Jeremy Jordan is well known by comic book fans for his role as Winn Schott — son of the Toyman — in Supergirl, but the Grammy and Tony-nominated performer is now adding “biopic star” to his repertoire. Jordan stars in Spinning Gold, a new movie about Casablanca Records and its founder Neil Bogart, whom Jordan portrays in the film. Bogart is heralded as the man who discovered iconic artists such as KISS and Donna Summer.
In an exclusive interview, PopCulture.com asked Jordan about the differences between playing a beloved comic book character and a real-life music industry revolutionary, to which he explained that his two specific roles actually has something in common. “What’s actually fun and interesting about how when I played Winn and when I played this, is that they were lesser-known characters, either in the comic world or in the real world,” he explained. “And so I was able to get away with finding my own way into it without having to do an impression of somebody. It’s been really interesting and exciting in that way. And then I felt that way about this, too.”
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One of the challenges that Jordan faced while preparing to play Bogart, is that the majority of the film depicts the late record executive’s personal life, but there was not much to pull from in terms of inspiration, as the film’s writer-direct Tim Bogart — Neil Bogart’s son — was very young when his father passed away in the early ’80s.” I’ve played real people before, and this was very different in that I had a little bit of source material to pull off of, so I could get his vibe and his voice, he shared. “But I only had interviews of him. And when you’re given an interview, it’s like you’re a heightened version of yourself.”
“I’ve tried to be better at it. I’ve tried to be normal. But I’m in my happy mode. You don’t see me when I’m sulking or all that stuff,” Jordan continued, noting how he was able to better understand the difficulty of basing a performance on old interview footage. “A lot of that, I had to imagine. He died when his son, Tim, the director, was just a kid.”
Jordan then explained how Tim gave him space to craft the depiction of Neil Bogart that Jordan felt was best. “I was really lucky and fortunate in that he allowed me to find my own way into this character and he really encouraged that,” he said. “I never felt like I was being judged or being like, “He wouldn’t do that.” He just let me play. So I felt like I was creating a new character at the same time. You have the script and all that stuff is still in place, so it’s not like you’re making stuff up, although we did do a lot of improv.”
Finally, discussing the narrative of Spinning Gold, Jordan offered, “The story is being told from a very strange perspective. It’s being told from the perspective of a guy that’s no longer here. And he’s giving an interview from the afterlife essentially and giving his greatest hits.”
He added “The more you tell a story, the more it’s… Especially when you’re a showman, which Neil was, it’s going to get more and more embellished each time. What’s fun is that we jump right off the bat by telling an outlandish version of a story that clearly didn’t happen in that way, and then just shrug it off because it’s more fun to do it like that.” Spinning Gold is now playing in theaters. Click here for showtimes.
