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It’s not every day you get to be on set with famous faces like Danny McBride and Bradley Cooper, but for local actor Voltaire Council—who also starred alongside McBride in Eastbound & Down—it was his reality while filming The Righteous Gemstones Season 4.
Playing the role of Confederate prisoner Jackson, Council appears in the first episode of the final season—streaming Sundays on Max, with the final ep airing May 4—in which he seeks to escape death by bargaining with Cooper’s character, Elijah Gemstone. Here, we chat up Council about his experience filming the popular show—and what’s next.
How you landed the role? I got an audition request from my agent, Talent One, and then taped a scene from the episode I was in, [which] my agent sent to the casting director. I heard back about a week later that I landed the role! At the time, the fact Bradley Cooper would be in the episode was super-secret, so I only found out in the makeup trailer I’d be working with him.
This is your second time working with Danny McBride. Did he recognize you?
When I first started acting, Eastbound & Down was my first paid acting job. I think enough time passed since we last saw each other that he probably didn’t recognize me. But hopefully we will work together again soon! I really want to get into more comedic stuff and he’s top-tier when it comes to anything comedy-related.
How did it feel to reunite with McBride? Pretty damn awesome. … When you get on set, you get a feel for the vibes pretty quickly depending on who is running the show, and McBride is an absolute pro. NTM he makes everything very easygoing and fun. Everyone knows this is high-stakes and lots of money is on the line, but he makes you feel like everything will be OK no matter what happens.
Most challenging part of the role? Definitely being in three layers of wool clothing during the South Carolina summer. That was pretty brutal, but also kinda fun since it was a shared bonding experience with ~100 people. Whenever we saw a fan, we went wild!
Top memories? Sitting in the makeup/hair trailer and talking with the stylists in there. I got a fist bump from Bradley Cooper after I said ‘thanks’ for standing in frame for our over-the-shoulder shots and he said something to the effect of, ‘Yeah man, of course.’ I was pretty excited about the fist bump. He’s an actor I’ve looked up to for a while now, so it was very exciting to act with him and be in close proximity to him and just watch how he goes about his work.
Any upcoming projects you can tease? I recently shot the short film Stages with Dan Barbour. It’s got Amanda Walton in it as my love interest and Scott Winters as my father. It should be premiering at The Rialto this summer!
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