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It may be more of a surprise that Patricia Arquettes character has … a friend?
Remember the breathing mask and tube Harmonyhad on her shrine to Lumon, thencarried around in her car?
This guy was in my head for almost two years, Le Gros says of his character.
Its like traveling with a ghost.
It doesnt ever leave you, because you know youre going to be called to task at some point.
How did Hampton come to you?Casting directorRachel Tenner has been very kind over the years.
I auditioned for Ben forEscape at Dannemora.
Ive received several of these kinds of notes over the years.
However, Ive never been hired.
So it was somewhat of a surprise when this offer came to my agents.
I got a text from Ben saying, We got this part, we thought of you.
Give it a read.
Not sure if you know about the series.
Id heard of the series, but I hadnt seen it.
He said, I gotta move this stuff out of my girlfriends moms house.
Thats how we met.
Patricia made us cookies.
Patricias always had a very big, generous, giving heart.
Was there an aspect of Hampton that was most useful for you?
It can be a lot of things.
When youre forming yourself, those people who have known you so long stand out and apart.
You cant really take on airs with them.
People like that make you better.
You never know what to expect.
We were privileged with time and the ability to experiment a lot.
The first chunk of it we shot ages ago, before the writers strike.
In what way?There was just this long gestation period.
The original plan was we shot up in Canada because of these great exteriors.
I actually did a couple of TV shows and like, three or four movies since then.
But that scene is big within the arc of that story line.
That gave them time to recraft some of the dialogue and some other stuff we improvised around it.
My God, this guy was in my head for almost two years.
Did you find yourself thinking about him?Its just this funny ongoing dialogue in your head.
Its like traveling with a ghost.
It doesnt ever leave you, because you know youre going to be called to task at some point.
Its always living in your consciousness or following you over your shoulder.
The ghosts in their relationship, maybe that helped.
God, I cant even tell you how long Ive admired Jane.
Ben was wanting, Try this, try that, what do you think about this?
They just want you to find something interesting.
I have no idea what Im gonna do.
I dont know what theyre gonna do.
The huffing of the vial of ether was that always in the scene?Oh, yeah.
Maybe more of that.
How about you try this other thing?
Hes likeFincher; he is in full command of the thing.
He understands all the parts, how they work, how you use them.
I relied on him to tell me Faster, slower, louder, quieter.
More this, less of that.
Could you do it more over here?
Thats what I like about movies and TV: Its the ultimate team sport.
We shot that scene all day, pretty much.
A lot of the lighting language is blue light.
The light is the light.
It doesnt care about you.
There were some times when we really had to hustle.
We had two little trucks that were Hamptons truck that he was driving, and one of them died.
It was this mad scramble.
But that, too, brings a kind of magic.
Sometimes I work with other actors and they complain about nervousness.
Its really kind of impossible for me anymore.
And I think sometimes with that frenetic pace of like, We got to get it.
Were losing light!, you really get some things that glitter gold.
Everybodys gotta nail it.
What did you want to convey?You feel the shadow of the beast start to creep upon you.
Goliath almost always wins, but every now and again, David comes.
I was looking at it through the lens of meeting the moment.
Theres a great line from this blues guitarist and singer Muddy Waters.
Maybe thats what Hampton was thinking: Im right here, Im no place else.
As far as hes concerned, the reckoning cant come fast enough.
