In The Audacity, from creator Jonathan Glatzer, egotistical tech CEO Duncan Park (Billy Magnussen) struggles to maintain control of his company as he finds an unexpected – and unwilling – partner in his therapist Dr. JoAnne Felder (Sarah Goldberg), who has found her own creative ways to get ahead in a cutthroat world where shortcuts are far too often taken and always come with unpredictable consequences.
Awards Buzz spoke with Paul Adelstein and Lucy Punch, who play the spouses of the two main characters, about whether these roles feel like the most outrageous ones they’ve ever had. Punch clarified:
“Not the parts, but the show is just outrageous and, although it’s very grounded and very truthful, the world it’s set in is insane, so that heightens everything. It’s like a very intelligent, beautifully-written telenovela. It’s got a soapy quality. The stories are intertwined.”
Adelstein added about the appeal:
“All these people, whether they’re the billionaires or the psychiatrists or Corddry’s character from the VA, they are so complete, they’re so three-dimensional and they’re all, I guess like all humans are, just ridiculous people. They all just make the weirdest choices. And you get why but they all just seem like they’re completely grasping and falling through space, kind of like the poster. They really feel like lost people, which is fun to play.”
He also spoke to key differences in his demeanor as compared with Gary’s:
“Gary’s a challenge for me, because Gary is way more passive than I am. Then Jonathan described him, I think this is after I was cast, because I think originally he was supposed to be a very frail, little guy, I think like Jonathan’s actual stepfather, is that he was described as a bear, a gentle bear of a man. I was like, okay, I get that. So then you just stand there, which is great, but I have a lot of energy and I don’t think Gary has a lot of energy these days. So that’s fun, but it’s definitely a challenge.”
Punch also couldn’t quite connect personally but found a way in:
“I didn’t really relate to my character but I think that she’s got a veneer and a surface and keeping up appearances, but she’s enraged deep, deep down that her castle is crumbling her, she’s losing control and so I tapped into my own rage about various things for that, which was really fun. But, yeah, that’s funny. My character was described as Botoxic.”
New episodes of The Audacity premiere Sunday nights at 9pm on AMC through the season finale on May 31st.
