2024-09-03 11:15:02
The thing about Tony Goldwyn — or, perhaps, President Fitzgerald Grant III, to some — is that you think you know him. But it’s almost guaranteed that he will surprise you.
For starters, Scandal wasn’t his first Shondaland project. Goldwyn met Shonda Rhimes when he directed the third episode of the very first season of Grey’s Anatomy in 2005. Before the dreamy, steamy, President Grant was even a twinkle in Rhimes’s creative eye, Goldwyn had already had a robust, winding acting and directing career; even prior to Goldwyn putting the Fitz in #Olitz, he had already brushed shoulders with Kerry Washington from his political activism and advocacy work. Simply put: There’s a lot to Tony.
You might be most familiar with Goldwyn, the Actor. He made his film debut in the 1986 slasher film Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives and had his breakthrough role four years later opposite Patrick Swayze as friend-turned-villain Carl Bruner in Ghost. Before playing President Grant, Goldwyn was no stranger to playing politicians and public figures like Neil Armstrong in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon and Harold Nixon in the film Nixon; he even voiced Theodore Roosevelt in the Audible audiobook recording of Alice Roosevelt Longworth’s autobiography. Perhaps, most impressively (okay, at least to me), he was the titular voice in the 1999 Disney animated film Tarzan. Yes. The Tarzan.
Then there’s Goldwyn the Director. Ahead of stepping foot onto Scandal’s set, Goldwyn had already directed four feature films: A Walk on the Moon, Someone Like You, The Last Kiss, and Conviction. On TV, he directed episodes of The L Word, Dexter, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and the pilot episode of The Divide. And though, yes, he launched a fictional president into an American sex symbol status, did you know he also won a Peabody Award for directing episodes of Scandal? Talk about multitudes.
Goldwyn, today, is no different in that he hasn’t slowed down — and doesn’t plan to. Earlier this year, he joined the Law & Order cast as a new series regular, Manhattan District Attorney Nicholas Baxter, in the stunning episode “Balance of Power.” He also recently directed EZRA, a heartwarming film that follows Max, a stand-up comedian who embarks on an unexpected adventure while co-parenting his autistic son, Ezra, with his soon-to-be ex-wife (I laughed, I cried, I smiled). Goldwyn is even launching a podcast speaking to the “pejorative” term “nepo baby” with his adult daughter and fourth generation Goldwyn (as in, the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion), Anna. All of this, and he’s also heavily involved with arts and political advocacy. No wonder he’s half American hunk, half American sweetheart.
After a relaxing yoga morning session and with his signature warmth and ease, Goldwyn starts his day by sitting down and speaking with Shondaland about what’s new in his orbit — from life lessons gleaned from raising two adult daughters to where you can see him on screen next — and what remains the same, like his steadfast friendship with Kerry Washington and his enduring respect for Shonda Rhimes.
MIA BRABHAM NOLAN: Tony, I have to tell you this. There is a playlist on Spotify that a user created called, “Fitzgerald Grant Energy,” subtitled, “Your honor, I love him.” It’s nine hours of music.
TONY GOLDWYN: Oh my god.
MBN: What song do you absolutely think should be on it? No questions asked.
TG: For me? A song that would be representative of Fitz? Fitz energy?
MBN: Fitz energy.
TG: Well, it’s got to be something like Marvin Gaye, right? Or Stevie Wonder. Probably one of those two. It’s got to be a love song.
MBN: Ooh, that’s good. We gotta get her to add that song. There was some Adele, some Taylor Swift, some Sabrina Carpenter, some Bruno Mars…
TG: As much as Fitz would admire Taylor, I don’t know that he’s a big Swiftie. Doesn’t seem that way. Adele, maybe. Yeah.
MBN: Besides Fitz, you’ve played a lot of public figures and another president. And you’re also a political activist yourself! You just spoke at the Democratic National Convention on the opening and closing nights. What was it like to be at and to speak at the DNC?
TG: It was really thrilling — especially this year. It’s so extraordinary, what’s happened in the past month. The inversion of our political world is fascinating to be a part of, and the energy was just insane. I can’t believe they pulled that all together in three weeks. It’s amazing what people can pull off. I felt very honored to be asked to host the first night. And of course, Kerry [Washington] hosted the final night. She [came up with] this gag where I appeared on the final night. But I wasn’t supposed to at all.
The security at the convention, especially this year, was insane. I was like, “Well, I wasn’t planning on coming for another hour.” She said, “You need to come right now.” She was probably an hour away from going on stage. Luckily, we were about to pay the check. The Secret Service had locked it down, so we had to get a special rush entry. She had this idea that I was going to bring her her phone while she was on stage. It all worked out great. It was super fun and people seemed to enjoy it. That was a classic Kerry-Tony interaction.
