Evan Peters on Kate Winslet in 'Mare of Easttown': 'I wanted to soak up as much as I could'

i'm paul sham with gold derby joined by marcus dixon one of our editors and we're really pleased to be talking to evan peters who gives this remarkable performance in mayor of east town as collins abel and evan when i was watching it i wondered what kind of parallels there were between colin and mayor and evan and kate you know in terms of just the mentor relationship the younger older yeah i think i think um i mean you know i i was i was super excited to work with kate on this thing i'm such a huge fan of first for forever and uh i think like i think you know going into it i i really just you know how do i say i guess i just felt like i've always kind of been it's you know i'm still learning and figuring out my process and how i want to do it what works and what doesn't work and i think colin is going through a lot of that and i think that i think that that kate to me i just wanted to show up and just just watch her and just be like how is she doing this and how because she's a brilliant actress you know so i wanted to soak up and take in as much as i could um and then obviously there's that admiration for her um and i think colin is coming into it and has severe imposter syndrome uh so so basically uh he's trying to figure out the best way to do his job too um and i think when he sees mayor uh and sees how good she is um he really takes that in and admires her for that and i think you know mixed up with kate's obvious beauty um you know it sort of becomes a wanting of of more than just friends um so i think there's kind of a talent crush and i think there's kind of you know an attraction there and i think that you know her sort of not wanting him there um sort of feeds into this this interplay that i think is a little bit like a little bit like you know two kids at school who really liked each other and they're kind of being mean and kicking each other's shins a little bit um because there's sort of that attraction there um so that was those were kind of the parallels that i wanted to incorporate into into the performance and can you talk a little more about the imposter syndrome because that the scene where you confessed to her about this previous case that you solved um you're under the bridge and i think that was my favorite scene of yours and and then she kind of confesses something to you as well and then you kiss her and then you say you know you don't know what i want i just there were so many layers in that scene can you talk a little about that um yeah uh i guess well i was first of all i was super nervous to shoot that scene um i was gonna have to kiss kate winslet so i was like oh my god um sweating profusely uh but um but yeah you know i think there's a line in there where it's just like he's you know he's always just wanted to be great i've always felt like i just always wanted to try to be great and so there was a little bit of a parallel there uh and i just feel like i always miss it i missed the mark a little bit and uh you know you know you feel like a phony and a fake and like you're not doing it right and all these things and uh and then she says you know the thing about being great is that then you always have to be great um and uh and i thought there was something you know i kind of i kind of took in with that you know i was kind of like well i guess that's i guess that's true i still want to be great but but you know it sort of uh you know takes a little bit of the pressure off um but uh but yeah i think there's a real connection there i think i think and also i mean hers is just so much worse than zabel's uh so i think he feels a little bit better about himself but uh but yeah i don't think i think he just wants to get to know her and like really and go on some dates with her and try and try it out and see what happens and uh i think that's kind of what he means by that um you know you don't you don't really know what i want i think he's willing to accept her you know warts and all um because i think he doesn't think he's perfect either so uh you know it could be it could be a good match i think he really just wants to try it out uh despite all this stuff so um yeah but didn't i think my understanding is you know you worked with brad and the director to kind of tweak the character because i don't know if that his insecurity was part of the original script right like he i think the original take was he was going to come in and be much brasher and kind of want to own the room and didn't you bring in that more that insecurity that awkwardness that i think makes the audience like you so much more yeah well thanks yeah that's good we were that's you know originally he was kind of a hot shot detective uh there was one scene where i was actually working with a pool um a professional pool player to try to learn how to do these amazing trick shots and i was just like oh my god i'm never gonna be able to do you're gonna have to cgi this i don't know how we're gonna be able to do this and not to mention in the scene i'm drunk so i'm like how am i doing all of this stuff it's crazy so um yeah we kind of we kind of switched that up because i just felt like first of all i didn't i don't know it didn't really feel like i would be cocky if i was if i had this this lie under my belt if i had this big secret i felt like i would be a little bit insecure and and and the imposter syndrome i think you know works well with wanting to learn from from there and seeing how good she is and you know in a lot of scenes actually there were certain things that i was supposed to be doing like specifically asking the priest for his his phone number and and looking at his phone and and uh and and i was sitting there i was just like this feels so like awkward i feel like i'm not i feel like what i'd be doing and and i hadn't said anything and then kate walked up and she goes hey can i um can i ask him for a cell phone and i was like take it it's yours it's yours it's so much better if mayor asks him for the phone it makes sense then i can look at it and be like oh why didn't they think of that i'm an idiot um and and you know that's just kind of like we wanted him to be i i felt like at the end of the day when he because we knew he was going to get shot so i i was kind of like well would i care about this guy who was trying to be cocky and cover up this thing or what i care about a guy who's trying to better himself and move forward past this this thing that he did that he feels horrible about is eating away at the insides and i think you know we decided on the latter and uh and we also i found i was so nervous i was so like um fumbling and bumbling and tripping over things i was like i think we should just we should put that in there because i think it's like it's really funny to me that she does not want him there