Will Harrison has a number of folks to thank for the primary two whirlwind years of his profession. They’re the individuals who impressed his on-screen characters. Since his breakout function in 2023’s Daisy Jones & the Six (which itself was primarily based on the real-life drama of the Fleetwood Mac members), he is performed John Wilkes Sales space’s confederate David Herold in Manhunt, people singer Bobby Neuwirth in Full Unknown, and the eldest son of the notorious household on the middle of Hulu’s Murdough: Demise within the Household. Harrison is presently wrapping up his critically acclaimed Broadway run in Punch, starring because the (real-life, in fact) younger man Jacob Dunn, who unintentionally kills a fellow patron with a single blow throughout a bar battle.
“If you’re enjoying an actual particular person, typically that is a bizarre a part of the method: whether or not or not they need you to make the work and whether or not you speak to them beforehand,” Harrison says over Zoom from New York. “However Punch was made with the characters’ blessing and enter, and that took plenty of strain off.”
The story is ready in Nottingham, England, the place a deadly accident occurred in 2011. Dunn nonetheless lives close by, as do the late James Hodgkinson’s mother and father (Punch continues his restorative justice work with Dunn), and Harrison was in a position to journey to England forward of the Broadway manufacturing. “Having the ability to spend the day with Jacob was wonderful. Spending that point with him gave me the liberty to essentially take it on stage,” he says.
Sam Robards, Vicki Clark, Camila Cano-Flavia and Will Harrison star in Manhattan Theater Membership’s manufacturing of Punch, written by James Graham and directed by Adam Penford.
Matthew Murphy
Has Jacob Dunn ever seen this manufacturing of the present? I do know it is also performed within the West Finish.
He was in a position to attend the West Finish opening and spend time with the forged, however his standing as a convicted felon prevents him from touring to america. It is an actual disgrace and I want he was there, however it’s exhausting to get round that.
I do not suppose he has been in a position to contact Buster Murdaugh.
No, (laughs). I averted direct contact there.
How do you construct a personality if you play an actual particular person you do not need to meet?
There are numerous references on-line. Clearly, it is an enormous story and there is not any scarcity of issues to see. However you are able to do all of the analysis you need and speak to as many individuals as you possibly can. And in the end you must belief the truth that the folks directing and producing the mission like your model of the particular person. I did not do a lot analysis on Buster earlier than the audition. I simply performed the function they usually mentioned, “Oh, that is our model of this man.” The identical factor occurred with A Full Unknown. [playing Bob Neuwirth].
To play Buster Murdaugh, do you must like or empathize with somebody like him?
After all, you do not have to love or agree with the particular person. However I want to know why they did one thing like that. By doing so, you develop empathy. No matter whether or not the act was mistaken or not, there may be normally a proof. There’s at all times a cause. You even begin to really feel somewhat protecting of them and you must shake it off.
A lot of Punch’s story is dedicated to presenting the “why” and serving to the viewers really feel empathy for the kid who killed one other youngster. However what was your “why” for Murdough?
I used to be actually centered on the storyline. I imply, he was truly out of what occurred to his household. He was not in school when the homicide occurred. I am trying ahead to the second half of the present being launched. [in November] As a result of Buster turns into the lens by which we will see how tragic this occasion was. He is the one one that was near what occurred and we will make sense of issues, however he is conflicted and devastated. This story was actually imply and loopy, however it’s insane to suppose what it is like to truly undergo one thing like that.
Did you develop up round a household with particular privilege and affect like theirs?
Properly, I grew up in a liberal east coast city, so each model was extra tame and sugar-coated than the southern one. However I used to be within the nation, so all of the boys had been looking, ATVing, and dust biking. We went to Hampton, South Carolina throughout filming to get a really feel for it, and it is actually a crossroads. that is it. And the jurisdiction of this clan, that’s, the world coated by their energy, was a lot wider.
Mina Sundwall, Will Harrison, Jason Clarke, Patricia Arquette, and Johnny Berchtold in Murdaugh: Demise within the Household.
Disney/Daniel Delgado Jr.
May you inform us the way you got here to play the function of Punch? Is a Broadway play in your bucket checklist?
This arrived in my mailbox as an audition. I wasn’t actively looking for out Broadway performs, however theater is what received me into performing, as most younger folks do, and theater actually facilities me and offers me extra possession over my work than movie or tv. I am actually grateful to James and Adam. [the writer and director] As a result of I used to be adamant about studying folks for these roles. The primary tape I despatched was the opening monologue the place Jacob is jacked up by Cora and runs round city. I had the entire sofa within the body and was leaping up and down on it. Nevertheless, I did obtain a be aware together with the callback side that it “may very well be rather less pleated.”
You might have a routine of doing eight reveals per week on Broadway, and also you’re additionally in virtually each second of the play. How did you put together?
I used to be in lower than very best form for such a bodily present, so I needed to transfer shortly into that space. My day, and my complete life, has been spent conserving power for the present. How a lot are you able to do and nonetheless have sufficient power to get by the present? Afterwards, you’ve at the very least two full hours to loosen up.
How did the Nottingham, England accent deal with you?
I grew up obsessive about British media: Bruges and Rock, Inventory, Two Smoking Barrels and Trainspotting. So I used to be actually excited to know that dialect. Most of the group are from Nottingham, together with the group’s playwright and athletic director. So that they’re talking in that accent whereas passing notes. I am not an actor who has to maintain enjoying a personality, so I feel that is somewhat tiring. However this was an accent and it was enjoyable. There have been occasions when Adam would hand me a be aware and I would flip round and say, “What?” Then he says, “You need to cease.” (lol)
Thus far in your profession, who has been probably the most star-struck on set?
I used to be actually stunned once I heard that Patricia Arquette was going to play my mother and Jason Clarke was going to play my dad. They ran that set very nicely. They had been so ready and improvised between scenes. I had no thought if I used to be speaking to Jason or my dad. And it wasn’t simply Jason. I bear in mind seeing him in particular person for the primary time on the final evening of filming, when he took off all his make-up and the whole lot. He smiled at me like somebody who knew me in some way. As a result of all this time I had been his son, not Will.
