Danielle Deadwyler (right) with Steve Carell in 'Rooster.'

Courtesy of HBO

Logo text

[This story contains spoilers from Rooster’s sixth episode, “Cop Hawk.”]

Years ago, well before Danielle Deadwyler emerged as a dramatic powerhouse on the big screen with lauded roles in Till and The Piano Lesson, she described herself to me as a “goofball.” The descriptor should track for anyone who’s spent time with the Atlanta native personally, and — at least until recently — may seem hard to believe to outside observers. That’s because Deadwyler has proven her knack for summoning visceral, harrowingly realistic emotion in stories of painful resonance, work which has led to a bevy of critics’ awards, Indie Spirit and BAFTA nominations — and a good deal of outcry over Oscar snubs. And the way this industry works, when you get good at one thing, it can be hard to even get the chance to use the rest of your tools.

Related Stories

How Sam Levinson Brought Back 'Euphoria' With Season 3: "Evolve or Die"

Ralph Fiennes Reveals Who Should Play Voldemort in HBO 'Harry Potter' Series

Deadwyler is at last seeing that change for herself with Rooster, HBO’s amiable new half-hour toplined by Steve Carell. Deadwyler gives a wonderfully grounded comic performance as Dylan Shepard, a poet and professor at the New England liberal arts college where popular novelist Greg Russo (Carell) has landed an adjunct gig. The pair’s initially flirty, then sweetly platonic bond helps anchor the show, all while Dylan has been on her own journey of temporarily running her underfunded department while the miserable Dean Vincent Riggs (Alan Ruck) recovers from a heart attack. The series was just renewed for a second season.

With her own background in academia and her deep love of poetry, Deadwyler’s intimacy with the role is immediate and winning. Yet there are more layers at work here: Watching Dylan tentatively find her way in a new space with new colleagues nicely represents what this role marks for Deadwyler in her fast-rising career arc. Indeed, her year so far has been characterized by jumping at unconventional opportunities, from taking on a still-unseen role in Euphoria’s third season to leading Ryan Coogler’s upcoming X-Files reboot. As she tells The Hollywood Reporter below, this is exactly how she wants it.

Steve Carell with Deadwyler in ‘Rooster’

Katrina Marcinowski/HBO

***

I’m curious how you’ve experienced Rooster airing over these last few weeks. What kind of feedback have you gotten? Are people like, “Wow, Danielle is funny!”

(Laughs.) I’m a wreck. I don’t know what’s happening. It’s people receiving you in a new way. There are traces of that available, but people don’t have a full plate. So this is getting a full meal’s worth and people are into it. They’re calling and giving me live comments on Instagram. I feel like people are getting an emotional blanket they didn’t know that they needed. At least that’s what they’re saying: “I didn’t know I needed this and I’m getting it and I love it.” And I’m like, “Okay, cool.” I don’t listen or read reviews and things of that nature.

Are you surprised you’re landing with people in a different way? Or was that to be expected, making a show like this?

I’ve seen some really crazy things. People were saying, “Oh, you don’t have to be so serious and hard and downtrodden.” I find this so funny because it’s as if the capacity to do the thing means I’m not laughing and joyful in the sharing of a thing all the time. I don’t know. I find it weird that people don’t think that because of the “rightness” of watching a thing. So over a period of time, the presumption that the person is the characters that they played — I find that funny. So here you go, people: I have teeth. I have a boisterous laugh and a beating heart.

So how do you notice people carrying that impression of you? Where are you hearing it?

I’m not the biggest Instagram person, but if I’m on I see some stuff. I do have a child and he is like, “Yo mom, they said this.” I do have friends who are like, “Look at this. Look at this shit!” They’re observant of my life and how it is reverberating in the world. And that’s fine. It’s whatever. I’m living my life and minding my business.

But we can agree Rooster is very different from some of those recent, heavier projects. How does it feel different, or lighter, in the making of it?

Sometimes I would call my team after the first couple of weeks they’ll be like, “Hey guys, I’m not losing my mind. I got a good night’s sleep. Is that normal? Do actors get that?” Or

‘Rooster’: Danielle Deadwyler on Playing the Goofball With Steve Carell