In this recent Playbill interview with Jonathan Groff, he talks about The Conspirator and working with James McAvoy. He says some nice things again about James. So I thought I would post them:

“The movie’s about all of the people that were involved in the assassination of President Lincoln,” Groff explained. “It’s the story of Mary Surratt, who ran the home where all of these people were hanging out, and it’s the story of her trial. And my character, Louis Weichman, who is a real person — it’s just one-and-a-half scenes in the movie, but in my big scene, I get put on the witness stand. … I loved the scene that I got to do. It was so much fun. James McAvoy is her lawyer, and he’s one of my favorite actors working today. I actually saw him in the West End two years ago, doing Three Days of Rain, and he was so amazing in that. I’d seen him in movies before that, but seeing him in that play, I was like, ‘Whoa, this guy is phenomenal.’ And so, I was so excited to get to work with him … And he’s asking me questions, and I’m on the witness stand, and I’m this seemingly sort of innocent [young man], studying to be a pastor — I had no idea what was going on when they were conspiring to [assassinate Lincoln], and then [I] get slightly caught into a lie, and then you think that maybe I knew what was going on, but then my lawyer comes in and saves the day…I had such a good time working on that movie because I got to go down to Savannah, Georgia, for a couple of days, and act with James McAvoy and get to meet Robert Redford, who directed it.”

About working with Academy Award winner Redford, Groff said, “I only worked with him for a day and a half, … but the sense that I got from him from that day and a half was that he was just really laid-back and really easygoing and really actor-friendly. He just let me do what I had prepared. He sort of lets you do what you do, I think. He’s really, really nice, really easy-going and really a laid-back, kind, gentle, no-ego kind of guy.”

Source
Tweet

Share/Bookmark