‘Presumed Innocent’ Star O-T Fagbenle Reveals the ‘Ghostbusters’ Inspiration Behind His Hilarious Villain

It’s election season — oh, had you not noticed? — and fundraising emails are flying fast and furious. Like many viewers of Presumed Innocent , David E. Kelley’s smart, sexy legal thriller, I know only one thing for certain: I will max out my contributions to anyone running against Cook County State’s Attorney Nico Della Guardia.

‘Presumed Innocent’ Season Finale Recap: Confessions of a Killer

Played by O-T Fagbenle, Nico is the human embodiment of every slick young careerist politician trying to make it to the top by being Tough On Crime in front of as many cameras as possible. It’s this almost psychotically soft-spoken man’s job to bring the killer of his slain colleague, Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve), to justice. With the help of his lieutenant, Tommy Molto (Peter Sarsgaard), Nico pins the crime on their coworker, fellow prosecutor Rusty Sabich (Jake Gyllenhaal). Twists, turns, courtroom theatrics, and some razor-sharp writing and acting about adult relationships at work and in the bedroom ensue.

Everything To Know About ‘Presumed Innocent’ Season 2 On Apple TV+

By the end of the Presumed Innocent Season 1 finale , we know the real culprit is [SPOILER ALERT] neither Rusty nor his long-suffering wife Barbara (Ruth Negga), but their teenage daughter Jaden (Chase Infiniti). And even Fagbenle himself didn’t know for sure until the episode aired, though he’s pleased with the outcome. “Brilliantly executed,” he says.

CLICK HERE TO GET EMAILS FROM DECIDER

Fagbenle is no stranger to playing American political wunderkinder from the city of Chicago: His turn as Barack Obama in The First Lady wowed audiences with its fidelity to the former president’s unique speech patterns and mannerisms. These skills — and a surprising assist from an infamous Ghostbusters character — served Fagbenle well in constructing the character of Nico. He’s a less inspiring figure who comes up short in the end, but with Apple TV+’s announcement that Season 2 is on the way , Fagbenle gives the impression that a little setback like a blown murder conviction won’t stop this man’s rise.

DECIDER: Please take this as the compliment that it is: There is something uniquely annoying about Nico Della Guardia.

O-T FAGBENLE: I don’t think it was the original intention for him to be like that. In fact, our esteemed writer [David E. Kelley] said as much at the premiere: “We didn’t really expect that.” [ Laughs ] But when I first read it, I was like “Oh, I know who this guy could be though.” Somehow, it spoke to a personality or a person that was already bumping around somewhere in my imagination.

I have this theory that every character is already within the actor. Macbeth is already in everybody, and so is Hamlet, and so is Desdemona and Juliet. The challenge of the actor is to bring out the parts of themselves which are like those characters.

So I went rooting around my back consciousness of the things that really irritate me about people — and maybe irritate me about myself — and brought those to the fore. People who run for public office very often have these characteristics.

His voice really jumps out at you. It’s the sound of every promising up-and-coming politician you’ve ever voted for, knowing the whole time he’s going to disappoint you. Where did it come from?

William Atherton, the bad guy in Ghostbusters . I was reading the script and thinking Who really annoys me like that? Who’s this kind of officious, pompous guy? Then I was like, Oh, wait. [Imitating Atherton’s Ghostbusters character, Walter Peck] “And what is the magic word? May I please ? How many ghosts have you caught ?” He was brilliant in it, and using this Ghostbusters character as a reference point really excited me, really intrigued me. I went to Joel Goldes, who actually was one of the two main dialect coaches I used for Obama, and he and I started trying to carve out this specific dialect.

I’ve never asked before this in 23 years of interviewing actors: Can you do the voice for me, please?

I will give it a go, but when we went into ADR, I remember Greg [Yaitanes], our wonderful director, being like “No, no, no,” trying to push me back into the voice. This is why I stay in dialect the entire time [while shooting]. It’s such a delicate balance that staying in dialect helps me find it.

[ Instantly segueing into the voice ] But one of the things, that makes it really particular, is…when he stresses words, and it’s pretty breathy, annnnnnd he can stretch out—

[ Back into his normal voice ] But you know what’s funny? Obviously, American politics is just extraordinary. It’s crazy, all the things that happen in your country. But if you really listen to the accents of, even just now, the two main candidates, they have really interesting voices. People say “Oh, Nico’s voice is so weird,” but I hear weird voices everywhere I go.

The dynamic between Nico and his deputy, Tommy Molto, is complicated. If anything, Tommy’s even more irritating than Nico, especially in his total inability to receive positive reinforcement. Even though Nico’s one of the bad guys, I found myself sympathizing with him for having to deal with a person who’s exhausting in a way I think all of us can recognize.

I hear what you’re saying, but it’s one of those old acting adages that you never play the bad guy. You’re just playing someone who’s trying his best with the tools he has to do what he wants to do, which is a good thing from his perspective. Nico wants at least a verisimilitude of justice, he wants to climb the political ladder, and Tommy is an obstacle to that, and he has to manage that obstacle. The result of that is you watch a man who can be both annoying and empathetic, because you get what it’s like, trying to work with people who are difficult.

I’d also add that Peter was brilliant as a scene partner. He’s such a detailed actor, and maybe one of the most creative actors I’ve ever worked with. It was so unpredictable, and it just made it fun to come into work: the joy of Peter. He’s a pretty good chess player, too.

There were several times throughout the season where Nico questioned Tommy about the soundness of both his methods and the underlying case. It raises the question: Did Nico believe they’d gotten the right guy in Rusty?

It’s a really good question. I think there was some ambivalence to it. But Nico’s objective was to come out of this looking great, and so it would be very convenient for Rusty to be guilty and for the case to be executed well.

In a way, there’s two things going on. One is, did he do it? Did he not do it? I don’t know. I think Nico’s probably of two minds about it. But is it necessary to prosecute him to the full extent of the law? Absolutely. So let’s get that done.

That raises an even broader question: Is Nico Della Guardia better as a lawyer, or a politician?

It’s alluded to that he’s called “Delay” Guardia, that he extends cases. That’s been his most successful technique — i.e. he’s not a great lawyer, with a vast array of skills in the courtroom. Finding a way to the top of the political heap by jumping on the corpse of his mentor? He seems to have done that pretty well. His skills are more of a politician than prosecutor.

Presumed Innocent has these layered characters, but it’s also a sexy legal thriller, with all that entails. Which end attracts you to a project like this, the human stuff or the genre stuff?

I’m relatively genre-agnostic, but I sometimes would say to people that you play comedies like dramas and you play dramas like comedies. There’s an opportunity in lots of genres to stretch it a little bit. Nico brings some comic relief to what’s quite a dark piece.

Speaking of the dark stuff: How early in the process did you know who did it? Did they tell you?

Oh no, they didn’t tell us. I came up through theater, where it’s like, “I know Othello dies at the end. Romeo and Juliet? They die at the end.” I’ve done Romeo and Juliet , a hundred performances of it once, and on the 75th performance I still know they die at the end. So in TV, when they’re like “Well, we’re keeping it a mystery who died?” I’m like [ smiling broadly ] “Okay. We’ll play the game.” It’s fun to join someone else’s way of working.

I was told that they were shooting two endings, one with the ending that was used and one an ulterior ending. But that’s how much I knew. I had a strong intuition about which one they were going to go with, though, because it’s brilliant, but I watched the ending in real time with everybody else.

Sean T. Collins ( @theseantcollins ) writes about TV for Rolling Stone , Vulture , The New York Times , and anyplace that will have him , really. He and his family live on Long Island.

For more entertainment news and streaming recommendations, visit decider.com