NEW YORK, March 21 (UPI) -- Stranger Things and Fleabag actor Brett Gelman says he relied on a combination of Mike Ott and Alex Gioulakis' screenplay and his own historical research to prepare to play the "reprehensible" Terry Nichols in the new film, McVeigh.
Directed by Ott, the fact-based drama about the deadliest domestic terrorist attack on U.S. soil -- the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people -- opens in theaters and premieres on video-on-demand platforms Friday.
It stars Alfie Allen as Timothy McVeigh, who, with the help of Nichols, attacked a federal government building in retaliation for the way the FBI and ATF handled the fatal Waco siege and Ruby Ridge standoff between anti-government citizens and officials.
McVeigh was executed for his crimes in 2001 when he was 33, while Nichols, now 69, is serving life in prison with no possibility of parole.
"The script is the thing that you have to follow because that's the story that's being told, so having that lead the preparation is the most important thing and then doing background research to fill that in was also part of it," Gelman, 48, told UPI in a Zoom interview this week.
"Then, also, just to get into the head of this very reprehensible, very problematic guy, it required me substituting a lot of things from my own values and my own emotional and psychological life to implant in what he found important and, at the end of the day, it was finding something that is passionate inside of me for what his version of America and society is."
Gelman said another essential element he needed to get right was the friendship between Timothy and Terry.
"It is so important to find that intimacy," he explained. "That need for validation from [McVeigh] was a big thing and that was a big thing in the script and, judging from the actions that Terry took, and also didn't take, was also just a really important factor."
McVeigh doesn't speak a lot in the film, but he and Nichols still seem to clearly understand each other, Gelman noted.
"He says a lot in that silence. He doesn't need words," the actor said about McVeigh.
"As far as our scenes together, I think Terry so badly wants, at times, to almost BE Timothy," he added. "To Terry, it's like when you're hanging out with that cool guy. 'Cool Guy' doesn't say much because saying things is a sign of weakness and a sign of insecurity. The fact that he is so quiet is what makes him so attractive to Terry. It's one of the things."
A main theme of the film is that real-life, ordinary-looking monsters walk among us.
"In doing the research, I discovered there is a vast network of these people in this country and they're throughout every society, every state," Gelman said. "That gives you sort of a sense of paranoia, but, at the same time, you're reminded that they are human beings and something drives them to think and feel this way."
He added that this was one of the most compelling parts of the script and the way Ott directed the cast.
"It was you finding this every-day humanity. Almost mundanity, a lot of times, was put to these really extreme things that our characters were strategizing to do and what our perspectives were," he said. "Normalizing that warped perspective almost makes it even more of a cautionary tale and more disturbing."
The ensemble also includes Tracy Letts, Ashley Benson and Anthony Carrigan.
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