Blending historical fiction with an offbeat murder mystery during the Gilded Age, The Artist opens with the death of industrialist Norman Henry (Mandy Patinkin) and then rewinds to examine how a week-long gathering at his estate where the invited guests are prominent, influential people of the time, ended in murder. Among the guests is Danny Houston’s Edgar Degas, whose eyesight and career are fading.

The actor recently spoke with SciFi Vision about the working on the series and becoming the French Impressionist artist.

The first three episode of the series are available now for free on The Network, with the rest of the season dropping on Christmas Day.


Watch the interview and read the transcript below.


SCIFI VISION:   Talk about what was it that made you want to be a part of this, because obviously it's quite a unique piece.

DANNY HUSTON:   Hi, Jamie. Well, I guess practically everything about it drew me to it. It comes from the mind of Aram Rappaport, who wrote, directed, produced, has his own network, called The Network, that you can sign in for free. And these characters, these historical characters, in a sort of fictionalized situation, with a kind of like an Agatha Christie murder whodunit setup. And his writing just created this sort of cacophony of situations, and my character in particular, Edgar Degas, was utterly fascinating to me, because I didn't know that this guy who my six-year-old likes, and who I've admired all of his life, these stunning pastels mixed with watercolors and this technique, absolute brilliance of the man, held a darker story behind it. You know, he was going blind, becoming quite crotchety, and he was not at all what I imagined the man to be.

SCIFI VISION:   Yeah, I was going to say, how much of this [was] from research versus a script versus your own interpretation? Because I definitely didn't know this part of him. I don't know, maybe it is really how he was. But yeah, I just remember studying the paintings in art history.

DANNY HUSTON:   Beautiful ballerinas, that bronze statue with the real skirt. Yes, I didn't know he was so unpleasant. And also, you know, the whole Dreyfus affair, everything that was going on in France at the time, the different artists that took different sides. I didn't know any of that. I went to art school. I studied many, many, many painters, but nobody really ever brought that to my attention. I wasn't aware of it. Then, to have these characters enter into this sort of fictionalized situation, this beautiful house, and meeting people like Thomas Edison and Nesbit, and creating this kind of witty, rude [laughs] - and to work with actors, such as Mandy Patinkin, and Janet McTeer, and many, many others, and Ever Anderson, a wonderful young actress, together, and shoot this dialogue out like pistols, you know, we're really had [unintelligible] And I think [it] created an energy that is hopefully contagious, and the audience enjoys it.

SCIFI VISION:   Yes, it's a lot of fun. Other than researching and that, was there anything else that you can think of that you did sort of to get ready for this?

DANNY HUSTON:   Well, you know, we worked in this beautiful place in the Hillstead, Arlington, and they have some beautiful paintings. And I dare the audience to spot some of them, so I won't tell you the painting, but there was one Degas in particular that I would just, I had the luxury, and they gave me the time where I would actually sit in a room alone and look at this painting. And that's what I did on a few occasions, and it became almost a religious experience for me, in all truth. I was able, with everything that we've talked about in the research, to understand what was going on within his work more profoundly.

SCIFI VISION:   Talk about working with the dogs, because obviously, you know what they say animals and children. I mean, I'm wondering if at some point he might, you know, paint a ballerina, but right now we get the dogs. So, yeah, talk about working with the poodles.

DANNY HUSTON:   He's hired to come to this particular estate and paint their poodles. How was it working with the dogs? The dogs were rather well-behaved. I mean, I guess, you know, what is it? Is it that WC Fields thing? Don't work with animals or children, because they [unintelligible]. I mean, they were a lot of fun to work with. I guess something to keep in mind when you're working with dogs is they're interested in kibble and food. So, if you have a few treats in your pockets, they're affectionate. But I mean, there was some real work I had to do with them. Also, my Degas kind of breaks down at one point, and they're very affectionate, and they lick my face, and they were perfect. They were right on cue.

SCIFI VISION:   I was going to say, that to me would be, I think, the fun part, getting to sit and play with the dogs. So, talk about a little bit more about working with Mandy and Janet.

DANNY HUSTON:   Well, it was just such a treat. And to sit around a dining room table and shoot this dialogue out. Some of it is a little bit like a play, I suppose. But we also, you know, the location is a big character in the piece. So, we're also running around like like horses that have just been let out of a starting gate, and that's how our mornings would start. So, it kept one on one's toes, because they're just phenomenal. Mandy's, I think, superb, as is everybody else, but I'm mesmerized by their performances, actually. And then we got a lot of younger actors there, as well. You know, we've got Ever Anderson, and Anna Mulvoy, and others, which was also great and gave it a lot of dimension and spirit.

SCIFI VISION:   Yeah, that's what I was going to say. You mentioned that, started to mention that dinner scene. That was a lot of fun. That was funny. I like that.

Talk a bit about working with the costumes and the hair, because obviously that's a big part of it, since this is a period piece.

DANNY HUSTON:   Costumes and hair are important. Very important for me to be dirty. Dirty, yes. I wanted to be dirty. I wanted my fingernails to be dirty. I wanted my clothes to be dirty. I'm going blind. I can't really see what's going on. [I] have the pastels and the gesso and the watercolor stuff, on my clothes, and I'd grimey them or grow my beard. And I had this wig, which also helped. Yeah, he's an unkept character. And the wardrobe, I think, does that beautifully with all the characters. They're well-defined, which I like a lot. Sometimes working from the outside in is also useful, because what you wear and what you look like tells a lot of the story.

SCIFI VISION:   Was there anything about it that you found really challenging? Because it sounds like this was a really fun project, but usually there's something that...

DANNY HUSTON:   Oh, I suppose winter in Connecticut, I suppose. Was it going to snow the following day or not? Were the roads icy? And also, working in this exquisite environment with these wonderful pieces of art around us, also we had to be quite cautious, but behave recklessly. So, that was a certain balance that we had to achieve, especially under the museum's watch.

SCIFI VISION:   I was going to say, you got to see, I think, quite a bit of the house too, because you're wandering around kind of everywhere at the same time, which is fun.

DANNY HUSTON:   Hitting stuff with my cane and hitting things, which are very expensive and authentic and valuable. So, I had to be careful, but look like I wasn't.

SCIFI VISION:   That makes sense. Playing someone who's almost blind. Is it hard to...I mean, to some extent, I think you have to think about not looking people all the time in the face and all that. Was that difficult at all?

DANNY HUSTON:   I was haunted by Al Pacino's performance in Scent of a Woman. I was like, how the hell did he do that? Because his eyes were wide open and he was staring, and he was looking, but he wasn't seeing, you know? So, I didn't want to do the milky lenses, because he sees shapes, and also, there's a sort of pointed vision that he has, I believe. But Pacino's Scent of a Woman, but I just thought, don't play it like a blind man. It's just, you're able to see, you're able to look. However, how much you see is questionable, but try not to overplay that. But, you know, I use my hands to touch things, to touch the banisters and occasionally there are a few slips. If you're so kind to watch it till the very end, you'll see there's one grand slip, which causes a lot of things to happen. But yeah, I guess, you know, not to overplay it, but for it to have some sort of continuity. The camera does a lot as well.