New Delhi, May 9 (PTI): “Love & Death” actors Elisabeth Olsen and Jesse Plemons believe while the overall process of playing a character remains the same, there is “added pressure” when the story is based on true events.
The actor duo currently star in “Love & Death”, a miniseries based on the true story of Candy and Pat Montgomery and Betty and Allan Gore – two churchgoing couples enjoying their small-town Texas life until an extramarital affair leads somebody to pick up an axe.
Olsen, who plays Candy in the HBO MAX Original series, said the weight of essaying a real person is apparent but an actor has to let go to be able to perform freely.
“We have to abandon that weight and pressure or we will just feel stuck and too scared to make a choice. There’s also some imagining that we have to do when there’s a real person and when it’s not a real person.
“Your imagination is just what your job is without the fear of comparison,” the actor, known for biographical drama “Kill Your Darlings” and playing the superhero Scarlet Witch in Marvel Cinematic Universe, told PTI in a virtual roundtable interview.
It’s important for actors to remember that “there’s another prism”, she said.
“The other prism is the script in the director’s point of view and we are trying to take up our lane to serve this other story. And the other story isn’t necessarily also completely trying to tell every single person’s truth, yet it’s not fully really in our control anyway,” Olsen, 34, added.
Plemons, popular for his performances in “Breaking Bad” and “Judas and the Black Messiah”, echoed his “Love & Death” co-star’s sentiment.
