Leslie Odom Jr. is no stranger to playing villain roles, but his most infamous one remains that of Aaron Burr in the hit Broadway musical Hamilton. Literally “the villain in your history,” Odom transformed the vengeful would-be President into a thoughtful and vulnerable man who met with dire circumstances.
As Hamilton makes itself accessible to homes all around the world for the first time since its 2015 debut, the accomplished performer spoke with Screen Rant about the lesson audiences can learn from Burr and how he as an actor finds the humanity in even the most difficult of characters.
Burr is full of envy and harsh political maneuvering. Do you think things have gotten more or less craven since that time, politically speaking?
Leslie Odom Jr.: These guys were literally showing up on a field with loaded weapons. You don't see that, thank God, yet. The other day, you had a senator telling somebody to have a wrestling match with another senator. So, I often wonder how far we are from going back in time to certain stupid shit. right But I would say there was a level of violence and malevolence that couldn't be done quite in the same way, just because of the way information travels these days. I think some of that stuff would get you canceled for real. I think so.
Since Aaron Burr is the villain of the story, are you prepared to be the face of that villainy once Hamilton is released on Disney+?
Leslie Odom Jr.: I'm ready. My parents didn't let me play with guns when I was a kid, not even water guns. I was not allowed to think that guns were a toy in my house. My mother laughs now, because "Every time I turn on my television, every movie and every play, you are brandishing a weapon and threatening to blow stuff up." She's like, "I didn't raise you like that." So, I've grown quite accustomed to playing villains. I think I'm attracted to their humanity; not the bad stuff that they do, but I am always interested in getting inside their heads and trying to figure out why they're doing those terrible things.
What do you think modern day followers of politics can learn from your character?
Leslie Odom Jr.: I think it's a lesson of building coalition and working together. Not to make it so simple, but you can't be caught out there by yourself. You have to have trusted advisors around you, who will stop you from being full of s***.
The fact that he didn't have a cabinet of people around him to stop this thing from [getting out of hand], or Hamilton for that matter, is pathetic. But the differences is there were codes of honor in dealing with men of their time, white men especially. So, it is what it is. But I think that's certainly one thing you can take away; to really have trusted advisors who want to see you live, who want you to make it through today.
In what ways did you grow into the role, from when you first started Hamilton until the film was recorded?
Leslie Odom Jr.: I think that as artists, when this thing is done right, you tell all your secrets. One at a time. One at a time, you reveal more and more of yourself in the work. Whenever it's all said and done, if you have a body of work, your audience should really have a feel for who you were and what you stood for. By the roles you accepted, the projects you aligned with and lent your name and your likeness to, and also the body of work itself. They should really get a sense of who you are.
This movie was shot two weeks before I left that show, four years ago. This film was really shot after over 500 performances of this show, so what you're seeing is the best that I was ever going to be. It was really in my body. I was still curious; I was still asking questions. I definitely wasn't past the moment of curiosity and digging and searching for it.
What I see in myself and what I see in my classmates, my brothers and sisters on that stage, is that there is a real vulnerability in the work and transparency in the work. I hope that audiences see that too. There's nobody up there for glory or vanity. We're up there opening our hearts in the hopes that you will open yours while you watch it.
You recently made headlines with Lin Manuel and Viola Davis, and a host of other legendary theater performers, with a letter to white American theaters demanding change for people have color. Can you tell me more about the letter and what it feels like to have that type of solidarity during this time?
Leslie Odom Jr.: The letter is the first step, not unlike what we're here talking about. Our Broadway show now turned glorious film version. The fact that it's preserved in this way makes me so happy. But those men - the fact that they were all men, and white men - what they did was take their first step with the Declaration of Independence. It was getting together as a body and fighting about and choosing the exactly the right words, the right phrasing, to declare their independent.
That letter was really about taking ownership of the ways in which we propped us a system devoted to white supremacy. It was about putting the system on notice, that we would no longer prop it up in those ways, and really demanding ability from our friends and our brothers and sisters who we make things with and alongside.
We're gonna all need each other, so it was not a Brexit or anything like that. There are things we need to do as a community, there are things we need to build and work on and heal from as a community of black artists and citizens. And then there's what we're going to build alongside our friends and allies in the theater.
Hamilton streams on Disney+ July 3, 2020.
