In “The Audacity,” Billy Magnussen plays Duncan Park, a man with too much power who thinks he doesn’t have enough.
“I think he still sees himself as weak, and I think that’s the scary part of what Duncan is,” Magnussen told TheWrap. “He doesn’t recognize how much of a bull in a china shop he is, and it’s because the society, the culture there has taught people ‘Move fast, break things.’ I still think he doesn’t think he’s an elite yet, and he’s trying to fight his way up, and that’s scary.”
Duncan is a tech mogul, a kind of figure relatively new in the history of the world that has become immensely powerful in the present day. Magnussen’s character, a self-proclaimed “inventor of the future,” lies at the center of “The Audacity,” a new series from “Better Call Saul” and “Succession” writer/producer Jonathan Glatzer on AMC taking aim at a group of fictional figureheads in Silicon Valley.
“I think he’s one of the most talented writers of our generation, to tell you the truth,” Magnussen said. “After reading the pilot and a few of the scripts, you see the elocution he has with his words and how to put these ideas together and share the complexity and depth of these characters there on the page. When I read that, I was like ‘Holy s—t, this Duncan Park character, the ferocity needed for it, the life that’s embodied in these words, I want to put him to breath and bring him to life.’ I feel blessed and lucky.”
Magnussen is perhaps best known by audiences for his immense comic chops, popping up in films such as “Game Night,” “Into the Woods” and the live-action Disney remakes for “Lilo & Stitch” and “Aladdin.” For a time, Magnussen’s “Aladdin” character Prince Anders was set to get his own spin-off on Disney+, though Magnussen sadly confirmed to TheWrap that that project is dead (“I had 30 seconds of screen time with Prince Anders, and I was like, ‘I could build a whole world for this guy’”).
Magnussen isn’t the only funny guy taking center stage in “The Audacity.” Sarah Goldberg, Rob Corddry, Simon Helberg, Zach Galifianakis, Randall Park and more actors with serious comedy chops round out the cast as various other players in this story of tech world machinations.
“What’s great about this show is people are coming into it going, ‘It’s a comedy, right?’ It’s weirdly a drama, a tragedy with these people, the humanity of these people there, that they’re so lost and delusional,” Magnussen said.
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“You have Simon’s character — and this is a great realization of what I think these titans are — he’s trying to probably repair something from his childhood, of feeling isolated and alone with this bot,” he continued. “He’s trying to make this AI tool, and his goal is to repair the thing that was at his youth that f—ked him up. And then to get to the top and they’re still f—ked up and not fixed, even though they built this tech to do it. Let’s be honest: the people in Silicon Valley, I don’t think they were the football captains, you know?”
Magnussen wouldn’t point to a specific tech mogul he modeled Duncan after, though he did say he formed the character in part as an amalgamation of several such figures. The actor said one of the most important parts of this performance was steering clear of “evil CEO” tropes and finding a more nuanced take on a deeply damaged individual.
“I believe Duncan Park came to Silicon Valley with hope. He came with the idea of building a community, really doing something positive in this world, and he’s at the point in this show where we realize the tech world has kinda become a little poisonous. There’s toxicity, and it’s seeped into him. I don’t think he’s a bad man. I think he drank the Kool-Aid and is delusional now. I think he’s constantly fighting his morals internally while also trying to strive to be a tech titan out there because that’s the culture that’s around him. I think he’s lost, more than anything.”
It’s an intense performance, one Magnussen auditioned for like all the rest. His character lies at the center of a large ensemble series Glatzer created, one that’s already been renewed for a second season. Magnussen expressed some exhaustion in having to live with such a character every day.
Still, when asked if he’s ready for Season 2, the actor simply responded, “F–k yeah!”
“It’s an honor, to tell you the truth,” he said. “The people around me, I look at them, and I’m such a fan of all the people I’m working with. I hope I could do this justice for them. I think people forget, like, it’s a communal artform, and it’s not made by one person. It’s a whole village, and I’ve been on projects where people forget that. I promised myself I would never do that, as I take this on. I’m proud every day.”
