Chaske Spencer and Rob Morgan play two figures on literally opposite sides of a mysterious line in Cup. After he first began his role as werewolf Sam in Twilight franchise, Spencer began to gain momentum on screen with Banshee franchise, in which he played Deputy Billy Raven, and continued it with the film by Giovanni Ribisi. Sneaky PeteNBC Blind spot and the Marvel Cinematic Universe Echoas the protagonist’s uncle. Morgan also has experience in the MCU, having appeared in all six Netflix Marvel shows as Turk Barrett, as well as the Netflix series. Stranger Things, Don’t look up And Smile.
Spencer plays the lead role Cup as Reuben Shanley, a local farmer living with his family in rural Georgia, who comes to his neighbors the Chenoweths for help when one of his horses gets tangled in a fence and is badly injured. However, while on their farm, the two families begin to experience strange occurrences around the time the Chenoweths’ youngest child, Arlo, goes missing, including the arrival of the mysterious McNab. McNab, played by Morgan, appears immediately after Arlo returns, drawing a blue line around the Chenoweth farm and warning them not to cross it and not to trust anyone, leading to panic as the group soon learns dangerous truths about the line and each other.
Connected
Along with Spencer and Morgan, the ensemble Cup cast includes The Handmaid’s TaleYvonne Strahovski as Maggie Chenoweth Gray’s AnatomyScott Speedman as James Chenoweth, Emily Bier as their daughter Meryl, Caleb Dolden as Arlo, RanchKathy Baker as James’ mother Ellen and EvilBoris McGeever as another local neighbor, Donald Kelly. Aiming to capture the same claustrophobic and mysterious storyline as MGM+. From and also adapted from the novel by Robert McCammon stingThe show is an intriguing and frightening horror film.
In honor of the upcoming premiere of the show. On-screen rant interviewed Chesk Spencer and Rob Morgan to discuss Cuphow the former had difficulty portraying his character’s stoicism, the mysterious nature of the latter’s character and when audiences will learn more about him, and how much fun they had on set with showrunner Ian McCulloch.
Spencer was attracted by the internal drama happening with his Cup Character
Morgan, on the other hand, was “on the hook“Only after meeting McCulloch”
Screen swearing: Cup Rules so far, I’ve watched four episodes and I’m absolutely hooked. Chaske, I’ll start with you and then Rob, what was it about Ian’s material and the vision of your characters that really made you both interested and want to be a part of it?
Chaske Spencer: Well, he explained the whole series. I didn’t get any scripts, he just talked about the series and what it would be like. And he said that I think Ruben is going to go through a lot and it’s going to be a lot of drama for him. He explained the idea behind the main story, but said, “It was all down there. There’s a lot of subtext there.” And that’s what attracted me to it. As we continued to work on the production, it was the cast, the crew, the directors, what they chose, you know, everything. It just kind of came together and right now we had this perfect soup cooking.
Rob Morgan: Yeah, Ian is very personable, he’s very cool, he’s very charming. They came to me literally two weeks before I came and all I read was maybe the first two or three episodes. And he was like, “But you really come to life in episode five!” So I thought, “[Hesitantly] Okay,” but he had already hooked me with his Zoom setup. He has this really cool Zoom setup where he sits in the back on this leather couch, leaning back, and you’re projected onto the wall and he’s talking to you. I thought, “This is so cool. Whatever this guy does, I want to be a part of it.” [Chuckles] This is literally what happened.
To play the very stoic Reuben, Spencer needed a unique trick
McCulloch didn’t always help the duo be serious
So, Chaske, you mentioned a lot of the drama that Ruben goes through, and I’d love to hear from the performance side what it’s like to keep so much internal while he’s also struggling with the external conflict of what’s on the other side of the line, and “How do we get out of here?“?
Chaske Spencer: It’s really hard, it was actually hard to play this character, being so closed off and trying not to show too much emotion to the audience. Every time we shot a take, the director would come and go: “Okay, stop. Don’t show anything.” So they let me play a little. But in the end, it just stayed very, very small. And I’m not exactly a small guy by nature, you know, I’m quite lively. So somewhere in the production process, and Rob will tell you, I had to use some tools to try to stay in that character. [Laughs]
Rob Morgan: [Laughs] Yeah, his Marlboros, his cold Marlboros were a thing, man. We’ll see Chaska there with his cold Marlboros. The cigarette isn’t even lit, he just smokes it like it’s lit! We were like, “What is this?” “It keeps my character.” “Okay, cool.” So yes, you did brilliantly. It was great working with these guys. Again, being on set with a showrunner as charming and funny as Ian. Anyway, that was the biggest problem: we were all tense there, and he was saying, “Hey guys, look at my shirt. Check out these socks today. Okay, bye, I’ll let you go.” !” I would say, “Ian, we work here.”
Chaske Spencer: I’m almost crying. [Laughs]
Rob Morgan: Yeah, we’re all in it. “Okay, this is the scene where you see your daughter get her head blown off,” and Ian comes over, “Hey guys, look at my shirt.” It was part of the environment that made us just want to give it our all. He was such a great guy to work with, man, and I think you’ll see that on screen.
There will be one episode”Very clarifying“For the mysterious character Morgan”
Cup The star praised all aspects of the creative team for helping with early work
So Rob, I’ll get back to you. You mentioned how Ian told you in episode five that you were really coming to life. And after watching the first four episodes, it’s clear that you’re about to pop up and be on screen a lot more often. But what is it like, in those first few episodes, to really try to not only establish some stakes in this world, but also try to maintain that line?Is he a helper or a threat to these people?“?
Rob Morgan: It was actually fun because I think that’s where the teamwork came through, either from Ian or from the studio executives or from episode five director John Hyams, who was great to work with. He helped me a lot by sharing some ideas about what those moments were about and what was needed in those moments so that we could continue the journey. So yeah, working with John in episode five was very, very clarifying.
Think Speedman Duo”Really should be a director“After working with him
“…and Yvonne is really amazing, and as a producer she’s very hands-on…”
Chaske, I will return to you. You interact a lot with both Yvonne and Scott, and that obviously plays into your character’s internal struggles. What was it like finding that dynamic and rapport with them during production?
Chaske Spencer: Well, Scott has a lot going for him, his career has been phenomenal. He comes with all this knowledge. Basically, I was pretty much playing against what Scott was doing. He should be a director, he really should be a director. The dynamic between them is just – how do I explain it? They are educational. I learned a lot from watching them, about their experiences in film and all the education they have accumulated throughout their careers.
And they are very easy to work with. They’re really good people, even though there’s drama on screen, when you say “Cut” we just laugh and joke because it’s too much. So, they’re great people to work with, and Yvonne is amazing, really amazing. And as a producer, she is also very practical.
Rob Morgan: And they picked the perfect kids. Sometimes they say the problem is working with children or young actors. All of our actors under 18 did a phenomenal job and showed their worth. Luciano, Emily, Caleb – they are phenomenal at what they do and made it easy for us.
ABOUT Cup
TEACUP follows a disparate group of people in rural Georgia who must band together in the face of a mysterious threat in order to survive. Inspired by Robert McCammon’s New York Times bestselling novel The Stinger.
Follow our others Cup interview with:
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Yvonne Strahovski and Scott Speedman
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Emily Bier and Caleb Dolden
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Ian McCulloch
Source: Screen Rant Plus