Its his victims, specifically the women he brainwashed.
Its been a few years since they murdered for Manson, and they are still under his spell.
I dont know where the true Charlie and the false Charlie ends, he says.
Credit: IFC Films
Theres something about the temperament, and just him that Ive always been intrigued by.
It was one of those, I couldnt really say no, to.
And she was like, Oh go on, it’s possible for you to.
IFC Films
And so I said, Oh all right.
To a certain extent you simply have no control over that.
you could only tackle whats in front of you because thats the opportunity youve been given.
Ive always tried to seek out parts that I suppose on paper I wasnt quite right for.
In many respects Im not great casting for Prince Philip.
I dont look that much like him.
Im better casting for Charles Manson.
I suppose parts that feel quite far away from me Ive often been quite interested in.
I dont know where the true Charlie and the false Charlie ends, or vice versa.
I dont know if Charlie ever did that.
Whats interesting about this story and what I was interested in was we meet him before all of that.
We meet him, in many ways, at his least performative mode.
Whatever happened to him?
How do you walk that line?Its tricky, isnt it?
Is Charles Manson a serial killer in the way Ted Bundy is?
Charlie didnt kill anyone, Ted actively went out and murdered and raped people.
They are in slightly different categories of killer.
But its a funny thing, as an actor.
And there are bits of him where I can say he was clever.
Lets just make a story about how bad they were.
I think we need to go, How do we understand what was going on in their brains?
I watched a documentary on Ted Bundy on Netflix and, ugh God.
It was insane what was happening across America and how he was allowed to get away with that.
But [with] Charlie, it was a period of unrest in America.
What Charlie did was very sad, he took advantage of people that were vulnerable, particularly young girls.
The worst version of these films is a damning of them.
No, its going, How can we understand what human elements of them there are?
But hes a tricky man, Charlie Manson.
Thats what I meant when I started the conversation, I still dont really understand him.
Do you think thats partly why filmmakers are still fascinated with Mansons story?
As a period its quite rich, interesting, and theres a lot of stories in there.
Charlie is, like I said, beguiling.
Why did they stay?
They stayed for some reason, all of those people stayed for some reason, thats the point.
They stayed on the ranch with him, and you go, Why?
I think theres a lot there thats unanswered.
Charlie Saysopens in theaters on May 10.
