Michael Chernus‘ portrayal of the serial killer John Wayne Gacy in Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy is brilliant. That’s not a word I want to use when it comes to one of the more terrifying serial killers of all time, but it works. The series, which I recently finished watching with my Peacock subscription, is, in my opinion, perhaps the best of all the recent TV shows about real-life serial killers, and Chernus’ performance is the key to the whole series.
So how does an actor get into the head of a character like Gacy? That’s a scary place to have to go, and Chernus recently spoke to playing a character based on a very real and very terrible person. Here’s how he developed his performance.
Much Of What Chernnus Did Went Against His Training
Chernus learned a lot in college at the prestigious Juilliard in New York City, where he was taught how to get into a character’s head and find the true motivation of a part. That’s something he almost certainly uses for his great turn as Ricken Hale in Severance, but can you imagine getting into the head of someone like John Wayne Gacy? Chernus had to take a different approach, something he explained in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter:
I had to let go of that need for it to make sense, which kind of goes against everything I learned at Juilliard. I do think he had his own logic in his own crazy mind. There were reasons why he did things the way he did, and he had his own methodology.
But Chernus explains that meant he couldn't get completely inside the character's headspace:
But at the end of the day, I think only a psychopath can understand a psychopath. And even then, I don’t think a lot of these serial killers know really why they’re doing what they’re doing. I don’t think that John Gacy was super in touch with his feelings.
It goes even further, because, according to the actor, what he was taught is something very hard, almost impossible to do with a killer like Gace. Asking anyone to get into the head and empathize with a killer like Gacy is dangerous, and Chernus had a revelation about his craft:
After playing this role, [I] think that’s BS. I don’t agree. I don’t have to understand him to play him. The scripts were written so well, but eventually, it’s going to get to a point where I can’t fill in that blank.
There may be “openings” into Gacy’s thoughts and motivations, but there isn’t any way that anyone could ever get into that kind of character’s head, even if there are things that an actor could latch on to. According to Chernus, something like Gacy's abusive alcoholic father could be something to empathize with.
However, the actor points out, that doesn't go far enough for this type of character, not for a character based on a real serial killer who killed at least 33 boys. He explains that millions of people have abusive fathers, as Gacy did. They simply don't do the kind of horrific things Gacy did.
Chernus Still Found A Way To Give A Transcendent Performance
Instead, Chernus relied on the writing of the character, which was partially based on the Peacock true crime docuseries John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise from 2021 (yes, the names of each series are very similar), to find his performance, because understanding a psychopath like Gacy is impossible. To get to the heart of the character, according to Chernus, is equally impossible.
Chernus might not have been able to put together that final piece of the puzzle, as he says in the interview, but his performance speaks for itself. He’s both terrifying and disarming, just like the real Gacy was supposed to have been. Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy is one of the most disturbing additions to the 2025 TV schedule, but I can’t help but recommend it, because it’s so well done, especially Chernus as Gacy.
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