FX’s crime-thriller anthology “Fargo” is known for reinventing itself every season with new stories and new characters, but its critically acclaimed fifth season provides one of its sharpest and most intriguing left turns to date. That’s largely thanks to the presence of one character in particular: the otherworldly “Ole Munch,” played by British actor Sam Spruell.
Munch is first depicted as yet another in the show’s long line of wrathful, mysterious enforcers, but a flashback reveals that he’s more than just another cold-blooded killer-for-hire: he’s actually a 500-year-old creature called a sin-eater, so named because he exists to pay for the sins of the wealthy. It’s a plot twist that means this season of “Fargo” has one foot in the fantasy genre, and while such a wild swing could have derailed the whole story, it completely works thanks to Spruell’s nuanced performance.
“You can’t play a theme, you have to play a person,” Spruell says of Ole Munch. “That was the challenge for me.” And it’s a challenge he more than meets, imbuing Munch with a real sense of humanity that is finally illuminated in the season’s surreal, almost indescribable final scene: a strange moment of grace shared between Munch and the central character, tough-as-nails housewife Dottie (Juno Temple).
Spruell has done excellent work in movies and TV for more than 20 years as a character actor, with notable roles including The Hurt Locker, Snow White & the Huntsman, and Taken 3. But his turn as Ole Munch feels like a much deserved breakthrough for the actor – and in fact, it was recently announced that he’ll play a role in the next “Game of Thrones” spinoff, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”
Spruell spoke to Awards Focus about how costuming helps build character, handling the physical aspects of the role, and bonding with castmates in the frigid winters of Calgary.
Awards Focus: This is such a fantastic character you’re playing this season on “Fargo,” with a really magnificent arc. How aware were you initially of where this character would end up by the finale? Did you have any idea from the first few scripts that it would end with that scene in the kitchen?
Sam Spruell: No, I really didn’t – initially, I only saw the first four scripts.
I was really interested in the character, and the stuff that Noah had to talk about connected to Ole Munch was just a really exciting prospect. But as I said, the first four scripts were about hunting down this crazy woman and her getting the better of me and just the notion of Munch’s Old Testament values. And kind of getting an understanding of what he thought of the world and what he thought of the likes of Roy Tillman, played by Jon Hamm.
But then the next two came, and then maybe an idea of the next two. And then we got the final two, episodes nine and ten. And I read them and it’s like an actor’s dream in a way where you kind of set it up, you set up so many good things and then you see a kind of conclusion to those, a proper, meaty, substantial, satisfying conclusion to your character’s arc.
And I also thought this is a brilliant end to this story as well. In an episode that’s full of violence, both psychological and physical, it really left me with a kind of hope in my heart, which doesn’t always have to happen in shows – and neither should it. But I was really pleased it did in this one.
Awards Focus: Jack Nicholson often talked about letting the costume do a lot of the work in creating a character. Likewise, your character here has such a great wardrobe that really complements the presence you bring to every scene.
Spruell: Well, I think that’s great that you thought that. I think that’s the job of the actor, firstly, to inhabit something deeper than your costume, deeper than the injuries on your face, deeper than a haircut. In fact, all of those exterior features come from an understanding of an internal psychology, and that was understood before I came on the scene. That was something that was being discussed between Noah and the costume designer, Carol Case, and Gail Kennedy, who was doing makeup, and Chris Harrison-Glimsdale, who was doing hair – Noah was having conversations with all of them, I’m sure, based on the of internal goings-on of Ole Munch as he understood them.
But then, if the script is good enough and if the kind of direction is good enough, you really do get a chance to act something and go even deeper than maybe what Noah had envisaged originally. You know, he gives you the brief, but then you take the brief and you make it your own thing. I thought it was interesting with Ole Munch and the whole theme of sin-eating, and how the poor eating the sins of the rich is definitely a metaphor for modern Western societies – I think there’s no mistake that Noah meant that, but you can’t play a theme, you have to play a person, and so that was the challenge for me as well.
Awards Focus: Of all the scenes you filmed, was there one that was just an extraordinary experience beyond what you’ve done in your career thus far?
Spruell: I think just the whole setup. When I met Noah, he said, well, he’s a character who is maybe 500 years old. And he originated maybe in Wales, but he’s journeyed to America, but has a Scandinavian name. He has been in America for 200 years, say, but he hasn’t spoken for 100 years.