like i feel like every time she was just so annoyed that i was there i i was looking at craig and i was like this is absolutely hilarious that she said she doesn't want me here at all and i'm just like trying to trying to help out so we kind of played up that a little bit and leaned into that and uh you know i'm like dropping pasta and tripping over things and all sorts of things that i thought would make him more likeable and more um you know you really were wanted to root for him so that at the end of the day when he does get shot it's kind of like it's just the shocking reality of death and sickness it just comes out of left field out of nowhere and it's just horrendous so uh right right when when if you google your character's name the first thing that comes up is colin's able really dead uh really so yeah so i talked to the editor who actually had edited gus manzan's remake of psycho and i kind of feel like your character was kind of akin to marion crane and psycho janet lee's because nobody expects one of the stars to be killed and sort of killed halfway through so when you're getting those you get those scripts and you're reading like did you know before you opened page one that colin wasn't going to make it or no no i didn't i knew it was only five episodes and i thought that's that's kind of interesting i wonder what happens or where he goes and uh and as i was reading you know i my jaw dropped with the floor too i was like oh oh okay um that that changes things that's interesting i you know it was so shocking and i i tried to figure out why i was like why are we putting that in there and i think it was just the danger and uh you know the sort of uh maybe the death of morality but maybe i'm reading too much into it i don't know um one scene i wanted to highlight was the scene in the third episode where your character just is completely wasted at the bar and and his friends are like come come and play with us and he wants to hang out with kate winslet um how challenging are was that i said obviously yeah rick kate wins a little your friends i think uh how challenging or difficult is it to play a drunk character i mean is it is it easy it's hard it is really hard uh i've done a lot of research over the years so though that wasn't hard um i think we you know going into it one of the first things craig and i talked about was the level of drunkenness and i think we you know we kind of decided earlier we wanted him to be hand because it just to me it was always kind of like you know he took he took this this piece of evidence from this pi and sort of claimed it as his own and i think he did it because he wanted to win so badly from you know being at this place in his life where he thought he would be married with kids in a house and all these things and living with his mom and his girlfriend has moved up his ex-girlfriend sorry moved on and uh his kids and all sorts of things so he's sort of stuck and i think he takes it for the win um but it doesn't it doesn't do what i think he planned it to do it and it just is just eating away at him and hurting him so sorry it's laundry day um and so uh so he i think he's drinking uh we wanted it to be sort of shocking how drunk he was it's like what the hell this guy is absolutely wasted what's going on with him that's interesting that he's so drunk uh you know and with a co-worker and hitting on her and all sorts of weird things that are that are going that you don't sort of expect from this guy when you first meet him so so yeah we sort of decided let's make him really drunk because i think that helps with the secret later on and that he's trying to hide that and sort of bury that and sort of feel like he's you know moved on from it and and uh you know again that sort of plays into looking at kate's character mare and sort of going like well i you know i sort of stole this piece of evidence and and that makes me feel like a phony imposter but but you mayor are really really good at your job and you know go on your instinct in your gut and i think he really wants to learn from that and become a better detective and and and win this case and do it the right way i think he doesn't i think that's really sort of what he's trying to do is to finish this case and solve it in a way that is feels true and good to him uh in his in his gut and where he can go home at night put us out on the pill and feel good so um so yeah that's that was a very long answer too yeah i was spoke last week to julian nicholson who said she has not watched the show at all except for that scene and she was in such awe of your performance in it because she acknowledged how tough it is to play a drunk scene but you brought so many you mentioned the research you've done over the years on that but you did a ton of research on both the detective and then working i guess with the dialect coach on the accent you just talk a little bit about that yeah uh suzanne solby our dialect coach was phenomenal i mean she was from philly and she worked with everybody on the show and uh and just nailed it and she really i loved working with her i loved her as a person and and she found this this uh this guy steve baylor who uh had a great philly accident it wasn't too much it wasn't too little it was kind of like right right in the ballpark and he um sorry i'm going from the dom right now it's just totally wrong accident um but uh but anyway he um he has this recording and it's like 28 minutes long and he's talking about the mumsy planet and his kid jack would just like to run through a wall and and all this stuff and i would just listen to it every morning and i would feel really bad if i didn't because i felt like i was going to screw it up because it is one of the hardest strangest accidents that and i had never didn't even know it existed to be honest um i heard the baltimore um in horror story um when kathy bates did that but i never heard the philly one and so it was fascinating to me and so weird and like kind of southern but kind of new york and just just strange so i wanted to listen to it every day because i felt like by that time it would be it would be in there um and then then the pandemic hit i thought okay well now i have to listen to this for for another six months while we're not shooting uh i space it out like a couple times a week but um but then when we started shooting in september i uh i was listening to it every day again uh but yeah that was that was kind of the accident thing and of course you're shooting billy so everybody not everybody but most everybody has has the accent so there is this um transpo guy said hey look out for that house and we i looked at suzanne we were walking and literally talking with the dialect and it was right there right in front of us it's real that oh is a real thing and it happens uh in philly it's just such a strange strange accident um and then for for