MBN: It really was. It was giving the energy [you and Kerry had] on her book tour. I still can’t believe you two never did a chemistry read.
TG: That is Shonda’s great gift, really. I mean, she has many, but one of her great gifts in terms of casting is she just has an instinct for what will be an interesting combination of people or what’s buried deep within a certain actor that she can bring out — which there’s so many examples of in our Scandal cast. But there was no need for a chemistry read. Shonda and Linda Lowy, our casting director, know what they’re doing.
MBN: I’m really excited to talk to you about EZRA, because it might be my favorite movie of this year. It’s such a good film, Tony, and it’s really heartwarming. For people who don’t know, it follows a father. He’s co-parenting his autistic son while going through a divorce, and they go on this adventure. Every twist and turn is just unexpected. What did you take away from the experience directing that film?
TG: It was an extraordinary experience. My best friend in the world of over 40 years wrote the script based on his relationship with his autistic son. His name is Tony as well, Tony Spiridakis. He’d been working on this script for about 10 years, and I had read many drafts of it. And then a couple of years ago, maybe three years ago now, he called me and he said, “I’ve rewritten it. Would you take a look?” I read it and was so affected by it. I said, “We need to do this together.” It wasn’t like, “We need this movie to make a billion dollars.” It was just a very personal project for us.
We knew from the beginning we were going to cast an autistic actor to play Ezra, and that we must involve the autism community in that search and in the production of the film in general. I really came to not only a deeper understanding of that community, but a kind of reconfirmation of my belief that there’s a spectrum to [all parts of] life. We put so much pressure on ourselves, and certainly on our children, to conform to social norms we think they need to survive and thrive. And it’s wrong. It’s just wrong.
I was reminded that everyone’s superpower is in that thing that makes them stand outside the norms, and to encourage our children and our friends and ourselves to support that part of them and foster that flame in a human being, whether they’re on the autism spectrum or neurodiverse or not. The autism becomes a metaphor in the movie. So that was maybe the biggest takeaway. I’d been aware of it, but it was deeply affirmed in me.
MBN: That’s really beautiful. I mean, it came through. It was funny, too. I liked the sense of humor that was imbued throughout. And the cast was just incredible. Is there a scene that resonated with you the most?
TG: There’s a scene with Robert De Niro and Bobby Cannavale toward the end of the film. Bob [De Niro] plays Bobby’s father. And these two men, they adore each other and support each other. But they have a real communication problem and they’re kind of shut down emotionally — particularly De Niro’s character. There’s a kind of confession that happens from the older man to his son in a diner and watching Bob do that…it was an extraordinary privilege to work with Robert De Niro. Even though he is a man of very few words, there was something beautiful and tragic and very powerful about a man who’s been kind of quite emotionally shut down confessing something.
MBN: You’re a girl dad. You spoke to it a little bit, about you being with your daughter and her boyfriend [at the DNC]. How are you enjoying this stage of life as far as fatherhood?
TG: It’s funny, because my older daughter, Anna, got married two weekends ago right before the DNC. Two days before I was on stage in Chicago, I was at my daughter’s wedding. In my wedding speech, I made a joke. I basically had kids to raise people I’d want to hang out with. I have this very deep friendship with my two girls, Tess and Anna, but also I’m still their dad. We’re in the same industry. Anna’s a writer, and Tess is an actress and a writer. There’s a tremendous interchange of ideas of mutual support.
MBN: Is it true that you’re launching a podcast with your daughter?
TG: Anna and I are starting a podcast. We’ve done our first few interviews now. We haven’t launched it yet, but it’s called Far From the Tree. We wanted to have conversations with other parent-child duos who work in the same business. I’m the third and Anna’s the fourth generation of my family in the entertainment industry. There’s baggage, but also a tremendous gift in being part of something. It’s ended up being something that’s very beautiful in my life that I value tremendously. There’s this pejorative, “nepo baby” thing that’s been going around in recent culture. And I have found, honestly, the exact opposite. Certainly, if someone is just trying to get something to come easily for them, that’s one thing. But people that really aspire to excellence in what they do and interact with a parent who’s aspired to excellence, it’s about sharing those creative juices or that business thing. So we’re talking to all different kinds of families about that relationship and what that’s been like.
