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PEOPLE & ARTS Monday 30 SepteMber 2019

For Ben Platt, a perfect pitch leads to 'The Politician'

By MIKE CIDONI LENNOX sen." Emmy Awards starring in
AP Entertainment Writer "And so, to me, that was, Murphy's "American Horror
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. as an actor, the most deli- Story" series, said the pro-
(AP) — To hear Ben Platt cious possible possibility," ducer knew just how to get
describe it, producer Ryan Platt said. her to sign on.
Murphy's pitch for him to Platt's Hobart will go to "He reels me in because
star in the new Netflix series any lengths to achieve his he knows what I like and
"The Politician" had all the dream of becoming presi- what's going to kind of trig-
planning, precision and vi- dent of the United States. ger my imagination right
sion of a successful presi- But, first, he must win over away," said Lange, who
dential campaign. voters in his high school plays the shady grand-
"He said, 'OK, the show is election, which is a lot mother of Hobart's running
called 'The Politician.' The harder than it sounds. mate. "So, then he'll drop
character's Peyton Hobart. Murphy, the Emmy-winning the couple things here and
This is the content of the producer behind "Glee" there, you know: 'She went
character. I want Gwyneth and "American Crime Sto- to Hollywood. She wanted
Paltrow to play a mother. ry," offered Platt other en- to be Vanna White. She's
The world's going to look ticements, including an ex- from West Virginia. She got
like this. This is going to be ecutive producer credit. pregnant when she was a Actor Ben Platt poses for photographers upon arrival at the UK
eight episodes. If we go this "(That) allowed me to have teenager. She was . ' And I premiere for The Politician, at a central London cinema, Mon-
many seasons, you'll end some sort of creative own- can see it all coming. And day, Sept 16, 2019.
up here," Platt said of their ership over it that I have it's never a surprise to me, Associated Press
meeting. been able to have in the but it's always tremendously
Platt signed on after hear- theater, but not really any- entertaining. So, you know, episodes of "The Politician" make it more absurd than
ing Murphy's description of where else as of yet," the I end up saying, 'Yeah, I'll with so much political scan- it is in reality. I mean, you
the character: a "border- Tony Award winner said. do it.'" dal that the series could be couldn't make this story up
line sociopathic-egomani- "And so that was really at- In addition to Platt and perceived as over the top. that's going on in America
acal-ambitious witty man." tractive to me." Lange, the series that de- But not today, Lange said. right now. So, you know,
It's a departure from Platt's Platt wasn't the only actor buts Friday adds the star "Our politics have some- as weird as Ryan wants to
star-making role, the sweet, who Murphy wooed with power of Paltrow and Os- how devolved into such an spin this story, it's not going
socially awkward title char- a perfect pitch. Jessica car nominee Bob Balaban. absolute (expletive) show," to get weirder than what is
acter of "Dear Evan Han- Lange, who has won two Murphy crams the first eight she said. "You couldn't actually happening."q