Netflix’s A Man in Full: Jeff Daniels on playing Tom Wolfe’s pompous property tycoon Charlie Croker
- Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full is now a Netflix miniseries, and stars Jeff Daniels as a self-satisfied tycoon facing the collapse of his property empire
- Daniels, who relished playing the larger-than-life character, talks about having to act with a rattlesnake, and putting on a Southern accent
Jeff Daniels has played a difficult TV anchor, a goofball opposite Jim Carrey, and FBI news director James Comey. He has been a menacing outlaw, a pretentious writer and a sweet malt shop owner.
Now, in Netflix’s limited six-episode series A Man in Full, Daniels gets to embody Charlie Croker, a proud 60-year-old property mogul in Atlanta, Georgia, facing the imminent collapse of his business empire.
Croker, a Georgia Tech football hero, has a heavy Southern accent, a damaged knee, a sizeable ego and a love for quail hunting.
“It was a chance to play a larger than life character,” says Daniels, who was born in Athens, Georgia, but grew up in the US state of Michigan. “You don’t get those a lot.”
He adds: “It’s not something Gary Cooper would have played. [Croker] is the star of his own show with everyone he ever meets. He assumes they love him as much as he loves himself.”