As three-time Tony nominee Brian d'Arcy James says, he likes to “limit the times in between when you’re not working,” and he’s been particularly successful lately. Having played a three-month stint as King George in Broadway’s Hamilton—the role he originated Off-Broadway at The Public Theater—James spoke to ABC News about his appearances on TV series and in feature films, including Manhunt: Unabomber, which premieres on the Discovery Channel August 29.
James appears in the sixth episode of the eight-episode miniseries about Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. “It’s an interesting standalone episode in that I play a professor named Henry Murray, who was a real man and a renowned psychologist at Harvard University,” explained James. “In this case his actions are questionable, if not completely immoral, in that he was responsible for a series of tests, including [those on] 22 young students, Ted Kaczynski being one of them, to basically stress test to test to figure out how far the human condition could allow extreme stress.”
In the full video interview above, the actor delves into the motivations of his character and playing the villain. “It’s always a mistake to hold on tightly to the things that make them bad. It's always more interesting to figure out what makes this person get out of bed and make them believe that what they’re doing is acceptable,” he said.
Over the next year, we’ll also see James in movies like Civil, 1922, Song of Back and Neck, All These Small Moments, Molly’s Game (written and directed by Aaron Sorkin and starring Jessica Chastain), and as an FBI agent in Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House, about the man known as Deep Throat during the Nixon administration.
Worlds collided when former FBI Director James Comey attended a performance of Hamilton during James’ run with the show. “He made himself very available to everybody,” said James of Comey. “It was really interesting to be able to shake his hand and say, ‘I’m in this movie about Mark Felt.’”
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