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SA EXCLUSIVE: We speak to the bad boy in American Gods

Cape Town – "Buon giorno," that's how Bruce Langley greets me during a telephone interview about American Gods

I instantly like him. 

He's friendly, we share some laughs and his intense like for his character is infectious. 

He's a really nice guy who plays the bad boy in the series based on Neil Gaiman's novel. 

His character is in some ways very fitting for the young actor - new god, Technical Boy is the god of technology and the internet.

What drew him to the character is that there were so many possibilities to play it.

"He is only partly human – he was birthed through human belief and parts of his mind are slightly artificial. He thinks faster than any other being around him and through all of that he's a diety."

Bruce continues: "There is so much to play with. All he has known in his young life is constant worship and praise. Because we are so involved with technology in our lives it's so ingrained in our lives, it’s becoming more so."

His character is the perfect embodiment of modern society and our relationship with instant gratification. 

"He is incredibly impatient. He has never been in the environment to learn the social interactions that most humans would consider normal because he operates things largely through the digital."

He further explains: "He has isolated himself through his own intellect and through his own integration with technology. He changes constantly. Every time you see him he has a completely different costume, a completely different hairstyle, a completely different look because he updates as quickly as the internet does. Everything is new, everything is now."

Preparing to play this complex character, Bruce says, was not very glamourous.  

He started out by sitting in his room with a writing pad asking himself, "about his (Technical Boy) history, where he comes from, his interactions, his thought processes, his impulses and what kind of things encourage him to go down a certain path."

"I also asked the showrunners and director for some research material and read a slew of books on upcoming and emerging technology and how it’s affecting society and how it affects us individually," says Bruce. 

One of his favourite scenes in the series is his character’s introduction, which was actually his audition scene. 

"Shooting the scene where Tech Boy meets Shadow (Ricky Whittle) was a lot of fun. I am very excited for viewers to see it."

And what does he hope viewers will take away from the show?

Simple. Whatever they so choose. 

"One of my favourite things about this show is that it is going to divide opinion in so many ways. The reason it will do that is because it will be an incredibly personal experience. There’s something for everyone in this show, first and foremost it’s a show about immigrants and what it means to be human."

He continues: "Everyone has their own relationship with faith, and what I would hope people to take away from this is something entirely relevant and personal to them and be whatever they need at that stage. That’s one of the real gifts of art, is highlighting that we are not so different as we may think."

Watch the trailer here:

"American Gods premieres on Amazon Prime Video from 1 May, 2017. Customers who are not already Amazon Prime Video members can sign up for a free 7-day trial at PrimeVideo.com."

(Photos supplied by Amazon)

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