Scott Speedman Is Ready to Scare You With ‘Teacup’
[This story contains spoilers from the first two episodes of Teacup.]
Scott Speedman may have endeared himself to audiences in the late ’90s as heartthrob Ben Covington, the object of Felicity Porter’s (Keri Russell) desires, on the WB college drama series Felicity. But for over two decades, the British-born Canadian actor has carved out a niche for himself in the horror and thriller genres, playing increasingly complicated and tortured men in the Underworld film franchise, The Strangers, David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future and the forthcoming Cellar Door. And in recent years, Speedman, with his buzzy roles in Grey’s Anatomy and You, has reentered the cultural zeitgeist.
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Now, Teacup marks Speedman’s latest foray into horror. Adapted from Robert R. McCammon’s novel Stinger by Ian McCulloch (Yellowstone, Chicago Fire) and executive produced by James Wan, the eerie eight-part series, which premiered with its first two episodes Thursday on Peacock, follows a disparate group of people in rural Georgia who must band together in the face of a mysterious threat in order to survive. Speedman plays James Chenoweth, a man fighting to protect his family while reckoning with the guilt of stepping out on his wife Maggie (The Handmaid’s Tale’s Yvonne Strahovski) with their neighbor Valeria (Diany Rodriguez).
“It was just a really well-written family drama that I thought could survive on its own without the genre elements. I thought, ‘Wow, if we can get whatever’s on the page here onscreen before we even kick into the genre elements, we’re in business,’” Speedman tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I just love the world Ian created. I think he’s a very unique, interesting writer and creates an atmosphere in the text that lends itself to TV, so I was really excited to see what he did with this genre space, because it’s not the most natural fit for him.”
In a wide-ranging chat with THR, Speedman reflects on the making of Teacup, why he keeps returning to Grey’s to play the love interest of Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey, how he navigated fame at the height of Felicity — and why he feels more fulfilled and ambitious than ever before.
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Beyond the family drama at the center of Teacup, were there any aspects of your character, James Chenoweth, that you were most looking forward to exploring over this eight-episode series?
It was so interesting where they started this character — without the lead-up, without knowing anything about him before you found out that he stepped out on his family and cheated on his wife. I thought, “Wow, that’s a very challenging place to start a television character.” Knowing Ian, I know there’s going to be some redemptive arc here for the next eight episodes. If I can lose them in episode one, can I win back the audience as we go? I thought that was a really interesting and fun challenge. And then [I loved] these specific characters. I think in the third episode when Maggie, Yvonne’s character, and I have it out — not knowing her personally, but knowing her work and how she goes for it — I thought, “Wow, this is going to be a great scene.” I just thought we were going to work really well together.
You said at San Diego Comic-Con that working on Teacup reminded you of working on The Strangers.
When I read The Strangers, I got up and locked my door when I was reading it. It just had such a feel on the page, and it was the same with Teacup. Like, if we can get half of what’s on the page here onscreen, we’re going to be in for something really interesting. That’s what I meant when I compared it to The Strangers. I didn’t mean literally comparing it to the story or the horror elements; it’s more the world that’s created when you’re reading something. You’re like, “This is cinematic. An audience is going to connect with this if we can pull this off.” So, on that level, as someone that’s been doing this for 30 years, I think horror, when it works, really connects with an audience, and that’s what I’m after right now — something that’s going to push back the 500 other TV shows and movies we’re all making right now.
Are you a big horror fan in real life?
I definitely am. They’re some of my favorite stuff to watch, and I’m not just saying that, but I think [the directors of] The Conjuring, The Exorcist, The Shining are these titans of movies that went on to make horror movies. And when they work, they really fly. Part of what I think I really like about it, too, is the communal experience of watching something altogether and being scared altogether in a dark room. I am a fan, but I also enjoy making things that are high intensity, very physically challenging.
Speaking of physical challenges, you had to learn how to ride a horse for this role. How good are you now compared to when you first started?
I’m a lot better than I was when I first started. (Laughs) I like to think of myself as a pretty capable dude, but I learned pretty quickly that I was not capable on a horse when I first got to Atlanta, and that was pretty much like a trial by fire. Then once I got over the initial, “Okay, they really need me to be good at this,” it was really fun to work with these people we found in Georgia. I’d get back from a night shoot and sleep for three hours, and I’d get up and on the daily was going out to try to learn to get better on this horse. It was humbling, but great. I am better than I was, but I think it really takes years to get good at something like that.
You began your acting career at a time when productions used a lot more practical effects, and Teacup certainly feels like a bit of a throwback in that regard. The reveal of what happens to a person who physically crosses a seemingly haphazardly drawn line in episode two is extremely gruesome — and underscores the danger in this story — but the sculpture of the corpse is remarkable. What was it like for you to shoot scenes with those kinds of effects?
