Sometimes it’s a slog – even for great writers – because you have to get the information out to the audience. But the really good writers are able to do it in a way that feels effortless. Sometimes you have to do it, particularly in TV. What you always dread as an actor is having to carry exposition. What was interesting to me, is that once I signed on, they wrote that scene between me and Wunmi Mosaku (who plays Civil Rights Attorney Nicole Steele) when she comes into a bar and I’m at the stool there in my own neighborhood, it’s such a great scene. He’s a character in it that’s very pivotal and important, but you almost hear more about him than see him. And, you know, it’s not the Daniel Hersl story. Josh Charles: Part of the reason why I didn’t reach out and talk to Daniel (Hersl), not that he would have necessarily talked to me anyway, was because I got so much from the bodycam footage and from talking to the people who knew him. There’s more of a blunt-force instrument quality in Hersl. I wouldn’t have necessarily thought of you for Hersl, but your character is sort of the flip of Jon Bernthal’s Wayne Jenkins, in that both of you represent what went wrong, but you do it in a different way. That felt like part of my job, to bring that authenticity to it, so that people in my hometown would see it and say, oh yeah, that’s a guy from Highlandtown.Īwards Daily: This isn’t a role with a lot of lines, except for episode two, but there’s a physical presence that you bring to every scene. You can actually hear him talking about it on the bodycam footage that I got to see. In doing my research on him, he was a huge Orioles fan, always wearing an Orioles shirt to work, going to games after work. This guy was Baltimore through and through. He is a product of the places where we were filming. But I felt like I had this really good take on Hersl, and knowing that he was the one guy on the Gun Trace Task Force who, aside from his brutality, what separates him from some of the other police involved is he is actually from the city, right there in that area. David was driving, George was in D.C., others were in Baltimore, so it was this interesting Zoom meeting. Everyone was in different places on Zoom. But they just wanted to connect and let me know I got it. Then we had another meeting, about thirty minutes after, and I wasn’t sure what it was going to be about – I thought I didn’t get it and they were just going to tell me nicely. I did have to audition, and given the COVID of it all, it was this weird Zoom audition. Josh Charles: I didn’t have to jump through hoops, but I did have to read. I was thrilled and excited to be a part of telling this, admittedly painful, but really important story in my city’s history.Īwards Daily: What was the process of getting cast like? I didn’t think too much of it after that, and then it came up as a possibility for me to be a part of it. Of course, the perfect people made it – David Simon and George Pelecanos, and their whole team.
#JOSH CHARLES MOVIE#
We kind of struck up a friendship and then when I read the book, I thought this is a movie – the story of the Gun Trace Task Force – this is a film, or a TV show.
#JOSH CHARLES SERIES#
So, I reached out to him a long time ago before this series was even a reality on Twitter, just a DM, to tell him what great work he was doing. I followed Justin Fenton (author of the non-fiction book, We Own This City ) when he was at the Baltimore Sun, and I still do now that he just left and is starting at the Baltimore Banner – a new online publication that’s really great.
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I care deeply about the city and I see it struggling, and I’m always trying to enlighten myself and see what’s happening and how we can improve it. I follow everything in Baltimore, not just sports, but politics too. Therefore, it’s a story that I knew very well. My family is there, I go back often, and it’s the kind of town that if you’re from there – maybe more so than the bigger cities – we take a lot of pride in our city, warts and all. Josh Charles: Born and raised in Baltimore. Was that part of the allure of being a part of We Own This City ? In discussing a dark period for the Baltimore police force after the death of Freddie Gray, Josh and I dug deep-not only into his character and the choices he made in portraying real-life officer Daniel Hersl, but also the systemic issues that impact policing in Baltimore and in the nation at large.Īwards Daily: You are from Baltimore.
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But as Josh pointed out during our conversation, this is actually his third time playing such a character ( Four Brothers, SWAT ), but of course, playing “bad cop” for David Simon (the creator of The Wire ) and George Pelecanos comes with a greater level of gravitas. When you think of actors who might play a dirty cop, Josh Charles might not be the first to come to mind. Download: Native Baltimorean Josh Charles on Returning to his Hometown to Play Daniel Hersl in ‘We Own This City’