Anthony Boyle wasn\u2019t too anxious about going full frontal for his role as Arthur Guinness in the new Netflix period drama series \u201cHouse of Guinness.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only real bit of concern that the Irish actor did happen to have was his grandmother watching the scene.<\/p>\n
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But then he remembered, \u201cShe doesn\u2019t know how to work Netflix because she doesn\u2019t have the internet. She just watches \u2018Coronation Street\u2019 and other British soaps.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe keeps saying to me, \u2018Stop doing shows that are only on the internet. Could you get on \u201cCoronation Street\u201d or \u201cEast Enders?\u201d\u2019 says Boyle, whose many streaming projects include \u201cMasters of the Air,\u201d \u201cManhunt,\u201d \u201cTetris\u201d and \u201cSay Nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHouse of Guinness\u201d follows the brewing dynasty \u2014 Arthur, Edward (Louis Partridge), Anne (Emily Fairn) and Benjamin II (Fionn O\u2019Shea) \u2014 following the death of their father Benjamin Guinness in 1868. \u201cI didn\u2019t know too much about the Guinness family,\u201d Boyle says. \u201cI knew just as much as probably anyone in Ireland knows \u2014\u00a0they were a very rich family and they were very eccentric. But I didn\u2019t know the extent of their wealth and all that they owned.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s widely believed that Arthur was gay. The series portrays Arthur as someone who doesn\u2019t actually hide his sexual orientation, even if he agrees to a \u201clavender marriage\u201d to advance his political career. \u201cThere are so many clues that point to Arthur being gay,\u201d Boyle says. \u201cIf we don\u2019t follow these clues, then we erase gay people from history. It\u2019s not like we were going to just say he was gay. There\u2019s so many things that alluded to him being gay, which is why we felt we should portray him as such.\u201d<\/p>\n
I caught up with Boyle over Zoom while he was in Vancouver, Canada filming \u201cThe Altruists,\u201d Netflix\u2019s upcoming series about Sam Bankman-Fried (Boyle), his girlfriend Caroline Ellison (Julia Garner) and the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange\u00a0FTX.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s talk about Arthur\u2019s mustache. Comfortable or uncomfortable?<\/p>\n
I love it. I prefer to have the stache. I feel like I look 10 years old when I don\u2019t have it. I love growing it and I love the little flicky bits at the side. I had this great makeup artist called Connie Daniels, who would come to me in the morning, and she would give me this mustache wax called Gentleman Stiffener. She would knock on my trailer, and she would say, \u201cReady for your Gentleman Stiffener?\u201d She would give me the little brush and I\u2019d comb and then I would be ready for the day with my Gentleman Stiffener.<\/p>\n
How long did it take you to grow out?<\/p>\n
About two and a half months to grow it and then I had for about six months of shooting. It looks good in the show when you\u2019re wearing a period costume, but when you\u2019re wearing, like an Adidas jacket and you\u2019re going out for a coffee, you just look like an out of work magician.<\/p>\n
When you Google your name, all results are about your full-frontal scene. Did you expect it to get so much attention?<\/p>\n
No, I didn\u2019t, because it was a very last minute sort of thing. I called the director the night before and said, I think we should do the scene with me coming out of the bath [instead of a dressing scene]. He said, \u201cYeah, fuck it. Let\u2019s do it.\u201d But I didn\u2019t expect that. I didn\u2019t expect people to talk about it.<\/p>\n
Once the director agreed to it, did you have any second thoughts?<\/p>\n
Not really. I thought it was good for the character because I wanted to show him feeling like he owns the world, and he was completely unashamed of himself and his sexuality and that he doesn\u2019t even view the servants as people, that they\u2019re just there to serve him. He\u2019s completely dominant.<\/p>\n
I binged \u201cHouse of Guinness\u201d in just a couple of days. What do you binge?<\/p>\n
\u201cLove is Blind.\u201d I started watching it with my sister and I can\u2019t get enough of it. I just watched first episode of the new season with a friend last night. It\u2019s so funny. I just love it. I just love Americans. I love that they\u2019re two minutes into the first date, one person says, \u201cI love my family.\u201d And the other one says, \u201cI love my family, too.\u201d And then they\u2019re both like, \u2018We\u2019re so alike. I love you.\u201d It\u2019s brilliant. It warms my heart and just tickles me in the right way.<\/p>\n
Now that you\u2019re playing Sam Bankman-Fried, do you understand how cryptocurrency works? I certainly don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
I can act like I understand it. I can pretend as if I know what I\u2019m talking about, but I knew very little. My father bought me \u201cCryptocurrency for Dummies\u201d for Christmas, and that came in pretty handy. But what have I learned about cryptocurrency? I\u2019ve been filming for like five months, so I understand it now, but it\u2019s it is very complex.<\/p>\n
How much did you know about the story before heading into it?<\/p>\n
Just as much as most people. I read a couple of articles on Sam, and was very interested in his sort of meteoric rise, and I was interested in FTX and then the scandal that followed, but I hadn\u2019t done as deep a dive as I\u2019ve done on it now.<\/p>\n
Is it easier to portray someone like Sam Bankman-Fried when there is so much information about him out there or when it\u2019s someone like Arthur Guinness, who you may be able to play with a little bit more?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know. I think I do my best work in a period piece. I\u2019m very good with a lantern. I\u2019m very good on a horse. Now I\u2019m acting with a laptop and an iPhone. I\u2019m lost. I\u2019m sort of joking because it doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re playing a role in Shakespeare or a Greek play, and it\u2019s 2,000 years ago, or if you\u2019re playing someone now. You\u2019re a human being and we haven\u2019t changed. You read Shakespeare or an old play from hundreds of years ago, and we\u2019re still feeling the same emotions, we\u2019re still going through the same things.<\/p>\n
\u201cHouse of Guinness\u201d Season 1 is available on Netflix.<\/p>\n
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