'VINYL' Star PJ Byrne on 2016 HBO Episodes, Music in the 1970s, & More [EXCLUSIVE Q&A]

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese, music icon Mick Jagger, and writer Terence Winter make up the dream team of producers behind HBO's new series VINYL, adding a level of expectations to each of the first season episodes from viewers. Luckily, the cast is made up of some of the best actors anyone could ask for. Series regular PJ Byrne is a great example of this, which Scorsese understands thanks to the actor's performance in The Wolf of Wall Street. Byrne takes on the role of Scott Levitt, which, thanks to his performance, seems like it was written just for him. We had the pleasure of speaking with PJ about working on this high-profile show, his experience with the famed filmmaker, his views of music in the 1970s, and much more in this exclusive interview.

How did you get involved with VINYL?

You know, the greatest day in your life, you'd think is when you get a call saying Martin Scorsese wants you to be in his movie and then I didn't think that moment would ever be beaten, but it was. The great Ellen Lewis [casting director] called my agent, "Marty wants PJ to be in his new TV show," and I'm like what what what?! And they're like, "Yeah, they're doing a show and Mick Jagger is producing and Terence Winter is writing it," and I'm like oh my gosh. And it obviously didn't hurt that Terry Winter wrote Wolf and knew me from that and Emma Koskoff is one of our producers as well. She's like my big sister. She's Marty producing partner, so there was a lot of love and a lot of people who knew me already. So it's really because of that crew that I'm lucky enough and fortunate enough to be a part of this great project.

I never worked with Bobby Cannavale before, or Ray Ramano or JC MacKenzie, who are the four partners, so to go rock it with them every day is such a blast!

If you want to hear an anecdote that I always tell about the show ... There was one day where it was a heavy duty day, where I'm tackling Bobby into the room with Ray and JC and you know maybe he's coked to the gills and... he's a strong man! And he does this gigantic monologue about the music industry and rock n' roll....I think it's in one of the trailers. We were shooting that all day and he was pretty tired and we're all pretty tired, and then he's losing his voice because he's doing this gigantic monologue. I'll never forget, Allen Coulter, one of our great directors, comes over and the camera's not even on Bobby and he goes, "Hey listen Bobby, maybe we'll take this one down to 75% to try and save your voice." And I'll never forget. he looks over at us and he looks back over at Allen the director and he goes, "We don't know how to do 75%." And I was just like ahhh that's our guy! That's our leader! And honestly, from top to bottom, from our PAs to our set dressers, everyone shows up to kill it and we leave it all out there and it's just a special thing and we give it our all every day and hopefully it shows up and people appreciate it.

Was Scott Levitt basically written for you? What attracted you to the role?

I think they knew that there was a lawyer character obviously because in the music industry in particular, the lawyers are really the hierarchy of the record label because they are the people that are defining the deals that artists are signing, to be honest with you, I think they're the powerhouses in this business. I played a lawyer in Wolf and I think they knew I could handle it, and straddle those lines between playing comedy and drama. I love this role because lawyers are the ones who really get to screw over the artists.

It's cool because I have a finance background, so I really love getting into the minutia of this work and looking intimately into the deals that were put together. Back then, you could have an artists that makes platinum records and sells millions of records and you think they're loaded, but what the record label would hold over them is a thing called recoupable expenses. So they would create a situation where the overhead to create the album was so ridiculously high that, let's say you sold a million records and made this much money, they were like, "Well you know that studio time was this much money and all the band members you had to pay was this much money..." and they would inflate all these prices. So even if you had a glass of water they were like, "We have to charge you for the glass and now the water's $87." It was really pretty crazy and they button down your percentage you get on the record so the fact that anyone made money and the fact that so many people were on drugs and still made this incredible music is kind of mind-boggling.

How did you prepare for the role, besides growing your mutton chops?

Which my wife loved; she loved it! Well I read a lot of books- Clive Davis in particular wrote a great book- and I spoke with lawyers obviously.

