Note: The following story contains spoilers from “Paradise” Episodes 1-3.
“Paradise” centers its murder mystery around Sterling K. Brown’s Agent Xavier Collins and James Marsden’s President Cal Bradford — a complex relationship Marsden describes as reminiscent of “The Odd Couple.”
“I love the fact that they are so different — it’s an odd couple relationship,” Marsden told TheWrap. “[Xavier] is very stoic, very rigid, very by the book. [He’s] a man of of a code [with a] very strong moral compass, and Cal has a lot of those things as well. He is a good human being who tries to do the right thing, but he’s much more loose.”
From the first time Xavier meets Cal, the president immediately disarms Xavier with his brazen disrespect for how the White House should operate, with Marsden explaining Cal “does not subscribe to the idea that just because you are President of the United States, that you can’t drink in the Oval Office, that you can’t have a good time.”
“Xavier is like a Rubik’s cube,” Marsden said, adding that Cal tasks himself with getting Xavier to relax and have fun with him. “He ultimately learns a lot about the kind of man he wants to be by being around Xavier, and then Xavier, I think, finds a friend in Cal and they do start to see each other as equals.”
By the time they reach equilibrium, another chasm hits their relationship — which is still being pieced together beyond the first three episodes — leaving Cal and Xavier in a rocky place, where they pickup prior to Cal’s brutal murder.
Marsden recalls the theories he had after reading the first three scripts, saying “I don’t think that there is a lot of malice with him — I don’t think he is somebody that deserved his end.” “Perhaps was something or somebody that felt that he was wronged, or that he was not in line with his policy, or something like that, but I knew that on a Dan [Fogelman] show, it had to be more than something political,” he said.
Below, Marsden unpacks that dystopian twist and reveals whether he would be onboard for a second season.
TheWrap: What first made you interested in the role?
Marsden: I’m always chasing good material. I was familiar with [Dan Fogelman’s] work. He stopped me at the Emmys, not last year, but the year before, and he was like, “I know we are not supposed to do this and talk business at these things, but I have a role for you in this show that I’m developing” and immediately I lit up because I knew his work, and I knew that Sterling was involved, and I was playing the president. That was one of the things I was a little nervous about, but when he told me in what capacity I would be playing the president, and that he’s sort of unconventional and loose and drinks and smokes — he’s not your typical president — I got more excited about it — that we were going to highlight more of his life as a human being, and less of what he’s doing behind the desk. It was shot in L.A., which never happens anymore. It’s just so special, and we need to get more work back in the city.
How would you describe Cal and what made you connect with him off the bat?
Cal Bradford is President of the United States, and he doesn’t really want to be. He comes from a long line of men that have done exceptional things, and I do think he’s an exceptional human being — I just don’t think that politics was necessarily where he thought that that would would end up playing. So there is a little bit of a chip on his shoulder, but ultimately he ends up being pretty good at what he does. There is a real desire to connect with people, and you see that that when he meets Xavier, but he’s also a guy that carries a lot of sadness with him and regret, which also makes it interesting, it humanizes this role of the commander in chief, and you see him evolve as a human being and figure out … you can either decide to be the product of bad things or mistakes that you made or bad things that happened to you, or you can make a choice to learn from them and change. Those are all virtues that are not lost on him.
What did you first make of the dystopian twist that happens at the end of that first episode?
If you have seen the trailer and most of the first episode, you think it’s a certain kind of show, and then you get the first big twist of the show at the end of the first episode, and with that comes the rearrangement of power. Maybe the President of the United States doesn’t hold the gravitas that it used to when you compare it to this world that we are living in. The show explores the disparities between class status, then it dives into power dynamics and you see a lot of those get turned upside down as the show begins to unfold and reveal to the audience what’s really going on.
We learn that Cal reluctantly took a second term into the transition to Paradise. Why do you think he agreed to a second term?
He got passive at some point in his life, because when he fought the fight to do something different and not go into politics, he lost. He became a little submissive, like “I’m here in this position that I don’t want to be in, but I do think if someone has to sit behind that desk and make big decisions, I do think of myself as a kind, likable man of character who will try to do the right thing.” There is a lot of good in Cal and he does want to make a difference and wants to make an impact. I think he sees it as an opportunity to reshape what it means to be president. I don’t think he knew exactly what it was going to come with this time.
I haven’t seen the ending yet, so I’m not sure if there is a cliffhanger. But is there any chance you would want to stick around for a potential second season?
I love this group, everything they do. I’m finding myself in the same situation as “Dead To Me,” which is, hey, I know I’m supposed to be around for one season, but how do we get to continue this party? I’d love to. I love Dan. I love his writing. Everybody on set is a kind human being that’s super talented, top of their game. It’s very rare to be a part of something that feels brave enough and courageous enough to take risks and to try to tell a story that maybe is gonna make us ask a lot of questions about ourselves and our future, and in a time where content is kind of risk-averse and you don’t get as many original stories anymore. I would love to do it again. I don’t know how that would work, but open to the suggestions.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
“Paradise” Episodes 1-3 are now streaming on Hulu, with new episodes dropping every Tuesday.
