Tobey Maguire explains why he personally chose the 'creepiest, most depraved' Babylon role
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Warning: This article contains spoilers for Babylon.
You've never seen Tobey Maguire quite like this.
As James McKay in Babylon, he's a greasy-haired, ashen-faced, drug-addled version of the mythical Charon, guiding viewers through an underground Hollywood party that feels like nine layers of pure Dantean hell. It's a far cry from the kind, innocent, or heroic characters that modern audiences have come to anticipate from the boyish Spider-Man actor.
According to writer-director Damien Chazelle, Maguire's casting in the movie, which follows the rise and fall of an eclectic group of showbiz players as cinema transitions from silents to talkies, was almost by happenstance. The two connected when Chazelle was working on the script.
"I got to know Tobey, and then we would start doing read-throughs of the movie — mainly for me as a writer to get a sense of where it lagged, where it worked, where it didn't — and we would do them at Tobey's house," he recalls.
The La La Land filmmaker remembers that Maguire would play three or four different roles and he would "be amazing in all of them," but McKay "felt like the right fit." Even still, it was Maguire who ultimately chose the villainous role for himself.
"It's sort of funny now looking back, it was actually Tobey who picked out of this range of options this character, McKay, which was sort of the creepiest, the most depraved of all of them," Chazelle says, adding with a chuckle, "I don't know what that says about Tobey, but that's what he picked."
EW got Maguire's side of the story.
Paramount Pictures Tobey Maguire plays James McKay in 'Babylon.'
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, of all the roles in Babylon, why did this one speak to you?
TOBEY MAGUIRE: Oh, that's a good question. [Laughs] I don't know. There was something kind of appealing about playing James, because he was unusual and I really liked the character. I liked the role that he plays in the story, and where he comes [into play], hoisting the film and these guys into that underbelly, into that world. It seemed like fun. And I didn't have a really clear vision of what I would do, which was kind of exciting. There was just a lot of possibility in the characterization.
Was there another role in particular that you considered?
Well, there were other things that I was looking at that looked fun, too. But I just got pulled to McKay. And it's funny, too: Obviously once things are done, and you're looking at what other actors did in the other roles that were possibilities — and they're just so good — you go, Oh, I couldn't imagine anybody else having done that. They're so good. But I just gravitated to James.
Damien described the role to me as sort of like an overgrown Pied Piper. I'm curious what your thoughts are and if you had any particular inspirations — real or fictional — for the character.
I would say in terms of inspiration, no — no one person specifically. There were a lot of inspirations from just combing through some of the research that was done for the film that Damien had put together. [The character] is also pitching movies, which I thought was hilarious. I think with what Damien's talking about with the Pied Piper, to me, this guy — even though he looks like what he looks like, and and it feels underworldly — I see him as in some ways like [Margot Robbie's] character, how she's pointing out the hypocrisy of a certain crowd.
And I think for him, he's like, "Look at this world." He wants to share [the underworld]. I think he genuinely is like, "You guys are gonna have a blast at this place, and you're gonna love these people, and you're in the movies, so we have a treasure trove of ideas." But to him, this is what it is to be human. I think in his mind, he's thinking he could end up creating a whole studio and bring this to the world, and he's going to create blockbuster after blockbuster between his own cinematic ideas and all these "great" people he can bring into the light.
Scott Garfield/Paramount Tobey Maguire in 'Babylon'
How much input did you have over his look? What all went into that?
It was fun in the testing of it. Because again, it was pretty broad what we could do. So I think, starting with the clothing, we tried some different directions. There was a green suit, kind of just like a basic salesman look. It would have felt quite different. And then [what we went with] felt like "emcee of the underworld" clothing. And when I put it on, it just started to feel right and put a specific direction to James McKay in my body, and it just felt right relative to the other things we're putting on.
Then, the hair and makeup actually went pretty quickly. Damien had people wearing masks and makeup and said, "Let's try some makeup on James." So we were playing with that really pale makeup. [Damien] had some images from Death in Venice in his mind that we were looking at. And then, once we kind of got to that, I thought it would be fun to apply some makeup in the scene, or more makeup in the scene. So I don't know, we were just playing and trying different things, and it just sort of got built in the process. It was fun.
Your scenes are some of the most disturbing in the film, and are very dark. Did you have the chance to, at other times, be on set and enjoy some lighter moments?
Yeah, I definitely visited on different days. The exterior and interior locations of the first party. So, I mean, that was its own version of... not quite like the blockhouse, but they were definitely having fun themselves. [Laughs] But even the exterior location of that party was pretty tame, with Margot coming in and running into the statue and that stuff. And then my buddy Shane [Powers] was in the movie and played security there, so I was visiting him. And then my kids are in a shot there, too. They were extras very briefly. But they were so excited just to get in, like, the clothes and makeup and stuff.
Damien had said he's never seen you in a role like this one. Do you agree? Does this feel like a turning point to you?
It was certainly fun. I'm trying to think, but yeah, I don't know when I've gotten to play a character like this. Certainly nothing I can remember. Nothing in film that people would have seen. Of course, as an actor reading plays, or playing with your friends, you do all kinds of stuff. That was definitely a part of playing James, this idea of: Oh, I just want to go dive into something I haven't done and not know what I'm going to do.
Sometimes you read scripts, and it's like, Oh, I know pretty well what I would do with this, immediately. And McKay for me was like, "Huh, not sure. But I think it'd be fun to try to figure it out as I went." And then I would work on it, I really worked on it. And even as I was memorizing the lines, reading over and over, I would play with the character all over the place. I would just play it wildly differently. I'm just talking about in my living room or backyard. And it was a lot of fun. I felt a lot of freedom. I could do anything with this, basically knowing that it would zero itself in, but it was a lot of fun to have that freedom and certainly fun to play a more extreme or broader kind of character, a more unusual character.
What are you looking to do next? Do you want to tackle another darker role like this one?
Good question. I don't have anything specific in mind. I think there are a lot of talented people I'd love to work with, and other than that, I sort of see roles and scripts as kind of like when a song comes on and you either want to get up and dance to that song or you don't. It just calls to you. You know, some of those songs make you want to get up and move, and some you're like, "I like that song, but it's not getting me up."
Babylon, now in theaters, also stars Jean Smart, Brad Pitt, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, and many more.
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