “Hurrah!”
These are just a few highlights from the interview. Be sure to read the whole interview on Buzzfeed HERE.
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