The Point Radio: Becoming Charles Manson

In a few days, NBC kicks off their binge worthy event series, AQUARIUS and taking the challenging role of Charles Manson is actor Gethin Anthony. He talks about the work that went into getting the part just right. Plus HBO’s BESSIE is creating mega buzz this month. Cast member Bryan Greenberg talks about what it was like to be a part of it all.

Transcript

The Point Radio. Hey, it's Mike Raub. The new NBC binge-worthy series Aquarius has a lot of tough roles to fill, including that of Charles Manson. And the actor that stepped up and picked up that role talks about exactly why he welcomed

the challenge. In the meantime, over on HBO, still a lot of buzz about their production of Bessie. Actor Brian Greenberg talks about why this is one particular TV event you shouldn't miss. Let's get to The Point. This is The Point, The Point Radio.

Get The Point Radio. In a few days, NBC kicks off their event series Aquarius. With David Duchovny starring as a hardened FBI agent tackling the counterculture of the 60s, and including that counterculture, of course, is Charles Manson. Played by actor Gethan Anthony, who told me what drew him to such a role.

Well I think my first and strongest reaction was to reading the script on a Saturday morning back in London last year. I felt really strong reaction to the authenticity of the dialogue that had been written for the Manson character and the characters around him in that world. I was aware somewhat of that era of history in LA and US history.

But it felt, John's dialogue felt really authentic to me and so made me want to dig deeper into understanding that in the late 60s. And yeah, I think that excitement that they could have the courage to make a show about such a sensitive subject matter with authenticity excitedly. Did he have to do a lot of research here?

When I first got the script, I was aware that the process of being cast would probably be about a month or maybe a bit longer. So all the while I started to read the biographies that are available. One of the useful things about playing such a notorious man is that there's a wealth of information out there.

So I could have almost got sort of snowed under with reading and watching, but it really became about listening to his voice was a very helpful thing that I did. There's an interview that he did with a studio engineer in 1967 before he was a part of the crimes and imprisoned that I found very useful to take me back to the point in the story of the history rather that we that our stories take place.

So yeah, it was close listening to his voice. Also we got, you know, once I was into the role, we got like a college reading list from our show and I joined back tomorrow. There's a big old list of books and films and music to listen to, which is probably the most fun bit.

Actually, all of it was fascinating, but the music of the era is just fantastic. Okay, so among all the things that the research did he learn anything? I think that having done the research that I did, there are increasingly I understood why that might have been the case. I don't claim to know if there was, you know, the silver bullet of understanding why these

young women were drawn to it, but I think there are a few key factors. One of the few books that Manchin says he has read is how to make friends and influence people. That is something he read in prison. He used to, he claims to listen to pimps in prison as a way of understanding how they

got their way with presumably mostly women, but basically controlled people for their own ends. That was, he describes in the biography in his own words as his kind of schooling in a way. So he obviously was actively sort of engaging in how to influence other people way before

any of the crimes took place. And then he was a man who was let out of prison at a time when there was a lot of liberation in the air around young people and a lot of young impressionable minds out and about meeting new people with this feeling of liberation. So yeah, I think it was a kind of a perfect cocktail of circumstance really.

Are there certain parts here that he picked up that helped more than others? The main thing that I did was to learn about his stuff, how he was brought up, how he grew up actually. He grew, rather than being brought up, how he grew up in institutions around the country, very prison like institutions throughout his life and educating myself about how a human

being born as a human being can get to a position in their life where they are viewed so publicly as some kind of almost mythological villain really. So for me it was really important to go back and try and understand as much as possible about and learn what factually or anecdotally what his life was like. And there are some surprises in there.

Anyone who reads this, there's lots of information out there. The biography is about his life up until the age of 21 I found fascinating. And that no doubt helped me be able to justify the actions of any actor is obliged to do. And then within our, we are telling a fictionalized version of the latest. New episodes of Aquarius air every Thursday on NBC or you can binge watch the entire season

right now. Just go to NBC.com. Big comic sales and a shock for Marvel. We'll talk about that in the latest in pop culture. Even if you're not following the Marvel Secret Wars event, you probably are curious as to

what the Marvel Universe will look like when the entire thing is over with later in the summer. According to sources at Marvel, events will be jumping in time eight months in all the titles, which will put new situations and new characters, if in the forefront, when everything winds down by the end of the summer.

There's still a question of which titles will still exist after Secret Wars. In the meantime, on Tumblr, Brian Bendis has announced an uncanny X-Men number 600 that was set to hit stores this month has been pushed back to October to fall after the end of Secret Wars. Marvel physicist and celebrated TV star Neil deGrasse Tyson will help host a marathon

of Quantum Leap episodes this weekend. It'll be on cozy TV beginning at 6 a.m. on Memorial Day. It'll kick off regular showings of the series, which will air every Sunday for four hours in June. Fox may not want the Mindy Project, but Hulu certainly does.

