Feud Star Chris Chalk on How He Found His James Baldwin

There’s no shortage of real (and very dramatic) stories behind Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, but one of the series’ most exciting episodes is based on an incident that didn’t actually occur.

In the show’s most recent installment, “The Secret Inner Lives of Swans,” Truman Capote—forlorn on the day after his incendiary story “La Côte Basque, 1965” was published in Esquire—spends an afternoon with the writer James Baldwin, played by Chris Chalk. The two literary giants have lunch, wander a museum, drink excessively, and discuss the finer points of a world that has welcomed them both—if only to keep them at arm’s length.

Here, Chalk shares with T&C the perks and pitfalls of playing a literary hero.

So much of this series is based on real events—things that send us running to seek out the true stories that are stranger than fiction. But it seems like these two giants never actually had this incredible day together.

I didn't concern myself and I never would; it'd be a train wreck to try. It would be too intimidating for me as an artist to go in and try to find the conversation and mimic it. So, whether it happened or not, my job was to make it feel fresh. In the time I had to prep, I just sucked up everything that I could that felt autobiographical and read a lot of Baldwin’s writing to get deeper into who he was so that I could honor it. That doesn't really answer your question—did this really happen? I would never even care. I don't want to bog myself down with that responsibility in that way.

What made you want to play Baldwin?

I’ve always wanted to play James Baldwin. I hadn't even told my team how much I wanted to play him because I was thinking, oh, I'll have to write something. And then there was a call saying, “we have an opportunity for Chris to audition for James Baldwin,” and I immediately was like, I’ve got to get it. And, of course, I wanted to work with Ryan Murphy.

What reading did you do that was particularly helpful?

I would find any video I could, I read the old books. The pieces that served me the most were any in which he wrote about sexuality, which he changed his thoughts on over time. He starts with “it's your personal business,” and then he barely speaks on it at all, but he's still very openly gay. His intellectualism was important to me because he's so wise and accurate with his assessment of the world, because he studies people and the world and he's not afraid to speak his truth. And obviously his perspective on Blackness was incredibly important. He is more than those things, but those are the things that he's speaking on in this context.

How did you go about getting into character? The costumes and settings help, I’m sure, but what was your process?

I think the work started well before that, working on which era of James Baldwin’s voice we wanted to use—because my interpretation was a little bit of the young James and a little bit of the old James. The next thing was movement work. I had my ideas, and we found ways to incorporate more of my body and help e identify where I was a little stiffer. And then, of course, you add these costumes and these fittings; which ring to wear, how does this piece land on your shoulders? It was like playing dress up and moving around, dancing in it and seeing if it worked. We had so many options that I'm sure narrowing it down was the biggest responsibility.

Part of what makes Feud exciting is that it’s exposing a modern audience to these writers who were giants in their time but maybe lesser-known today. What do you hope people take from your performance?

I normally don't hope for the audience to do anything; it’s not my job. But with this one, I kind of hope there's a rise in intellectualism. It used to be that what was on TV at night was really smart people talking about the world, and I feel like we could maybe use more of that today. Baldwin and Capote were popular, they were rock stars, writers were rock stars, and I think we could borrow some of that.

These guys were not shrinking violets.

Why be humble? If I'm only going to be good at three things, I better be proud that I'm good at those three things. Why would I dumb down the fact that I'm a genius? At the time, there was also not as much blowback for having a point of view that was different. They were so bold to just stand out, saying, “This is me! Say whatever you will but give me a platform to retort and I'll change your mind.”

Say you could take any author you love for this kind of epic, rambling afternoon. Who would it be?

Octavia Butler, are you kidding me?

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