Rickon isn’t clowning round.
Michael Chernus, finest identified for enjoying the goofy Rickon on “Severance,” takes a darker flip within the serial killer present, “Satan in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy.”
Premiering Oct. 16 on Peacock, the present dramatizes the serial killer’s reign of terror and highlights his sufferer’s tales. Gabriel Luna (“The Final of Us”) and James Badge Daley co-star as cops.
“To be sincere, I used to be hesitant once I first obtained the decision that there was curiosity in me enjoying John Wayne Gacy, as a result of that simply sounds actually sophisticated and tough,” Chernus, 48, completely informed The Publish.
Gacy was a serial killer who raped and murdered over 30 younger males and boys between 1972 and 1978 in Cook dinner County, Illinois. Dubbed “the killer clown” as a result of he dressed as a clown to entertain youngsters (previous to getting caught and convicted for his crimes), Gacy was executed by deadly injection on Might 10, 1994.
Chernus mentioned he was “put relaxed” by govt producer and showrunner Patrick McManus.
“I knew we had been on the identical web page, and that he and I by no means needed to sensationalize this story, or actually not glorify John Wayne Gacy, and that he actually needed to make clear who a few of these victims had been,” mentioned Chernus.
He added that whereas enjoying the serial killer, “I by no means needed him to return off as too likable or charming. I simply needed the viewers to grasp this is the reason a few of these younger males trusted him.”
Chernus shares a younger daughter together with his spouse, entrepreneur Emily Simoness. Being a dad stored him from dwelling on the darkish subject material throughout filming.
“It actually sticks with you. However…my daughter was one and a half on the time. And so, each day, I simply form of needed to….go away it on the door. And once I got here house, I simply needed to be dad. That basically form of saved me from bringing the work house.”
Don’t count on to see a lot of Gacy as a clown in “Satan in Disguise,” nevertheless.
Chernus mentioned he’s encountered clowning earlier than, when he attended Julliard in his youth. “We had a pair clowning courses, and bodily comedy courses,” he informed The Publish.
“I’ll say that with this story, I really feel just like the the clown factor is one thing that obtained blown out of proportion by the media within the 70s.”
“It’s comprehensible. It was an attention-grabbing headline. It was actually distinctive,” the actor mentioned. “However so far as we all know, he didn’t really kill any of his victims dressed as a clown. He didn’t use the clown persona to lure boys and younger males again to his home, it was a small a part of his life..certainly one of many masks he wore to strive to slot in and conceal in plain sight.”
He defined, “So we really don’t present a lot of the clown.”
Between Gacy and Pennywise the clown in Stephen King’s “It,” creepy clowns have lengthy been a staple of popular culture.
“If he didn’t begin the worry of clowns, he actually amplified it,” Chernus mentioned about Gacy.
“Some individuals suppose – and I don’t know that Stephen King has confirmed this – however that he was an inspiration for Pennywise in ‘It.’ That’s the factor that popular culture has taken from this case.”
However, Chernus added that as a result of the clown side “wasn’t a big half” of who Gacy was, “I feel we’re attempting to re-correct that story.”
