The moment Jonathan Glatzer saw Billy Magnussen on The Franchise, he knew that he had found the perfect person to play Duncan Park on The Audacity.
For those who haven’t had The Audacity on their radar, this upcoming AMC drama, set in the tech-obsessed world of Silicon Valley, is a show to look out for.
The clear trust Glatzer and Magnussen have in each other shines through in this interview as they chat with us about this expansive new world and its central character.
While The Audacity is primarily about Duncan’s journey as an eccentric CEO, Glatzer shared that he also thought carefully about crafting the world’s community.
“Silicon Valley is a fascinating place to me, and the people inside there and the different values that they share are unique to itself,” Glatzer said.
He mentioned wanting to build out an entire community with outsider characters, such as Rob, a representative of Veterans Affairs from DC, to highlight the intricate web of relationships among the Silicon Valley regulars.
Magnussen praised Glatzer’s ability to capture the layers of how these characters put on certain “faces” with different members of the community.
“It’s awesome,” Magnussen remarked. “Jonathan Glatzer: one of the best writers of our generation.”
While Magnussen credited Glatzer for writing brilliant scripts to work with, he also did plenty of work in constructing Duncan’s strong personality.
He looked to tech bros, pulling out what he loved about them and what disgusted him.
The combination of these traits–plus an unhealthy dose of ambition–spits out The Audacity’s main character, Duncan Park.
That ambition is central to the story that Glatzer wanted to tell with this series.
Silicon Valley has a few dominant figures, but thousands are trying to climb the increasingly narrow ladder of power.
“We wanted somebody to be at the top of our pyramid who’s not at the top of his pyramid,” Glatzer said.
Desperation is the name of the game, as indicated by the title of the series itself.
When I brought this up, Magnussen did something that had never happened to me in an interview before.
He turned the question back to me, asking what I thought was most shocking about the show.
I brought up my own surprise at the startling lack of workplace boundaries at Duncan’s company.
Glatzer noted that this issue stems from Silicon Valley companies’ worship of founders.
“The founder’s personality is deified in a lot of these companies,” Glatzer said. “The size of that personality is something that I think they have determined helped with the success of a company.”
Duncan’s personality is certainly enormous, but he doesn’t necessarily 100% conform to the tech CEO stereotype.
In fact, he has something that’s seen as a weakness in the Valley: empathy.
“A lot of these guys are actually calling empathy one of the biggest problems that we have in the world,” Glatzer stated, mentioning that this fact made headlines after he had already written this theme into the show.
Even though The Audacity may be satirical, Glatzer still prioritized grounding Duncan in reality.
The ultimate goal was to keep the character true to himself rather than to strictly parody any real-life figures, even though Duncan shares their desire to “disrupt” the tech industry.
“We see the world has become such a circus in a way, where these personalities are weirdly praised,” Glatzer said. “Nothing’s audacious anymore.”
While that may be true, at least this “circus” provided entertaining enough inspiration for this chaotic television show.
You can see the full interview below!
The Audacity Season 1 premieres Sunday, April 12, at 9/8c on AMC and AMC+.
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Empathy is an Insult: Billy Magnussen & Jonathan Glatzner Dissect The Audacity’s Tech-Bro Culture
Billy Magnussen and Jonathan Glatzer discuss the explosive world of The Audacity and CEO Duncan Park’s larger-than-life personality.
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Forget Silicon Valley: Meaghan Rath & The Audacity Cast Know the Real Currency is Power
Simon Helberg, Rob Corddry, and Meaghan Rath discuss how their characters feel about being outsiders with something to prove on The Audacity.
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“Witches, and Bitches, and Karens” — Paul Adelstein & Lucy Punch Get Real About The Audacity
Paul Adelstein and Lucy Punch chat about how their characters on The Audacity have complicated marriages and parent-child relationships.
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