“Devil in Disguise” star Michael Chernus discusses the transformation of John Wayne Gacy

There are spoilers for “Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy,” which is currently available for streaming on Peacock, in this post.

When Michael Chernus agreed to play the lead in Peacock’s upcoming anthology series “Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy,” he wasn’t merely accepting a new part. He had committed to spending the remainder of his career in the company of one of the most heinous, unredeemable murderers in American history.

His terrifying, eerie transformation as Gacy, who murdered over 30 young men in the 1970s, is probably going to be one of the first images that appears when someone searches for his name online these days. However, it is hoped that his popular role as self-help guru Ricken Hale on “Severance” will also be included. Chernus therefore took the job after carefully weighing the ramifications for both the story and himself. The new show, which was created by Patrick Macmanus, adopts a very different approach to a true-crime narrative by emphasizing a dozen or so victims rather than Gacy. Throughout the series, there are long stretches of time without Gacy on screen, particularly in the last episode, which only features one scene with his face visible.

One year after the filming was completed, Chernus distances himself from the process when discussing the role. He tells Variety, “You know, I had the unfortunate duty of playing John Wayne Gacy.”.

But he overcame his reluctance to sign on because he was aware of Gacy’s limited role in the series when he first spoke with Macmanus about it.

He informed me, “I must caution you that you will not appear in every scene. Of his first exchange with Macmanus, Chernus remarks, “This is not going to be about you, even though you are technically the lead of the show.”. That was a relief to me because I don’t want to be in every scene and frame of the show with someone as vile as Gacy. I’m not sure if he had met with other actors who had declined before me because they were upset about that or something. He shouldn’t be, either. “.”.

Chernus continues, “He doesn’t deserve to be.”. The most well-known aspect of Gacy’s story—his trademark clown makeup, which he applies once in Ep.—is also missing from the series. 6. and never go straight to the camera. The horrific violence that Gacy inflicted on his victims—both the dead and the few who survived—is the most significant aspect of the narrative that is not shown in the series. The victims’ stories are flashed back to show their lives before they were cut short, with hardly any mention of Gacy by name or the ways they eventually and tragically cross paths with him. An example of this can be seen in the sixth episode, where Gacy uses the promise of a construction job to entice his last victim, 15-year-old Robert Piest (Ryker Baloun), back to his house, only to sexually abuse him. Although the nearly 10-minute scene does not include the murder, it is nonetheless horrifying in its portrayal of the predatory methods Gacy used to locate, play with, and eventually kill his victims.

Chernus talks to Variety below about filming that specific scene, which he still finds difficult to watch; why he was still doing a lot of research every day to get ready to play Gacy until he started filming his scenes; and his thoughts on Macmanus’ choice to remove almost twenty-five minutes of footage he shot for the finale.

You mentioned how difficult it is to enter the head of a serial killer, which is one of the reasons you were hesitant to take this part. What did you do on your own to feel confident and knowledgeable enough to take on this task, given the amount of research the series’ creative team did?

Even now, a year later, I still find myself researching him to make sure I remember everything and can respond to inquiries about him. As you can imagine, there is a seemingly limitless amount of information available. After I got the job, I watched every documentary, listened to every podcast, read every book I could find, and watched every strange and awful YouTube video available. It was a real rabbit hole for me. Because Peacock produced a documentary about Gacy a few years ago, we also had access to an amazing amount of research. NBC News also provided us with all of the content that was left out of the final cut of that documentary. The cast members had access to a Dropbox full of amazing academic studies of John Gacy’s speech pattern, word choice, and syntax use, as well as a breakdown of the Chicago dialect and his Polish heritage, thanks to Patrick’s in-house researcher. Then, before we began filming, I traveled to Chicago and visited several locations that Gacy was known for. It was fascinating to observe the distances he would travel on any given night to cruise or, to use a more accurate term, hunt for his victims, even though Chicago 2024 does not resemble Chicago in the 1970s.

He was absolutely correct when Patrick finally said, “You need to put down the books and start focusing on the scripts.”. I believe that I could have continued doing research indefinitely. Although it’s not a documentary, our show is based on a true story. It is a work of fiction. I had to let go of the research after a while, kind of trusting that it was inside of me. However, I would still listen to Gacy’s voice every day on set before we started a take. The Peacock documentary contains some of the Robert Ressler interview, but there isn’t a lot of video footage of him. I had the entire interview with Ressler, and I would watch it repeatedly just to observe Gacy’s speech patterns, facial expressions, and body language. To put it simply, I felt that there would never be enough research, and I had to come to terms with the fact that this would essentially be my own interpretation of this individual.

What was it like to play him when you finally got around to it?

