Charles Melton ponders whether May is a comedy – The Hollywood Reporter

Charles Milton

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Access may december, Charles Melton is best known as a TV star on soap teen dramas Riverdale As former football player Reggie Mantle. Along with his colleagues Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, he was almost an unknown talent in the world of cinema. But with Todd Haynes’ latest melodrama, Milton has emerged as an award-worthy movie star in his own right, already winning a Gotham Award, earning an Indie Spirit nomination for supporting performance, and earning his first Golden Globe nomination as of Monday morning.

Melton plays Joe, the husband of Gracie, played by Julianne Moore, in Sammy Burch’s script, which is loosely based on the real-life story of Mary Kay Letourneau. Gracie and Joe became romantically involved when the former was an adult and the latter was 13, and had children together soon after. Years later, when Joe is now in his thirties and the couple’s three children are either in college or about to graduate from high school, the actress, played by Natalie Portman, comes to town to study Gracie for the role of her in an upcoming film. About her joyful marriage.

It would be easy for Melton to get lost next to the outstanding performances coming from two of the greatest actresses of all time duking it out at the top of their game, and yet he holds his own, bringing remarkable depth, range, and complexity to a straightforward scene. An incredibly conflicted personality. We caught up with the new Golden Globe nominee to talk about his experience working with Haynes, Moore, and Portman (and his nickname for that trio), his understanding of the character, and whether or not he sees the film as a comedy. drama.

Congratulations on your Golden Globe nomination.

Charles Milton Thank you very much. It’s so surreal. I can’t stop smiling.

Where were you when you heard the news this morning?

Milton I was in bed when I got a phone call. My manager called me and my whole team, and my sister was in touch. I felt so much gratitude and immediately thought about it May December My family and those 23 days we spent in Savannah, Georgia, and what all that recognition was like May December It’s been unbelievable.

I want to hear about your first impression, when reading the script, about the psychology of this character, and how this impression develops over the course of preparation, then filming, and then watching the film. Does this impression change often?

Milton (Screenwriter) Sammy Burch Script There’s a lot between the script, which is very expansive, in exploring these complex characters, the complexity of who Joe is and what he stands for, and how he’s had to really navigate his life affected by having a child at such a young age, and the general perception, And tabloid culture, which really led to it becoming an empty nest. There are many things to look at and understand. That was really exciting for me: understanding repression and loneliness, how certain emotions can live in the body, and how that can be translated into storytelling. It was a lot of preparation, all the way down to those short 23 days, the best 23 days, and putting it in Todd’s hands. I really couldn’t have done it without Todd. His brilliance as a director, his genius, really allowed me to step away from the set and really live with Joe.

The film was presented as a comedy. It’s very funny, but it’s also about some serious stuff. Do you see it as a comedy or a drama? Did reading and filming it feel like a comedy or a drama?

Milton I think filming it didn’t feel funny – with a sublime script and Todd directing, it wasn’t funny, it’s a very convoluted kind of script. And I think the one thing we can do, as artists, when creating a project, for me as an actor, is tell the story of the character. We don’t really have any control over how the audience receives what they see. The beautiful thing about Todd, one of many beautiful things, is that he displays this dining table to the public, and you can pick and choose what you want to take from it. To see the audience respond with laughter, I find that sometimes it’s easier to laugh than to cry. And discomfort can be an interesting thing.

I want to touch on some of the hardest scenes to film – one of my favorite scenes is when she confronts Julianne Moore’s character when she’s in bed. Did Julianne or Natalie give you any interesting lessons on set?

Milton I like to call Todd, Julie, and Natalie “a trio of excellence,” where everything around them vicariously elevates who they are as artists, and truly as human beings. Todd created such an environment, had his own vision and point of view, and allowed us all to emerge and give away our characters’ stories. And Natalie and Julie, as masters of this craft, such legends, are better human beings. We had a lot of (fun) between takes and filming. I felt so empowered, just being with Julie and Natalie, and Todd’s guidance. Going back to your question about the scene where Joe confronts Gracie for the first time, this is the first time Joe has ever acknowledged it. a question (From Morals Past and Present and Gracie). And it’s a very powerful moment, because as an audience, we’re asking these questions, and we’re seeing Joe navigate that scene, that moment, for the first time in his story throughout the movie.

This is a movie that leaves a lot of questions unanswered and ambiguous. Do you feel like you changed your mind about the characters in any way by the end? Were there discoveries you made about them along the way?

Milton There were many discoveries during this process. And I heard Jolie say something very profound about Todd’s filmmaking: “The film ends with an inhale, and the audience is ready to exhale.” To Julie’s credit, she said that, and I said, “That’s absolutely true.” So it’s up to the audience to come up with their own terms.