Billy Crudup first came to our attention in Almost Famous, playing the lead guitarist of Cameron Crowe’s fictional (but-so-perfectly-realized-you-had-to-do-a-double-take-to-make-sure-it-was-fictional) favorite band. 20th Century Women finds him stealing scenes as a go-with-the-flow handyman sucked into the riptides of the women around him. In Jackie, he swaps loafing for provoking, as a journalist opposite another formidable woman: the president’s widow. GQ talked to Crudup about building bunk beds, the tepid joy of children, and walking around town with a diminutive first name.
GQ: What’s it like to go through life as an adult man named Billy? Ever think about chopping off the “y”?
Billy Crudup: I’m not much of a Bill. I’ve considered William. There’s recently been some Billys that have painted unflattering portraits of what grown men named Billy can do.
Who are we talking about?
I won’t name names.
Well...they’re all named Billy. (Ed. note: Maybe this Billy?)
One of my agents, when I was 25 or 26, called me into her office once and said, “I want to talk to you about your name.” And for sure, I was thinking she was going to come at Crudup. Of the two, nobody pronounces that correctly.
I was hoping you would say it out loud, so I would know how to say it.It’s CREW-dup. When I was in fifth grade, I ran for class vice president, and my mom came up with my campaign slogan: “Suit Up for Crudup.” Anyway, my agent said, “Billy. I just can’t help but think of Billy Carter,” the brother of Jimmy Carter. He was most renowned during the Carter presidency for coming up with his own beer, called Billy Beer. I said, “I can understand your reservations, but I don’t feel like much of a name-changing kind of guy.”
Your character in 20th Century Women makes a clay bowl in one scene. Can you make a bowl?
Well, the short answer is yes. The longer answer is no one would want one of the bowls that I can make. It reminds me, [William H. Macy is] really into woodworking and stuff. And one time, I wanted to do something for my son, and I knew he wanted bunk beds, so I decided I’m going to build them. I was super proud of myself, carrying the lumber down Spring Street in New York, spending about six weeks, a little bit at a time, building the beds. I couldn’t wait to show people. And I showed Bill [Macy a photo on my phone] and he’s like, “Oh yeah, I like woodworking as well. These are some of the bowls that I’ve turned.” And he showed me these pictures of these beautiful fucking bowls. I was like, “Give me my phone back.” So he’s a person who could actually, like, create a bowl that you would want in your house. Another time, I showed the bunk-bed pictures on my phone to a sound engineer, and he turns to me and goes, “Oh, that’s pretty cool, man. Here’s a house I built.” Literally a log cabin from scratch. Plumbing, electric. And I was like, “Give me my phone back.”
But you made functional bunk beds that look okay?
Well, it’s probably a little bit over-engineered because I desperately wanted it to be safe. When they were finally built, I think I was ready for him to, I don't know, give me an award or break down in tears at my incredible capacity as a handyman. And he was literally like, “That’s cool, Dad.”
So in terms of cost-labor analysis: better move to buy the bunk beds?
Well, it cost me under $300 for all the materials and stuff. So, for a bunk bed and loft with stairs, that’s a pretty good price. In terms of man-hours, if I was charging what I think I should be getting when I’m working on a movie, this bunk bed is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
You’re the handyman version of “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV.”
And by the way, I don’t know where anything in a car is. I had to have mechanics with me all the time [on the set of 20th Century Women] to be like, “Can I touch that wire?” And they're like, “Yeah, if you want to break the car forever, this is the wire you’re supposed to touch.”
So when your character is working on cars in the movie, those are real, working cars?
They were real engines. I actually went to a body shop in Brooklyn and spent a couple hours with mechanics there showing me how to work on a Bug.
How does that go? Do you just walk in and say, “I’m actor Billy Crudup?”
Yeah, I can walk into almost any body shop and say, “Hi, I’m actor Billy Crudup. You may know me from such feature films as…” and they let me work on cars. No, this was organized by an ambitious producer. One of the things that’s a great benefit to acting is that people are happy to give away free information to actors at any time. I’ve had a chance to learn how to ride horses and [throw] rope and play guitar. People are very generous with their time when there is proximity to a movie.