Bradley Whitford ‘The Best Acting Feels Not Like School but Like Recess’
Having starred on Aaron Sorkin’s “The West Wing” for seven seasons, Bradley Whitford is no stranger to historical and political television. Now he’s starring in two such series: Nat Geo’s exploration of the dotcom era, “Valley of the Boom,” in which he plays reallife Netscape CEO James Barksdale, as well as Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” in which he plays Commander Lawrence, who helped build Gilead’s economy.
What did it take to get you in the right frame of mind to play complex men like Barksdale and Lawrence?
I am absolutely convinced the best acting feels not like school but like recess. ... I don’t want to have a defined technique because each role seems so fundamentally different. ... [With James it was] in the way he carries himself. I was seeing raw footage of these interviews of him and seeing [his] lack of distinction when he thought he was off-camera and when he was on. Lawrence is an entirely different experience. There’s so much going on in this guy’s mind, and there is a sorrow and a sophistication, and you want to be open to it — you don’t want to design it and then execute it.
Are there consistencies in roles that you want to apply to all of your work at this stage in your career?
I do not want to design a career. ... You can try to see patterns in there, but what you end up doing is you take the best acting experience. If
anything, I want to do something that is an absolutely bizarre thing to see me do.
Is there any role you wouldn’t consider?
I would not do something that I really don’t believe in. I’m always conflicted about violence. ... I would do a movie that had violence if I felt like the consequences [of that violence were] there.
Why do you feel it’s important to use your platform to speak out about politics?
I was raised Quaker, and the Quaker version of Sunday school was basically social action. ... I know the dangers of celebrities being spokespeople and how they get dismissed, but there’s nothing less democratic than telling someone to shut up. The right tries to silence Hollywood people by shaming them, and I think they should stand up. In an unprecedented way, divisiveness is being used to hold on to power. It’s an absolute obligation to speak out against it.