AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
A brain in a jar rolls out of a dusty storage bin as work crews are clearing the archives of the Army Medical Museum in Washington, D.C.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Let's pick up the pace, fellas. Clear all this stuff on out of here.
RASCOE: This is the opening scene of the new Netflix miniseries "Death By Lightning." And the label on that jar of brains, it reads Charles J. Guiteau.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Who the [expletive] is Charles Guiteau?
RASCOE: Oh, so you asked that question too. Well, let me fill you in. In 1881, Charles Guiteau shot President James A. Garfield, who was then just a few months in office. Garfield died several weeks later. "Death By Lightning" is about how the paths of these two men cross with such devastating consequences. Matthew Macfadyen plays Charles Guiteau and joins us now. Welcome to the program.
MATTHEW MACFADYEN: Thanks for having me.
RASCOE: Who was Charles Guiteau, and why was he fixated on President Garfield?
MACFADYEN: Charles Guiteau was a man who - he was a sort of strange, sad - he wasn't terribly well. I guess now he would be diagnosed with a variety of, I don't know, mental health conditions. He had a difficult childhood. He had an abusive father, and he couldn't really hold down a job. He joined a sort of free-love community called the Oneida Community cult. He was kicked out of that. Nothing really worked.
RASCOE: Even the free love didn't work. That's sad.
MACFADYEN: Oh, I know.
(LAUGHTER)
MACFADYEN: I know. He wrote a pamphlet sort of supporting James Garfield and really believed that when he won the presidency, Guiteau had been key in getting him elected of - and he was sort of deluded. He suffered from, I think, delusions of grandeur and paranoia and all kinds of things. He thought he deserved a post in the administration.
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MACFADYEN: (As Charles Guiteau) I feel in my core, that I really do know you, Mr. Garfield. I'm your man.
RASCOE: When he's thought of now, I mean, he's a bit of a footnote. As you said, I mean, people think of him as mentally ill. How did you approach playing him? What did you want to do with this role?
MACFADYEN: It was such a brilliant script. It was so beautifully written by Mike Makowsky, and Mike took half his inspiration from Candice Millard's book the "Destiny Of The Republic." I didn't know anything about that particular period of history, which was a delight to discover. You know, as an actor, you long for parts like that. It's a really delicious part to play. And I felt that he was weirdly sympathetic, Guiteau. I had the overriding sense that he wanted to belong, and mental illness notwithstanding, he wanted to be part of the group, and he wanted to be valuable and be seen and all those things that we can relate to.
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ZELJKO IVANEK: (As Willard Bliss) We're clear our bullet slid on past the first lumbar vertebra. It's lodged itself further.
RASCOE: The way that doctors treated Garfield after the shooting and what led to his death, it was really awful.
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SHAUN PARKES: (As Charles Purvis) Sir, this probe is damaging your patient, and your equipment is not properly sanitized.
IVANEK: (As Willard Bliss) This is a critical moment. We can't waste time.
PARKES: (As Charles Purvis) Forgive me, sir. Have you heard of the new research coming out of Europe on antisepsis?
IVANEK: (As Willard Bliss) We are not in Europe, Dr. Purvis. Invisible monsters were a thing of superstition, not science.
RASCOE: They weren't, you know, washing their hands and they were just putting their fingers in the wound, looking for that bullet.
MACFADYEN: I - he must've - unspeakable agony. Had they left him alone, he would've been OK.
RASCOE: Yeah. But they kept going in with those dirty fingers...
MACFADYEN: That's right.
RASCOE: ...And...
MACFADYEN: Wash your hands, people. I know.
RASCOE: (Laughter) Wash your hands.
MACFADYEN: Yeah.
RASCOE: And he was just 49 when he died. People don't think, though, about Garfield and Guiteau the way they think about, like, Lincoln and Booth. Why do you think this story has been so easily forgotten? I mean, it is a tragic story of a presidential assassination.
