Tom Blyth as Billy the Child in new sequence "Billy the Child."
Chris Giant/Epix
Tom Blyth, who stars within the Epix origin-story sequence “Billy the Child,” is British — however he knew all concerning the well-known Wild West outlaw/gunslinger earlier than touchdown the function.
“I used to be an enormous Western fan rising up. I knew his legend, I had seen his image. I knew him as an iconic title. However I hadn’t performed deep studying,” mentioned Blyth, 27, who’s based mostly in Brooklyn.
“Billy the Child,” premiering Sunday (April 24) on Epix, was created by Michael Hirst (“Vikings“). It’s an journey sequence set largely within the 1870s and depicts a dramatized model of Billy’s life, ranging from his humble roots because the son of Irish immigrants residing in New York who resolve to seek for extra alternatives out West.
“Whenever you get advised you’re taking part in this historic character, you type of really feel a duty to do proper by them and inform their complete fact,” mentioned Blyth, who’s additionally recognized for HBO’s “The Gilded Age.”
“However for somebody like Billy, there’s no video footage of him, no recordings, I can’t go and be taught his voice. However what I can do is learn as a lot about him as I can, after which interpret and construct one thing from the bottom up as he speaks to me from past the grave, so to talk.”
Within the sequence, Billy’s household finds that life out West isn’t the land of alternative because it was marketed to them in New York. Billy endures years of hardships, together with shedding his household to consumption after grueling work for low pay and harsh residing circumstances.
“A lot of who we expect he's is predicated on him being an outlaw and a killer,” mentioned Blyth. “However within the script, he’s a fully-formed human being who performs music and is a flirt and a charismatic particular person. I used to be like, ‘I assumed he was this rugged outlaw?’ However, you dig deeper into historical past, and all of the accounts of him describe him as a large number of issues, in addition to being a killer, ultimately. However he began out as a younger boy who was raised by an excellent lady with unbelievable values, at a time when it was arduous to be morally sound, as a result of most individuals had been simply preventing for his or her survival.”
Billy (who reportedly killed a minimum of eight folks, escaped from jail a number of instances, and was fatally shot at age 21 in 1881) cherished his religious Catholic mom, Kathleen McCarty (Eileen O’Higgins). On the present, circumstances push him to show away from a lawful life; as he encounters corrupt authorities, he sees that attempting to make an trustworthy residing sends the remainder of his household into distress and early graves, and he befriends the robber and gang chief Jesse Evans (Daniel Webber, “The Punisher”).
“I had two weeks of quarantine after I first obtained to Calgary [where the series was filmed], so I spent that point with a follow pistol on Zoom with my stunt double, practising [drawing and twirling the gun],” Blyth mentioned. “On set, you need to have the ability to not give it some thought and simply pull it out, prefer it’s second nature.
“However the great thing about it's that within the present, we see Billy studying these abilities in actual time. We get to see him rising as an individual and as an outlaw, and I obtained to develop with him. As I used to be studying to twirl the gun, Billy was studying to twirl the gun. As I used to be studying to trip [horses], Billy was studying to trip. It provides it this grittiness and authenticity.”
Along with studying historical past books, Blyth mentioned he additionally took a highway journey to New Mexico and Arizona, visiting areas that had been a part of Billy’s life, together with Silver Metropolis and Fort Sumner.
“I simply tried to stroll in his footsteps as finest I might,” he mentioned. “As a lot as I advised myself it was about analysis, I believe a bit a part of that for me was really virtually like asking permission from his spirit, his legend, his delusion – no matter you need to name it. Simply type of saying, ‘Okay, I’m doing this.’ It was a pilgrimage, virtually — to cement that I used to be honoring him, and to make it tangible.”
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