William H. Macy Talks Jack Nicholson’s ‘Brutally Honest’ Grandson, New Neo-Western Movie | Interview

(Photo Credit: Well Go USA)

The Deputy star William H. Macy spoke about his new neo-Western movie. Macy discussed his character, working with Duke Nicholson, and his approach to acting. The film is out today in select theaters, on Digital, and on demand.

“Chief Kreuger (William H. Macy) assigns rookie Deputy Toby Sawyer (Duke Nicholson) to guard a dead body. But when the corpse vanishes, Toby launches a frantic search that unearths decades of small-town rot. Pressured to look the other way, Toby finds a lone ally in Deputy Amanda Jackson (Tiffany Haddish) and sets his sights to unravel a lethal web of corruption to clear his name in a town where secrets stay buried.”

Tyler Treese: William, congrats on the film. I really enjoyed The Deputy. You’re in an interesting role here because you bookend the film. You’re there in the beginning and the end. That’s always an interesting position. How do you approach that as an actor where you only have a few scenes, but they’re really important to making the story feel impactful?

William H. Macy: I don’t think one approaches it any differently than if you were in a lot of scenes. I thought it was well written because the sheriff has a big presence in the first couple of scenes, so you’re not going to forget about him. And the other characters talk about the sheriff throughout.

What’s delicious about it is when I reappear in the film, I’m playing catch-up ball to a certain extent. I don’t know what’s gone down, and it’s a real shitshow.

The script is really well written, like you said, by the Narcos co-creator Carlo Bernard. What about that script really resonated with you and made you want to be part of it?

Not to give away what my character does, but I loved the turnaround. There’s a big turnaround, a big reveal at the end, and I thought that was really good. It’s hard making an indie, I got to tell you.

I’ve done a lot of them, and it seems to be the backbone of my career. So I’m attracted to indie films. I like how seat-of-the-pants it is. I don’t know. It was the turnaround that I liked.

The lead of the film, Duke Nicholson, he’s really good. He’s Jack Nicholson’s grandson. This was his first lead role, and he’s totally up to the task. What stood out to you about him as a scene partner?

He’s brutally honest. He plays it close to the bone, doesn’t make up anything. He’s one of those actors that you go into him.

And apparently, when Matt read the script for the first time, he thought of Duke immediately, and I guess they’re pals. So Duke was involved with the development of the script. He was pretty perfect.

You first see him in bed, and he’s a deputy, and he shows up in sweatpants, and it’s so funny to see him put a pistol in his sweatpants and the way they hung on him. He played the sad-sack part of this character very, very well.

Your character is a small-town sheriff. That’s a fun type of character that can go a lot of different ways. Sometimes they’re very stern. Some might go eccentric with it. How was finding the right tone for The Deputy?

I get pretty much everything from the script. He’s a father figure to his—as the sheriff, he’s a father figure to his deputies. And he’s very supportive.

And, of course, there’s that twist at the end. So I think one of the things you have to do is just make sure you don’t give that away in any way, shape, or manner.

But I’m a big believer that everything you need is on the page. And if it isn’t, that’s a problem.

One thing I really admire about your work as an actor is that you can do something as ridiculous as the hand gesture scene in Ricky Stanicky and then have an emotionally moving performance in Train Dreams just a few months later. Can you speak to keeping that desire to want to play and have fun while also challenging yourself throughout your career? Because sometimes people don’t bounce back and forth between genres as you do.

William H. Macy: It’s true. Well, I’m a character actor for sure. I love stories. I love telling stories. I fancy myself something of a raconteur. And I’m attracted to a good story.

I’m particularly attracted to good writing. And good writing, to me, is close to music. It’s got a rhythm. It’s got meter. It’s got music in it. And I think those are the things that attract me.

It’s very show-offy to go from character to character and make them look different and make them wildly different, which is a trap, actually. And I think in my past, I have fallen victim to that trap of doing something sort of eccentric just because. And I’m trying to keep myself in the straight and narrow.

If I look exactly like I did in a film before, well, so be it. It’s still me. But every character has his peculiarities and his specifics. And a good writer puts those in. And I take my cue from that.

You’ve also directed a few films, Rudderless, The Layover, Krystal, a few episodes of Shameless as well. Would you like to go behind the camera again?

I’m not dying to. It’s really hard, man, especially indie films. I have described it as you have about four weeks of prep, maybe five, where you create this imaginary structure. And it is beautiful. And it’s going to be one of the finest films ever made. And on the first day of shooting, it catches fire.

And for three and a half weeks, you’ll see the director and the producer throwing shit out the windows, trying to save anything they can from this original grand structure. Because there’s not enough money. There’s not enough time.

Generally speaking, people are moving up a step, all the crew. If you were a second, maybe you’ll get a shot at a first. If you were the assistant costumer, maybe this is your shot to be the costumer. So you’re working with a lot of people who are working a little over their pay grade. And things go wrong. So it’s a caution to do an indie film.

But I always find the spirit of them is so genuine because everyone’s there. Everyone’s working hard, pulling in the same direction for a piece of art. And they’re so enthusiastic. And it’s seductive.

Don’t get me wrong. I also like big, big features, where you get big, big checks, and you have a big trailer. That’s pretty good, too.

This is a bit of a dumb question, but I saw your first couple of credits were W.H. Macy, which has a pretty cool ring to it. Obviously, those are your initials, but what led to that initial name? Was it just because there was a Bill Macy? Or what led to that?

Originally, I was W.H. Macy because I thought it sounded cool, too. And my father used to sign W.H. Macy a lot. But this is back in the day when I had to audition, and auditions were in the room.

I noticed that I’d sit there forever, and I’d realize they skipped me. The casting director went down the list, and I learned that they didn’t know what to say. W.H., they didn’t know what to say, and so subconsciously, they would just move past.

So I’d have to look at who came before me and say, “I’m next.” And I thought, “Hmm, not a good sign.” So I unilaterally changed my name to William H. Macy.

And going back to my father, I signed my name exactly the way he did. I copied his signature. He would put the W, a big W with an M and a little line under it for William, and I adopted that.

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Thanks to William H. Macy for taking the time to talk about The Deputy.

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