This interview was originally published on 1428Elm.com. You can read it there by clicking here.
Mr. Mercedes is an adaptation of the Bill Hodges Trilogy by Stephen King. Its second season concluded in October. The Sony Pictures Television production airs on Audience.
In Mr. Mercedes, Breeda Wool plays Lou Linklatter. Lou is smart, increasingly isolated, and the closest thing Mr. Mercedes has to a friend. Breeda was kind enough to talk to us about the latest season and a lot more.
The Interview
You Got to Have Faith
1428 Elm: Before we get into Mr. Mercedes, I wanted to talk to you about UnREAL. First you did the webseries for Lifetime, the Faith Diaries. Faith was a shy and insecure contestant from Mississippi on a popular dating show. She realizes that she’s in love with her best friend Amy. Did you have any idea how important Faith would become to the LGBTQIA community?
Breeda Wool: The Faith Diaries actually came after season one [of UnREAL]. Me and the show’s creator, Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, wanted to do the Faith Diaries as an extension of season one to follow what happened with Faith and Amy.
I personally have had this feeling that maybe I’m a little too big or a little too loud for other people to deem me typically feminine. I felt my experience on UnREAL was that volume turned all the way up.
Of being in a place where you’re not comfortable being in your body, not feeling comfortable with societal expectations, and doing something in the extreme to sort of force that confrontation. Not everybody joins a reality TV Show because they feel they might secretly be gay.
On my first day of work Sarah Gertrude Shapiro took me aside and told me what happens. I cried. I was so moved for what she had in mind for me.
I felt like I had a lot of responsibility. I wanted to make it for all the lesbians in rural Mississippi who have a lot harder time organizing their love than we do in LA or New York.
1428 Elm: That is a lot of responsibility.
BW: It is. I think my work is a lot easier for me personally when I can apply a mission to it like that. To think about what every closeted rural midwestern kid has to go through to be accepted.
Lou Visits the Dark Side
1428 Elm: Moving on to Mr. Mercedes. What was it about Lou Linklatter that attracted you to the part? Were you attracted to the darker side of that character?
BW: I just thought the writing was very fast and interesting. The people involved in this project-I found out it was Brendan Gleeson. I’ve been a massive fan my entire life. And then with Jack Bender, David E. Kelley and Stephen King I felt like I was going to be able to do really exciting work.
As far as the darker side of Lou, I sort of used Brady as a reflection of who I am. I think Brady and I come from a very similar background. And that background is that we’ve been forgotten about by society. And we have a lot of brains and intellect and potential as individuals, but society has basically said, ‘we don’t care.’
In season one, Brady starts to come up in our business and I think that’s because he’s a white dude, right?
1428 Elm: Right.
BW: And I think the portrait of Mr. Mercedes is examining solo violent white men who are radicalized on the Internet. And that is the quintessential terror and horror of Brady Hartsfield. He’s the new American boogeyman, essentially.
In that regard, [Lou has] a lot of those qualities, as well. In season two I think that really starts to play out. I start self isolating. I start drinking a lot. And you see the darkness win in a lot of ways in season two.
Game Changer
1428 Elm: Do you think the isolating and the drinking is because Lou is scared of what she’s capable of?
BW: For me, for Breeda, I believe that any person is capable of anything. All it takes is the right set of circumstances. Detective Hodges would say that there’s evil. But, I believe that evil does not exist outside of the human condition. I think it’s just us. And it’s always us. You know, Detective Hodges could have killed Brady multiple times. But he’s got all of these people in his life. I don’t have that.
When Brady stabs me in season one, he really took away my ability to trust people. He infects me. Violence is a contagion. It’s a contagious illness. And I think when he stabs me, I’m infected. I just don’t know it yet.
1428 Elm: I don’t want to get into spoilers, but the end of season two is a potential game changer. Do you think Lou understands the consequences of her actions?
BW: I don’t know. It’s definitely made me feel really sad. I get why I do it in the story for sure. People who have their power taken away from them through violence have that moment where they can pass it on or you can kill it.
It’s such a defeat in my mind that I succumbed. You watch me struggle and struggle. It’s a testament to David E. Kelley and Jack Bender. The moment is very straight forward and violent. But the intentions and emotions behind it are incredibly complex.
1428 Elm: How do you get into that space?
BW: I just play make believe. What was your favorite toy as a kid?
1428 Elm: I used to love playing with my Thundercats.
BW: Ok, cool! It’s kind of like that. It’s like I just play Thundercats. But I have a map, which are the scripts. It’s really fun.
1428 Elm: Where does your character go from here?
BW: I was joking that Lou is just going to be on the next season of Orange Is the New Black. I actually have no idea.
There is one thing I was thinking about. It’s not based on anything I’ve heard from the writers. It’s my pure imagination. One of the things about being forgotten by society is that you want people to notice you. Brady commits the Mercedes killings to get attention. He gets away with the murders.
But then he comes back to torment Detective Hodges. Ultimately, he wants attention. [Lou] has been forgotten by society. And the thing that I do in the courtroom, I think about how much attention I’d suddenly be getting. It’s kind of intoxicating. It’s a real nasty feeling and at the same time it’s really interesting to play. Maybe the two cops who pull me away had friends or family that were victims of the Mercedes killings and I become a town hero. But, I have no idea what they’re going to do. And that’s one of the most fun things about my job. It’s like the most fun Thundercats game.
The Indie Scene
1428 Elm: I see you have a comedy in post production called Mother’s Little Helpers. What can you tell us about it?
BW: Yes! I’m a producer and I co-wrote it with the other actors and the director. The director is Kestrin Pantera. I’ve gotten involved in filmmaking in a brand new way and it feels pretty awesome. I’m so proud of it.
It’s a bout four siblings who are with their mother when she dies. A lot of stories about parental loss are about reverence for the parent. This is entirely about a really bad parent and grappling with what happens when someone who is a bad parent dies.
1428 Elm: Do you know when it will be released?
BW: Well, it’s an indie movie. So we’ll be taking it on the festival circuit. I’ve been through that process a few times before. Have you seen XX? It’s an all female directed horror anthology. And, spoiler alert, I play the monster!
Mr. Mercedes -Breeda Wool-XX-Courtesy of XYZ Films
1428 Elm: Awesome! Is there anything else you’d like your fans to look for?
BW: I’m producing an amazing television pilot right now with Matthew Lesner called The Position.
I also have a film coming out that I did with Nicole Perlman who wrote Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel. It’s called The Slows.
It’s a short based on a New Yorker piece about human beings that are accelerated to adulthood at birth. But, there are these reserves where people still have children and raise them.
Those people are treated as lower class. I’m really excited about it.
1428 Elm: I will let our readers know to keep an eye out for all of those projects. Thank you so much for making time for us at 1428 Elm!
BW: You’re welcome!