ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with A Man in Full star Jeff Daniels about the new Netflix series, which is based on the New York Times bestselling novel by the late Tom Wolfe. Daniels spoke about showing his comedy and dramatic acting chops in the role, plus discussed the show’s depiction of masculinity. The six-part limited series premieres May 2 on the streaming service.
“When Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker faces sudden bankruptcy, political and business interests collide as Charlie defends his empire from those attempting to capitalize on his fall from grace,” says the synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Congrats on A Man in Full. I think this is some of the best work in your entire career. I really love the show. While this is a drama, there are some hilarious moments and deliveries throughout this. How rewarding is it when you get to do a project that gets to show so much of your range?
Jeff Daniels: Well, thank you. It was an easy yes when David E. Kelly and Regina King came to me, and they had this. I had read the first episode before the meeting and I said, “I’m in.” I mean, with those two people, Thomas Schlamme, who’s a veteran director, those three people made it a yes. And then you’re playing someone who’s larger than life who doesn’t know he’s funny but is to the audience, and there’s this descent from a man’s man down to maybe an ordinary person. It’s like a free fall from being so wealthy and then having the bank take away all that money and it’s just like a free fall. That’s fun to play.
It’s a complicated part. It’s tricky. You can’t get caught trying to be funny, and you’ve gotta kind of marry the drama along with the comedy and not get caught leaning towards one or the other. So that’s the challenge of it, and that’s the trick of it. I’m thrilled that I’m one of these actors that gets to play not only comedy and drama, like when the Greeks were holding up two masks, but sometimes at the same time. That’s the little magic trick that’s fun to challenge myself with time and time again.
You mentioned “a man’s man,” so I wanted to ask you about masculinity because your character, Charlie Croker, he’s the guy that refuses to use a wheelchair after surgery because he considers it weak. This show really explores masculinity and the idea of legacy in a lot of ways. So what do you think when masculinity is brought up? What do you think of being a man is because it’s more than “a man’s gotta shake his balls,” as Charlie says.
As Charlie says, yeah. It’s more than that, and certainly, the times have changed here in 2024. That kind of man’s man isn’t necessarily revered the way he was decades ago. It’s not necessarily a goal anymore. Even the man’s man of the world could use a little humanity and sit down and be quiet for a while. I mean, the times have changed and I think David and Regina and Tommy did a great job of kind of blowing that up. It’s watching a dirigible or a blimp, the man’s man blimp, and then it just blows up and falls all the way to the Earth. That’s what A Man in Full does. By the end of the six episodes, it was a fun ride, even though I ended up faceplanting on Earth.
