Step one in preparing to play the antichrist? Learn how to relate.
“I don’t know how to play a character unless I love him,” Cody Fern tells ET of his role as Michael Langdon, the antichrist, on American Horror Story: Apocalypse. “I don’t see the evil. It’s not useful to me… you can’t play evil. How can I play evil?”
Fern comes pretty darn close on the FX series, zvinova, zvinoshamisa, chete terevhizheni yake yechitatu dzinoratidza. Sezvo Australian mutambi manotsi, iye chete zvechokwadi mumabhizimisi kwemakore mashanu. Pashure honing ndokucheka vake Australian yemitambo, iye asvika Los Angeles kutevera ake Hollywood zviroto, asi haana kushanda matatu nehafu “zveutsinye” makore. Zvose zvakachinja Ryan Murphy.
The super-mugadziri vakakanda Fern sezvo David Madson mune dzimwe yake FX dzakatevedzana, American Crime Story: Chigaro Gianni Versace. “Zvakanga wokutanga chaiye nyanzvi basa rangu,” Fern anoti Gig. Kunyange iye richihuti “zvishoma duku kutsigira basa,” zvakanga zvakakwana kufadza Murphy, uyo akamupa breakout chikamu itsva chakabudiswa kuti AHS. Fern, avo nyeredzi pamusoro itsva mwaka Imba Cards, rave kushanda kuramba kubvira.
Kana basa rake Michael, the 30-year-old actor admits that reading the Satanic Bible was one of the more interesting ways he prepared to step into the character — but not the most important.
“The human angle, that’s exactly what I went for, because how can you play the antichrist? For me, I can’t play a metaphor or a symbol. I needed to play a human being, and I needed to play a human being who is just like any other, who has longing, who has needs, who is hurt, who loves and needs love, and that’s how I went about going and getting to the core of who he was,” Fern explains, revealing that he took inspiration from how Queen Elizabeth II’s life was portrayed on Netflix’s The Crown.
“Imagine being born into something that supposedly serves a greater purpose,” anoti. “That’s how I approach Michael’s anger, first and foremost, that he was born into something that he doesn’t understand, that he doesn’t choose. That he needs to go about molding himself into, that other people are continually pressing onto him, that there are all of these expectations and these weights and he has these impulses that he doesn’t understand, that he is just enacting.”
Last week’s episode saw Michael’s confusion come to a head, in a vicious scene in which he murders a goat that was “mocking” him, Fern describes. “I grew up in an area where people would go around and kill things, and I very much was not about that,” the actor admits of his childhood, though says his personal views didn’t come into play while filming the scene.
“Kuti pachiitiko wose muedzo neizvi kwaKristu, unoziva. Zvokuti haana kundinetsa zvachose,” anoti ane munoseka. “Zvakasiyana Zvechokwadi kwete kutamba pachangu. Kune zvinhu pachangu mu basa, asi zvino ndava vorudzii regai zvose izvozvo kuenda. Uye iwe uri kufungidzira zvinhu. Ndiyo chinoshamisa kwayo. Unokwanisa kuridza ichi yakasiyana hwaJehoshafati apo iwe usiri iwe, saka hapana nguva dzose mechidziro. Uye munoziva, Ndiri kusauraya mbudzi chaiyo, saka ndakanga chete akanaka.”
With Zvikamu zviviri chete vasara mwaka, Fern teases kuti mafeni vanogona kutarisira zvakawanda kubva Apocalypse rwendo. “Tava kudzidza kuti kwete vakawanda chinhu kuti Michael ari kuita, asi kutoti pachedu kurwiswa imwe boka revanhu. Uye kunyange zvakawanda zvakananga, pamusoro Cordelia,” iye anoti, hinting pane uprofita usingagoni kudziviswa. “Saka vachazadzwa zvokudya munzvimbo zvatiri kuda kuona, uye Michael ade kururama kuchienderera mberi sei kuenda kudzoka Cordelia. Handikwanisi kupa zvakawanda kure.”
Fern wakaputirwa kugadzirwa musi AHS rapera svondo, vachireurura kuti kusiya chimiro shure vainzwa sokuti “mumwe muchinamatira kwemweya.” “Ndiri vorudzii kuuya shure pasi pano, uye zvichaita kuti ave muitiro, unoziva? Kunyanya nekuti ini akada kutamba Michael uye ndaifarira saka uri ganda rake. Saka zviri oma,” anoti. “Asi imi munoziva, Ndichati, Ndaifanira kupfuura kunoshamisa gore hwangu. Uye ndinofara zvikuru kuti, uye ndiri saka tikurirwe nayo.”
“tsvaka, kana Ryan akandibvunza shure, Ndingadai chaizvo. ndoreva, Ryan is such an exceptional artist and human being. I want to work with him again and again and again and again, so if I had that opportunity, I 100 percent will jump, but I’m focusing on the present,” Fern muses. “Whereas normally I would be worrying about what the future is going to bring, I’m just bathing in this moment right now, and it’s been the most glorious moment of my life. So I’m incredibly fortunate and just so grateful.”