[The people who worked on special effects] had done all the work before we showed up on set to shoot that scene. Traditionally, in this day and age, a lot of times — and, by the way, I think things are changing back to practical effects a little bit — they’re trying to marry the two things, and I think they’re having a lot more success from an audience’s perspective doing so. I saw in Alien: Romulus, there’s a lot more practical effects, and I thought that was really smart and cool, and that it worked really well.
I was blown away. Ian wrote an incredible script, but I was like, “Are we going to be able to pull off this genre? Are we going to pull off these elements?” Because it can make or break [the show] from an audience perspective. But when I saw what we were working with in episode two for that scene, I was immediately put at ease. [The sculpture] was incredibly gory and scary and all those things, but I thought it was beautiful. A lot of times, you’d be looking at a tennis ball and a tripod and having to make up what you’re seeing. And for us, we had this beautiful piece of art.
Grey’s showrunner Meg Marinis previously told THR that the role of Dr. Nick Marsh got bigger on the show after seeing your chemistry with Ellen Pompeo. You were initially planning to only guest-star in one episode, but you’ve now appeared in over 30 episodes. Are you surprised you are still here?
Yeah, I’m totally surprised, to be totally honest with you. I was just remembering the other day that I actually came on in season 14 just for one episode and then came back in season 18 [as a series regular for that season]. I like doing some of the smaller, more independent-driven things. Those are really near and dear to my heart. But I really have to say that I’ve loved doing Grey’s Anatomy. Even in the 21st season, I’m still learning a lot when I go there, so it’s been a great job. I don’t know how else to say it. It’s been really fun. I’m surprised how much I’ve enjoyed it, to be honest.
What exactly have you learned from working on Grey’s?
The surgery scenes are really challenging, and there’s a lot of moving parts. When you’re doing normal stuff, you don’t have that many props; you don’t have to think about that much. You’re just trying to do the scene. With Grey’s, it really gets you out of your head. You have to be able to move and change the dialogue and change what you’re doing and be flexible. Grey’s has really helped me with that. Usually, when you’re on a show, you dictate certain things. On Grey’s, you’re kind of a hired gun where you can come in and just sort of drop into another world. That’s been great for me flexibility-wise, too, as an actor.
Ellen’s onscreen presence has been fodder for discussion in recent seasons. This season, she is showing up in at least seven episodes. It has been reported that you will appear in at least five. Is that still accurate?
I hate talking about the exact number of episodes I’m doing, but yeah, it’s something around that. They come to me when they’re trying to figure out their show, and they ask me, “Do you want to come back for this amount of time?” And I say, “Sure.” That’s what’s been going on, and that’s no different this year. So, yes, I’ll be around for at least five episodes.
How do you navigate those conversations about how many episodes you are willing to commit to? Do you have to feel a real urge to want to come back after hearing about what the writers have planned for your character, or does it come down to timing?
It’s a timing thing. Look, they’ve been great to me, and when I say that, I mean in all ways. With Teacup and other things, they’ve been very flexible about moving stuff around and making me feel like I can go and do other things while I’m still doing Grey’s. That’s really important to me. It comes down to, at this point in my career, am I enjoying doing the show or not? And I really am.
Ellen has previously spoken about how she found it a little frustrating that Meredith, after all she’s been through, still couldn’t find a way to make a relationship with Nick work. Have you two discussed that? How do you feel about their relationship now?
Only coming in around [season 18], I have less of a relationship with what’s happened before and what I’m doing. And, of course, you’re doing an hour-long drama on television. You’re going to need drama for it to be a sustainable relationship. It has to move and go up and down, at least, until it finds a sort of plateau, which I think we’re in now. We’re in step with each other, and I think that’s fun for both the characters to be working on cases rather than fighting each other. I think it took a natural amount of time to earn that.
Ellen and I talk about everything. She’s obviously a great person to talk to about all sorts of things, inside and outside the show, so it’s been great getting to know her and doing all that with her. But it’s incredible talking to someone that started a show [in 2005], and then 21 seasons later, we’re still talking about it.
Meg also said that she views Nick and Meredith as a couple on the road to happily ever after — for now. Do you feel like you guys have made it into safe TV couple status? What do you hope for your characters’ future?
Oh, gosh. Honestly, I don’t know, especially with this show. Over my career, [I’ve learned that] showrunners have such a tough job. Things are ever-moving and ever-changing, and the needs of what’s going to make a show work are ever-changing, so you can’t get too tied to something. I think we’re in a good spot now. If the show continued for seasons to come, there would probably be rockier parts of it, and it would be a rollercoaster to see where that relationship goes.
