Richard Eyre, who directed Crudup as a Restoration actor in the 2003 film Stage Beauty, has another theory: to him, he’s a “wonderful actor,
very nice man… only his diffidence – and his good sense – stops him from being a big star”.
While Crudup says it’s true that he’s “not chasing billboard fame”, he admits “there are parts I deeply wanted that I didn’t get”. He auditioned for the role of the Vietnam War vet (that eventually went to Josh Brolin) in the Coen brothers’ 2007 Oscar-winner No Country for Old Men. “Then I saw the movie and was like ‘Oh, I’d have been a terrible choice for it!’ But sometimes, if I’m feeling insecure, I might turn to my wife [British actress, Naomi Watts] and say, ‘I turned that one down’ – ‘Big mistake, Billy’ – ‘I know!’
“The truth is,” he adds, “I felt early on I should be a character actor, and while I felt the industry’s push towards being a leading man, I didn’t understand those roles – they’re typically written without complexity. My agenda was to take the hardest job someone could offer, to build up real acting muscle, and take my time.”
In Harry Clarke, by the British-American playwright David Cale, Crudup plays all 19 characters as he relays the tale of an American conman who finds empowerment but becomes sexually exploitative, after ditching his real identity and assuming a British one, complete with accent and suave assurance.