Crafting Cool: Morgan Spector’s Journey from behind the bullet dance to The Gilded Age

PETER C. YEH — First off, thank you for one of the best death scenes in HBO history. Frank Capone coming to his brother, Al Capone’s aid in Boardwalk Empire is such a memorable scene. You also have a menacing Nelson slowly pacing in, and finally, Frank is met with a fury of shotgun shells. The sequence of shots just brought so much suspense. It must have been a rollercoaster of emotions learning of your character’s demise, but also rewarding to see such a dramatic sendoff. How was that day of shooting for you?

MORGAN SPECTOR — Well, it was two days. And, it was really fun. I mean, that scene you mentioned, and I think there’s a similar scene in The Godfather. And there were a couple of great assassination scenes that were really an inspiration for that specific death scene. The whole riot scene took over two days. I think we shot that in one direction, too. We shot in one direction one day, and in the other direction the other day. We, literally, did it twice. So, my character has this overcoat. It had like eight gallons of blood inside the blood packs, and there were like 60 squibs, or something like that built into this heavy overcoat. And we only had two coats. So we had to make sure this scene was done perfectly. TWICE! And remember this is the riot scene so there are like hundreds of people around. All wearing wool suits, coats, jackets in this huge open space. And I’m like if I blow this, it’s like, I’m failing everyone because everyone is working so hard to make this work. So yeah, it was tense. It was fun. It was really one of those days where you’re just like, this is a crazy amazing job because you like getting to do that bullet dance with the squibs blowing up and blood everywhere. It was … a thrill!

PETER — You had a very traditional route to movie, television, and stage. Going to Reed College, and then perfecting your craft in San Francisco at the American Conservatory Theater. With how social media can launch, define, and end careers. Would you do anything differently?

MORGAN — Honestly, I don’t think I would have had the confidence to be an actor that way. If I hadn’t done all of that training, then I am not sure I would have the confidence in my skills. I think that I needed the sort of imprimatur of those various institutions to sort of believe in myself. I am glad I did this homework.

Also, I worked in many restaurants before I started being able to make a living as an actor. And quite often, especially in New York, you meet some older people that have been grinding for so long. And, you can tell that they were probably pretty good. But, they haven’t had that break because acting is just REALLY hard. So, there were reminders all the time to really take this craft seriously.

I think social media can definitely open some doors, and that’s great for them. But, for me, I needed to study acting in order to sort of give myself some sense of substantive confidence.

PETER — Since you’ve been in movies, television, and theater, is there a medium you prefer over the other?

MORGAN — I mean, I love theater, and in a certain way still like the stage the most. It’s the actor’s medium. You do all the rehearsals, put in all that work, and it all comes together. But, at the end of that process, they give it to the actor and allow them that freedom and control when they hit the stage.

While in TV and film, you do your work. And then somebody takes that work, and they go and edit it, and turn it into the story that they want to tell.

There’s a kind of immediacy to doing theater that you really can’t find anywhere else. But, at the same time, I have learned to love acting for the camera.