Ben Lawson – 13 Reasons Why

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) Well, I finished up “13 Reasons Why” and “Designated Survivor” a few months ago. I went straight into a pilot for ABC called “False Profits.” ABC still has that on hold, but hopefully it will go to pickup with in the next month. I have just finished an arc on “The Good Place” for NBC as well.

Q) How was your role as Coach Rick in “13 Reasons Why” originally described to you?

A) It’s interesting. I didn’t know a lot about the coach when I went in for it and booked the job. All I knew is that he went head to head with Kevin Porter (Derek Luke). My audition might have been about the important of Bryce Walker’s family to the team. So, that’s kind of all I knew. As I got into the episodes more and more and the character was revealed more and more. Then, I think I was told throughout that I had this relationship with Zach (Ross Butler). Through the summer where he lost his father I had been sort of a surrogate father to him. Then, when I started to realize where that was going, it helped me a lot. Eventually, I used that against Zach.

Q) Does Coach Rick aid in the baseball team’s bad behavior and illegal activities for personal reasons or is it something the school has encouraged him to do?

A) I think it’s his personal decision. It’s something I spoke with about to the writers. At a point throughout shooting I said, “Why is it so important that they win? It doesn’t seem like a strong enough motivator that he would turn a blind eye to these heinous acts.” It was described to me that if this coach can bring his team to success and victory then it would be his ticket out of the high school system and he could maybe work his way up. To me, that was really helpful because that was a more personal reason for him to do what he does as it’s going to benefit him to sort of look at him as a frustrated baseball player that has somehow wound up at this school. He is going to use every tool at his disposal to climb that ladder in his career.

Q) How do you view Coach Rick’s relationship with Bryce Walker?

A) Bryce (Justin Prentice) comes from an influential family is the star baseball player. That’s all the coach cares about for the reasons we discussed. I think that is kind of what he loves Bryce. It’s sort of personal admiration of the sport as opposed to just him being a pawn or his ticket out. I don’t think that there is any sort of deeper relationship between them. It’s all about keeping the family together and what is going on with the team. He has instilled this idea of family into the team and is using that to gain this blind loyalty to each other, which is dangerous.

Q) Talk about working with Justin Prentice.

A) I love that guy. He’s such a nice guy. I booked the gig in Season 2 and sat down to watch him in Season 1 and started work like a day later. Like everyone else who has seen Season 1 I just hated Bryce. When I walked on set, I had this real kind of attitude. I was a bit scared of him, but Justin is the opposite of Bryce. He’s just the sweetest guy. He’s no bully. He grew up on the stage. He couldn’t be further from this jock bully. He’s really just a drama nerd and really sweet guy. I have a lot of respect for him as an actor. I think what he has created as Bryce Walker is just a great villain, if you like. It’s all the more impressive since he’s nothing like the character.

Q) We recently saw you on “Designated Survivor” as well. What did you take away from your time working on the series?

A) A lot! It was a lot of new stuff for me that I hadn’t done before. It was a wordy show and there is a lot of plot that had to be driven forward a bit. That is a skill as an actor that I don’t think I’d exercised a lot before the show. I got really good at pushing the story forward and not sort of belaboring it. Also, there was a lot of action on the show and stunts and gun play that I hadn’t done before. So, there was a lot of enjoyment running around and being a spy every day.

Q) You frequently take on dramatic characters. What is it about this genre that draws you to these roles?

A) It’s funny. I was just saying the other day that the time I’ve been in LA I’ve switched between lots of comedy and lot of drama. I’m drawn to just good characters. It’s really not the genre that I consider. It’s how interesting the character is. The two characters on “Designated Survivor” and “13 Reasons Why” have a lot of darkness and there is a lot of darkness and mystery. You don’t really know what their motivations are and that’s really appealing as an actor. You find these layers in a character like that. Comedy is a different thing all together. “The Good Place” is so funny and so clever.

Q) You are a part of social media. Have you been enjoying the fan feedback you have been receiving to your recent work?

A) Yeah. Totally! I kind of check in a little bit on Twitter. I’m not so active on Twitter, but I’ll check in a little bit. It’s been interesting to see how the kind of see what people have been saying. With “Designated Survivor,” there’s a lot of “screw this guy.” He’s a little bit mysterious and untrustworthy, but eventually you get behind the character to the point where a lot of people were sad about him. With “13 Reasons Why,” my character is really muddled and they tell me how they feel about a character who covered up for a rapist.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

A) That’s an exclusive group. [laughs] Thank you very much. Even though I’ve had a few people say, “God, I hate your character so much, but you’ve done a great job with it,” that’s as much as I can hope for and anyone who has been triggered by my character that’s kind of great because it means that’s effective. Just a huge thank you to anyone who is supporting me at the moment.