Michael Chernus‘ portrayal of the serial killer John Wayne Gacy in Satan In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy is sensible. That’s not a phrase I need to make use of with regards to one of many extra terrifying serial killers of all time, but it surely works. The sequence, which I just lately completed watching with my Peacock subscription, is, in my view, maybe the very best of all of the latest TV reveals about real-life serial killers, and Chernus’ efficiency is the important thing to the entire sequence.
So how does an actor get into the top of a personality like Gacy? That’s a scary place to need to go, and Chernus just lately spoke to taking part in a personality based mostly on a really actual and really horrible individual. Right here’s how he developed his efficiency.
A lot Of What Chernnus Did Went In opposition to His Coaching
Chernus realized so much in school on the prestigious Juilliard in New York Metropolis, the place he was taught easy methods to get into a personality’s head and discover the true motivation of a component. That’s one thing he virtually actually makes use of for his nice flip as Ricken Hale in Severance, however are you able to think about stepping into the top of somebody like John Wayne Gacy? Chernus needed to take a special method, one thing he defined in a latest interview with The Hollywood Reporter:
I needed to let go of that want for it to make sense, which type of goes in opposition to every little thing I realized at Juilliard. I do suppose he had his personal logic in his personal loopy thoughts. There have been the reason why he did issues the best way he did, and he had his personal methodology.
However Chernus explains that meant he could not get utterly contained in the character’s headspace:
However on the finish of the day, I feel solely a psychopath can perceive a psychopath. And even then, I don’t suppose a whole lot of these serial killers know actually why they’re doing what they’re doing. I don’t suppose that John Gacy was tremendous in contact together with his emotions.
It goes even additional, as a result of, in response to the actor, what he was taught is one thing very laborious, virtually not possible to do with a killer like Gace. Asking anybody to get into the top and empathize with a killer like Gacy is harmful, and Chernus had a revelation about his craft:
After taking part in this position, [I] suppose that’s BS. I don’t agree. I don’t have to grasp him to play him. The scripts have been written so properly, however finally, it’s going to get to a degree the place I can’t fill in that clean.
There could also be “openings” into Gacy’s ideas and motivations, however there isn’t any method that anybody may ever get into that type of character’s head, even when there are issues that an actor may latch on to. Based on Chernus, one thing like Gacy’s abusive alcoholic father may very well be one thing to empathize with.
Nonetheless, the actor factors out, that does not go far sufficient for the sort of character, not for a personality based mostly on an actual serial killer who killed at the very least 33 boys. He explains that hundreds of thousands of individuals have abusive fathers, as Gacy did. They merely do not do the type of horrific issues Gacy did.
Chernus Nonetheless Discovered A Means To Give A Transcendent Efficiency
As an alternative, Chernus relied on the writing of the character, which was partially based mostly on the Peacock true crime docuseries John Wayne Gacy: Satan in Disguise from 2021 (sure, the names of every sequence are very comparable), to search out his efficiency, as a result of understanding a psychopath like Gacy is not possible. To get to the guts of the character, in response to Chernus, is equally not possible.
Chernus won’t have been capable of put collectively that remaining piece of the puzzle, as he says within the interview, however his efficiency speaks for itself. He’s each terrifying and disarming, identical to the actual Gacy was alleged to have been. Satan In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy is without doubt one of the most annoying additions to the 2025 TV schedule, however I can’t assist however advocate it, as a result of it’s so properly finished, particularly Chernus as Gacy.
