William H. Macy would love to play a president or a Nazi and bring “truth” to the role.
The actor received an Oscar nomination in 1997 for his role in Fargo, in which he portrayed a man who has his wife kidnapped so he can collect the ransom. William is always on the lookout for the opportunity to play controversial characters and enjoys bringing different dimensions to a role.
“I'd like to be the president. I'd like to be the powerful guy, the smart guy in the room,” he said in an interview with Vox.com.
“With my intellect, with my experience, I'd like to play a racist or a Nazi or someone like that and try to bring truth and goodness to that. The reason I say that is because that really f**ks up an audience. It's so easy when the bad guy is just so obvious. He's bad and he's evil, and everything he says is bad.”
The 66-year-old Shameless star would relish the opportunity to shed a new light on roles which are traditionally branded ‘good’ or ‘bad’. William likes the idea of forcing an audience to consider villains in a new way – and perhaps even find themselves relating to certain aspects of their character.
“I would like to be the villain,” he continued. “I'm a Southern boy. I was born and raised in the South. I do notice that a lot of times when people play despicable characters like a dyed-in-the-wool racist, or a Nazi, or some politically despicable person, a lot of times the bad guy has sort of air quotes. I've always felt that's the actor saying, ‘You know, I'm not really like this'."
He adds it's "so easy" when the bad guy is obvious in its nastiness, and what makes screen characters more interesting is when they hide their true intentions.
"He's bad and he's evil, and everything he says is bad," he explained. "What's great is when the bad guy has a point. The best times we've seen Satan, he's so charming.
“If you can make them truthful and realistic, and real people that have families and go to church. How did they fit that in? That would be interesting, because that really messes up the audience.”
