Before Jake Lacy graduated from acting school, he had a big decision to make: choosing his stage name. Born Jameson Griffin Lacy, he planned to use his nickname throughout his career. But after seeing his decision, his dean asked him, “Who is this Jameson?” You are the most Jake person I know!
Lacy, who plays Troy Delaney in the potential Emmy nominee “Apples Never Fall,” said in an episode of the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast that he thinks many actors in the industry are pigeonholed, but he can chameleon and play a wide range of characters: “I’ve never been a star. Most people don’t know who I am or recognize me… Now it feels like there’s a little bit of a broader scope as to what people will see me for or think about me.” Listen below!
The Peacock limited series follows the Delaney family, a Palm Beach tennis kingpin who begins to fall apart when matriarch Joy (Annette Bening) goes missing and family secrets are revealed. Comparing this character to the childish brother Shane Patton he played in “White Lotus,” Lacy says Troy falls somewhere on the spectrum from “douche” to “good guy.”
“At his worst moments, he may see himself as worse than he is and have higher expectations of himself than he meets,” Lacy says. “I think maybe (he) doesn’t have a good barometer for what it is to just be human, what it is to be flawed and try to be better.”
Lacy points out that each of the siblings on the show thinks they are the black sheep of the family, and each Delaney has their own strange narcissism and obsession with their place in the brood. He said it feels like the siblings have blinders on the needs and lives of others, choosing to focus on their own.
The Showtime TV movie “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” in which Lacy plays executive officer Lieutenant Maryk, is also up for nominations this season. The legal drama follows a Maryk, who is on trial for mutiny after taking command from a ship’s captain.
He calls the project the one that has had the greatest impact on him in the past ten years. He said the cast was only allowed to do one or two takes for scenes by “The Conjuring” director William Friedkin, which marked his final project before he died last August.
“Everyone has their pencils and their script and everyone is a good little student,” he said of the cast’s first meeting at Friedkin’s house. “(Bill said) something like, ‘Well, we’re not going to read it, that’s for sure.’ Everyone bursts into tears and he says, ‘Yeah, we’re not going to read it, we’re not going to rehearse. I have been doing this for 70 years and what I have found most important in all that time is spontaneity. I want to be able to film you hearing these things for the first time and saying them for the first time.’”
Lacy also recently completed a shoot for an indie film in India titled “Mosquito in the Ear,” which is in the editing process and will likely head to festivals in the fall. The film follows an American couple who travel to India to adopt a young girl from India, who does not want to leave her orphanage, and is based on an Italian graphic novel by Andrea Ferraris, which tells the true story of his adoption journey.
But on the level of his character in “Mosquito in the Ear,” Lacy describes him as “A good guy. He’s a good guy, but he also likes to do his best, and he falls a little short.”
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jenelle Riley, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta and also producing Michael Schneider, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode features “Awards Circuit” interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates on awards races and industry news, and more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts.
