Netflix’s The Politician: Meet its trans actor Theo Germaine
- Ryan Murphy’s first show for the streaming service also features Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Lange, as well as breakout star Germaine
- It follows the scheming of high school senior, Ben Platt, who is obsessed with being class president at all costs
After making his name at Fox, Ryan Murphy left the studio for a US$300 million deal at Netflix. The Politician is his first new show on the streaming service, with a high school senior at its centre named Payton (Ben Platt) who is obsessed with securing the role of class president.
The show – which also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Lange and Zoey Deutch – has all the expected stylised Murphy hallmarks: The high drama satire of unfettered ambition, displays of wealth (skewered but also filmed with an aspirational gaze) and dialogue that occasionally pingpongs at a frenetic pace.
That speed was reflected behind the scenes as well when it came to casting the role of James, a transgender classmate and one of Payton’s fully committed, hilariously savvy campaign managers. Consider the timeline: Within a week, trans actor Theo Germaine sent in a taped audition, landed the part and flew to Los Angeles for a costume fitting days before filming began.
That is not typical. Often the process can extend to several callbacks and a final audition in front of network heads.
Not for Germaine. “I was working at Wormhole coffee shop in Wicker Park and received a call on a Tuesday. My agency – I work with Gray Talent in Chicago – they were like: ‘Hey, there’s a self-tape request, we don’t have a ton of information about this project, it’s super-secretive, but it’s this new Netflix show called The Politician from Ryan Murphy.’ So I did all the research that I could, and two days later went into the office and did a self-tape.”