Steven Prusakowski
Just like clockwork, season five of FX’s Fargo provided one hell of a chaotic ride. While fans of the Noah Hawley series have learned to expect the unexpected, based on the reactions, no one was quite anticipating the strangely beautiful, almost spiritual, conclusion this season delivered. (Warning: mild spoilers ahead – if you have not watched season five in its entirety proceed with caution.)
The final scene is the chef’s kiss, a unique mix of ingredients: a loving family, a hitman, and buttermilk biscuits, of course. On paper the combination may seem rather random, perhaps even a recipe for disaster, but for those who have watched the finale, it made for the perfect concoction of kindness, hope, and humanity we did not know we needed.
The typically violent and dark series maintained that tone right until that final fifteen minute scene then quickly subverted expectations in the very best of ways. The brilliant ending’s inclusion made everything preceding it land with much more weight and meaning that resonate long after viewing. Which is coincidentally, just how I felt after speaking with one of the season’s stars, David Rysdahl.
As listeners know, the idea behind TV Topics is to provide new perspective on the actresses and actors whose work we already appreciate. While most industry interviews tackle the interviewee’s current project they rarely thoroughly explore the person behind the performance. During our conversation, Rysdahl made sure that was certainly not the case.
Going into the interview, I was already a fan of Rysdahl, especially his superb work in the 2020 film Nine Days, a creative and moving look at the afterlife (which also stars his wife Zazie Beetz) – one of my favorite films of that year. With that said, our conversation focused mainly around his work as Wayne on the most recent season of Fargo; the meek, supportive car salesman whose wife (Juno Temple) may not be exactly who he thinks she is. Rysdahl dives deep into his character and process in with detail that left me appreciating his work at a new level.
In addition to his work on Fargo, the actor was asked several of our popular TV Topics questions which provide listeners a unique at our guests through their TV viewing including one of my standard questions: What is the first primetime show that you remember really loving? Rysdahl’s response provided some a surprising amount insight not only into his viewing tastes, but also into his work as an actor.
“The first show that I got into, that was mine, was The Office. I love the Steve Carell, and I still go back to that show. I have a huge soft spot for how they created so much specificity of every character. As an actor, if you have one line on this episode, how do you make that person interesting?,” answered Rysdahl. “The timing, the vulnerability, the subconscious and the conscious wants – how you do layers, how Michael Scott does layers, or Steve Carell with that character?”
The series connected with Rysdahl to such a degree that he even incorporates it into his acting preparation, he explained. “Sometimes I’ll watch The Office just to get inspired before an audition, or inspired before a day on set, just to remind myself that humans are messy, and we can be funny, and character should come first, you can do so much with a moment.”
As a one of five children, Rysdahl was exposed to a healthy dose of television growing up from Bill Nye the Science Guy to Texas Walker Ranger and Cheers, to more modern classics like Succession, Mad Men (starring Fargo co-star John Hamm), Breaking Bad and Atlanta (his wife’s series). You can hear in his answers that the actor does not only watch these series, he studies them, dissecting the characters and performances to identify qualities that can be helpful to his own work.
The amount Rysdahl commits to his work may be best exemplified into the backstory he and co-star, Juno Temple, created for their husband and wife characters, Dot and Wayne Lyon. The pair met multiple times before even shooting their first scene to discuss their on-screen relationship including how it was affected by Wayne’s domineering mother Lorraine (the fantastic Jennifer Jason Leigh).
“Wayne is a kill him with kindness kind of guy. Has, has learned to deal with his intense mother. But the question is what do the three of us talk about? What that wedding was like? When I came home and said, ‘I found my wife and I’m going to marry her.’ I’m sure there was tension. And for me, that talks to the strength of Wayne, even before he starts in the strength of their relationship,” shared Rysdahl.
It was apparent just how much Wayne lives in Rysdahl’s head as the actor slipped between referring to himself and the character. “I felt like Juno gave me a lot of confidence, or Dot gave Wayne confidence. I (“Wayne”) grew up and I was dressed by my mother. Everything was given to me by my mom. Then I was having a crisis in my early twenties of ‘who am I?’ Because of this intense mother I had growing up, I wanted to have my own journey, but not knowing what that was like, I took some night courses to try to gain confidence.”
“In that class was Dot – I sat next to her and we had so much fun together. She made me feel so good about who I was and gave me the confidence to go start Wayne Motors – to be a great salesman. I think it’s been 10 years of us building each other up. So that’s the backstory,” revealed Rysdahl. That’s just the tip of the Wayne iceberg – the actor shared much more insight you can hear about in the audio interview.
The influence of the actor’s improv experience on his acting is heard in his every word. Rysdahl credits his 10 years at The PIT (People’s Improv Theater) in New York for changing the way he approaches his craft including in that memorable final scene.
“Before improv, I always felt like I had to be perfect on the lines,” said Rysdahl. “You wanna do that writing justice because it’s written so musically, but the approach to it can be flexible. And improv broke away those chains of having to be always right. I could just listen. So much of listening and just knowing, ‘All right, this is gonna be a different scene. Every take’s gonna feel very different.'”
“For that last scene with Ole Munch (Sam Spruell) before Dot’s coming in, Sam and I were just riffing of what was the conversation like for him (“Wayne”) to come into the door and he (“Munch”) was there,” detailed Rysdahl. “He’s like, I know your wife. What was the conversation from that point to where we’re sitting in silence as my wife comes home? We improvised that for a while. And that helps you as an actor come into the scene as if it’s already a scene.”
Just as Dot and Wayne support each other, so do Rysdahl and Zazie Beetz, the actor’s wife, scene partner, and TV watching companion. David provided a peek into what the life of two married working actors is like. “We’ve been reading a lot of scripts together. That’s what’s fun about dating or being married to other actors. She’s my acting coach and I’m hers,” shared Rysdahl. “We’re always reading each other’s material, giving ideas, having some wine and being like, ‘All right, let’s play it out. Let’s read the scene and just play it around for a while and find it.’ We’re always doing that while also watching.”
Be sure to listen to my full conversation with David (below). If you have Fargo season five it will provide amazing insight into the his character, his process and so much more (including how those biscuits tasted). Also keep a look out for Rysdahl in Noah Hawley’s upcoming Alien TV series – the prequel to the 1979 film is scheduled for release on FX in 2025. The TV Topics Episode has been updated with a full 15 minutes discussing the highly anticipated series.
[…] my acting coach and I’m hers,” Rysdahl told Awards Radar in 2024. “We’re always reading each other’s material, giving ideas, having some wine and […]