All of these things are really exciting, but you just don’t know how to put them together. So I started slowly to gather clues, or to kind of manifest them physically, and then see what would happen. And the whole putting together of this character was really interesting. And then you get these fantastic scenes.
And I think that, yeah, I haven’t played such an extreme character before. I think that’s definitely the truth. But, interestingly, you were talking about that last scene. And it takes up quite a lot of the last episode, it’s maybe 20 minutes. We shot that really quickly, and it was deeply satisfying because we shot it on the last day of the whole production, the last few hours. And I think that it was so deeply satisfying because the other actors were so good.
And also, we have been kind of rehearsing. We’ve been playing those characters for six months. So we were more than ready to go at the kind of nuanced, brilliant writing that was provided in those last 20 minutes of the series.
Awards Focus: Well, it’s very disconcerting when Dot sees you in the house. And then during the scene at the dinner table, it’s hopeful but it’s also funny. It’s the first time we’ve seen your character on his heels and not dominating everyone else.
Spruell: Yeah. And we all found a kind of rhythm and timing, which was so fantastic to play with. And I think it’s also that Juno Temple and what she does with Dot Lyon is – it’s kind of unbelievable in terms of her diminutive stature, you know, she’s not that big, Juno. I tower over her, but for some reason, when you come up against the force of that character and how she played her, it really was a kind of a match for Ole Munch and his code kind of slams up against her code and the kind of vehemence with which she believed in her code, her belief in forgiveness, her belief in compassion and kindness, and that being an answer to people’s problems was so powerful. And I think that what makes it work is this kind of central battle and we both went at it 100%.
It was brilliant acting opposite her, actually.
Awards Focus: Do you enjoy the more physical aspects of the role, like the initial home invasion? For a sequence like that, how much do you like to do versus having a stunt double?
Spruell: Yeah, I mean, we worked on it. It’s pretty much all of us.
Each thing that comes your way, each scene that comes your way, you just want to get it right. So whether you’re doing dialogue, or you’re creating a kind of physical story or announcing your character in a physical way, you think equally about that as you would if you had lines. So then it’s just about getting it right.
It’s just about giving the director the requisite amount of threat, while tuning into the kind of overarching humor that Fargo, both the movie and the series, is so good at. And it’s a real fine line because everyone’s doing very truthful work while being aware of this humor you need to instill as well. So you’re trying to find it.
But I think Noah has very good taste and very good judgment. So if he sees something that’s not right, he’ll tell you.
Awards Focus: It’s quite a shift from a sort of Chris Farley/Mike Myers comedy to the darker style of comedy that “Fargo” is known for.
Spruell: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I love gross-out comedy. I just think that some of those films are part of my childhood and young adulthood, you know, they’re absolutely in my lexicon. But I think what’s great with something like “Fargo” is that it has a bit of that. It has a bit of slapstick, but it also has a real political and emotional underpinning that it can center on as well.
And I guess that’s the thing about doing TV: you get 10 hours to explore all those different aspects. You know, you’re not having to nail it to the mast in one respect. You can really give yourself a chance to have a kind of breadth of experience as you watch these shows.
Awards Focus: I remember hearing that with “Better Call Saul,” a lot of the actors actually lived together because there were limited accommodations in the area, and so they would spend a lot of time running lines. With this season of “Fargo,” the setting is very bleak. What kind of camaraderie did you all have and how did you fill your time when you were shooting this?
Spruell: That’s a really insightful question. I mean, I love hearing that about “Better Call Saul,” by the way. And especially because I’m a huge fan of that show. I think it’s such a lovely anecdote.
We filmed in Calgary throughout the winter, and the winters in Calgary are blisteringly cold. And so dark and mean, you know, you’ve got to be tough to live there. And I think that David Rysdahl and Joe Keery were two guys who really got me through that winter. Everyone was lovely on the shoot. It really was like – it sounds like such an actor-y thing to say – but the people on the show were fucking fantastic.
But yeah, Joe Keery’s kind of relentless charm, kind of joyful approach to life and terrible dad humor got me through that winter, for sure.
Awards Focus: That’s great. It’s really wonderful seeing actors like you and Joe Keery get to show off different sides to your acting.
Spruell: And the thing about Joe is that he’s had phenomenal success already as such a young man, but he’s really super humble and really wants to wants to learn like any good actor should and wants to get better. You know, we’re all trying to get better at this. And it’s really hard to be good at it. So if you achieve any success, it feels like a real prize.