Serious, Funny, and He Sings

RADLEY WHITFORD myself and stick my fingers into the fan. knows what you think of him: He’s Josh Lyman, the You took a real left turn with the horror earnest deputy chief of film “Get Out,” in which you’re like the staff on “The West Wing,” alternate universe version of how Josh the role he played from Lyman could have been. Did the suc- 1999 to 2006 that earned cess of that film change what roles you Bhim his first Emmy. (“It’s probably the first were offered? line in my obituary,” he quips.) But Whit- For a long time, I played complete unre- ford has aged into roles that showcase his deemable punks in movies. But then you do range: as a singing choirmaster on NBC’s “West Wing” and people are surprised you “Perfect Harmony” and a troubled architect can do anything else. “Get Out” changed of dystopia in Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s everything for me — it allowed me to get Tale” (which earned him his third Emmy penetration into the culture to allow me a last year). Zooming from home midquaran- whole bunch of opportunities. The night I tine, Whitford spoke with The Envelope saw [the complete film] I was stunned; I’d about versatility, Clint Eastwood — and never seen a soufflé rise like that. how his beliefs have guided his career choices. At least one line seemed to be targeted directly at your “Wing” and public Here’s the question of the hour: How personas: the bit about how your char- are you coping in isolation? acter would have voted for President There’s a kind of emotional volatility. I Obama for a third time. Was it? notice pendulum swings, which come from I’m such a partisan hack that I didn’t an existential threat none of us can control. even realize it was a joke at first. I think Additionally, it amps up my political career, Jordan [Peele, director] threw that in there because I feel like we’re going through the to mock me. It was a fun thing to have such Depression with Gary Busey as president. a dark self-parody. No offense to Gary Busey. It’s an unnerving time. You grew up in a Quaker household; how did being a Friend affect the roles Are you taking it easy from home or you took over the years? working on projects? I have complicated feelings about vi- I’m producing a documentary with the olence without consequences in movies, Duplass brothers [Mark and Jay] called and I think that has something to do with “Not Going Quietly,” about the life of being Quaker. Hollywood talks about the [healthcare activist and lawyer] Ady power of cinema to change the public con- Barkan. We were going to have a big pre- versation with films like “Schindler’s List” miere at the Tribeca Film Festival, but ... or “Get Out,” for that matter, yet the major- ity of the material in the movie business is “Perfect Harmony” and Hulu’s dystopi- violence as entertainment. I wrestle with an “The Handmaid’s Tale” are on oppo- this. And yet, look at Greek plays where site ends of the dramatic spectrum. they’re tearing their eyes out; or Shake- How’d you get Hollywood to hire you speare, whose most popular play was “Titus for both strengths? Andronicus” where people’s arms get I realized when I was working with Francine Orr Los Angeles Times hacked off. Violence is a distillation of [“West Wing” creator] Aaron Sorkin’s writ- conflict, and I have mixed feelings about ing, that as an actor, if you find yourself in a THE CONTENDERS the normalization of violence. comedy you feel a relentless artificial responsibility to be funny every five sec- Were there ever parts you didn’t take onds; in a drama you feel a relentless re- because of it? sponsibility to be irony-free for an hour at a There are parts that are irony-deficient, time. I look for things that mix those as- Serious, funny, full of gratuitous violence. I’m not inter- pects of life up. “Handmaid’s” has been ested in those. But I think about how in the fascinating — it is dark. We shoot in Cana- early 1990s I did a film with Clint Eastwood da, and our crew is the stereotypically [“A Perfect World”], and we’re on the set sweetest Canadian human beings on the one day right after he’d won the Oscar for planet. Then you’ll hear the assistant direc- and he sings too “Unforgiven,” and the paper says “Clint tor say, “Eh, I don’t want to rush you, but Eastwood’s Vision of America.” And I we have to get the nooses on the girls.” walked over to where he’s sitting with his Hollywood opened up to Bradley Whitford after ‘Get Out,’ heart beating like once every three minutes As Arthur in “Harmony,” you’re getting embracing both his dramatic and comedic talents and said, “Did you see this?” And he said a chance to sing a bit. Is that something something like, “Vision for America? I used HE ENVELOPEHE TIMES ANGELES LOS THURSDAY, JUNEyou’ve 11, 2020 been yearning to do your whole to work with an orangutan and now they T career? BY RANDEE DAWN think I’m Gandhi.” You take the best parts I like singing. It scares me. And I realize available. One blessing now is I am able to the older I get the more I need to scare do the most interesting stuff. 8 S4.

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