The continuous reinvention of Jeff Daniels

Jeff Daniels can sense the moments during performances of Broadway’s To Kill A Mockingbird when audiences jump aboard for the Aaron Sorkin ride, when fans of maybe The Newsroom or The West Wing recognize that Atticus or Scout or Calpurnia is about to “roll out a Sorkin,” to launch into one of those trademark ten-sentence runs (the key for an actor, Daniels confides, is that “it’s all one thought”). The new Atticus Finch says he feels theatergoers signing on for the rides, but acknowledges that this Mockingbird is really just beginning its flight (the new play, adapted by Sorkin from Harper Lee’s novel – and not from Horton Foote’s screenplay for the revered 1962 movie – opens at the Shubert Theatre [later this December].

The new play, directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher (South Pacific, My Fair Lady, Oslo, among many others stage works), was shepherded and developed by producer Scott Rudin and playwright Sorkin, and its re-teaming of Daniels and Sorkin (The Newsroom, Steve Jobs) drew considerable attention when the actor’s casting was announced last February. In truth, no other actor was considered for the role.

Daniels, who played anchor Will McAvoy in the Sorkin-created HBO broadcast news drama series The Newsroom and Apple CEO John Sculley in the Sorkin-penned Steve Jobs, spoke to Deadline for a candid conversation about everything under the sun.

And it’s true – Daniels hadn’t read the book before taking the role, nor did he so much as consider allowing anything, including the towering figure of Gregory Peck, frighten him away.

An excerpt from Deadline’s Q&A…

Question: Atticus is a towering figure, a cultural marker in a way, a symbol of so much. When you first started discussing the role, were you feeling excitement or trepidation? Maybe both?

Answer: I’ve been asked about the trepidation a lot. Someone even asked if I considered turning it down because of Gregory Peck and the iconic nature of his performance. That never entered my mind. I immediately looked at it like, Mr. Peck either gave a definitive, can’t-imagine-anyone-else-in-the-role performance, or else he’s the only one who got to do it. I had to go with the latter. I had to. We aren’t reading the book to you. This isn’t Horton Foote, it’s Aaron Sorkin. It’s me and Sorkin and this creative relationship we’ve got. I assume Aaron took on the attitude that I was originating the role and not just we’re just putting the book on stage. No, no, no. You have to clear everything. You have to clear the slate.

Question: You and Aaron have a history. I assume you’ve built up certain rhythms and certain habits and practices over the years, and I’m wondering whether the stage challenged that or whether the stage accepted it with open arms.

Answer: I think the stage allows for it even more because on stage it’s all about the words. The fact that Aaron is able to write the way he does for the camera, he’s breaking all the rules of less is more. Like those stories of Gary Cooper standing on the set with a half-page speech and he crosses it out and just putts in “Yep.” Aaron’s breaking all those rules in front of the camera, which is great. But on stage the words are first and foremost. You can ride those like a horse. They are wonderful and they are hard to do well and it takes a lot of practice and a lot of repetition to make it seem like it’s just falling out of your head. It’s fun to pull it off.

There are sections early on in the play where the audience that loves the collaborations between the two of us, who are fans of The Newsroom or of West Wing and they see an actor ‘roll out a Sorkin,’ roll out a ten-sentence thought (and the trick is it’s all one thought). You’re going down that course, and it’s a slalom course. You’re hitting this gate, now you’re hitting that gate but you’re heading to the same finish line. It’s one thought, and only Sorkin would have written it this way. You can hear the audience feel that and see that, that this is unique, this is unusual, and this is what I can do with what he’s written. That’s as enjoyable as anything, when I pull off one of those speeches. You can hear the audience hearing something being done for the first time. It doesn’t feel like they’ve seen it before. It doesn’t feel like they’ve heard it before. God forbid, maybe it’s original. And that’s what we’re shooting for.

Question: Any plans, any discussions between you and Aaron working on a future project after Mockingbird? Any return to TV?

Answer: No. There isn’t. I would welcome it. Right now we’re just trying to get to opening night and there is no “Hey by the way we got this other thing, it’s two years from now.” I’m in Mockingbird for a year. I’m in this thing until next November 1 so I just want to get to opening and then I want to see if I can do this thing for a year like Fonda did with Mr. Roberts and Brian Dennehy and Jason Robards. This is old school stuff where you lock in for a year and you do it and if you can pull it off you don’t miss a show. That’s the goal.

I did Redwood Curtain [in 1993]. We ran for like six weeks and we closed. Reviews were mixed. We couldn’t make a go of it. I did [God of] Carnage. We had a break in the late summer [2009] but we went from March to Thanksgiving, and I did Fifth of July way back in the ’80s for eight months. So it’s doable. I talked to Patti LuPone so I mean [laughs] I’ve got the road map. I know how to do it. But also it’s Atticus Finch. It’s the role of a lifetime. What are you going to get that’s better than this?

– Courtesy: Deadline.com