![]() It remains to this day one of my favorite roles on TV. I had no idea it was going to pay off on the level he gifted me with. All of the guest stars get to have these great head-to-head battles with Natasha, and I would love that opportunity myself.” He said, “Listen, I don’t know what it’s going to be yet, but I promise that opportunity will come your way.” He really is this ticking-clock element that keeps her on the run. I wish there was more to do throughout the body of the show. Part of my early conversation with Rian was, “Look, I love the character in the pilot. Although he works in this low-rent casino, he probably thinks, “ I could be on TV.” We already understand and recognize there’s a quirkiness to him. How many villains do you learn have a favorite TV show? Cliff’s obsessed with Burn Notice and reveals that he secretly fancies himself a real-life Michael Weston. He laid the groundwork for a character bend like that to be easily accepted by the audience in episode ten. I was shocked and surprised when I first read it, only because of how perverse it is. This interaction is so unexpected and menacing, and it adds another layer to Cliff. I broke that idea down for myself: What is the first thing a soldier is taught in training? To obey orders, to respect the chain of command, and then, equally importantly, to be a proficient and effective killer.Ĭliff is very contained, very mannered, but in the finale, there’s a great scene where he recites the lyrics to the Blues Traveler song “Hook” after finally catching Charlie. One of the scripted lines in the teleplay was that Cliff probably has a military background. But whatever a shark does in his element is just being a shark: They kill and they eat. A shark is often mistakenly understood to mean there’s evil intent. Rian and I talked about this idea of Cliff being an apex predator. That was the fun part - finding the complexity within. He feels emotionally betrayed and disregarded. It belies an emotional center that Cliff didn’t necessarily display in the pilot. He’s seen as nothing less than a dog, an obedient servant to the needs and whims of Sterling Sr. ![]() It’s not until he’s out on the road and expresses over and over again, “I should be there with you, helping you to run the business,” that we realize he’s got hurt feelings. Cliff, with more than 25 years as an employee for Sterling Frost and his family, has become somewhat complacent - and maybe even immune - to the disregard. holds for him until he’s deep into this hunt for Charlie. Were you trying to layer in Cliff’s dislike of the Frosts in the earlier episodes?Ĭliff is not aware of the level of disrespect Sterling Sr. But it isn’t until the finale episode that viewers understand the full weight of your sarcasm. In the first episode, you ask Sterling Frost Jr., “Should we call your father?”, reminding Sterling who’s really in charge at the casino. Bratt calls it one of the best jobs he’s ever had. Unlike a significant number of people who cross Charlie’s path, Cliff ends the season alive, but the man she describes as “the fucking worst” isn’t unscathed: He’s taken into custody by the FBI for a number of murders, seemingly abandoned by the Hasp family to whom he switched allegiance while betraying the Frosts, and injured by the penis-shaped bachelorette-party novelty toy with which Charlie punches him in the eye. Bratt then unveils other facets of the character’s personality - a fondness for reciting Blues Traveler lyrics a desire for power and wealth of his own - as he tries to frame Charlie for his own murder of Frost Sr. In finale “The Hook,” though, Cliff gets his own spotlight with a story sketching out the resentment he built up after tracking Charlie for more than a year his line delivery of “The things that I have eaten … I did not sign up for this” is a clinic in aggrievement. ![]() As for his forays into villainy including Traffic, 24: Live Another Day, and now, Peacock’s Poker Face, he hones those skills into a chameleonic menace as sharp as his cheekbones.Īs Cliff, an efficient casino enforcer and murderer who’s served the powerful Frost family for years, Bratt is initially blank-faced and straight-backed, an unseen threat trailing Natasha Lyonne’s bullshit-detecting Charlie Cale around the country at the behest of vengeful casino owner Sterling Frost Sr. ![]() With his lupine physicality and gift for navigating smirking humor alongside straight-and-narrow morality, Benjamin Bratt has spent 40-plus years playing characters on the right side of the law - not only in more than 90 episodes of Law and Order, but also in Demolition Man, Miss Congeniality, and Shot Caller.
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