William H. Macy & Sam Waterston talk Hulu's The Dropout & the real life Theranos scandal on Pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon.
As we have been getting a seemingly endless series of scandals over the last decade, art imitates life as we consequently get a seemingly endless series of content based on those scandals. Some of them are bad. Some are decent. And then there's excellent content like The Dropout. The Hulu exclusive miniseries follows the real life scandal of Elizabeth Holmes who - at 19 - duped her way into becoming the world's youngest billionaire by announcing the creation of a breakthrough medical device that didn't actually exist.
The Dropout is a tight thriller based on the podcast of ABC Nightline podcast of the same name, which you can listen to here, and stars Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes. With an all star cast including Academy Award winner William H. Macy, TV icon Sam Waterston, Emmy Award winner Laurie Metcalf, Naveen Andrews, Kurtwood Smith and so many more, the quality of the talent matches the writing matches the insanity of this true story. Although we know the outcome. most of us don't know the story leading up to that outcome and The Dropout does an incredible job of showing us.
In the latest episode of Pop Culture Weekly, The Dropout stars Sam Waterston and William H. Macy talk about their characters, whom like everyone else in The Dropout, are real people.
Sam Waterston portrays Charles Shultz, who was contacted by Elizabeth early on and became one of her biggest supporters, while his Grandson feared he was being taken advantage of. When asked if the viewer can find a lesson in the story of his character, Waterston says:
"Absolutely, yes. I think it is humility about your own ability to see what's real and what's not - especially when you're being told things that you really hope and really want to be true....There was money to be made if Elizabeth Holmes was right and there was money to be lost if she faced the fact that she wasn't telling the truth."
Academy Award winner William H. Macy plays Richard Fuisz, an inventor and businessman who was once neighbors with the Holmes family and later becomes embroiled in a legal war against Theranos. When asked if it was harder to portray someone who is a real person than it is a fictional character, Macy said:
"I think it comes with responsibility. Especially someone who is still alive. But at the same time, this is a fictionalized story so I'm hoping that the real people who appear as characters in this thing realize it's Hollywood so we didn't get it all right....but...yes I do feel a responsibility when I'm playing someone (real)....I would be nervous to meet him."
You can check out what both of these award winning actors have to say about Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos and their roles on Pop Culture Weekly. The Dropout is streaming now exclusively on Hulu.
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Check out Kyle Mcmahon and subscribe to the Pop Culture Weekly podcast. You can follow him on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Rizzle and Instagram.