Celebrated film actor Jesse Plemons is appearing in his first TV series Zero Day for Netflix, and he has shared why it has been left deliberately vague whether the political characters on screen are Democrats or Republicans.
Plemons co-stars alongside Robert De Niro and Connie Britton, and he plays aide Roger Carlson to former US president George Mullen, played by De Niro. But neither they nor the serving president Evelyn Mitchell (Angela Bassett) are given clear political affiliations.
Plemons told The Times of London:
“When you do get into the specifics of a political party, it gives you an out immediately as a viewer to either say ‘I’m for this person’ or ‘I’m against them.’ Something disengages as you’re watching. We don’t really need any more of that.”
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Not revealing which side of the political divide he sits himself, Plemons said diplomatically:
“One of the gifts of being an actor is that, whether or not you’re playing a character whom you agree with, you’re trying to find out why they think that way.”
Plemons said he based his character’s personality not on a real-life political aide but somebody a little closer to home. He told The Times Carlson “felt a little like a talent agent to me, where your whole purpose is to protect. I’ve never played anyone like that.”
Plemons has twice previousl appeared on screen alongside De Niro – first in The Irishman (2009), Martin Scorsese’s project for Netflix, and then in Flowers of the Killer Moon (2023) by the same director – and he praised the veteran star for both his energy and being “very good at putting you at ease.”