I loved going to grad school and getting my Masters in acting because that's where I developed my process. I loved rehearsing a scene to death. I prepare and do my homework so much and then I literally let it go and hopefully it's all gotten into my body and then when I'm on set, I'm so open and prepared to go any which way and just be grounded and honest and real and that's sort of my MO with any part. I do all the research, know that time period intimately, get in the clothing even down to the shoes and God bless women for wearing high heels because men wore platform shoes back then and I have a whole new admiration for women and their ankles. But yeah, that's my MO. Just like get into it as much as you can and be there and be present.

What can we expect from your character and the story lines he's involved in?

This is really Bobby's story, no question, and how this world wraps around and comes into his head and how he sees the world. It's him and Olivia Wilde, who plays his wife; him and his family. It's him and his partners their deep relationships. We also see Bobby and the A&R people, finding the new bands and him getting the new band. We are going to blip back into his past, too. So my story line as the lawyer is to make sure we stay afloat, sort of helping Bobby because he's a big ship you have to turn him in the right direction andI'm sort of incredible on paper, but uncouth when I open my mouth. So I'll hopefully get better at that, it should my face stay pretty. ( see episode 2, that will make sense)

What do you hope viewers take away from season 1?

I think it's, first and foremost after all, the work we put into it that people can just go home and sit on their couch and just have a lovely night. I mean, in acting you want to make people smile. That's the biggest thing and why I wake up every day. Like, if you had a crappy day, turn this on and give me an hour and we'll change your day. For an hour, make the world a better place.

And as far as the show, I think people who lived during that time period will harken back to it because it was such an incredible time where I think the volume was just turned up on everything. From the way you went to the office, to what you wore, to the drugs, to the people, to how people chewed on life, and hopefully we captured that and they'll remember that time period. Then some of the obscure songs, they'll go, "Oh my god I remember that song!"

Then here are people who are younger that don't know about that time period, that will be like, "That's an incredible song; I didn't even know that song existed," and they'll be introduced to the '70s and the fashion and the time period. And also just give so much respect to the artists who just created such phenomenal music because there's also a time period where you're finding punk, you're finding hip-hop... We're going to get into disco. Ultimately, I want them to appreciate the '70s and also just the gift that Terry has, that Marty has, that Mick has and share this story with the world. They had these great intentions and hopefully we fulfilled their intentions as well.

Do you have a favorite musical act from that era?

You know it's so funny, I didn't know a lot about Bo Diddley. I knew Bo Diddley, but I didn't realize how much he was beloved and the cool music he put out and how super-duper talented he was. My introduction to Bo Diddley was when U2 would love to bring Bo Diddley on stage with them and I was like this dude is amazing, but then when you go back and hear some of the stuff he put out and how he's not trained properly... he's special. I think if I'm going to pick anyone, which is a tough choice to be honest with you, but from the acts we deal with in our show, Bo Diddley to me was incredibly special.

Do you think any current musical acts could they break out in the '70s?

As far as being interesting and loud and curious music and tapping into the zeitgeist of the time, and I'm also friends with them so they're going to get a big props in my own brain, but OK Go. I feel like they can adapt to what is going on, but they're artists as well. I went to school with Timmy Nordwin and they're theatre guys, they're theatrical and, God bless David Bowie, at the time that was part of his thing as well. Let's make a statement not only in the music, which was incredible, but let's make an artistic choice.

Their video just came out the other day. They're literally free falling! It was amazing. They shot the whole video in one shot; I would imagine they would do well in that time period.

I don't know what I was expecting, but they put a lot of effort into their music videos and their performances, so I thought that maybe the song will be lacking, but no. The song is unbelievable.

It's awesome right! I'm so glad! Honestly, I've been watching Timmy on stage since when it was just him and a buddy. One of my great teachers always said, "Never stop getting better, never stop rehearsing, always make your craft stronger and stronger and stronger," but to see where he was then, which he was awesome, and where he is now ... this is incredible and I can't wait to see where it continues to go. I'm proud of him!

Do you have any other projects that you'd like to talk about?

I'm actually doing another HBO miniseries called Big Little Lies. Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon, the great actresses, are producing and starring in it. So God bless HBO for looking out for me! I'm the principle of this grammar school and it's about the craziness that goes on with the parents and their first graders.

Make sure to follow PJ Byrne on Twitter right here!

© 2024 Mstars News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.