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“There are no small parts, only small actors” is a phrase often attributed to Konstantin Stanislavski, meant to emphasize how much every role matters. But William H. Macy says there is a follow-up to that rule. “There are no small roles. There are, however, larger roles,” Macy suggests. He’s joking, of course, as few actors are better at leaving a lasting impression onscreen than the Emmy winner and Oscar nominee. “Small roles define my career. I would rather do a small role in a successful film than the lead in something that’s not going to work.”
Every character is important, as anyone who has ever been distracted by a bad background player knows to be true. And this year has seen a wide variety of actors taking characters with brief screen time on a whole journey in just a few scenes. Several films, such as “One Battle After Another,” feature a plethora of shorter but pivotal performances, from revolutionaries to members of the Christmas Adventurer’s Club to the nurse who helps Leonardo DiCaprio’s character escape by hinting he should claim to be diabetic. The pinnacle of “Hamnet” involves the reveal of Noah Jupe as an actor playing a character meant to represent Shakespeare’s late son in “Hamlet.” It’s made even more impactful by the fact that Jacobi Jupe, Noah’s younger brother, plays the tragic Hamnet.
Variety spoke to a trio of actors — whose combined screen time totals less than 30 minutes — about their standout scenes.
‘Dream’ Role
Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella “Train Dreams” moves through the life of an ordinary man named Robert Grainier and is peppered with brief but memorable encounters with others. Director Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar penned a loyal screenplay adaptation that allows every actor a moment to shine. One memorable character is Arn Peeples, described as “a gadabout of unknown origin” played by Macy. In approximately 12 minutes, Arn is established as a logger and explosives expert who likes to talk more than actually work.
Part of Arn’s purpose is comedic — his skill with explosives is unreliable and the way he avoids work is relatable. He also indicates the unpredictably of life; after being hit by a falling branch, Arn takes days to die as the others look after him. But he also speaks to the themes of the film and the idea that every person affects one another. “This world is intricately stitched together, boys,” he says at one point. “Every thread we pull, we know not how it affects the design of things.”
Macy says he tore through the script in one sitting. “I saw Arn Peeples in my head, clear as a bell,” he recalls. “I heard his olive oil Southern accent immediately and could picture this man with his beautiful speeches. I called immediately and said, ‘I’m in.’”
But Macy doesn’t go into a role trying to draw attention. “If a scene-stealing role is written that way, I’ll fight for it,” he says. “But the pitfall of this is reading a small part and thinking, ‘I can really do something with this.’ It’s the kiss of death because if you’re trying to do something with it, you’re not doing what the writer wanted you to do. It’s the writer’s job to do something with the character, not the actors. Our job is to do it simply and directly.”
Macy mentions how his household is a theatrical one. “Both my wife, Felicity Huffman and daughter Sophia are also in the business. When we watch TV and we see a waiter come up and ask, ‘Would you like another cup of coffee?’ and it’s loaded with attitude, we notice,” he says. “But when we see someone do a line like that clearly and truthfully, we have a tendency to go, ‘Oh, that was good. I like that guy.’ When we see someone trying to make something of the role, we go, ‘Oh Lord, protect us.’”
Though he only shot for a few days, Macy says he prepared for the role as seriously as any other, particularly as he wanted to have Arn’s lengthy speeches memorized. “When you get beautiful writing, it’s not unlike a song, in that it has meter and rhythm and it literally feels good to say those lines,” he says. And though he lasts only minutes on screen, the character stayed with him. “I’ll remember Arn Peeples for the rest of my life.”
‘Kelly’ Green Envy
Noah Baumbach’s latest film stars George Clooney as the titular “Jay Kelly,” a beloved movie star who is starting to realize the personal sacrifices he made for his career. But the film also offers a powerful look at the flip side of that life — in a character played by Emmy and Tony winner Billy Crudup.
Crudup appears as Timothy, a former actor who started out with Jay and feels the latter stole his life after accompanying his friend to an audition. Now a child therapist, Timothy approaches Jay at a funeral and they go out for a drink. What occurs in the next 10 minutes is a roller coaster of emotions. What begins as friendly banter turns into passive-aggressive jabs, before Timothy politely admits his resentment: “I’m going to be honest with you; I can’t stand you.” Timothy goes from gentle to manic to violent, leading to a lawsuit that hangs over Jay the rest of the film, even though Timothy is never seen again on screen.
