In The Politician the journey to the White House begins in high school
Ben Platt plays an ambitious student in the new Netflix drama, he tells Gemma Dunn
Ben Platt tackles a voice he’s never played before in Netflix drama The Politician.
The dark comedy series, created by Glee dream team Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, sees the Pitch Perfect star take the lead as Payton Hobart, a wealthy, egotistical student with ambitions to one day be the president of the United States.
But in his campaign for the White House, Hobart must first navigate Saint Sebastian High School, a political landscape brimming with ruthless rivals, scandals, backstabbing and betrayal.
Quite the training ground for a career in affairs of the state, you could argue. And an environment that’s entirely alien to Tony Award winner Platt, 26.
“I was immediately the good kind of scared, the scared I chase as an actor,” he says of receiving the scripts, which see Hobart ruthless in his pursuit to be elected head of the student body.
“But the voice of Payton was incredibly clear: somebody aggressive and assertive who walks into a room and wants to be seen and take up space.”
Yet as well as snark and satire, there’s also deep-felt empathy, Platt maintains.
“It’s such a Ryan Murphy trait of being able to ride that line and make you feel for characters you didn’t think you were ever going to feel for,” he says of the drama, which also features Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Lange.
“He’s done a beautiful job of simultaneously seeing them as valid human beings with emotions and problems,” he says. “And also cutting them down mercilessly for their privilege.”
What about the subject matter in this somewhat politically-fatigued climate?
“I think the title is misleading in the sense that it is of course, on a surface level, about political discourse and high school as a microcosm for American politics,” he explains.
“But it’s largely about the ways in which all of us are forced to be politicians; the ways we choose to filter ourselves in order to forward our own star.”
That’s not to say it won’t spark a debate, however.
“Right now, people are really eager to find something they don’t like about any given piece of art or a person or anything, so I don’t love to feed into that,” Platt says, admitting he feels protected by the show’s creators.
“But to be a part of something that will start conversations is the only reason we really do this.”
Humour is a key too, he says: “To discuss things that can sometimes feel like lecture fodder or a bit tedious – and make them funny, biting, satirical, entertaining and relatable for young people.”
Platt knows what he’s talking about. For while he might be new to this role, he’s certainly not new to the industry.
Born in LA to his mother Julie and renowned film, TV and theatre producer father, Marc Platt, he first showed off his performing prowess at just nine years old, when he appeared in the Hollywood Bowl leg of The Music Man.
It was a taste of stardom that would later culminate in a standout casting as Elder Cunningham in the Chicago production of The Book of Mormon; a role he would later reprise on Broadway, and one that would lead to his ground-breaking turn as the title character in hit musical, Dear Evan Hansen.
Can he relate to Payton’s determination to succeed, then?
“Yes, although I think I have a much harder time compartmentalising my emotions,” he confesses.
“Payton is very much able to, like many politicians, put a lid on those things in order to achieve what he needs to achieve, but I do relate to the one-track mind because I’ve been working since I was eight or nine years old.”
And his next move may see him return to high school once again, if the rumours of a Dear Evan Hansen film adaptation ring true.
“It will hopefully come together soon,” he says, his father already having secured the film rights, alongside Universal Pictures.
“But that would be the farewell to that time in life I think, and I hope people would forgive me for returning to it one last time for that particular character.”
Next Platt will shoot Richard Linklater’s big screen adaptation of the classic Stephen Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along, alongside stars Blake Jenner and his longtime friend Beanie Feldstein.
The coming-of-age drama will top the director’s 12-year span on Boyhood.
“It’s very surreal,” Platt says of his part in the project, which will be filmed over the course of 20 years.
“When [Richard] pitched the idea to me and also led with the fact that he wanted Beanie and I in it together, playing roles that we’d always dreamt of, it seemed like a joke.
“It’s a dream come true to work with my best friend in a show that meant so much to us in our childhoods.”
“You feel for characters you didn’t think you were ever going to feel for”
● The Politician is on Netflix now.