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James Gray is open about his ongoing fixation with the messy dynamics betweenfathers and sons.
But his relationship with his father, Irving (Jeremy Strong), is particularly difficult and fraught.
As Irving, a version of Grays own father, Strong is goofily mensch-y and unremittingly dark.
Im seeing things online about you doing a James Gray impression, or channeling James Gray for the role.
Was that part of it for you?No, I certainly wasnt doing an impression of James.
I mean, I think its whats on the page.
Clearly its a very personal story of James, and there are a lot of autobiographical elements.
The character is inspired by his father.
So theres a lot ofthatin there.
And there is my grandfather, who was Jewish and was a plumber who lived in Queens.
I used to live in his basement growing up in the summers.
I was very close to him.
Theres some of that in there.
Its impossible to I dont know whats in there!
Its a mystery to me.
Its the amalgam of a lot of those things.
But its really searingly off the page.
That really has nothing to do with anything in real life.
Like Stella Adler said, You have to be as large as life.
And this is a large character.
And that appeals to me, going out on the limb of that.
Can you tell me about the conversations you had early on with James about the character?
How did he describe him to you?He didnt.
Its all on the page.
James wasnt interested in making a one-to-one ratio of Annie and I doing an impersonation of his parents.
He didnt want to share videos or any photographs.
Irving has a lot of very dark moments.
In a way, the brutality that he experienced …
I see him as inept, really.
I dont see him as a malevolent character.
His ineptitude when faced with extremity …
I say that and it sounds like a judgment.
I feel like, I love this character.
Which is a kind of success that hes defined for himself.
And his idea of Camelot in Queens.
That line [about being better than me] is the essence of who he is.
Hes not perfect as a father.
But theres also a tremendous amount of tenderness and goofiness and sort of professorial expertise.
Hes a bit of a crooner and has a certain amount of brio.
Its a feast of a character.
Did it make you revisit and consider your relationship with your own father?Sure.
I think you have to.
I did a tremendous amount of research and homework and detective work.
Its like the Nina Simone thing: Dont give em what they want, give em what they need.
And what this needed was a rendering of the man that this character was inspired by.
So I had to find ways to find that out and make that alive.
And set him free.
