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\n \u201cIt was a bit of a fantasy of, What would I say to a cop if I had to stall for my fianc\u00e9e who was on the run?\u201c says the Furious star. \u201cThat\u2019s hot!\u201d
\n Photo: Sarah Shatz\/Disney\n <\/p>\n
Spoilers follow for Furious<\/a> episode six, \u201cThey Make a Noise Like Feathers<\/a>,\u201d which premiered on Hulu on August 17.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Furious, Lola Petticrew\u2019s Catherine Grace is a woman on a murderous mission. The chameleonlike former sex worker shuffles through identities \u2014 down-to-clown cater-waiter, OnlyFans model, lingering one-night stand \u2014 to get close to, then kill, the men she believes are responsible for the death of her best friend. But to Alden, played by Steve Way, she\u2019s just Vanessa, the in-home nurse who bathes him, checks his medication, and treats him with a frank respect and playful flirtiness he\u2019s unused to from other relationships. Yes, she\u2019s lying about her identity to him, but Catherine visibly relaxes when she\u2019s with Alden, letting go of the anger that drives her actions and settling into a kinder, more mischievous persona. Alden lets her be herself, and Catherine\u2019s committed to caring for him as her patient and friend \u2014\u00a0and later, her fianc\u00e9.<\/p>\n In both his standup and his previous role on Ramy, Way is matter-of-fact about how living with muscular dystrophy shapes his relationships and sense of self. As Alden, he injects a much-needed frisson of dark humor into Furious, whether he\u2019s convincing Catherine\u00a0to agree to marry him or defending her honor when he learns she\u2019s actually a sex-trafficking victim hunting down the men who harmed her. The police track Catherine to Alden\u2019s home, where they find the body of her latest victim, lawyer Hal, in the kitchen. Catherine flees the scene and Alden is taken into custody with a hidden flash drive of evidence against Hal\u2019s client Jay Easton (Peter McRobbie), the billionaire who seemingly played a role in Catherine\u2019s friend\u2019s death. In episode six, as NYPD detective Danny Kelly (Scoot McNairy) and FBI agent Frank Choi (Rob Yang) question Alden about Catherine\u2019s whereabouts and what could be on Hal\u2019s laptop, Alden ducks and parries, insulting the men with anti-authoritarian sarcasm while refusing to cooperate. Even when Danny and Frank suggest that Catherine killed Alden\u2019s mother for her fentanyl stash, Alden sticks by her \u2014 and, in the episode\u2019s final moments, hands Danny a flash drive with tons of incriminating information on it. Because of Alden\u2019s quick thinking, Danny now has evidence of all the women abused by Hal and the Eastons over the years.<\/p>\n Way credits series creator Liz Meriwether with letting him improvise often on set, particularly during his \u200bt\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate dynamic with the task force. \u201cI understood my role as the comedic relief. I was allowed to be funny in this dark world,\u201d Way says. \u201cThat\u2019s real life: The world is scary, and I\u2019m here to make it funny.\u201d<\/p>\n Tell me about how the role came to you.\u00a0<\/strong> I knew Furious was based on Black Widow<\/a>, but obviously Liz has her own spin on it. She told me I would have this very complex relationship with this woman who on the surface is not a good person, but the person I know, deep down, is someone who is very loving, caring, and nurturing, and just wants to be accepted. Honestly, that\u2019s pretty much the disabled experience.<\/p>\n When you started reading the scripts, did you suggest any tweaks to Alden?<\/strong> How did you and Lola build that relationship?\u00a0<\/strong> Is there an improv moment that made it into the final episodes that you\u2019re particularly proud of?\u00a0<\/strong> Scoot McNairy plays Danny as good cop; Rob Yang plays Frank as bad cop. Tell me about working with them.\u00a0<\/strong> What emotions did you want to come through when Alden asks Danny, \u201cPlease don\u2019t let her die\u201d?<\/strong> Your line delivery made me think that Alden would still marry her, even with everything he knows.<\/strong> Earlier in the season, we learn how close Alden and Catherine are when she bathes him. How did you coordinate that, and what do you remember about filming it?\u00a0<\/strong> Where do you think Alden goes from here?\u00a0<\/strong> What do you think most TV viewers don\u2019t know about caregiving that you\u2019re hoping they\u2019ll understand, or want to learn more about, through Alden?\u00a0<\/strong> A lot of people might think Liz took a risk by having me play this role. But I earned it. She knew I was good enough. I was able to show how much better I\u2019ve gotten at acting. Now, there are reviews that say that I should be in the awards conversation. That only happened because one person made a decision. That has to happen for so many other disabled firsts, because so often jobs are taken from us. Nondisabled writers write disabled stories; nondisabled actors play disabled characters. It has to stop. Please let this whole experience be the new benchmark. Let that raise the bar, and show you we\u2019re not too much. We\u2019re just like everyone else. We\u2019re just as good. And audiences \u2014 I\u2019m getting stopped on the streets all the time. People want to see disabled characters. They want disabled stories. The proof is there. No more excuses. Hire more disabled people.<\/p>\n Have you heard anything about a fourth season of Ramy?<\/strong> Sign up for the Vulture Daily<\/p>\n An entertainment newsletter for the pop-culture obsessed.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
