Brian d’Arcy James is a face you’ve seen a lot. He appeared in Molly’s Game and Spotlight and Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House. He’s on Netflix in 13 Reasons Why. And now, he’s in First Man. The latter reunites him with Spotlight screenwriter Josh Singer.
First Man is a phenomenal film, an incredible visually breathtaking experience from Damien Chazelle. James plays Joseph E. Walker, Neil Armstrong’s boss. It’s a small but highly memorable part. As always, it’s a delight to catch up with James who had just finished running the New York Marathon when we caught up to talk about working with Chazelle. We talked about how he learned about X-15 pilots for the film.
It’s been a while since we last spoke about your work and here you are working with Josh Singer again on First Man. How did you fit this into your busy schedule between Broadway, running a marathon and 13 Reasons Why?
It started the usual way. I got a call from my agent about this movie. I auditioned for the Elliot See part and Damien was looking at me for something else so I went in three different times. I was so enamored with the idea of working with him. It was such a thrill, and by the time the third call back was happening, Damien had made himself available to talk about what may be helpful with what he was looking for. I distinctly remember talking to him on the phone last summer and I was just so excited to have the chance to hear him talk about what he was aiming to do. Just that chance to talk to him was a great bonus, but it also says a lot about who he is in terms of how he extends himself. That little example before I even got the job carried over into my experience in working with him. You see the brilliance of his work in the end results of his films. What’s so great for all of the focus and for all of the energy he pours into a lot of his work, there’s a real generosity of spirit from him and I got a very welcoming vibe from him which I was really grateful for.
On top of that, to know that Josh Singer was there and to know that he was there was really comforting to me. You always want to do your best so it’s always good to know a couple of familiar faces.
I love how meticulous Josh is. Did he say anything about the character to you?
In typical fashion, he had so much information. He and Damien were relentless in their research and when you’re doing a historical drama, you want to get it right to honor the people that you are depicting. It wasn’t surprising to me that Josh was a near expert on the subject of the moonshot and all the programs that led to the Apollo launch. He was also an expert on my character, Joe Walker who was an X-15 research pilot. I knew nothing at all about what an X-15 was. I took a crash course in understanding all the things that preceded even the Mercury, The Gemini, and the Apollo missions. Josh had the key to all that information readily.
How long were you on the set?
I felt very lucky to be a part of that group. I was on set for four days, maybe five at the max. I was there on the first day of shooting and the last day of shooting. We shot that beautiful sequence of Neil’s x-15 landing in Edwards Air Force Base. We shot that there and that was the last day of shooting.
It’s something special to be there, no pun intended for the first step and leave and then come back to see the amazing crew and to see Ryan and Damien, these people who have been there every single day for three months and to check back in to see how people are doing. That set was a really cohesive group and it said so much about him and the people who want to work with him and just do their best.
That scene!
What a riveting opening.
I saw that in Imax so it was completely intense.
It makes me think about what we were talking about earlier. The human drama of Neil’s life and how he was pursuing his goals for the job that he had and overcoming the emotional drama that he’s going through in the pursuit of this goal. It’s such a great balancing act that Damien does with the film in providing that thrill ride, but also having very human drama on the flip side of the coin and that’s what I love about this movie.
Let’s circle back on the research that you did because Josh, as we said, is so thorough in all he does and so is Damien.
When you know that’s what the precedence is going in, I wanted to do justice to the work that they had already done. I did as much research as I could and they were very helpful in providing links to YouTube videos that existed of Joe. Not only did I learn about who he was, but also how he spoke. This is a little bit of a tangent, but Damien had such a musical sensibility and we talked a lot about the rhythms of the way these men spoke and how it represents a certain time and almost a prototypical American sound if you will.
He has a sense of the musicality of the speak and the rhythm of these guys and I found that to be really interesting.
Mostly I try to seep myself in the education of what Joe’s life was and how it led him to be – as Damien and I tried to talk about, he was five minutes too late to be a part of this historic ride to the moon by virtue of his age and his experience – all the same, completely crucial and instrumental in allowing for the advancement of technology and the programs that came after him. He is an astronaut by going beyond the earth’s atmosphere in an X-15 so he has earned the honor of being an astronaut. There’s just a lot to understand about Joe Walker which in turn informs the whole process of understanding the pursuit of the American government to get a man on the moon.
What do you look for in a role whether it’s Molly’s Game, 13 Reasons Why and now this and along the way you get to work with great directors?
That has a lot to do with it. If something comes along that has people attached to it that you admire, that’s the first big blip on the radar. I think any actor would say that. You want to be associated with quality.
As a fan, you want to see how these people that you admire, you want to see how they do it and what their process is like. That to me is a big part of it. In terms of the roles, I’m always looking for a different shade of a kind of person that I’ve played before. How cool is it that I get to be a guy who flew an X-15? That’s something I would never ever be close to being. How a character fits in contextually to a story is another thing that’s an attraction. Whatever real estate you’re given, you want to play people that have complexity and have a heart and soul and a clear sense of purpose and how they fit into the story?
Your character in Molly’s Game was so well crafted. Are you terrible at poker?
It doesn’t begin to describe how I play poker. Terrible would suggest I have a modicum understanding of the game.
Did you come out being a good player? [laughs]
[laughing] No. Not at all. There were a few moments when we were playing while sitting around the table and nine out of ten guys were super good poker players and really excited about playing. There was a funny moment when I was mirroring my character and had no idea what I was doing and I bluffed my way into winning a huge hand. I thought that was good and that I had a handle on the guy.
You were also in 13 Reasons Why which was so well done and started a great conversation.
That was quite an experience and to do it and to be part of an important conversation that became part of a phenomenon. That was an interesting facet of the experience because you just never know if what you doing is going to see the light of day or have any impact at all, so the fact it starts a conversation and continues to do so, I think is a good thing.
