Posted in: HBO, TV | Tagged: Drew Waters, elizabeth olsen, HBO, interview, Love & Death, miniseries

Love & Death Actor Drew Waters on Building a Second Life in Hollywood

Drew Waters (Hysteria!) spoke with Bleeding Cool about his work on David E. Kelley's HBO Max series Love & Death and his path to Hollywood.

Few people today get to live out one of their dreams, let alone two of them, as actor Drew Waters has. After his service in the military, he decided to carve a modeling career that turned to acting. In a career nearly spanning two decades, Waters carved several memorable appearances across film and television, including the film and TV series Inspector Mom, NBC's Friday Night Lights, STARZ's Magic City, CBS' NCIS, Fox's Bones, and HBO's True Detective. The actor spoke about his life and career, including his current role on the HBO limited series Love & Death opposite Elizabeth Olsen and his upcoming Peacock series Hysteria!. Created by David E. Kelley, Love & Death is based on the true story of Wylie, Texas housewife Candy Montgomery (Olsen), who was accused of the brutal axe murder of her friend Betty Gore (Lily Rabe) in 1980.

Waters' Golden Opportunity in Love & Death

Bleeding Cool: How did you get to be involved in Love & Death?

Waters: My agent in Texas found this opportunity. They were looking for an actor to play a character, and they were reaching out. I got a call, and I knew the casting directors well. I started my career in Texas, and they were shooting it in Austin, and then the casting director in L.A. knew me. It came full circle when I read for a certain character, and then they wanted to look at me for Jerry [McMahan]. They made me read for it, and the next thing I know, I get a phone call saying you're booked, and they're going to lock in. They're looking to shoot in Texas soon.

What's it like working with David E Kelley since he's television royalty and everything?

David E. Kelley is television royalty. You're right. The writing is superb. Once you get an opportunity to get your hands on something that he's created, that's special, and you want to do it justice. Everyone in this cast and crew was amazing Director Lesli [Linka Glatter] kicked it off, first and foremost, by putting together an incredible cast. The crew was amazing; everybody felt comfortable [and] free to collaborate and grow the characters. What makes HBO Max's adaption of this true story more interesting than a lot of the other ones is they dive in-depth into the character's emotional mindsets, and they don't lean against the negative towards the action. They can leave it up to the audience.

Those open-ended interpretations help ground these narratives.

That's what David did so well multiple times.

You have an interesting path toward Hollywood; tell me how the acting bug bit you and how you decided that this was the passion you wanted to pursue.

Everybody has that family member who says, "You should be in front of the camera" and "You should do this," every once in a while in their life, and most are going to brush it off. I got out of the military. I was also dyslexic and had A.D.D., but I also had a scholarship to Rice University. I started to go into the military, grow up, learn a craft, see the world, and serve.

In my fourth year, my friend got a part-time job during some downtime as a modeling scout. He told me what it was when I asked, "What's that?" He goes, "I look for pretty people. I bring them into the agency." I was reluctant to join him, but eventually won me over. He took me in and saw something in me I didn't see myself and said, "I'd like to represent you," and he told me was about. I told him I'm in the military. He says we'll work around it, and he sent me down to an event at the Florida Swan Hotel where all the agencies around the world were there, and I ended up winning it.

I came back, and I handed my CO a $38,000 contract overseas. and I asked him what I do with it. He told me to take the opportunity. I thought about it long and hard, and I guess I feared the opportunity. I didn't do it, and I finished my active duty and was back in Beaumont, Texas, where I started my reserve. I got a phone call from Pat Wright Modeling Agency, who said, "Future model models in Milan, Italy want us to fly over for two months. Do you want to go?" I did some soul searching, and I asked my reserve station, and they said, "Yes, go ahead. We'll let you do it." I went over to Milan for two months and started doing that. That put me on a whirlwind of three years of traveling the world, having to come back and forth. I was in Tokyo, Japan, and I did my first commercial. It was a Dell Computer commercial spiking a ball into a green screen.

When I went back to the States, I did some jobs here and there, owning some businesses after serving my time; I thought what made me happy is at that moment in Tokyo, and I decided to take a chance for myself. I never looked back, and it was a lot of trials and tribulations but a lot of believing, trust, and falling head forward.

You've done a lot of TV work and numerous film roles, starting with recurring roles in a few TV shows like 'Friday Night Lights' and 'Inspector Mom.' How do you compare working on film and TV?

I spent three seasons on 'Friday Night Lights,' and there were four seasons of 'Inspector Mom.' When you're on a show, you feel like a family, and you're collaborating and hanging out. You build relationships, friendships, and trust. In a movie, you get to do similar, but it's once it's done, most people move off, and they go to other projects. I'm on 'Hysteria' on Peacock, and the first season's eight episodes, six are already written, so we're running six. It's an opportunity to just meet talented, incredible new people on the crew and acting sides. I get to collaborate, build friendships and trust, and we'll see where it goes. In between that, I do about two or three movies a year, and it's the joy of finding stuff that you're comfortable with finally personally and being able to give your all and trust in it.

The finale of Love & Death, which also stars Jesse Plemons, Patrick Fugit, Krysten Ritter, Tom Pelphrey, Elizabeth Marvel, and Keir Gilchrist, airs Thursday on HBO.

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