Our crew’s jobs occasionally gave me the impression that we were a theater troupe, a group of storytellers uniting to bring attention to the voices of some of these victims who hadn’t been heard. I kept getting the short straw of having to play the antagonist every night. I have strong feelings about this story—not about John Gacy’s individual story, but about the greater narrative we were presenting. But living with it was difficult. Some nights when I would get home, my wife would say, “Cut it out! He’s not allowed here,” because the Chicago dialect and Gacy’s voice would start to sort of infiltrate my own speech. Another challenging aspect of it was ultimately committing to fully embodying him in order to tell the story from beginning to end. I wasn’t particularly interested in becoming him. I was initially apprehensive because of this. I didn’t want to walk a mile in his shoes or be in his skin. I don’t feel sorry for him at all. At one point, however, Patrick said, “You have to fully embody him, including the parts of him that were perceived as charming or harmless or even likable, in order for us to understand why some of those victims would get in his car, go back to his house, or work at his construction company.”. “”.

Patrick told me, “I have to warn you, you’re not going to be in every scene,” during our first meeting. Despite the fact that you are the show’s lead, this is not going to be about you. That was a relief to me! With someone as vile as Gacy, I don’t want to be in every scene and frame of the show, and he shouldn’t be. I’m not sure if you had met with other actors who had declined before me because they were upset about that or something.

Your physical portrayal of Gacy is crucial to the show’s understanding of his threat without displaying the violence. His expression and posture change in a split second, as does yours. To achieve the proper degree of menace, did you need to make several takes, or was it instinctive?

We had to experiment with a lot of different elements, and I was really appreciative of Patrick as our showrunner and the directors we had for each episode since we all agreed that we didn’t want to play a clichéd serial killer with a mustache. On the other hand, you had to witness these dangerous moments. We began to explain it by saying that you had to see the mask drop. The director would say, “Now, let’s try one that’s a little bit more menacing,” throughout the numerous takes that we would do. Let’s do one now without any of that, instead. We experimented a lot before we began to develop a vocabulary and a shorthand that allowed me to identify the version of him we were seeing at any given time. I never felt pressured to play him in his entirety at once. It was always the piece he wanted you to see. I didn’t know what that looked like, though, because we don’t have any footage of him when the darkness would emerge. Survivors of the incident have reported that their eyes would turn black or appear to be dead. Although I couldn’t actually make my eyes go black, I understood the feeling of icy coldness that that evoked.

Very few scenes in the series depict Gacy using violence against his victims. He lures his last victim, 15-year-old Robert Piest, back to his home, coerces him into handcuffs, threatens to rape him, and then kills him in Episode 6, which is the longest and most horrific scene. Although we don’t witness the murder, we do witness the fear he inflicted on the boy in his last moments. How was it to play Gacy the predator during the filming of that scene?

I find that episode really difficult to watch. It’s the only time we see John Gacy in the entire series. It’s the closest we can get to witnessing not only the acts of violence he committed, but also the manipulation, grooming, and gaslighting he would subject these boys to. The young performer who portrayed Rob Piest, Ryker Baloun, is amazing. But it was a very challenging day. We shot the lengthy scene all day long, which is uncommon for television. I believe everyone was aware that it required that level of attention to detail and care. That scene, which is the best illustration of John Gacy alternating between these various masks and personas, is one of the most challenging things for me as an actor. According to every story I’ve read about it, he would occasionally even surprise himself. That’s not to absolve him in any way, but it would seem as though he would briefly black out. I have to say something along the lines of, “Well, I’m just going to have to rape you,” when the Rob Piest character rejects John’s request for any sexual contact. I then attack him and pull his pants down, and as I sit on the ground staring at his underwear, I exclaim, “Oh, God, what happened?” It was really startling for an actor to switch between the realities of the various Johns. What that must have been like for anyone who was by himself in his house with him is beyond my comprehension. Simply put, facing it is a terrifying experience.

Patrick Macmanus told Variety that he chose to cut roughly 23 minutes of footage that you had shot for the finale, including some that featured Gacy on the day of his execution in 1994. What was your reaction to losing that in the previous episode?

In my opinion, it was very courageous. It hurt at first, of course, only for my own ego and as an actor. I did, however, understand. We had come so far together by then that Patrick and I truly agreed on this, and we were so in sync with one another that it made perfect sense to me. I am aware that both he and I had a hard time processing it. I can now say with certainty that it was the right choice.

Did you have any shots you were especially proud of or wished had made the final cut?

Even though I’m proud of everything, I don’t believe it belongs on the show. It was intriguing purely as an acting exercise because those scenes showed an elderly Gacy nearing the end of his life. We all kind of know this version of him because it comes from the one and only on-camera interviews he did while incarcerated on death row. Then, he is a weaker man with shock-white hair. However, I believe that when you see someone on death row who is going to be put to death, you may feel sorry for them or want to help them. However, we weren’t aiming to create that show. In the series finale, there is a scene where the relatives of the victims were not present for the execution. That story is real. They were brought to the prison, but instead of seeing it, they were forced to watch the local news in the basement. Why should we, the audience, be able to witness it when they were not permitted to enter the execution room or see him that day?

This is a shortened and edited version of the interview.