Crudup says Baumbach was upfront about the size of the role when they met for coffee. But reading the script by Baumbach and Emily Mortimer, he immediately saw the importance of it. “My first response was it’s a hard thing to pull off,” he admits. “The whole movie is kind of predicated on that — it’s dramaturgically the point of no return for Jay Kelly so you have to execute it just right.” But his second thought was: “I really wish there was a couple more scenes because this film is so lovely, and I would love to be a part of it more.” (In fact, he inquired about the role of Jay’s manager, but learned it was being played by Adam Sandler, to which he responded, “Fair enough.”)
But Crudup also recognized that the script was packed with meaningful roles. “Many times, supporting characters are just there to promote the protagonist,” he states. “But that’s not how Noah works at all. He wants to flesh out and investigate each and every role and give them their own real, fully drawn-out life. Otherwise, he doesn’t put them in the movie.”
Even a scene in which Timothy tears up as he “performs” the menu at Jay’s request is revealing — only Crudup could imbue the words “a wedge of iceberg lettuce and shrimp cocktail” with so much emotion. “I spent an inordinate amount of time with that monologue,” he admits. Part of that was because as an actor, Crudup works very differently from the character of Timothy, who relies on sense memory to get emotional. “I’m not a result-oriented actor, I just try to play the event of the scene,” Crudup reveals. “The idea of crying on cue is anathema to the way I think — and this scene is specifically designed to do that.”
So Crudup found himself researching the kind of acting Baumbach wanted Timothy to display. He wasn’t sure how it would go. “I said, ‘Guys, I have no idea if this is going to work or not.’ But once we were rolling and I was thinking of traumatic things and the tears started rolling, that river did not stop flowing.” Crudup admits he even went home after to his wife (actress Naomi Watts) and announced: “Honey, I can cry about anything!”
Crudup took the scene so seriously that he almost passed on shooting it. At the time, he was performing the one-man show “Harry Clark” — a bravura turn that has him playing 19 different characters. “When I’m doing that play, I’m a shell of a man,” he admits. “It’s incredibly rewarding but pushes me to the creative limits.” When he learned Baumbach wanted to shoot his scene primarily in one day, he felt he couldn’t do the role and then do “Harry Clark” that night. “Netflix, who is incredibly supportive of Noah, said, ‘OK, we’ll buy out the house that night.’ At which point I had to answer, ‘I guess I’ll see you Tuesday.’”
‘Sinners’ Standout
It’s not just familiar faces that make an impression. Aadyn Encalarde had just turned 13 when she shot her scene in Ryan Coogler’s vampire hit “Sinners.” With about two minutes of screen time playing a character known only as “Teenager,” the young performer found herself standing out among an impressive cast as a young girl who guards the truck of Michael B. Jordan’s gangster Smoke.
Encalarde made such an impact even her co-stars took notice. In an interview with Variety, Wunmi Mosaku, who plays Hoodoo practitioner Annie, called it her favorite character. “You have a full journey from this little girl pulling petals who doesn’t know how to barter to someone who stands up to a criminal and says, ‘Bullshit.’ In two minutes, she’s grown more than most characters in an entire movie and that’s the kind of clarity and specificity Ryan fills the characters with.”
Encalarde lives in New Orleans where “Sinners” was filmed and where she has also shot roles in the series “Claws” and the film “Girls Trip.” For her audition, she was given her character’s entire scene. For her callback, she performed it a few different ways: “I did one that was shier and more built up to her being courageous and one where she started out confident and courageous.”
But mostly, she talked about volleyball with producer Zinzi Coogler, Ryan’s wife.
At the time, Encalarde had no idea what happened in the rest of the script — her best guess was that it was about the mafia. “I didn’t find out it was a vampire movie until after I filmed. I think I saw an advertisement talking about Ryan Coogler’s new vampire movie and I had no idea.” But Encalarde was overjoyed: “I love ‘The Vampire Diaries,’ and I love ‘Twilight,’ so I was excited.”
Though she was only on set three days, Encalarde says, “This is the longest amount of time I’ve been on a set for a role this small.” She adored the experience, and in addition to working with Jordan, was excited to learn her on-set teacher was the mother of Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis, who also began her career at a young age.
“Sinners” has proven to be a box office and cultural phenomenon and Encalarde says she noticed the response pretty quickly as people began posting congratulations on her Facebook page. She’s also been recognized outside her local Starbucks, “which was new and exciting and unexpected,” she says.
But perhaps the biggest thrill thus far came from Encalarde being singled out by Mosaku. Though the two have never met, Encalarde hopes they can someday. And she says Mosaku’s comments surprised her. “That’s crazy, because her character was my favorite character!”
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