Devon Terrell on contributing to Barack Obama's legacy in Netflix film Barry
There are many similarities between Barack Obama and the actor Devon Terrell – bar one.
"I'm probably not going to be president one day," Terrell says, laughing.
Stranger things have happened, however, and given the early promise of the 24-year-old NIDA graduate from Perth, it may not be beyond the realm of possibility.
In the upcoming Netflix feature film, Terrell inhabits an Obama when he was known simply as Barry and was a political science undergraduate at New York's Columbia University in 1981.
Devon Terrell as Barack Obama in Barry.
It was a time when Obama was becoming galvanised politically, motivated by tackling social injustice and racism, forming and refining his beliefs which led him down a path to becoming a community organiser – the first steps in his political career.
For Terrell, it's not only his first feature credit, it's, unbelievably, his first acting credit. He pulls off an astonishing performance, achieving an uncanny depiction of a young Obama, nailing his staccato delivery, inflection and mannerisms.
But beyond that, Terrell gives a captivating performance of Obama's constant, brooding inner monologue, a mind battling with his own identity and the world around him.
Terrell won the role after coming to the attention of director Vikram Gandhi following his casting in a HBO pilot for Steve McQueen, which was never made.
The film is set in New York, 1981.
The parallels between the two begin with their family background. Obama had a Kenyan father whom he hardly knew, a white hippie mother and an upbringing in Indonesia and Hawaii. Terrell was born in Long Beach, California, to an African-American father and Anglo-Indian mother and moved to Perth aged five.
But a rootless geographical base is just one aspect shared by the two.
Devon Terrell, photographed in Sydney last month.Credit:Wolter Peeters
"I think we're both always curious," says Terrell. "It's a curiosity about how can I help people."
He says the driving force for him was to do Obama justice. "It wasn't about my career or anything like that. It was very much about wanting to be proud of this and wanting him to be proud of this."
Like Obama, Terrell carries a fierce work ethic. In under two months, he nailed the accent through repeatedly watching footage of Obama and working with a voice coach. He also trained himself to write and play basketball with his left hand, matching Obama's lefthandedness.
"I'm a bit of a workaholic so I read as much as I possibly could on him," he says. "It was about who was Barry, not who Barack Obama is, so it was about looking at all the information and saying, who is this kid?
"I was just making sure I was bringing as much honesty as possible because it's such a massive role and such an undertaking. As an actor, you live for those moments. So I really gave it my all."
There are the early signs of the commanding statesman in Barry. There's also an honest depiction of student life, with pot, alcohol, partying and a flatshare in a gritty neighbourhood.
"I think it's going to be quite a shock to people," says Terrell of this side of Obama. "It's a big eye-opener. This was just a guy that did everything any normal teenager would do, but he ended up becoming this extraordinary person through sheer work ethic. I think people are going to watch it and be a little bit shocked but at the same time comforted that he's just a guy, he's a normal person."
What is clear from Barry is Obama's ability to shapeshift across all sectors of society – one minute he's in the violent projects, the next he's in the stifling Yale Club. That rootless background undoubtedly encouraged his ability to fit in everywhere.
"He's very good at speaking to the people that are there in front of him," says Terrell. "That's one of his real talents – what is my audience and how do I keep their attention and how do I solve their problems or how do I impact them?
"I think that's what spoke to people and resonated with them, that he understands me, he gets me and he's doing it not playing on my fears, he's playing on my hope that the world will become a better place."
On the publicity rounds for Barry, Terrell has often, unsurprisingly, been asked about president-elect Trump. He says he's an actor not a political expert, but a young Obama would likely say to Trump, "I hope you do good by the country and I hope you listen to the people."
He says he hopes Barry opens up conversations about race and progress. He says he's always been an observer of the world around him, and the pull of acting for him is the opportunity of relating that world.
"To bring honesty and truth to another person – whose story can I tell?" he says. "I very much just want to be a storyteller. There's so many people who don't have voices in the world, and I want to be able to create them."
There are a number of scripts in the mix for next year for Terrell, who is moving to New York to capitalise on opportunities.
He says repeatedly that he's not in acting for the fame, he's in it for the work. Like Obama, the ego is relegated in place of the bigger picture.
"I don't want to sound like a cliche 'I'm a very humble guy', but I'm definitely a Perth boy and my mum has instilled a lot of values and morals in me that I want to stick by for the rest of my life.
"Acting is always going to be about the work and not about me as a person."
WHAT Barry
WHEN Netflix from Friday, December 16.
Sarah Thomas is an entertainment writer for Fairfax Media. Sarah has been working for Fairfax since 2006, writing about movies, music and general entertainment.
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