Posted in: Peacock, TV | Tagged: Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, michael chernus

Devil in Disguise Star Michael Chernus on Clarifying Gacy Narratives

Michael Chernus (Severance) spoke with Bleeding Cool about Peacock's Devil in Disguise, portraying serial killer John Wayne Gacy, and more.

For any actor, playing such a cerebral role would be a dream, but when you play an infamous serial killer like John Wayne Gacy and bring him to life, sometimes it can bear a heavy toll, like Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy star Michael Chernus found out. While it's easy to fall into the celebrity, creator Patrick Macmanus wanted to dig far deeper into the context of the lives of his victims and the families he affected, and the investigators who helped bring him to justice. The Severance star spoke to Bleeding Cool about trying to straighten prominent narratives of Gacy's life, like how he never killed as Pogo the Clown despite his nickname as the "killer clown," how creator Patrick Macmanus became a dream as a creative, the ensemble cast, and the most cathartic scene in the Peacock series he struggled the most with.

Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy Star Michael Chernus on the Importance of Accuracy in Telling the Serial Killer's Story and His Victims

When you accepted the role to play John Wayne Gacy in Devil in Disguise, what was the biggest challenge for you as an actor trying to capture this person's essence, and while not trying to get lost in the caricature or the hype of this figure?

It's a great question. There's been so much coverage of this story and this man in the media ever since he was arrested in 1978. One of the things I was interested in is changing the narrative around this story and correcting some of the ideas that we have about it that are a bit incorrect or misguided. One of the central things is this idea of the killer clown, which is the image you see all the time. As far as we know, John Wayne Gacy didn't kill any of his victims dressed as a clown. He didn't use the clown persona to lure young men back to his house. It was one of the many masks or personalities that he had to try to blend into society. He thought that being a clown, going to children's hospitals, and being in parades made him seem harmless and innocent. I'm hopeful that this show changes the narrative around this story and takes some of the focus away from John Gacy and puts it onto the victims whose lives were lost.

What was it like working with Patrick as a creator throughout this?

Oh man, it was amazing. Patrick Macmanus is one of the best, if not the best, bosses I've ever had. "Boss" feels like an incorrect term, even though he doesn't feel like a boss. He was truly my partner in this. He made me a real equal collaborator and involved me in many decisions that aren't usually the purview of an actor, so I felt like I had a say in everything, and my opinion would be heard and valued. That's how he treats everyone on set, not just the actors, but the crew. I know it's how we treat all his writers, so for me, it started from there, and it inspired me to want to set that bar too as a leader on set, that everyone, the best idea wins, everyone's opinion is welcome.

What did you like to work with Gabriel Luna, James Badge Dale, and Michael Angarano?

Oh man, I'm so glad you asked. We had such an incredible cast from our series regulars, like legends like Marin Ireland, and like you said, Badge, Gabe, and Chris Sullivan, Michael Angarano, and then all our supporting cast too, all the Toronto actors, Canadian actors, Ted Dykstra, these great actors who played a pivotal part. We had incredible actors, and that's one of the things that makes this show so special, is every performance is so good.

Was there a particular difficult scene that you struggled through despite the project's cathartic nature?

Yeah, there is. They were all difficult in different ways, like you said, but there was one night that stands out in particular. We shot the bulk of the series in Toronto, but we shot some in Hamilton, Ontario, which has that blue-collar industrial look like Chicago in the 70s. There was one night where we were shooting, it's this montage sequence from episode six, where Gacy's picking up young men, picking up sex workers on the street, and it's one after the other. We had to shoot them all in a row, and it would be these great background actors who were all lined up against a wall. It was this rainy night, I'm driving this period 70s car, and I would just say, "Get in, get in, how much? You want to get in?" The volume of that hit me. It was like, "Oh, right, Gacy killed 33 people." When you think about that number, the anonymity of that, too, because I didn't know most of the young background actors, it's the anonymous nature of getting the car, and then "I'm going to take you home and kill you." That really hit me hard that night, the sheer volume of human lives lost.

Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, which also stars Greg Bryk and Thom Nyhuus, premieres October 16th on Peacock.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!