Topher Grace on shifts in the film industry and playing the jerk

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Topher Grace is not a jackass, despite his expertise at playing them. Ever since departing That '70s Show almost a decade ago, Grace has been shedding the clean-cut image he cultivated as sitcom everyteen Eric Forman on the long-running Fox series. Across Predators, American Ultra and his work with Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, but also cameos in the Ocean's movies as a super-arrogant version of himself), Grace has fine-tuned the art of the jerk. Now, in War Machine, the 38-year-old actor perfects his craft, playing a smooth-talking PR flak tasked with selling a Stanley McChrystal stand-in (played by Brad Pitt) to a war-weary public. A week before the film made its debut on Netflix – one of the streaming service's splashier forays into original film production – Grace spoke with The Globe and Mail in Toronto about the shifting industry landscape, honouring true stories, and playing the jerk.

You had a tweet the other day about Elisabeth Moss's performance in The Handmaid's Tale, and that the "line between film and TV was erasing," which of course ties into War Machine, too, no?

That definitely plays into what this is, yeah. When we were making this, people couldn't believe that Brad was starring in a movie on Netflix. And now people of his stature are lining up. This film wouldn't have gotten made at a major studio.

Why do you think that is?

Because it's challenging material. Maybe it could've gotten made, but it would have been neutered to sell tickets.

You say people are lining up, and indeed Will Smith has a Netflix movie coming out later this year …

You know, truly for me, though, this was Brad producing it, and I briefly worked with him in those Ocean's movies, and I knew working with him was going to be amazing. This is a great character and a great story and they [major studios] don't make films like this any more. If you told me this was going to be on the big screen, that'd be cool, but if you also told me it was just going to be on, like Crackle, that'd be cool, too.

As an actor, though, do you have any concern about this just airing on Netflix, and not getting to a big screen?

Me personally, no. If the choice is if it's never going to be made, or it is going to be made, then I guess I would go with the one where it got made. I know there's a big conversation right now about how films should be seen, but I should remove myself from that. I'm not a filmmaker, I'm just an actor. I always felt this way in the film-versus-digital conversation from a few years ago. I'm just not in the right job to weigh in. If I was a cinematographer or a director, that'd be different. As an actor, my job, I just don't think that this role would've existed, or the movie wouldn't have existed, without Netflix. I've certainly had life-changing experiences in the cinema, but I will tell you this: it is changing. The one thing I hate talking about in these interviews is that it sounds like my answer is, "Well, they weren't going to make it as a film so I'll take what I can get." It sounds glib. But what I really think is that this new technology is going to open up new things for actors and filmmakers.

Is the creative process the same no matter where the product ends up, then?

A little bit. Part of your performance is how a director shoots and edits, but from my experience on set, it's pretty much the same whether it's [a studio movie or a Netflix movie]. I think this conversation, this debate, is focusing on the wrong thing of not what is going away, but what is opening up. I'm staying on the excited part of it. There's all these new opportunities, all these new films. I did a film after this that will be in theatres, but I do think the line is erasing.

You starred in Truth two years ago, and that was a real-life story that came attached with actors playing Dan Rather and journalist Mary Mapes. But War Machine, it's based on McChrystal, yet he's given a different name, as are other side characters. How much responsibility did you feel to the real history here?

Did you read [journalist Michael Hastings'] The Operators? It starts off with my character, essentially calling up Michael Hastings himself. It makes for great background, but I immediately understood why [writer-director] David Michod changed the names. By not making it a biopic, he didn't have to do a greatest-hits collection here, he could do whatever he wanted with the themes. I thought that was so smart, because then Brad doesn't have to do a McChrystal impression. I haven't told anyone this, but my guy, the one my character is based on, was the only one who tried to contact the cast, tried to contact me. Because he's the PR guy.

Did you speak with him?

No, because I wasn't playing him, and because I had also had an earlier experience where I did do something like that, and it only hurt that person in my portrayal. If anyone's ever playing you in a film, just steer clear. If Brad's ever playing you in a film, don't meet him.

Good advice. You also play here, well, another jerk …

Yeah, he's a douche.

He fits in line with your recent performances, too. Is it a conscious decision to run away from Eric?

I remember I did Traffic, it was my first film. And at the time, I didn't get that it was a good thing that no one knew I was in both things, that and '70s Show. I was like, I don't get any credit! But many years later I realized it was great because it opened up the ability to do different things. My agents hated it, because the only way to monetize acting is to repeat the same thing over and over again. But all those kids on the show, we were lucky because everyone's been really smart about their careers. The show provided us with a lot of freedom to take whatever we wanted to do.

This interview has been edited and condensed

War Machine is available to stream on Netflix starting May 26.