The streaming service is bringing the show on for a 26 episode season order, which is the largest for the show yet. That'll bring the number of completed episodes up to the point where it is ready to be syndicated sometime in about 2017. The Mindy Hulu episode should premiere later this year.

Premier Day will be announced sometime in the next few weeks. Creator David Lynch and Showtime have made up, but it looks like the Twin Peaks reboot is back on schedule. In fact, it looks like there might even be more than the originally announced nine hours, at least that's what Lynch hinted to over the weekend on Twitter as well as other sources.

When we'll see the show is the next question to be answered originally was scheduled for later this year until the two-parted ways back in April due to various issues. Look for an announcement by Lynch and Showtime as to when the show will get back on schedule more than likely sometime in the next few weeks. The power of the force just continues in comic stores.

In April, it was at almost 20% growth when you compare it to the same month in 2014, and graphic novels had a pretty good month too as well. Interestingly enough, a really weird absence of Marvel titles in the top 10. Wait till you hear how that plays out. We'll run down the entire top 10 graphic novels and comics coming up in just a little bit.

Even before the first airing, there's been a lot of buzz on the HBO original movie, Bessie. The story of the iconic blues singer Bessie Smith starring and produced by Queen Lativa. Among the cast is actor Brian Greenberg who talked to me about the role and about the fact that even though both his parents came from a psychology background, he chose acting and I asked why.

I don't know man. I guess it's maybe the common interest in human behavior and just analyzing human behavior. I think that's the similarities between it. But my dad was a huge film buff and we used to always watch movies together and I was hooked at a young age.

I just kind of always knew when I was about 10 years old that I wanted to be an actor. When it comes to Bessie, Brian agrees that the buzz is well deserved. The story is Bessie, it's about Bessie Smith who was the mother of the blues. The time was the 1920s and 30s and she had a really hard life but a really interesting life.

I think that the blues came out of her because she lived it through the depression. She was a hard drinking, she fought, she had a husband, a boyfriend and a mistress all at the same time. She was a really strong black woman in America and that wasn't the most populous thing to be at that time and she made no apologies for how she lived her life.

I think Dee Rees, the writer-director of Bessie did an amazing job and a very artistic job in portraying her life. Queen Matipha is unbelievable in this movie. She produced it too that a lot of people don't know. She took 22 years to develop this project and she knocked it out of the park.

I'm really proud to be part of it. I play John Hammond who is a famous music producer who discovered her in the later years of her life and brought her music to the mainstream. Brian began his career not even two decades ago in movies and television so I was curious with all the changes over just the past five years, what he thinks the opportunities are

now for actors like himself. I think it's got a lot more interesting as an actor. I think there's more venues to play on before which is like TVs and network television and movies and now it's like network cable and movies and streaming and I just think it's great.

As an audience, you can pick what show is perfect for you instead of a watered-out version that's kind of perfect for everybody or acceptable for everybody. Now you can find specific shows that really cater to you. As an actor, you can jump into a lot of different worlds and roles. I think you just kind of have to be open to it and not really worry about the medium if

it's a movie or indie or if it's a studio film or a network or a cable or streaming. I think you just have to look at the writing and the role and if it's good, it will find an audience and that's you kind of have to take the medium out of it. That's the way I look at it now. So after Bessie, what's next?

A couple movies that are independent films that are premiering this summer. One's called It's Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong. That'll be at the LA Film Festival premiering there. I have another movie called Flock of Dudes premiering to LA Film Festival. I'm a musician and I just finished my third album and that's coming out May 26th.

It's called Everything Changes. It'll be available on iTunes, Spotify and yeah, you know, just keep them busy, man. Keep them busy. You can also catch Brian in the HBO production of Bessie, the story of the singer Bessie Smith running all this month on HBO.

See it on demand right now at HBO Now. The point, the point. After a pretty quiet and almost disappointing start to 2015, April was a blockbuster in the comic book stores. 19.75% growth over where we stood in April of 2014 and that gives us a 15% growth over

2014 overall so far in this year. Convergence and Star Wars certainly did the trick, but here's something interesting. For the very first time, maybe even ever, there is no comic featuring a Marvel Comics character in the top 10 best-selling comics. You'll see, let's check out the list here.

The top 10 best-selling comics in April started number 10 with Princess Leia number three and number nine, Convergence number four at number eight, The Last Padawan number one at number seven, Convergence number three at number six, Convergence number two from DC at number five, Darth Vader number four at number four, Batman number 40 at number three, Convergence number one, Convergence zero came in as the second best-selling comic.

In comic of the month and the number one best seller in comic stores in April, Star Wars number four from Marvel. That does it for the podcast. We're back one more time before the holiday weekend with actress Deborah Messing and her catch up on what's been going on with the mysteries of Laura.

All that and more on websites like ComicMix.com, michaeldavisworld.com, get the point radio.com and of course the iTunes podcast directory. Keep pace with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram under the point radio and we'll see you right back here in a few days.