Charles Melton Is the Biggest Surprise This Awards Season
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It’s the most exciting time of Charles Melton’s career — and he’s spent much of it asleep.
“There’s a lot of gratitude. I also never knew I was capable of taking so many naps in one day,” Melton says. “I’m just sleeping.”
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Oh, don’t get him wrong: The past few weeks have seen a whirlwind of promotional work and accolades for the May December actor. The 32-year-old made kimchi for a New York Times profile, did spots on morning shows, humorously fumbled his Gotham Awards trophy, and cried to rapturous applause while accepting the Breakthrough Performance honor at the Critics Choice Association Celebration of Cinema & Television: Honoring Black, Latino and AAPI Achievements. But all of the attention and accompanying jet lag — following immense praise for his performance in the new Todd Haynes film — hasn’t kept Melton from understanding just what’s happening. This is the beginning of the rest of his life, and it’s only getting crazier from here.
“There’s just so much gratitude,” he tells Rolling Stone.
It’s a gray New York afternoon, and this very interview is one part of what will continue to be a jam-packed schedule for Melton. But he’s grinning all the same. “I mean, you don’t ever think about things like this when you’re filming. Seeing Natalie [Portman] and Julie [ Moore] every day and the crew, Sam Lisenco, directed by Todd Haynes. That’s the gift. So everything else is just, like, whoa.”
Look, most actors thank the people who helped make their films possible. But the giddy way Melton has embraced an awards season declaring him a star is especially poignant when placed next to his performance in Netflix’s May December. The film is loosely based on the real-life story of convicted sex offender Mary Kay Letourneau, who started a relationship with her 12-year-old student Vili Fualaau — later having his child in prison, returning to jail, and then marrying Fualaau until the couple’s separation in 2019 (Letourneau passed away the following year). Samy Burch’s screenwriting debut sees the brutal, straight-to-tabloids story be reconceived into the life of Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Moore) and her husband, Joe Yoo (Melton), whose relationship began when Joe was 13 and she was 36, and has since resulted in three children and an extended prison stay for Gracie. Now, two decades after the couple was first discovered in the back room of a local pet store, the two are living a seemingly ordinary life in Savannah, Georgia. Things have quieted down (they now only occasionally receive packages of shit on their front porch) when actress Elizabeth Berry (Portman) comes to shadow Gracie as prep for playing her in an upcoming film about their lives.
It’s an inscrutable well of interpersonal grievances, power imbalances, and history, a perfect breeding ground for sharp work from screen icons Portman and Moore, the latter in her fifth film with Haynes. But while the two are competing to see how much cringe and humor one can conceivably fit into a movie about sexual assault and grooming, there’s Melton off to the side, quietly stealing the show. Melton’s Joe manages to physically embody a 13-year-old in the shoulders of an anxious 36-year-old father of three. It’s a finely calibrated performance that never goes overboard; a subtle approach that makes his life seem all the more tragic. A child has been stolen, a life quietly stripped away and somehow still sitting uncomfortably in the living room. It’s genius, and has earned Melton raves. But the actor explains that becoming Joe was more about leaning into the moments that weren’t on the page — an observation that shows a glimpse of how deeply and intentionally Melton views his work.
“The script is so subtle. So the simplicity creates this limitless expansion to explore these characters,” he says, affecting the cradling, shuddering shoulders that define his performance in the film. “And I felt this intuitive connection to who I thought Joe was — this repressed man, this loneliness, this sense of masking and layering himself in order to navigate and survive in life. Joe doesn’t know how to take up space. Joe is protective of himself. So there’s this idea of thinking about the psychology of everything that just felt natural. To protect myself, maybe in a way I’m protecting Joe.”
Melton can now hold his own opposite a pair of Oscar winners, but the 32-year-old didn’t get there overnight. An army brat whose father was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, Melton’s childhood was filled with scheduled moves to Canada, Korea, Germany, Texas, and Kansas, each accompanied by a shift in personality.
“You’re kind of hitting the refresh button wherever you go,” he says, describing transformations from dyed-blonde bangs to cargo shorts. “Not so much re-creating a new identity, but just evolving in a sense.”
A chance listen to a radio commercial looking for actors led him to the field, where a move to Los Angeles was dominated by dog-walking gigs until he landed the role of football jock Reggie Mantle in Riverdale. Nailing the role of Joe in May December involved a six-week audition process and an eventual 23-day shoot in Georgia that has now permanently parked Melton in front of a sea of microphones and inquiring reporters. And Melton describes his journey with a mix of enthusiasm and directness that comes off as uniquely heartfelt.
After six years of being out in L.A. and not really working that much, I remember watching this Oprah Winfrey interview. And my takeaway was that whatever I do, whatever my dream is, each step, each thing that I do, I’m going to do it with passion, and I’m going to be the best at it.
“My dad’s a big dreamer. He dreams big for me. And that really encouraged me a lot,” he says. “After six years of being out in L.A. and not really working that much, I remember watching this Oprah Winfrey interview. And my takeaway was that whatever I do, whatever my dream is, each step, each thing that I do, I’m going to do it with passion, and I’m going to be the best at it.”
Going from an erratic CW drama to an awards-season contender could ruin the best of men. Lucky for Melton, there’s an earnestness that wafts off him, even over a grainy Zoom. He wants to talk about the kimchi business his Korean mom helped him start during the actors’ strike. An avid journaler, entries about the day he met Natalie Portman and a New York afternoon where he ate a slice of pizza and heard saxophone in Madison Square Park are treated with the same reverence. He’s not embarrassed about his jobs as a YA heartthrob. He’s quick to check with his sister and agent that he’s not going off on a tangent. He very clearly misses his dog. If you’ve met Charles Melton, it seems like you’ve met whoever he is when the cameras are off. And he’s proud of that.
“Do I really notice anything different about [my fame]? No, I’m pretty good about putting on the blinders. I still take the subway. I even hate the fact that I said I still take the subway like I’m one of the common people,” he giggles. “I have to take the subway. I go to Chipotle. I call my parents, I call my best friends, I go camping, all of these things. It’s just so great that people even want to make time to talk to me, because I never imagined this when I was filming. So I’m just humbled by everything. I’m just grateful.”
Melton jokes that he’s seen May December probably “three million” times, less out of a desire to see himself and more a love of watching projects with Moore and Portman. But he’s quick to note that this isn’t the first learning process he’s encountered as an actor.
“I really discovered my work ethic and the sense of my process when it came to doing May December, and I’m just excited to work like this again. But I learned so much even prior to filming May December that I’ll take into whatever the next project is. I worked with over 100 directors on Riverdale. That’s insane,” Melton says. “So I never feel like I ever want to distance myself [from past projects]. I’m getting opportunities that I’m so grateful for, that are shaping me and informing me. One thing doesn’t live without the other. If it wasn’t for Riverdale I wouldn’t be here talking with you. So many different things align so I feel just so much gratitude.”
On their own, his success thus far on the indie-awards circuit has been thrilling for Melton. Even so, it’d be disingenuous to ignore the gleaming statue in the room — mainly, the rising odds that Melton is a frontrunner for a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the 96th Academy Awards in March. But it doesn’t seem like it’s causing him any grief.
“I’m more worried about if I’m going to make it to the playoffs with my fantasy league football team,” he laughs. “Let me try to get through the playoffs real quick, and then we’ll see what happens.
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