William H. Macy tapped into director Ethan Coen's dark sense of humour by threatening to shoot his new dog if he wasn't cast in Fargo.
The Shameless star was a stand-out for his role as struggling car salesman Jerry Lundegaard in the cult black comedy/crime drama, which Ethan made with his brother Joel Coen in 1996, but Macy admits he had to resort to some drastic actions to secure the part.
"I knew I was born to play that role, even though it (the script) described a much different-looking man: a little older, and portly, and balding, then I found out that they went to New York (for more auditions), so I got my jolly, jolly a** on an airplane and crashed the audition," he recalled during a taping of Sunday Today With Willie Geist, which airs this weekend (27Jan19).
"I said, 'Ethan, you give this to somebody else, I'll shoot your dog'. He'd just gotten a dog!"
Macy, now 68, insists he wouldn't have tried the tough talking with anyone but the Coen brothers, because it probably would have backfired: "I don't recommend that folks, that's not a good thing to do...! Don't do that!" he laughed. "But it struck his sense of humour."
The actor reveals he initially read through the script without knowing which character he was going to audition for, because he prefers to judge a project as a whole instead of by the lines he would be saying on camera.
"I'm pretty good at reading scripts," Macy said. "I have a trick - I prefer not to know who they (casting directors) want me to play, I just try to see the whole movie, 'cause my whole thing is I'd rather do a good movie and a smaller role, than a bad movie and the lead role; that's not gonna do me any good."
Macy's feeling about Fargo becoming a big success was spot on, as it earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod back in 1997. The film itself was nominated for a total of seven Academy Awards, picking up Best Actress for Frances McDormand, and Best Screenplay for the Coen brothers.
It has also spawned a TV series.
