Macaulay Culkin Suits Up For The Wasteland
The actor teases the adventure to come in Prime Video’s Fallout.
Macaulay Culkin was made for something like Fallout.
The actor has long been synonymous with gutsy, even irreverent stories, especially on the small screen. Though he’s never done something quite so high-concept as Fallout, Prime Video’s adaptation of the beloved apocalyptic video game series has long been on Culkin’s radar. His wife, actor Brenda Song, knew he was Fallout material before Season 1 had even reached its conclusion.
“She turned to me about halfway through the season, and she said, ‘You belong on this show,’” Culkin tells Inverse. The actor agreed — and it didn’t take long for Fallout’s producers to call him up and offer him a role in Season 2.
Fans figured out pretty early (thanks to a shot from the trailer that teased Culkin’s unique “ear shape”) that he’d be a part of Caesar’s Legion, a scrappy militia that has modeled its society loosely after Ancient Rome. Series creator Geneva Robertson-Dworet gave him plenty of leave to explore “a bunch of different performances” that informed the “spectrum” of his character, Lacerta Legate.
Culkin spearheads plenty of laugh-out-loud moments in Episode 3... but it’s not all fun and games for those who oppose the Legion — like Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), who literally gets crucified for defying its archaic, misogynistic laws. Then, there’s the civil war that’s split the Legion in two, which the Ghoul (Walton Goggins) uses to create even more chaos and bloodshed. Culkin finds himself in the middle of it all in Episode 3, but it’s just the beginning for his character. The actor sits down with Inverse to discuss his love for Fallout lore, the meticulous world-building behind the scenes, and what fans can expect from the rest of Season 2.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
Culkin feels right at home in Fallout’s off-beat, cutthroat wasteland.
Were you a fan of the show or the games before this role came to you?
Yeah, I was a fan of the games. I was more familiar with the games, rather, than anything else. But then I was a big fan of the show. I don’t have much time to watch too many things. I got two boys at home, so me and the lady, we get halfway through a pilot. But we really enjoyed the show. She turned to me about halfway through the season, and she said, “You belong on this show.” And I was like, “You know what? You’re right.” And then we just went to sleep and I totally forgot about it. Then a couple months later, they called me up, so it was very exciting, because this is my vibe. That’s the thing: She knows me, and so she knows that this is my vibe. This is my tone. This is the kind of thing that I like doing. I really feel like it’s a good fit for me.
It’s a great fit — especially since, if I’m not mistaken, you haven’t appeared in an apocalyptic project before.
I don’t believe I’ve been a part of any kind of apocalypse, no. Not personally. As far as I know, this is my first post-apocalyptic — or even just something that’s set in the future as well.
The Fallout producers allowed Culkin to explore the full spectrum of his character.
What were you most excited about exploring in that regard?
Well, I knew I was going to be a part of the Legion. I thought that was really, really, really cool. Knowing the lore and stuff like that, I knew exactly what they were talking about. When they sent me the sides, it was like “Caesar, Caesar, Caesar…” and I was like, “You want me to [pronounce it as] ‘kay-zer,’ right?” They’re like, “Oh, he knows.”
I was looking forward to that kind of stuff, but it’s also just one of those shows that’s very meticulous. Their attention to detail and all that kind of stuff is really, really cool. It’s all of these moving parts, especially some of the stuff I was doing when I was at the Legion camp. Some of those prop dead bodies are quite specific. And it’s like stuff that’s barely getting any screen time. Somebody put a lot of love and effort into this.
I think that kind of goes to show about the whole show in general, when it comes to everything — from just the mannequins in the background, to the shoes, just the way someone’s hair is done — it’s actually very meticulous. Sometimes when you’re on set, it’s kind of a pain, where it’s kind of just like “OK, how many times do you have to touch my hair?” You know what I mean? But at the same time, it’s like “No, no, not a hair out of place” — so again, it’s a testament to the kind of ship that they’re running.
Culkin makes a brief appearance in Episode 3, but it’s not the last we’ll see of the Legion.
What did your prep look like? Any combat training?
No, I was just coming off of a tour. I was out of town, and so I literally came in and that day I did a fitting for my whole regalia, and then the next day I was on set. It was like that, boom. But to be fair, they already did a 3D scan of me, so that thing did fit like a glove — and they were like, “Oh, good, thank God, because we have no time and we couldn’t fix it even if we wanted to.” So, it was a little fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants kind of filmmaking: There actually wasn’t a lot of prep. When I was reading for it, there’s a spectrum to this kind of character, and so I gave them a bunch of different performances. So, when I showed up [on set], I’m like, “Yeah, which one do you want?” And I never got an answer. I wanted to focus in a little bit, but I think they left it to my discretion. They gave me faith that I would find something that, at the very least, that they could use.
I was just messing around a little bit. You know what I mean? I would do something, and then the next take I would do something different. Sometimes they would critique it... It was kind of going where the wind blew a little bit. It also depended on the other person’s performance and how they were reacting to me. There’s certain times where it’s like “OK, I’ve gotten that reaction out of you; now I want to try to get a different thing out of you.” It’s a different kind of dance: There’s a fluidness in each other’s motions.
We see just a little bit of your character in Episode 3, but I understand that there’s going to be a little bit more down the line. What can you tease about his arc?
There’s still plenty more of Legion coming forward. There’s going to be some dynamics that happen. It’s really tricky because I can’t really talk too much about it, but just know that there is plenty more of this guy to be seen. I can’t tell you if I live or die because if I do, I’d have to kill you… so there you go.
