Many actors pride themselves on being able to play a wide array of roles, but few are faced with the possibility of winning Emmys for nailing two diametrically opposed characters in one year, as Jeff Daniels is. The actor, who already nabbed an Emmy when he starred in The Newsroom, is nominated this year for his performance in two limited series: as real-life F.B.I. agent John ONeill in Hulus The Looming Tower (based on Lawrence Wrights Pulitzer-winning investigative book about the events leading to 9/11) and as Frank Griffith, a twisted outlaw in Netflixs unorthodox western, Godless.
What do the two figures have in common? “They dont understand themselves,” Daniels said. Griffith believes himself invincible, repeating the refrain, “Ive seen my death. This aint it.” ONeill, meanwhile, was a hard-drinking, larger-than-life character with a chaotic private life who tried to warn the powers that be that a terrorist attack was likely.
“[ONeill] has a wife, a family, and two mistresses, and a bull-in-a-china-shop approach to bureaucracy and diplomacy—this is your hero?” Daniels quips. “But thats whats so great about the current frontier that is television is that you can have someone like that as your hero, and an audience that will watch 10 hours of that story.”
While having his photo taken for the “Above the Law” portfolio in V.F.s special Emmys issue, Daniels discussed taking risks, learning to ride horses like a cowboy, and his respect for the F.B.I. at a time when Donald Trump routinely disparages the bureau.
Vanity Fair: Your two nominated characters are pretty different.
Jeff Daniels: I love the fact that theyre two entirely different things. Not only just different projects, but the characters are sort of so wildly different. And theyre wildly different from [Will] McAvoy in Newsroom. You take these things on because theres risk involved that you may miss, and the Emmys said I pulled it off. It means a lot that both of them scored. If you go back to Gettysburg, to Dumb and Dumber, it was always part of the plan to have as wide a range as possible, and Godless and The Looming Tower shows that and Im happy for that.
Was it fun to play the physical stuff in Godless?
Every actor should do a western, but they should train. . . . I trained for two months in Michigan with a guy who trains the local mounted police and the county guys. I had a rodeo guy. He was the real deal. He helped me immensely. In the three months of riding, I rode a lot and galloped a lot and crossed the prairie leading 30 guys. . . . Youre on the horse all week. Youve gotta get ready for that. I still fell off three times. I was thrown off twice and jumped off once and the time I jumped off, I broke my wrist. Its different than doing, say, a sit-down drama—people in a kitchen talking.
I hesitated to watch The Looming Tower because Im from New York, I was there that morning of 9/11, and I worried about the emotional toll as a viewer. Was that true in terms of acting it?
There was nothing like that [for me as an actor], because youre programmed not to know that 9/11 is coming. John ONeill, on the morning he went to work, was just going to work. . . . You let other people worry about that—the viewers, the producers. Your job is to go to work on Tuesday. That kind of frees you from . . . that emotional burden.
I remember talking for about three hours with [ONeills] partners in a bar down in the Village—F.B.I. guys, guns on their ankles—and just grabbing a beer or two before they went home or went back to the F.B.I. in the morning, and Ali Soufan was there. [It was] about 10 of them. I just listened and listened and listened [to them] talking about John. It was extremely helpful. I got out and walked to the car and I turned, looked down 6th Avenue or something, and looked up and there were the Twin Towers. There was the new tower, the Freedom Tower, and it was . . . Id just spent three hours talking about John and that landed.
It reminded me of [when I shot] Gettysburg. . . . I remember going to Little Round Top, which is where Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain [who I portrayed] fought his famous battle. And it was 10 oclock in the morning on a Sunday. Its raining, sort of. Theres nobody there. Its like a cathedral and you can just feel it: people died right here. If you let yourself, you can feel it. Same thing with that Freedom Tower.
When you have these attacks on the F.B.I. [by Donald Trump], does it make the role feel more meaningful in a way? Youre trying to accurately portray the work that these people have done.
“Im not a doctor. I play one on TV.” Im not that versed in what the F.B.I. is, but being around those guys, I understand that these guys have been in life or death situations, and they will probably be in more. These guys are dictated by the rule of law. . . . They have such guidelines, such guardrails on staying within ethics and proper procedure. . . . “It means nothing to me whether youre a Republican or a Democrat or whether I like you are not. Did you do this? If you did, we will then serve an indictment and you will go to jail. If you didnt, then we wont and well walk away and youre clear.” . . .
So, to see them attacked for something as transparent as whats going on now? Were seeing a desperate man, but will he get away with it and, if he does, whos gonna allow that? And if he doesnt, whos stepping up? Who are the heroes gonna be? . . . Its just 230-plus years of democracy at stake. Thats all.
Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Joy PressJoy Press is a T.V. Correspondent for Vanity Fair. Her book, Stealing the Show: How Women Are Revolutionizing Television, was released in February.
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