MBN: I’m excited to listen. I’ve never thought about it that way, as far as the layers of actually having this community within your family that understands [what you do]. You can talk to them. So many artists wish they had that. They wish they had parents or sisters or siblings or daughters or sons who understood. So to have that, that’s such a beautiful relationship and that’s really exciting. Earlier this year, you joined the cast of Law & Order. What’s that been like?
TG: Even though I’m playing a politician, again — a District Attorney this time — it’s a very different kind of character. The experience of Scandal being this new unusual thing that Shonda dreamed up and then it took off like a rocket ship was its own unique experience. Law & Order was coming into season 24 spread over 30-whatever years. I had worked on Law & Order as a director in 2006. So I was familiar. It is amazing. It’s an institution. It really is. It’s incredibly well run. There’s a tremendous family environment. That’s very similar to Scandal. Everyone is amazing. The actors, the caliber of the actors is superb. Maura Tierney just joined our cast, who’s one of my favorite actresses.
MBN: Have you come across any fun fan edits of [your character], District Attorney Baxter? I feel like the internet loves him.
TG: I’m not as on social media with Law & Order as I was with Scandal. I appreciate what an incredibly powerful communication tool it is. But I also am careful with social media. I feel like there’s a toxic aspect to it. So I share stuff that means something to me and that I feel I want people to know about.
I never look at reactions or DMs unless it’s from a friend. I’m trying to figure out my relationship with it, and the impact on young people. I know it’s powerful and important, but also, I’m not as engaged. In Scandal, we were all in.
MBN: On Unpacking the Toolbox: A Scandal Rewatch Podcast, Katie Lowes asked you about being a sex symbol in your 50s, and your response was so good. You said that you kind of found it “fun” and “amusing” because it was so unexpected. You said, “You can’t plan shit,” which I loved. What’s something surprising in your life recently — whether it’s personal or career — where you couldn’t really plan it?
TG: Well, talk about the presidential election cycle. Oh, my God. It’s insane. Some of our listeners may be on the other side of the fence, but a month ago, everyone thought at the RNC and after the terrible assassination attempt on Trump, “Well, it’s over. It’s done.” Now we’re moving into a completely different future; a different world. Biden stepped aside and tapped Kamala and the world inverted. That has shocked me and reminded me how fast things can change. That’s one obvious one.
One of the hard things about having adult children — and having children of any age — is watching your kids struggle and go through painful experiences. And as an adult, with an adult child, you would think, “I need to help them succeed and win.” Just step back, help when asked, help in any way you can, but do not — do not block — the suffering. Do not try to get in the way of the pain.
What has started to happen now that my girls are approaching or are just after 30, [is] those trials that they’ve been through and their ability to independently fight through adversity has been the thing that’s given them the fuel to actually evolve to the next level — whatever that is for them. As a parent, again, it gets back to what I said about EZRA: Our job is not to steer their ship or prevent them from experiencing pain or having everything be smooth and straight lined…it’s their life to live.
MBN: Your breakout role was in Ghost, but people may not know that your first role was in a Friday the 13th movie and that you were the original voice of Tarzan, which, I’m never going to get over that. Between those genres — thrillers, horror, and animated — which would you [consider] acting in or directing next?
TG: I know what I want to direct next. It’s a film that’s another kind of comic drama that I really think is a beautiful project that we’re pulling together now. As an actor, the horror movie would’ve to have real depth and dimension to interest me. Also, a lot of horror movies shoot in the nighttime and have night shoots. I’m just getting a little old for a full movie of night shooting, so that doesn’t appeal to me.
MBN: In bed by 9:00pm.
TG: Yeah. Really. I honestly have given up trying to predict exactly what I should be doing or want to do. I roll with what’s happening. The gift that I’ve had recently is working with some really incredible directors. I got to be a small part of Oppenheimer and worked with Christopher Nolan. I just did a movie with Paul Thomas Anderson, which comes out next year. Getting to work with that caliber of director and those levels of actors; getting to work with DeNiro and Bobby [Cannavale] and Rose [Byrne] and the highest caliber of people I can is what is most thrilling to me at the moment.
MBN: The very last thing: Do you have a message you want to share with #Olitz fans, Scandal fans, or Shondaland fans in general? And is there anything else you want people to know?
TG: Thank you, first of all. Your loyalty and genuine, good-hearted affection for all of us and for what we all created together. Honestly, with the fans, I’m just forever grateful to all of you.
We’ve talked about what I’m up to, but maybe we’ll do this again when I have something hot off the press to share. Law & Order comes back in October. Check it out. It should be good.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Mia Brabham Nolan is a staff writer at Shondaland. Follow her on Instagram at @yourstrulymia.
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