How ‘The Studio,' ‘Yellowjackets,' ‘Monsters' and ‘White Lotus' Make Bad Behavior Appealing

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If you analyze the list of reprehensible acts committed by Shauna on 'Yellowjackets' – from everyday betrayals of those closest to her (e.g., sleeping with her best friend's boyfriend in the series' first episode) to serious crimes – you can safely say that she is an objectively horrible person who should be serving a long stretch in prison.
But not if you're Melanie Lynskey, the actor who's played the character on the Showtime series for the past three seasons.
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'I feel so the opposite of that,' says Lynskey when confronted with the idea that Shauna is a horrible person. 'It's so easy for me to find the humanity in her.'
Finding the humanity in a character, no matter how morally objectionable, is a core task of an actor's job. And since Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) bada-binged his way on to TV screens in 'The Sopranos' in 1999, that task has become increasingly more daunting for both actors and audiences as they've been confronted by a growing horde of emotionally toxic and downright dangerous anti-heroes, from Walter White in 'Breaking Bad' to virtually every character in 'Succession.'In comedy, that's the case too. It's not easy to craft a character who both causes audiences to yell at the screen and root for at the same time. Yet 'The Studio' does just that with Seth Rogen's Matt Remick, who after getting a major promotion seems to make every wrong decision he can. Still, it's impossible not to hope he finds a way to succeed.
Often, actors can't help but feel protective of their characters. Lynskey says she's been bewildered by the fans who've directed online vitriol at Shauna this season, while seemingly forgiving the sins of Shauna's husband Jeff (Warren Cole) and the heinous crimes committed by Misty (Christina Ricci).
It's suggested to Lynskey that the difference is that Misty's brand is cuckoo, while Shauna is effectively the eyes and the ears of the viewer.
'Yeah, I guess there is a difference,' concedes Lynskey, who plays the character as an adult, while Sophie Nélisse plays her as a teen. 'I think that that the reason why people feel so upset and betrayed is because [Shauna] is like the audience surrogate who we all relate to. She seems like moms that I know. She seems like my mom. She thinks like me and then she's actually somebody who's capable of doing very crazy and really vicious things.'
As Lyle Menendez in Netflix's 'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,' Nicholas Alexander Chavez is that arrogant, spoiled rich kid we've all known – right up until the moment he and his brother Erik (Cooper Koch) kill their parents Jose and Kitty (Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny). But unlike Shauna in 'Yellowjackets,' if you take away the cold-blooded murder, Lyle is still, well … a privileged douche. Right?
'I would have a really tough time calling him that, only because it's impossible for me to put that kind of judgment on him,' insists Chavez. 'I see him more so as a wounded boy whose emotional and psychological development was probably stunted around the age of 8 or 9 or 10, but who ultimately felt like he had to behave like his dad. And I think that if you asked any 10-year-old to act like a 40-year-old record label executive, they would have a lot of anger and feel a lot of inadequacy because they don't have the means by which to actually do that job.'
For Season 3 of HBO Max's 'The White Lotus,' Michelle Monaghan looked deep into the soul of not a murderer, but a famous actress like herself – specifically, a fictitious TV star named Jaclyn who manipulates and betrays her two childhood friends (Leslie Bibb and Carrie Coon) while on girls' trip to a luxury resort in Thailand – a process she admits she felt 'confronted' by.
'[As actors], 'a lot of our self-worth is dependent on external validation,' observes Monaghan. 'I think because that's the way in which [Jaclyn] lives her life and that that's where she places her value, when she's not getting that validation or that stimulation that she needs, she goes looking for it in all the wrong places. And at the end of the day, what I hope we see is someone who probably really needs authentic connection. And I don't think she's malicious; I don't think she's manipulative, I think she's naughty.'
Monaghan believes that, instead of turning viewers off, a character's bad behavior can actually draw them in.
'I think it allows for audiences to be seen in a way, because maybe [the character's] moral compass is a little off in a way that can oftentimes mirror their own,' she says. 'I like that feeling of being able to kind of take the audience on a ride that feels maybe a little confronting for them and one that they're emotionally invested in.'
Getting inside the head of Menendez and staying there was a less pleasant experience for Chavez at times, particularly when he had to shoot a scene where he was was locked in a closet, naked and covered in simulated feces.
'When I'm working on a role, it'll work on me in almost a subconscious way,' says Chavez. 'There will be subtle drifts in my personality towards a certain behavior pattern over the course of two or three or four months. I do this almost unknowingly, which makes a lot of sense because you're filming five days a week for anywhere between eight to 14 hours a day. Now, it's not to the point where I'm out to dinner with my friends after a day of shooting and I'm introducing myself as Lyle. I think that that sort of stuff is a bit ridiculous. But I'd say I was about four months out, like late January of this year, is when I started to actually let go [of Lyle] and feel like myself again.'
But, just as often, it's good for an actor to be bad. Lynskey points to her stunt-filled fight scene from Season 3 of 'Yellowjackets' where she bites off a piece of Melissa's (Hillary Swank) arm and forces her to eat it as being particularly enjoyable.
'It's very fun when the stakes are high and there's a really dangerous element to it,' says Lynskey. 'And it's fun to play someone who's unpredictable. Honestly, I don't know what the scripts are going to give me.'
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