John Cameron Mitchell as Hal in episode 110 of The Sandman. Cr. Laurence Cendrowicz/Netflix © 2022
John Cameron Mitchell, best known for directing and co-writing Hedwig and the Angry Inch, plays Hal Carter in Netflix’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. We got a chance to sit down with him to talk all about his character. what his experience filming the series was like, and how excited he was to sing songs from Stephen Sondheim’s Gypsy.
Disclaimer: This review features mild spoilers for season one of The Sandman. Additionally, the following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
GVN: What can you tell us about your character, Hal, and how you got involved in the show?
John Cameron Mitchell: Well, I mean, this is somewhat germane because Sandman, Watchmen, and The Invisibles were the great adult alternative comics, you know, of the 90s and 2000s. And they launched a thousand ships, right? And Watchmen eventually found its way into a bad movie and a good TV series. The Invisibles hasn’t quite got there yet. And, you know, I love The Invisibles. Grant Morrison’s a genius. And Neil, I love very much too, having adapted one of his short stories for a feature called How to Talk to Girls at Parties.
So, Neil and I have been buddies for a while. And they just offered me this role of Hal. And I had read the books way back, so I’d kind of forgotten about that character. You know, it’s a, it’s a small, but heartfelt character. And the main reason I did it is ’cause I get to do songs from Gypsy because someday I would like to play Mama Rose in a major production of Gypsy. So, it was my little audition. Unfortunately, I did all of “Rose’s Turn,” but they only used five seconds of it.
GVN: Oh, no.
John Cameron Mitchell: Yes. But they did get “Everything’s Coming up Roses” in most of its entirety. And I really had a great time. I loved Allan Heinberg, the creator. It’s many moving parts, and you see wonderful actors who just have a little, you know, a couple, maybe even one episode or two episodes. So, it’s packed with talent. Allan and Neil are trying to, and I believe successfully, walk a line between this kind of pure fantasy and adventure, you know, maybe more into the Doctor Strange realm, which I loved as a kid as well. But also to balance that, which you don’t tend to get as much in these stories, a real, emotional metaphor of the dream. And what does a dream mean? Is it something you want?
You know, Desire, played by Mason Park Alexander, who actually was Hedwig in our Broadway touring production [of Hedwig and the Angry Inch], says, “There is no dream without desire or despair. It is a correlate. We are more important, Desire and Despair, and Dream is an echo of that.” And that’s interesting.
He’s working the metaphor of a dream in many different ways. And nightmare, dream, things you want, things you fear. And even throughout, you’re kind of like, “Well, what does Dream, what does he do?” You know, we don’t always think of the Greek god of dreams. We think of the Greek god of sex, or love, or power, or art. But it’s funny. It’s like Dream is so slippery, and that allows for a lot of possible ways of telling a story. And, you know, it’s chock-full. And some people might not have the stamina to follow all of these lines. But I really think Allan is making it work.
I’m finding myself moved, especially by that third episode, when Constantine’s girlfriend passes away. And these things that we want, you know, we want a relationship that lasts forever, and Dream says, “Love doesn’t last forever.” But he gives you the dream that it might, as you die. It’s very philosophical in its way. As well as having a fun villain, of the Corinthian, who’s played by a wonderful actor [Boyd Holbrook]. I even got to flirt with him in one scene. It’s a very queer series, as you can tell. It’s even queerer than the comic, which I love. So, why not? The Sandman comes from the same Earth as Kate Bush, and Siouxsie Sioux, and the New Romantics, you know? It all comes out of that ’80s pansexual, pangender feeling. And I like that they’ve mixed it up racially, gender-wise, sexuality-wise. It’s just, it feels natural.
GVN: I think that’s the thing that I find most interesting is all the ways that they’re tweaking and updating the source material for now.
John Cameron Mitchell: Yeah.
GVN: Did you have any trepidation accepting the role?
John Cameron Mitchell: No. Why would I?
GVN: Fair enough.
John Cameron Mitchell: It’s not really controversial in my view. I was happy to do it. You know, it was a nice job to also have in the middle of COVID, ’cause they were just starting up production again in shows. I did the show Shrill, which came back when they started production again about six months after the lockdowns. And then I went to London to do this. I mean, London was pretty locked down, so it was kind of grim. But I got to hang out with good people and enjoyed all my co-stars. And, uh, what’s his name? He plays Gilbert…
GVN: Stephen Fry.
John Cameron Mitchell: The great Stephen Fry, I was able to hang out with him.
GVN: Oh, that’s exciting.
John Cameron Mitchell: I know. He is the best of England, you know. He’s like Catherine Deneuve of France. He’s Oscar Wilde reincarnated. And then, I was actually there when I auditioned for Joe vs Carole. So, I went straight to Australia to shoot that.
GVN: Oh, that’s a busy few months there.
John Cameron Mitchell: It’s a very busy year.
GVN: How do you approach getting into the mindsets of these different roles? Like Hal in Sandman, or like your character in Joe vs Carole, or even like Hedwig.
John Cameron Mitchell: Well, I like to do a lot of things. But one thing, I realize, inherent in what I do is being a host. Meaning bringing people together, making them comfortable, encouraging people to do their best for the party. And that’s what a director does. And that’s what, in one way, Hal does. He’s the ultimate host. He created this lodging house, you know, for freaks in Cape Kennedy, which is unlikely. But nobody quite belongs there. And his dream, of course, is to go to Broadway and be a great female star in a way, at that time, that wasn’t possible.
And I knew that myself, you know? I made Hedwig back then with no hope or prayer of being on Broadway, or being up for a major award, because drag and punk didn’t have a place at the table. They were considered low class, you know? And of course, there’s nothing more Broadway than drag, and there’s nothing more exciting than punk. And Stephen Trask [co-writer of Hedwig and the Angry Inch] and I put all those things together to create Hedwig, which eventually was welcomed in Broadway because the world changed, not because we changed.
So, it’s interesting. I’m kind of playing an alternate version of myself if I hadn’t stuck it out in New York, you know, and just done our thing. And doing Hal, the main attraction was being able to do these songs from Gypsy because I would like to play Mama Rose someday in a major production.
Season 1 of The Sandman is available now exclusively on Netflix. Our thanks once again to John Cameron Mitchell for taking the time to talk to us.