MACFADYEN: I think probably because it - I guess that period of history falls in between - you know, after the Civil War and before the beginning of the next century - and because Garfield didn't have time to do an awful lot, but he was a sort of charismatic and reluctant president who had a sort of moral intelligence and wanted to serve the American people and not himself. But I guess it's as - ultimately, even though it's a great shame that his presidency was cut short, it's a sort of hopeful story in that it's a good example of what decent leadership can look like, I suppose.
RASCOE: This is a reflection of a very sad part of American history, which is that political violence has been a part of American history, you know, basically since the beginning. Does "Death By Lightning" give any insights about political violence, about the aftermath, about the impact of it?
MACFADYEN: I guess the thing that comes across to me is that it's just the futility of it. There's no good thing that comes from any kind of violence that's committed in the name of a political party or a creed or whatever. And I'm sort of left with a - you just feel the waste of it and the shame of missed opportunity.
RASCOE: So I have to ask you a quick, unrelated question. Whatever happened to that marble bust of you from "Pride & Prejudice," you know, the one that made Keira Knightley fall in love with you?
MACFADYEN: I don't know where - I've got one.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
MACFADYEN: So it's in an attic somewhere.
RASCOE: OK. So you don't have it, like, in the bathroom?
MACFADYEN: No. No.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
MACFADYEN: It's not anywhere that I can see or anybody else can see.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
MACFADYEN: It's always that thing, isn't it? - when people put their Oscars in the downstairs bathroom, which is actually the height of vanity 'cause everyone goes in.
RASCOE: (LAUGHTER)
MACFADYEN: So it's not - but not by design. I found it slightly creepy, and I - it sort of went into the back of a cupboard and then into an attic. So I haven't seen it for years. But there's also one in Chatsworth, in this...
RASCOE: Oh.
MACFADYEN: ...Enormous, big, stately house, where we shot parts of the film, which was Darcy's house in the movie, and it's there.
RASCOE: OK.
MACFADYEN: And there's a sign underneath it saying, do not kiss...
RASCOE: (Laughter).
MACFADYEN: ...Apparently. I've never - I haven't been.
RASCOE: (Laughter) But that's the thing. You have made a generation swoon. You've earned two Emmys for your role on "Succession." And I understand you've also taken on the role of an iconic villain, he-who-must-not-be-named, Lord Voldemort. This is for the new Audible "Harry Potter" series. Was that an intimidating job to take on?
MACFADYEN: I mean, Ralph Fiennes is sort of definitive in his portrayal of Voldemort. And so actually, when you do something like that, it's just quite nice to step into someone else's shoes. And also it's not my face. It's just my voice. So it was just sort of two days in a studio and lots of fun and lots of sort of whispering evilly.
RASCOE: Can you do a little of the voice? Just a little - (laughter).
MACFADYEN: I think I spent a lot of time whispering (whispering) Harry Potter. You know, lots of that.
RASCOE: (Whispering) OK. Harry Potter.
MACFADYEN: (Whispering) Yeah. Harry Potter.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
MACFADYEN: It was a lot of fun. It was nice.
RASCOE: You must get recognized a lot because you've been in so many well-known roles. Like, how do you deal with it? And is there a certain type of person who recognizes you from a certain type of thing?
MACFADYEN: Sometimes in the states, it's a sort of bro thing with "Succession."
RASCOE: OK. Yeah.
MACFADYEN: It's like seeing a kindred spirit, I mean, which is always slightly confusing. It's, like, hey, Tom...
RASCOE: (Laughter).
MACFADYEN: ...Way to go. You won. And then I'm always really flattered where people say, were you Mr. Darcy? - because that was a good 20 years ago. And so I think, God, I - age hasn't withered me too badly yet.
RASCOE: That's Matthew Macfadyen, who stars in the new Netflix series "Death By Lightning." Thank you so much for talking with us.
MACFADYEN: Great pleasure. Thanks for having me on.
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