LOS ANGELES — Scott Ryan’s journey to starring in the new FX series Mr Inbetween despite no professional acting experience sounds too good to be true.
It all started for the Australian in 2004 when Ryan was inspired by a book he read, Contract Killer, to write, direct and star in the short student film The Magician. His mockumentary was an examination of hitman Ray Shoesmith shot in 10 days for a few thousand dollars.
“The thing that struck me about the book was that the hitman was a decent sort of guy,” Ryan says. “I liked the guy and he was a family man. I had seen so many films where the hitman was a psychopathic cold character. I thought this would make an interesting story.”
It was interesting enough to get the attention of Nash Edgerton, an actor, stunt performer, producer, writer and director with more than 200 film and television credits. The two not only worked on expanding Ryan’s short, but turned the idea into a series.
“I was wondering what I could do with these other ideas. Make another film? I started writing down ideas,” Ryan says. “Then a producer from Sydney contacted me and asked me if I wanted to make a TV show. I told him yeah because I already had that idea.
“We hit the ground running and that’s how it all started.”
The six-episode season, written by Ryan and directed by Edgerton, follows a father, ex-husband, boyfriend and best friend as he tries to deal with the world in a civilized manner. Not easy when you’re a criminal for hire.
Ryan describes Shoesmith as having a lot of great qualities such as being a loyal friend and a good father. The only difference between the character introduced in the short film and the one in the FX series is that both Ryan and Shoesmith are a little older and wiser.
Originally, Mr Inbetween was to be only eight episodes to be broadcast in one season. Once Ryan and Edgerton started getting interest from American networks, the idea of making multiple seasons became more of a reality.
Several networks were interested in the project, but the one area where Ryan stood firm was the only way Mr Inbetween would go forward would be with him in the starring role. Although the pair had been trying to get the series sold to an American network for years, Edgerton couldn’t see anyone other than Ryan in the role and to him anything different was a “deal breaker.”
After the deal was struck with FX, Ryan got the chance to play the different sides of the hitman. He can go from pitching a guy off the side of a building to sharing an ice cream cone with his daughter. Ryan’s favourite part of the series is when he is being a father.
“I’m less interested in the bang-bang stuff and more interested in the personal relationships. I love shows like Sex and the City because it is just people talking to each other,” Ryan says. “I don’t enjoy writing or performing the bang-bang stuff as much.”
Part of the commitment to having Ryan play the role is because he’s a relatively unknown actor, audiences thought the original film was a documentary. Edgerton knew a series would have the same feeling of being anchored in reality with Ryan.
Edgerton says: “Every actor is a different challenge because they all have different backgrounds. I knew Scott knew the material because it was his writing. I tried to cast other actors who would suit Scott’s acting style. I already knew from The Magician that Scott had a great natural ability. As long as I could make it a comfortable enough environment it was going to work.”
The cast of Mr Inbetween also includes Damon Herriman, Justin Rosniak, Brooke Satchwell, Jackson Tozer, Nicholas Cassim, Chika Yasumura and Matt Nable.
