Sarsgaard’s latest roles are far-ranging
Peter Sarsgaard is pleased to report that he’s been mixing it up.
Last year, Sarsgaard played a hyper drug addict in the crime thriller Black Mass. This fall he defined the murderous bad guy in the remake of The Magnificent Seven. Yet nothing compares to his Bobby Kennedy performance in the biopic Jackie, directed by Pablo Larrain.
Sarsgaard, 45, offers his thoughts on the movie Jackie and his role as Bobby Kennedy:
On the early disassociation:
“The first couple of days it was hard. Here I am, playing Bobby Kennedy in Paris with an actress (Julie Judd) who’s French playing Bobby’s wife.” On why he joined the cast:
“I admire the director (Pablo Larrain) and I wanted to work with Natalie (Portman).”
On his preparation:
“I listened to (Bobby) a lot and I thought about him a lot and I thought about how tough he was for a man as small as he was.”
On his performance objective:
“I wanted to show him as the guy who says, ‘I’m going out and do some dirty work for you.’ ”
On mimicking the distinctive Kennedy persona:
“I didn’t worry about his mannerisms that much. Natalie does have some Jackie thing going and they are from the same part of the country (Long Island).” On the key emoting obstacle to overcome:
“The biggest Bobby challenge for me is that I’m isolated in the movie. I don’t have a scene where I say, ‘Do you know all the s—t I’m dealing with right now?’ ”
On framing the exteriors for JFK’s state funeral:
“We shot it in a couple of days in D.C. It was actually the most surreal thing I’ve done, pretending to be Bobby Kennedy waiting in front of the White House at the funeral for JFK.”
On his criteria for accepting any role:
“Sometimes it’s money and sometimes it’s convenience, but in an ideal world it’s all about the people I want to work with.”