I do think, for me at least, and maybe not for [Pompeo] in a way because she’s been doing it for so many years and with other characters, but I do enjoy the dramatic parts of the show. Maybe that’s just me, but I really enjoy the rockier parts of it and finding our way back and having that tension and that chemistry. I think heat is where a lot of onscreen chemistry can come from, and the will-they-won’t-they part of things is fascinating and intriguing and watchable for an audience. But this [stable part of the relationship] has been fun, too.
You rose to fame playing a different kind of will-they-won’t-they relationship on Felicity, which debuted over 25 years ago. What kind of relationship do you have with the character of Ben Covington and the show in general now? What do people still want to talk to you about when they meet you on the street?
I think it was like it was for me. There can only be that one show at that time in your life. And for some, Felicity was that show to watch. And for me, it was that show to be on and connect with that character. I think a lot of times when you [break out as] a character, it’s because it’s very similar to where you were — especially on television — at that time in your life. That character was very much close to who I was.
I recently did a rewatch podcast with Keri and the whole group. I had not watched the show, truthfully. They gave me three episodes to watch, and I was very nervous about it. But to be honest, I was pretty blown away with how amazing it was on all levels, even the way it looked, and our chemistry and who we were as kids. I’m not sure I’ve ever been as good as I was within the context of that show. I got why people connected with it in a certain kind of way. And for me, looking back, getting to do your first show with J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves and Keri Russell and the rest of the group, that’s a pretty rare thing to have as your first show. It’s just been super special, and in my mind, what a gift to have that as part of your life.
I don’t really have people wanting to talk too much about the show. I mean, they just want to tell me they loved the show and how it was important to them, and where they were in their lives when they watched it. In a funny kind of way, what’s happening now more is people are showing it to their daughters and sons, and that’s always an interesting thing to have happen. (Laughs) But I think what they want to talk about, if anything, is the feeling they got from the show and the feeling that we created within those characters. That remains to this day. Keri and I are still friends and will be connected for life in that way.
You were in your early 20s by the time you landed on Felicity, but how did you navigate the experience of growing up under the spotlight in the late ’90s and early aughts?
We were [famous] in a certain kind of way, but it’s a totally different time now and these kids are weaned on being watched. There’s almost a Big Brother quality to the behavior and there’s this sanitized version of themselves they’re presenting — we didn’t have that burden. There was a pretty fun underbelly in Los Angeles. You could be front-facing when you were doing your job and your publicity, and also you could have more of your own life outside of that.
I wouldn’t be here if I was weaned in the age of social media. I can remember distinctly the before and after of when those pictures started becoming public. That was just a very, very strange, surreal experience for me that I had to present [myself in a certain way], and anybody taking a picture was now public, you know what I mean? So those were very strange times. I don’t necessarily think it’s been the best thing for our industry.
A decade ago, you said in an interview, “Balance has never been my strong suit. I am work-obsessed more than I’ve ever been.” You did not feel like you were in a position to get married and start a family. Now, you are engaged and a father of two. How would you describe your personal and professional evolution after Felicity? How have your priorities changed as you’ve gotten older?
I think after Felicity and for a number of years after certain movies came out, I definitely took a step back from the job and what it entailed. That was less interesting to me. And then it was a slow path back to working at a more public level, which I’m now really enjoying. The last 10 years, I’ve been doing more shows and more movies that I connect to more. With the public part of my job, like talking to [journalists], I enjoy it more. I’m saying yes to being able to do all that stuff, which is a huge part of our jobs, obviously. But it has been a really fun journey to get here.
If I’d had two kids in my 20s, it would’ve not been great. So I’m very glad to be the age I am now. Having kids now is right for me. It’s hard in some ways, but great in other ways. (Laughs) You want to work more for them, and you want your family to be all with you. [As a young actor] you’re left like a pirate out there, going from job to job, causing trouble and having fun, running around and road tripping, and doing all the crazy stuff you do in your 20s and 30s. And now, I’m more involved in the work; I’m more present on set. I’m more into what I’m doing. I’m way more ambitious now than I ever have been, and that’s just how I always wanted to be. It’s taken me this long to actually get here and be that way, so that’s fun. It feels more authentic to who I actually am.
You named your newborn son, Indy Roy, after your late father, Roy, whom you lost 25 years ago. Has having children of your own made you reexamine your relationship with your own father?
Totally. Obviously, that was a big part of my story. The first time I told my dad I was going to do Felicity was the time he told me he was sick, so it was a very connected first year of doing that show — the show exploding, my dad passing away. [Losing him] really informed a lot of my first decade, really, in Los Angeles. Having a son and a daughter of my own now, of course, I can’t help but understand what my dad maybe was going through at the time when I came around, and what that relationship was like, and what I hope to have with my own son over the years, and what a humbling experience it is and what a hard job it is [to be a parent]. It really is the most important job.
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Two new episodes of Teacup release every Thursday through Oct. 31 on Peacock. Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC, streaming the next day on Hulu.
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