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Jason Clarke Reveals Why It ‘Took a Lot’ to Play Alex Murdaugh on True Crime Show
Jason Clarke impressed fans with his portrayal of Alex Murdaugh on Hulu’s Murdaugh: Death in the Family, and he admitted it “took a lot” for him to play the murderer on the true crime miniseries.
While talking to TV Insider in an interview published on Wednesday, November 19, Clarke, 56, was asked what he “learned” about Alex, 57, while playing him on the show.
“I learned, I guess, his strength. His monumental, Clydesdale horse [conviction]. I mean, the man has not buckled. In his own way, he’s wavered, he’s learned, he’s been through great humiliation. He’s been through great horror,” he said.
“He killed his wife and son — didn’t shoot himself — dealt with the humiliation in the court of seeing everything laid bare, including his diarrhea with his drug addiction coming off of that, with his money he’s stolen, listed all those people, those poor people that were hurt and destroyed. I mean, the guy’s got the constitution of a horse.”
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Not only did Clarke try to get to know Alex on a mental level, but he noted it was also physically challenging to play the role. The actor gained 40 pounds for the project, as well as wore a wig and dyed his eyebrows in order to look more like the Murdaugh patriarch.
“And I learned playing him — with that much weight on me, on my frame… I was so bloated, and having to consume so many things or having to not consume certain things when I was drying out the last two episodes myself, in terms of food — it took a lot to be him, to play him,” Clarke continued. “It was exhausting being him… Just entertaining, dominating me. Daddy’s dying, but me. All the time, me. It was exhausting.”
Alex fatally shot his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and their son Paul Murdaugh with an AR-style rifle in June 2021. In addition to be arrested and found guilty of their murders, it was also discovered that Alex stole $12 million from his law firm before his arrest.
Also during the interview, Clarke revealed his mindset while filming the scene in which Alex killed Maggie (Patricia Arquette) and Paul (Johnny Berchtold).
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“I always thought [Alex] was a shark. The minute he stops swimming, he’ll have to die. I wanted that in the death scene, when you see his side of shooting, there’s that one moment where he locked the gun, and he hears Paul moaning, that he could have blown his own [head off], and maybe for a split second [he considered], and he said, ‘No,’” he explained. “He’s got the gumption to rack it and turn around, and Paul surprises him, and, bang, gives him a second one, which builds the strength to do Maggie, quite simply”
“There’s something about these fires that he walked through that hardened him,” Clarke said.
All eight episodes of Murdaugh: Death in the Family are now available to stream on Hulu.
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