I met Liz on a panel about caregiving in media<\/a>. We talked about what we\u2019re working on. Liz is very accomplished, she has this long list, and then it gets to me and I said, \u201cI\u2019m unemployed. If anyone has a job, sign me up.\u201d Two months later, I get an email from Liz\u2019s people saying she wrote me a part. Always shoot your shot!<\/p>\n
Alden doesn\u2019t mean much if the character does not connect to Catherine, and the authenticity really helps with that. I would tell Liz how I would specifically do something: work a computer, get an injection, drink a smoothie, take a shower. I was very lucky to be able to improv a lot of my lines. When we first meet Alden, he\u2019s really teasing Catherine. \u201cHowdy\u201d \u2014\u00a0that\u2019s a word I say a lot. When she\u2019s trying to take her shirt off and he says, \u201cDo you need help?\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s a little joke, but it\u2019s the comfort that they share. It shows the audience right away that this guy knows her better than anyone else. Those specific little moments make that relationship the most genuine throughout the show.<\/p>\n
Lola, they\u2019re fantastic. Along with the directors, they brought out so much of me. I\u2019m a comedy guy. I\u2019ve never done something as serious as this. Before Lola and I had any scenes together, we met up on set and talked for over an hour about politics, our lives, our families. We talked about wrestling! We went outside and shared a cigarette. We had this level of camaraderie going into it. I made it a point to tell Liz, the directors, and every actor I was with, \u201cWe\u2019re going to do one take where I throw the script out the window. Go with it. If you\u2019re stuck, that\u2019s okay. I\u2019ll keep going. But just trust me.\u201d Pretty often, they were happy with it.<\/p>\n
When I was being interrogated by Scoot, and I was stalling and describing Vanessa, that was all improv. When I talked about what love is and disabled love, that\u2019s from the heart. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve been told my entire life, by society\u2019s lies \u2014 that we\u2019re not worthy. And it was a bit of a fantasy of, What would I say to a cop if I had to stall for my fianc\u00e9e who was on the run? That\u2019s hot! On the laptop, Alden saw something that\u2019s going to make him need a lot of therapy. But he understands that the person who needs therapy the most is Catherine. He might not support what she did, but it\u2019s justified. It\u2019s totally understandable. He wants to help her and save her. He\u2019s going to stall, and then give the evidence when he thinks the time is right.<\/p>\n
When Choi is trying to arrest me in the bedroom, we did this take where he asked me a question, and I raised my chair all the way up to his level. I say, \u201cLove!\u201d and then bring my chair all the way back down. It shows the real level of disrespect that I have for him. He broke character right away. I\u2019m so happy that they left in the take where Rob knocks the computers over \u2014 total accident. That\u2019s just a small taste of what it was like working with Rob. He understood his role. Scoot\u2019s character, Danny, was much more human. He really tries to connect with Alden. Alden doesn\u2019t respect any authority, but he respects Danny\u2019s effort.<\/p>\n
Oh man. [Pauses.] It\u2019s a little vulnerable. I thought about every relationship I\u2019ve ever had that didn\u2019t work out. I thought about all the fear that I felt of losing the people you love. And I thought, Alden doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen to her. Is she going to spend the rest of her life in jail? Could she be killed by the police? The last time he saw her, in the house, will that be the last time \u2014 for good? I went dark. I thought about every relationship, that fear of losing people. I channeled it. I think it worked.<\/p>\n
Absolutely, yes.<\/p>\n
We had a wonderful intimacy coordinator, Claire Warden. I spoke to her almost a month before we shot. I was supercomfortable, and I think that\u2019s because of my time on Ramy<\/a>. Ramy was not afraid to put me in some bizarre situation; shout out to the episode \u201cAtlantic City.\u201d We shot that with a room full of people. No intimacy coordinator, just homies of 20 years. But here, I was prepped in a way that made me feel so safe. I was like, \u201cI\u2019ll do anything. I\u2019m ready. If I am opening the doors for an entire community, sign me up.\u201d Shooting it sucked, because the water was either superhot or super-cold, but we made it work. That was my shower chair that I use. That was my soap. The authenticity makes it so real.<\/p>\n
One, he manages his health and he wants to live. And two, he tries to break Catherine out if she gets captured. Why not? As you just found out, he can get away with a lot. What are they going to do? Put him on house arrest? He doesn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n
They can understand that they\u2019re probably caregivers themselves. Just because you\u2019re not bathing a guy in a wheelchair doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re not a caregiver. Caregiving is very broad. Apps like DoorDash or Instacart, they\u2019re inherently about caregiving. Sometimes I can\u2019t get out and I need food. A different human is doing it for me, I\u2019m just doing it through a service. Someone might be doing a food order who doesn\u2019t have the energy to cook that night. They\u2019re having a flareup; they\u2019re sick. Uber \u2014 too sick and can\u2019t drive, or too tired to walk? That\u2019s caregiving.<\/p>\n
If we can get season three of Twin Peaks 25 years after it ended, anything is possible.<\/p>\n