Current:Home > StocksLove & Death’s Tom Pelphrey Details the “Challenging” Process of Playing Lawyer Don Crowder -BeyondProfit Compass
Love & Death’s Tom Pelphrey Details the “Challenging” Process of Playing Lawyer Don Crowder
SafeX Pro Exchange View
Date:2025-04-08 03:23:03
In order to play a notorious attorney, Tom Pelphrey did some detective work himself.
On HBO Max's Love & Death, based on the true story of axe murderer Candy Montgomery, the Ozark alum plays her lawyer Don Crowder. Despite the headline-making crime, when he got the role, Tom "wasn't familiar at all" with Candy's sensational saga—so he started researching.
"I was finding everything I could," Tom exclusively told E! News. "At first, it was a little bit difficult."
Tom pointed to the source material used by Love & Death writer David E. Kelley—2016's Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs by John Bloom and Jim Atkinson—as being "really helpful with a lot of Don's backstory."
But Tom wasn't just interested in a surface level portrayal.
"So much of what I found interesting about Don wasn't even in the show, but it helps you build the character," he explained. "When you know what an underdog he is and what a champion of kids, children and the disadvantaged, you really get a sense of this guy. He played football, he's kind of a tough guy. More of like a street fighter."
Luckily, Tom had some help in the research department in the form of Olivia Applegate, who plays Don's first wife Carol Crowder in the HBO Max series.
"Olivia brought me an article on the second or third day of filming," Tom said. "It was a long-form written article about Don and they interviewed Carol for it. This article was from the late '90s. It was really helpful and insightful into who Don was."
In addition to getting Don's background sorted, Tom felt a responsibility to nail the physical nuances of who he was.
"I think it can be more challenging to play somebody who's real because obviously there's many more constraints, within reason, on what you're doing with that person," the Outer Range star divulged. "The other thing is you want to avoid any kind of imitation of the person because then the character can start to feel two-dimensional. The most important thing to me is that we're bringing them to life in a way that serves the story we're trying to tell."
Love & Death is available to stream on HBO Max.
Get the drama behind the scenes. Sign up for TV Scoop!veryGood! (42)
Related
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Fleetwood Mac icon Stevie Nicks gets her own Barbie doll
- Powerball dreams: What can $1.4 billion buy me? Jeff Bezos' yacht, a fighter jet and more.
- New York City mayor wraps up Latin America trip with call for ‘right to work’ for migrants in US
- Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
- Earthquakes kill over 2,000 in Afghanistan. People are freeing the dead and injured with their hands
- Individual actions you can take to address climate change
- Federal judge in Oklahoma clears the way for a ban on medical care for transgender young people
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- Michigan man wins $2 million after playing Powerball on a whim
Ranking
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- NFT creator wins multimillion-dollar lawsuit, paving the way for other artists
- Rare manatee that visited Rhode Island found dead offshore
- How I learned to stop worrying and love Edgar Allan Poe
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- A curious bear cub got his head stuck in a plastic jug. It took two months to free Juggles.
- Chicago Bears great Dick Butkus was brutal, fierce and mean on the field. He was the NFL.
- Syria shells northern rebel-held region of Idlib, killing 7 people
Recommendation
Gen. Mark Milley's security detail and security clearance revoked, Pentagon says
UNC professor killed in office was shot 7 times, medical examiner says
Kaiser Permanente workers set to end historic strike, but another may loom
Tensions Rise in the Rio Grande Basin as Mexico Lags in Water Deliveries to the U.S.
What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
Syria shells northern rebel-held region of Idlib, killing 7 people
California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes bill that would have decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms
Why beating Texas this year is so important to Oklahoma and coach Brent Venables