the detective stuff uh we had a lovely uh uh woman named christine blayler who's actually the woman that the detective that mayor is sort of based off of uh and i was emailing back and forth with her and she recommended this book called sex related homicide and death investigation which is basically a textbook on uh on on detectives and sex related homocide and death so it was really hard to read and and uh and difficult to look at the pictures and things you can't get out of your mind uh but i wanted to do it because these are things that these detectives are dealing with on a daily basis and uh i wanted to see how that would sort of affect me and uh you know maybe it's another reason why colin drinks so much you know to sort of squash that down a little bit um but it's it's really hard to look at the underbelly uh of the world on a daily basis uh so i wanted to i wanted to get into that and sort of you know it's a textbook so it sort of showed you what you know you should be doing in a crime you're seeing what you're looking for and writing things down ballistics and all sorts of things that are way over my head but i but i wanted to read it and see if i couldn't soak some of that up and then and then i watched a lot of first 48 which uh which is you know it's a little a little dramatized but the thing that i got out of that and what i really liked watching out of that was that the detectives were trying to get the win they were always working together to try to solve this case because they carried him because they wanted the win and and and also the interview scenes and the questioning scenes uh you know you see them in movies a lot on tv and tv a lot but but this was you know a sort of real uh you could really see it happen you know they knew they were being recorded but you know the cameras sort of hidden it's more security footage and uh and and you just got to see how they really question and they sort of you know try to try to get close with them and buddy up with them or you know play hard to get you know it's it's it's interesting to see it really happening and i also noticed that they all have portfolios which which is something that i didn't always see a lot in and detective shows you know usually they're walking around sort of remembering or maybe even recording on the phone but but i didn't know i see them walking around with a giant portfolio it's not a little memo thing you see in an old detective movie so i wanted to incorporate that too and then um and lastly i did a little a little ride along in the marple township with pete baylor who's actually the brother of steve baylor the guy who was doing the dialect uh the dial up listening to uh and but that was that was in the marvel township which is sort of a very small town like easttown news and there's not much going on um that basically consisted of a dunkin donuts run uh unlocking someone's car uh a 16 year old sideswiped a person's car that was parked on the side while driving with her mom and then i think there was a uh a lost saint bernard that we were sort of searching for a little bit so it's just it was a nice reminder that this is a small town and that you know this murder is sort of and and and the missing persons is sort of a massive thing you know within this community and everybody's sort of looking at everybody because everybody knows everybody and it's a uh it's a it's a huge event for this for this town so it sort of raised the stakes a little bit which uh which i thought was really really helpful uh in especially in the interrogation and questioning scenes and you know your show's a hit when saturday night live does an entire spoof sketch of your show which they called murder dirter um this clip went viral everywhere everywhere what was your reaction i haven't seen it i haven't seen it you have to you have to i know i have to watch it i know i need to do that it's on my watch list and uh well finishing up here i know that you're going to be in american horror story you're returning after taking last year off and you can't talk about it that's ryan murphy's rule but i'm wondering if you can give us you know maybe three words to describe your character what can fans look forward to uh three words gosh uh a fun uh silly uh scary sort of sort of the show in a nutshell it's like sort of a you know it's sort of fun and uh and comedic and silly and but it's also a little a little scary and finn's the lead knit and finn's great so it was it was great working with them yeah and you also uh kind of went viral with your uh appearance on one division two earlier this year like you're and all these different uh yeah shows but marcus i think you want you you want mark's huge marvel fan how did that come about and uh will we see you in there's going to be a scarlet witch movie i believe with her oh really oh wow i don't know anything about any anything in the future um and even if i did i couldn't say anything because the disney ninjas would come and take me out um but but but yeah that was i mean kevin feige was uh so they they were like my agents were like kevin feige wants to have a meeting with you and i was like really like freaking out like oh that sounds okay great yeah yes whatever he says yes i will do it absolutely um and then he pitched juan division and like you know the the sort of format of the show how it's the 50s the 60s and it's like an ode to television because he grew up or he loves television and he still watches all those whole television shows so i was like just the format of it and and the idea of it sounded incredible and then and then and then and then he was like well we're going to bring you in and it's going to kind of be like you're quicksilver but you're not and it's sort of this meta kind of strange thing and i was like oh my god that sounds awesome i'm super excited to do that and again it was another kind of shocking moment for the audience to sort of do that uh sort of switch so uh so yeah i was i was super happy to be a part of that and everybody was awesome working on that show everybody's so nice and so fun so i had i had a blast doing it well and i think it's obviously how much you enjoyed yourself in mayor of eastern and we certainly enjoyed watching it listen kevin thank you so much for taking the time i know you're busy you're you've got your jeffrey dahmer hair on so i know i really appreciate you taking the time to uh talk to us yeah thank you i appreciate you guys talking to me

Channel: GoldDerby / Gold Derby

Views: 48,510

Keywords: webcam interview, tv news, primetime emmy awards, television season, entertainment industry, 2021 contender, zoom call, 73rd emmys, fyc, for your consideration, evan peters, mare of easttown, kate winslet, hbo, hbo max, Emmys 2021, 2021 Emmys, syndication

Id: 4ODOcEPiGs8

Length: 22min 5sec (1325 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 16 2021