’The Gilded Age’ Star Nathan Lane on Playing a ‘Silly Snob,’ Reuniting with Christine Baranski and His Emotional ‘Only Murder’ Moments
variety.comMónica Marie Zorrilla Nathan Lane has long been a master shapeshifter on theater and television. From donning garish red suits on “The Producers” to South Beach drag fabulosity on “The Birdcage” and personifying a sly and slim meerkat on “The Lion King,” Lane is always eye-catching, in a multitude of ways.
Over the past year, audiences caught him on Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” as deli dips kingpin Teddy Dimas, and in HBO Max’s 1880s-set “The Gilded Age,” as Ward McAllister, in outrageous multi-piece suits and with facial hair to fit the real-life charismatic snob’s persona.“He was an odd little figure,” Lane said of his “Gilded” character. “Bertha Russell [Carrie Coon] is fictional but she is based on Ava Vanderbilt, and in the show, McAllister is pivotal to Bertha breaking into this world.
She is hoping that he will eventually get Mrs. Astor to approve of her.” On last night’s finale episode, audiences got closer to finding out if Bertha, who has been desperately trying to climb New York’s social ladder all season, will actually make it to “The Four Hundred,” McAllister’s arbitrary cut-off on who could consider themselves a part of the elite in the city, and in Mrs.
Astor’s (Donna Murphy) good graces.“That number comes from Mrs. Astor’s ballroom size, which had a capacity of 400 people,” Lane explained.
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