Steven Prusakowski
Many fans of Joe Keery are used to him playing the ever so likable Steve Harrington on Netflix’s Stranger Things. The character spends much of his time defending Hawkins, Indiana from the evil forces of the Upside Down all while keeping his perfectly groomed coif intact. Those who watched his remarkable work in season five of FX’s Fargo, may have had a hard time recognizing him. Not only did he shave off most of his trademark locks of hair, in addition, the character he plays, Gator Tillman, is far from the crowd pleaser fans are used to.
In fact, Gator is about as unlikeable of a guy as there is, and he gets it all from his loveless father, Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm). Keery’s performance as Gator goes beyond the surface level unlikeability of the character and explores the insecurities behind the tough overtly confident exterior. When all is said and done, Gator goes through a great deal and commits actions that are reprehensible, but still leaves the door open for viewers’ compassion. It is a surprising twist in a season and series that is full of them.
Joe Keery joined me on TV Topics to discuss his work on the series in a conversation that digs deep into Gator Tillman and much more, including some TV Topics questions about his TV viewing. You can listen to the full interview below as well as read some excerpts from the conversation.
And so Roy and Gator are dysfunctional, to say the least. What is it like working with a character who’s always on eggshells?
There’s kind of this negative feedback loop going on between these two guys where he’s constantly seeking approval and because he’s so nervous and not receiving love, he’s messing up.
It just creates this horrible, unfortunate downward spiral. But it also kind of is, to me, what I really liked about that was that this guy, if you picked him up and put him in a different family, and maybe he was given a chance and given some love and some support from his father, and like, maybe if his mother wasn’t around, if he had a solid female figure in his life, maybe this guy could have turned out differently. And that’s part of the tragedy.
And that’s core, I feel like, to understanding the character and something that you sort of put together as the show goes on. It’s not something maybe that’s apparent. But, you know, we were kind of intentional with the outer shell of this guy, where, you know, with the hair and the vape and the glasses and the tactical gear, you kind of are instantly like,’ I know this guy, oh my god.’
But then as it’s sort of slowly, the show unfolds, you start to realize like, man, it’s kind of like, not his fault. But also, he’s a horrible person and making terrible decisions. You know, you’re conflicted about the character. And I was conflicted about the character, honestly. And that’s kind of a fun place to live.
How was it working with Jon Hamm? Is he intimidating or does he turn it off quickly?
Yeah, I mean, he’s also John Hamm. So I was nervous to work with him because I’m a fan. And I think at least for the earlier scenes, it’s great. He but I mean, he can turn it off and on really easily. He’s very relaxed.
And he’s obviously such a professional. He’s been doing this for a while. I loved that it was John because he has this like gravitas about him. You know, it’s John Hamm. Yeah, I just loved working. He’s also really giving as a performer and as an actor and as just a friend, too. So I loved working with him and being around him.
Is there anything specifically that you learned while working with him and you picked up?
Learned by example, I think really learning by example. He’s really efficient, too, which I respect. A lot of people, people can come in and have these kind of large processes or like, do all this stuff. But he’s there to work.
He does his thing and shows up and does it well. So I really respect that, too. And everyone’s process is different. Part of my journey as an actor so far that I’ve loved is I’ve been able to just kind of be a fly on the wall for people. Then like Jennifer (Jason Leigh) has a different process or Juno (Temple) is a different process and Sam (Spruell) is a different process.
And it’s like, ‘Cool, maybe I’ll try that this time’. Or maybe, ‘I wonder if that would work for me?’ So there’s no right way to do it. There’s really no right way to do it. There’s a lot of different ways. And it’s just kind of cool to see.
And with a character that has so many unattractive traits, was there one that’s most fun to play about him?
I just think, man, that’s an awesome question. Is probably how pathetic he is, but he doesn’t think it’s pathetic at all. I love that. I love playing a guy who is just so weak and so lame and so like for somebody whose deepest fear is to like not be dumb or not appear like an idiot or be stupid. He is so dumb and such an idiot and so stupid. And so that’s really fun to play.
He doesn’t know it. But that’s the thing that he fears the most in life. And it’s the thing that happens to him.
And you have the episodes where you have to be blinded. So what kind of challenge was that?
Oh, it was a gift. It’s great. It’s like a turtle who’s gotten his shell ripped off, once he’s been blinded it’s like every single thing that he built around him, all these like superficial things that he used to puff out his chest and make him seem this way. It’s like his true nature is revealed.
And he’s just like a little tiny, naked, shaved rat now he’s just like, and for me being blindfolded, it was great. You don’t know where the camera really is. You’re not doing it. You’re only doing your own. You can only be within yourself. And for doing these scenes and for working like those were some of my favorite bits.
And it was dirty. I mean, you’re knocking into stuff. And it’s real. It’s fun. I remember there was a scene in Stranger Things where it’s like Steve’s tied to a chair, me and Maya were tied to chairs.
I remember being like, ‘oh, that’ll be fun’. And then you show up and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I want to be tied to this chair for three days. And then you’re tied to a chair for three days. And this physically is actually informing what’s going on. I don’t like being tied to this chair. Same thing with this blindfold.
I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll be blindfolded. That’d be cool.’ And then you actually put this blindfold on. You’re like, OK, I have to work right now. It’s when it kind of dawns on you and you get into it. It’s so helpful, though. So I loved it. Anything like that is generally really, really helpful for me.
I was really vulnerable and it’s like this shell has been ripped off of Gator and like no longer is he Mr. Tough Guy, but he is revealed to be what he has been all along, which is like a 12 year old boy with no mom.
On finding compassion for Gator:
I saw it as, well, they have a very complicated relationship and she’s maybe one of the only people on the whole earth that really, truly understands him. And he does have a good person deep down somewhere inside of him.
And he has a compassionate side and he has a side that wants love and sees love. But the love that he truly wants, the thing that is a number one is dad’s love and dad’s approval. So nothing can come up against that.
So, believing anything else about life that hasn’t been kind of backed by his father would shatter everything that he has come to believe. So he cannot believe anything else and he has to go with his dad until it’s forcibly taken away from him. So I saw it as, yeah, that there is a little bit of good in him, but he’s too far down the rabbit hole.
He’s too twisted. He’s been conditioned, preconditioned too much to, you know, and manipulated by his father to be this way. So he really until the end, I think is kind of beyond saving until it’s forcibly taken away.
About the challenges of the part:
I think just like taking a big swing is kind of hard and like trusting yourself. And every person and every actor has things that they’re good at, things that they’re maybe not as good at, roles that maybe they’re drawn to or roles that they’re not drawn to or things that they like to do or just things that they don’t. These people generally play a villain or these people will generally do this.
I like stunt stuff. And so this was like outside of my comfort zone in a couple of ways, I think. It’s not something that I’ve done before. Sometimes you just have to have a lot of belief in yourself and self-confidence. And you don’t always feel that every day. Some days you’re like, ‘What am I doing? Is this like real? Are people going to buy? Is anyone going to buy this?’
And like, so it’s yeah, I think that was the challenge for me some days was really my own self-belief and just making, taking risks and a good lesson in not being too stressed about things and just like trusting that
You can see all of Joe Keery’s work in season five of Fargo which is streaming in its entirety exclusively on Hulu.
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