Crudup has gotten to the middle part of career
Actor able to bring different complexity, depth to characters
For years, Billy Crudup wasn’t interested in the song-and-dance of the Hollywood promotion machine. So deep was his aversion to it that he tells a story, in the few interviews he has done, about trying to negotiate his way out of doing press.
It’s the sort of idealism about his craft that would make his character in “The Morning Show” smirk. Cory Ellison, the smarmy network executive Crudup has made a fan favorite on the Apple TV+ drama, is the sort of guy who will entertain altruism and assuage talent — as long as it leaves him a few moves ahead in his game of capitalist chess.
And Crudup, who has made a career out of leaving a lasting impression on stage and on screen, has finally come around to playing as well.
“To me, it was counterintuitive, because what I was trying to do was tell a story that made people assume that I was somebody else entirely — so, the more that they knew about me, the harder it was going to be for me to convince them that I was somebody else,” Crudup says. “Thinking about the opportunities that I missed out on because I became such a contrarian, I think it’s a fair argument to say that you could think about it in a different way. What happened over the past probably 10 years or so is I’ve gotten to the middle part of my career and I have been able to be a character actor, and so I don’t feel so protective of that anymore. Also, after the pandemic, I’m really excited to be talking to people.”
In addition to his Emmy-winning work on “The Morning Show,” which is in its second
season, Crudup will next be seen in “Hello Tomorrow,” a dramedy about a group of traveling salesmen peddling lunar timeshares. (He also serves as an executive producer.)
This interview with Crudup has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: What do you love about playing Cory on “The Morning Show”?
A: I couldn’t believe some of the (stuff ) that was coming out of his mouth in the pilot, and I was so curious as to what (showrunner) Kerry (Ehrin) was after, that (she) imagined the human being who would feel confident and present enough in the moment — and capable to speak in paragraphs, metaphors, analogies — and to be in such a high-pressure situation with such dexterity and ease and
confidence. And then my imagination really went to some of the people that I have encountered in
New York. There’s some eccentrics in high-leverage situations, whose primary understanding of the way the world works is by reading people — trying to understand in a group of people who’s the most powerful, how they have ownership over that power, and whether or not there’s any way in for them to be included or overtake them. There’s a magnetic quality that he wields as well, which is this inscrutability about his motivations. And anybody who can often obfuscate their motivations in such a high-stakes poker game is fascinating, because they’ve got to have some level of confidence and belief in themselves — that if they lose everything, they’ll be fine.
Q: You’re obviously on different platforms, but I do wish there could be a (HBO’s) “Succession” crossover with (Apple TV+’s) “The Morning Show.” I want to see how Cory would interact with a media mogul like Logan Roy.
A: Well, that makes two of us. I’m trying to think of all the tools that he (Cory) would employ, because of what he would have to do, obviously, with somebody that powerful, who really wields their wealth as a sledgehammer. You have to discombobulate them in some way. Logan is not somebody who is easily discombobulated, so Cory, as a master chessman, I’m sure would have a 13-point movement that gets him close enough to just get a smile from Logan. It would be a slow burn. (Logan’s) not somebody that you can
push around.
Q: “The Morning Show” is taking on a range of topics — #MeToo, the pandemic, the streaming wars. Did you worry, “Are people going to buy this?”
A: I figured one of the conceits of this show in and of itself is that it is taking enormous risks with very high-profile figures, studying a very high-profile environment, and thinking extravagantly in terms of plot and character development. You wouldn’t have a Cory if it wasn’t a show that thought like that. So, to that end, I feel like the viewers have some level of expectation that the writers will continue to shoot for the stars. And with so much going on, I think it was going to be impossible for them to not take on everything.
To me, there’s a correlation between that and how we’re all managing our days. We have to pick our battles day in, day out — it could be a micro-encounter with your family or it could be something you need to change in the workplace environment and maybe something you need to change on the governmental level. There’s so many different ways in which we are being forced to exercise our own personal agency and author our ideology. We’re being asked that every single day, so it’s not a surprise to me when I see that in the show. Whether it can work, narratively or not, I definitely take the coward’s way out and defer to the writers. I am an interpretive artist. I get their work, and I say this: “Can I make that work for me or do I think I have a little idea about how to make that work?”
Q: You have an enviable list of credits: “Almost Famous,” “Sleepers,” “Without Limits,” “Big Fish.” When you look back, do any stand out as a turning point in how you navigated your career or what you wanted out of it?
A: One of the things that is, recently, an interesting turning point is the understanding — that profound and obvious understanding — that I am past the middle of my life; that I am well into the middle of my life. That I have a different kind of agency as a middle-aged man than I did as a younger man in terms of playing characters of depth and complexity. And that the experience that I had trying so hard to deliver on, things that were maybe beyond me when I was younger, actually has some value now that I’m older. The grays in my hair, the lines on my face — they’re earned, and I can exploit them as an actor in the same way that one can exploit your youth. And there can be incredible value to that.