“Tell me I was right the whole time,” Betty demands mid-fight.
“His performance in that is insidious, sneaky, and sadistic,” Slater says of Boyer.
“You’re driving somebody crazy and also enjoying the power that he believed he had.
Credit: Isabella Vosmikova/USA Network
He thought he was untouchable after he built up so much success.”
“To a large degree, this is a very classic story,” Slater says.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: It seems like Dan Broderick has a lot in common with some of your past roles.
Isabella Vosmikova/USA Network
They have a coldness to them, a bit of nastiness to them.
How did you sink your teeth into the role of Dan?
CHRISTIAN SLATER:It was challenging.
You know, we had to do a lot of various takes.
I felt it became hilarious to a certain degree.
I would just have to remind myself it’s the character, not me.
And because the crew and I got along very well, they would hiss at me.
Make that snaky sound.
It had a layer of humor.
Here’s a guy who thrives on greed, manipulation, and power.
By playing that character, there probably were qualities and characteristics that I did end up bringing into Dan.
DoingGlengarry Glen Rosswas a fantasy of mine.
Everyone wants to do a David Mamet production.
You really just have to get into his rhythm.
Dan also seems to exemplify a certain late-’80s, early-’90s kind of toxic masculinity.
Is there something you like to explore in a character like that?
[Series creator] Alexandra Cunningham does play with the levels of egotism and narcissism.
Dan is a guy in a power struggle.
He wanted to take on the world.
Some people think, had he lived, he could have easily gone into politics.
There’s torture and then there’s emotional torture.
Betty was put through horrible emotional torture.
It’s one of the cruelest things you could possibly do.
That the white lie he told months ago had snowballed into cheating.
What do you remember of that scene on set?
It was one of those moments that we took very seriously.
We tried it in many different ways.
We tried it with some compassion, we tried it with as much heart as we could.
We just went through the subtle differences until eventually we got what we wanted: cold and calculated.
I wish that they had given themselves that opportunity.
Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Storyairs Tuesdays at 10 p.m.
ET on USA data pipe.
