The cast of McVeigh shared how exactly the movie's true story—which is about the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing—eerily reflects today's society.
McVeigh follows a true story and stars Alfie Allen as Timothy McVeigh, the American domestic terrorist who, following the 1993 Waco raids, plans a devasting bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995.
The deadly attack killed 168 people.
The Direct was able to speak with McVeigh's cast, including Anthony Carrigan (Frédéric), Brett Gelman (Terry), and Ashley Benson (Cindy), in an exclusive interview where they shed light on how they approached this tragic story.
How McVeigh Represents Today's Extremism
"This Story Is a Precursor to What We're Living In Right Now."
- The Direct: "Oftentimes it feels like people want to get away from real life when they watch a movie, but with a film like this, about extremism, it feels incredibly difficult to do that, and that's kind of the point of this narrative. So why do you think now is the perfect time for audiences to experience this story?"
Brett Gelman: This story is a precursor to what we're living in right now. I mean, most people just gotta go into their DMs, and they're gonna see some sort of remnants of the story. You know, not to compare DMs to the bombing, but, you know, there is just, I think that we're living in an incredibly isolated time, and that isolation is making people trust certain thoughts and fake facts that are leading them to fill in that void that they're experiencing. Experiencing in themselves. And that leads to really problematic perspectives and behavior on both sides.
Anthony Carrigan: I mean, you could certainly, you know, when watching the film, see this as a period piece, but at the end of the day, it could very well take place right now. These themes of isolation, anger, extremism, and radicalization, I mean, they're all things that we're contending with.
And yeah, now is, I think, the perfect time to examine them and to have art bring forth these questions and allow audience members to really find perspective, you know, do research, examine where we are based on the atrocities of the past, and really, kind of, see how we can do better.
Gelman: Ultimately, yeah, human humanizing evil saps it of its power.
How Much Did the Cast of McVeigh Dive Into the Real Life Events of the Film?
"To Do It Justice [You] Have to Know What the Circumstance Are..."
- The Direct: "My first question is just, how much did each of you dive into the real-life context and facts surrounding the event? Or did you guys let the script do most of that heavy lifting?"
Brett Gelman: I know I definitely dove into the real-life context. I think you had to, in order to fill in the script, because the script is really beautifully minimalistic, and it really dives into the mundanity of these character's lives. I think that's the major theme, that mundanity, boredom, and isolation do not lead to good decisions and good thoughts.
I mean Terry being a real person, I felt like I've had to take in as much as I could, not only just about him, but the world in which he was inhabiting and his relationship to McVeigh. So there was a lot of that, and then using whatever would fill out the script. Not saying the script was not—it's an incredible script, but the way in which it was written was, it's almost like this chamber piece of these days leading up to it.
Ashley Benson: I watched a lot of documentaries, and I definitely read more of what I didn't know about McVeigh. I remember when it happened, but again, from my character, she was fictional, so I didn't really have to do too much on my part, but I was very interested in the whole story, and I thought that the way Mike [Ott] wrote the film was incredible.
And I think it turned out really well for being such a horrific topic. I think it makes people more aware of what happened if they don't know what happened. It was just a very, it was just done in a really incredible way.
Anthony Carrigan: I mean having seen it on the news back when it happened, and obviously knowing about it, because it's just such a horrific and tragic event... To do it justice [you] have to know what the circumstances are.
I mean, not only does it kind of help as an actor to just know what it is you're referencing, what it is that you're talking about, but you know you just, you really want to bring truth, as much truth as you possibly can, to it. Upon researching, I learned that it was just such a bigger thing than what I had seen in the headlines. There were just so many, so many elements to it. There was a lot of past informing it.
here were all of these characters and, yeah, I think that, you know, Brett's right. It's this beautiful script that has a mood and a tone, and all of this information is underneath it, but having access to it and being able to kind of do all that work beforehand really makes a difference.
The Cast of McVeigh on Their Character's Differing Journies
Each Supporting Character in McVeigh Have Vastly Different Journies
- The Direct: "Each of your characters have kind of a vastly different journey in the movie than the others. Can you talk about how you approached crafting your performance with those journeys in mind, and then how your character's paths kind of inform the bombing tragedy that does eventually unfold?"
Brett Gelman: Yeah. I mean, so much of crafting the character was twofold. I had to physically transform, become physically not like myself, probably more than I've ever had to in a job, because he's somebody who really doesn't take up any space, and I'm someone who, at times, takes up too much space, but and then a lot of that, you know, had to do with this, sort of like Midwestern fade into the background, type of physicality and energy.
And then there was also just my obsession, Terry's obsession with McVeigh himself. And that there's almost like—It's not romantic, but it approaches that in terms of the need of validation from him. And I spent a lot of time with Alfie [Allen], and I think us getting to know each other so well allowed that vulnerability to be there to where I could lapse into that perspective on him...
... And then just knowing from the history of it, this vast network that they are the grandchildren of, that dates back, or children of, really, because now they would be grandchildren. But you know, the dates back from this network of white supremacy that really started to form post-Vietnam War, that is very vast. So it's using all of that that led to helping to fill out these scenes.
Anthony Carrigan: It was definitely very, very clear on my end what role Frederick played in terms of aiding Timothy towards this kind of extremism and the kind of tactics in which to do so, in terms of destabilizing him. Him mocking him, making him feel welcome.
It's these kind of tactics to really make him feel off-centered and really nudge him in that direction... But at the end of the day, I mean, it was really gratifying as an artist to be able to go in with Alfie and just find these scenes in the room and explore and see what kind of came out of it.
Obviously, we had a very brilliant script, but yeah, at the end of the day, it's really what you find between those two people, between those two characters, and that life that you can try to capture.
Ashley Benson: "I was so comfortable with Alfie already because we had known each other for a couple of years before we started this, and I think just really having that chemistry and that connection with Tim and showing a different side of him, and being again, unaware of who he really was, it was just showing a softer side and a more human side of him, because people see him and know him as this horrible person, which he is.
But I think with Cindy and Timothy, you just kind of saw a different side, a softer side, and a longing to be accepted and loved. And you also see a lot of pain in his eyes, even when he's with Cindy, and feeling like he's loved, and all that you can still see how tortured he is and the pain that he's feeling."
The full interview can be viewed here:
McVeigh is now available on digital platforms and in theaters.
