It often works out that the most compelling, badly behaved villains in TV and film are played by the nicest actors youâll ever meet. Thatâs certainly the case for Bruce Langley, whoâs just made his TV debut on American Gods as Technical Boy, a personification our modern obsession with technology and the internet. Apropos for the territory, the characterâs seen a bit of an upgrade since author Neil Gaiman first brought this deity to life in his 2001 book: instead of the pimply fat hacker archetype, heâs a super-stylish influencer whoâd look right at home at an indulgent Silicon Valley party.
In real life, actor Langley does shares some characteristics with the god he affectionately calls “Tech Boy”: heâs whip-smart, for example, and heâs recently gotten very into interacting with American Gods fans on social media. But heâs also profoundly friendly upon first meetingâlike, âIâm a hugger!â friendly. Even after a long day of talking to the media in the middle of an even longer international press tour, heâs still completely psyched to be there. âItâs people,â he happily explained. âItâs interacting with people and Iâm doing it with such a fun team. Itâs a lot of fun, Iâm very much enjoying it.â
Which is ironic, because playing well with others doesnât seem to be a tool in Technical Boyâs arsenalâat least, not one he uses regularly. As we saw at the end of the season premiere, his primary goal is to eradicate the Old Gods that our protagonist, Shadow Moon, has unwittingly aligned himself with. And he wonât just kill to get his wayâheâll âdelete.â Whatâs one human life when the dominant paradigm is at stake?
While book readers and TV fans alike first glimpse Gaimanâs supernatural world though Shadowâs eyes, Langley’s first introduction to American Gods was initially through the lens of Technical Boy. During that pilot season he found himself fascinated by the audition material for the character, and only began exploring the rest of Gaimanâs work after he got the part. And of course, being so connected to the character means that he has some interesting insights into what makes the Technical Boy tick.
âIn terms of personal identity, self-definition, certainly he wouldnât self-identify as a âvillain,â” he said. “He would consider that to be a very, very low-grade definition of anything. Have you seen Star Trek: First Contact? So, the Borg Queen: âYou think in such three-dimensional terms.â Something to bear in mind, with all of this going on. Itâs such a nebulous, oddly ‘binarily’-defined human concept that he would consider himself above. Heâs not doing this to twiddle a mustache and go, ‘Mwah hah ha!’ Heâs doing this for his own reasons.â
Those reasons, of course, revolve around cultural dominance. âItâs about progress, evolution, and moving stuff the way it needs to go,â Langley continued. âHe literally thinks faster than anything else around him, so thereâs that. He knows what the most logical thing to do is and he knows what makes sense and where we should be goingâat least, in his own mind, heâs absolutely certain of that. And thereâs all these inconsiderate meat sacks who are just sitting there not thinking the way he does. So he can come across as obstinate and all the rest of it, sure. But he doesnât need people to understand him.â
Setting Technical Boyâs own view of himself aside, we define him as one of the bad guys. Whatever fans he garners from his arrogant attitude are most likely going to be of the love-to-hate variety. Some, in fact, have already started comparing him to Joffrey from Game of Thrones, another entitled jerk with a penchant for violence.
âIâm under no illusion that as soon as the show comes out, a lot of people are not going to be enjoying what Tech Boy is up to, and thatâs entirely fine,â Langley said, joking that cast mate Pablo Schreiber (a.k.a. Pornstache from Orange is the New Black) has already offered him advice on how to deal with being reviled. âI donât know how people are going to respond, weâll see. But I would very much think that a lot of people are essentially gonna be jumping on the, âYeah, fuck that guyâ wagon. So weâll see. And you know what? Great! Thatâs a visceral reaction.â
MANY MANY CONVERSATIONS WENT INTO @BruceJLangleyâs MANY HAIRSTYLES DESIGNED BY @Karolastyle @AmericanGodsSTZ @andmichaelgreen #AMERICANGODS pic.twitter.com/vI9vea3kmm
â Bryan Fuller (@BryanFuller) May 1, 2017
Itâs a reaction, in fact, that the show seems as though itâs actively trying to cultivate. Technical Boyâs âfuck youâ attitude, as Langley put it, is the one constant in his ever-changing appearance as he jumps from one piece of expensive wearable tech to the next (well, one of two constantsâthe other is Tech Boyâs synthetic toadskin vape pen, which heâs named âTobyâ). And unlike many of the the impassive embodiments of technology whoâve plagued science fiction stories in the past, his reactions are very much those of a living thing. To put it back into Star Trek terms, heâs maybe not so much the Borg Queen as he is Lore, Dataâs evil android twin from The Next Generation TV series.
âTech Boy does feel–heâs a very emotional creature in many many ways,â Langley said. âPart of him is human, part of him is born of human belief. It has to be human, and while part of him is artificial, he also, at his essence, has got a story ⦠Anyone who, in essence, is hurting someone else usually is coming from a place of pain. So getting to explore that in him, to try to establish his filter, that was very interesting in terms of character workâwhy he is the way he is. I really hope we get to explore that in further seasons.â
Until that happens, of course, at least heâll have plenty of fun working alongside TV veterans like Gillian Anderson, Crispin Glover, and Ian McShane. âGetting to play one-on-one opposite Gillian is an absolute gift, just in the smallest interactions,â he said. âYou can see the experience. You can see all the work theyâve done before. Itâs all there. Itâs hard to be anything other than just grateful.â Not a term that Technical Boy himself would probably ever use, but thatâs why itâs called acting, right?
What did you think of Technical Boyâs first appearance in American Gods this past weekend? Whether you love him, hate him, or love to hate him, tell us all about it in the comments.
Images: Starz
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