Emmy-nominated actor Jake Lacy (“The Office” and “The White Lotus”) chatted about starring in “Apples Never Fall” on Peacock.
Lacy stars alongside such actors as Annette Bening, Sam Neill, Alison Brie, Georgia Flood, and Conor Merrigan Turner, among others.
Portraying Troy Delaney in ‘Apples Never Fall’
Lacy plays the role of Troy Delaney, and he is drawn to him for several reasons. “Troy is working overtime to compensate for this gaping hole in him where there should be love and confidence and there isn’t, or perhaps some self-love,” he said.
Lacy continued, “That is just clear and very active to play: a guy who is driving full-steam ahead and feels like his serenity will exist or be found if he can just crush enough.”
“If he can take control, it will all even out, and that continues to not be true. He runs that train until it just hits a wall, and that wall is joy disappearing. That is so destabilizing for him. It was fulfilling to be a part of this series,” Lacy added.
Working with Annette Bening
On working with Oscar nominee Annette Bening, Lacy said, “It is one thing to admire somebody from afar and the work that they’ve done. For the most part, I meet folks that I admire, and I get to work with them, and they are lovely.”
“Doing the kind of work that I am moved by requires a certain amount of vulnerability and selflessness as a performer, and Annette’s work has been varied and beautiful for 30 years now, and she’s a the same as a person: warm, welcoming, collaborative, funny,” he elaborated.
“Annette wants to goof around, have fun, and create something together, and that’s so exciting,” Lacy added.
The digital age
On being an actor in the digital age, Lacy said, “It doesn’t change anything for me, to be honest. I’m doing the same work if it’s going to a movie theater or if it’s going to a streaming platform or cable TV.”
“I am just hoping for good, nuanced, layered multidimensional material and to work with people with a vision greater than my own to try to hitch onto that thing, and go with them. I don’t like social media and the compression of nuanced information, but I am not really in that business, so it doesn’t really change things,” he elaborated.
Advice for young and aspiring actors
For young and aspiring actors, Lacy said, “I’ve been very leery of giving advice because I’ve been very lucky, and I don’t want to speak from a place as if that luck is self-generated as if it’s a meritocracy and somehow, I’ve got the key to get from A to B to C.”
Lacy continued, “I have one story of how my career has evolved and it’s probably not the objective truth. All I can really say if that what has benefitted me is to continually be caring about this craft and when you are at the crossroads (big and small) between caring about the work and taking this shady shortcut, it always pays dividends to give over to the process and to be present to the people that you are with.”
“I don’t know if that gets you success or a career or a job, but It has been personally fulfilling to me,” Lacy added.
Stage of his life
On the title of the current chapter of his life, Lacy jokingly said, “Jake Stops Figuring It Out.” “I’m alone in a corner, I guess,” Lacy said.
Success
On his definition of the word success, Lacy said, “Success is all a context. I have two little kids and they are two forms of success in my life right now. There is creative success and fulfillment, and then, I want to have a long career so I can take care of my kids and give them the life that I want to give them.”
Closing thoughts on ‘Apples Never Fall’
Lacy remarked about the series “Apples Never Fall,” “I think this family starts to find a little compassion for each other’s journeys, and in doing so, they find a little compassion for themselves.”
“I respond to that, and if other people respond to that, then that’s great, and if they only like tennis, then that’s also great.
To learn more about Jake Lacy, follow him on Instagram and check out his IMDb page.
