Are you ready for the Billy Magnussen renaissance? The Tony Award nominee is best known for his roles in “Aladdin,” “Into the Woods,” “Game Night” and “Ingrid Goes West,” but that’s all about to change. By the end of the year, he’ll have appeared in the very very pandemic delayed James Bond flick “No Time To Die,” the somewhat pandemic delayed “Sopranos” prequel “The Many Saints of Newark” and the new dramedy “Made for Love” which drops on HBO Max this week.
Based on Alissa Nutting’s 2017 novel, “Made for Love” finds Magnussen playing global tech guru Byron Glogol, a billionaire who seems to have lost touch with reality. That’s not surprising considering he’s spent the last 10 years living in a virtual reality space with his wife, Hazel, played by Christin Milioti. Already over Byron’s controlling nature and her lack of relative freedom, Hazel bolts when she discovers her husband plans on making the couple the guinea pigs for his company’s newest product. A chip implanted in a couple’s brains that, in theory, merges their thoughts. It’s a very dark scenario with unexpected twists and a few laughs along the way.
Magnussen clearly enjoyed playing Globol, but his enthusiasm for having a role in a 007 film and playing a younger version of Paulie from “The Sopranos” were undeniable.
“I think there is one thing about portraying a living person and having the actual person there and who it was and documentation of who it was but again this was created by [Tony Sirico],” Magnussen says. “So it’s a character that someone else created. So, now I’m doing an interpretation of someone else’s character they created. You know that’s a challenging hill to climb.”
As to whether that was a fun experience, Magnussen exclaims, “Oh my gosh. I was a gangster in The Sopranos! Are you kidding me? It was a great time.”
You can listen to the entire podcast with Mangussen in the embedded Soundcloud link below or on iTunes.
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“Made for Love” debuts on HBO Max on Thursday.