26 FT.COM/MAGAZINEOCTOBER 19/202019
‘Suits’(2011-)‘Treme’(2010-13)‘The Wire’(2002-0 8)‘Tom Clancy’sJack Ryan’(2018-)‘Selma’ (2014)◀museums and hearing music and all that stuff.
Just agood drink andacigar.What we shareis
he’s astudent ofpolice work, he’s acriminologist.
Thedrive of, like,Imay be af**k-up,but Iknow
I’mgood at thisone thing.”P
ierce, too, felt good at onething
–acting.But,in2005, midway
throughTheWire,Hurricane
Katrinahit,and thepoorlykept
levees unleashedanalmost
Biblical flood on his home city.
Thusbegananew phasein hislife,lacedwith
attempts to guidethe city’srebirth.
He starred as awomanisingtrombonistin
Treme,anotherDavid Simon creationfor HBO.
It’sabeautifulportrait ofacity,although it lacked
TheWire’ssensational brutality and thereforeits
impact. ForPierce, it achievedwhat he wanted:
“It hasbecomeacultural document.” (Pierce’s
love of jazz is no act. “Ronnie Scott’sismyhang
hereinLondon.”)
Meanwhile, Pierce entered intoamix of
business and philanthropic projectswith a
childhood friend calledTroy Henry–building
housesinhis family’sneighbourhood,
opening grocery stores in areas without access
to fr eshvegetables, even chairing Henry’s
mayoral campaigns.
The property projectshavesuffered lawsuits,
the mayoral campaigns failedand the grocery
stores clos ed.Atough business,Isuggest of the
latter.“The toughestofbusiness!” But Pierce is
undeterred, and with Henry,recentlybought a
local African-Americantalk-radio station.
In 2016, one of Pierce’s homes, in BatonRouge,
wasruinedbyflooding.Climatechangeandrising
seasbodeill for theregion.DoesPierceever
imagine that his hometown maybeunliveable?
“It’sthe greatestport in theStates. NewOrleans
is always goingtobethere.Because if it wasn’t for
NewOrleans,the United Statesliterallywould
have nevergrown.”
Pierce is unmarried,has no children andin
the past has spoken about howhis work has
disruptedhis private life. Whatsacrificeshas he
made?“TheolderIget,Irealis ethatIuse that as
an excuse,”hereplies, with disarming frankness.
“You don’t have to choosebetweenyour personal
life and career. Ihavetolookatmy–my
dysfunctionwhen it comestomypersonal life... ”
He says thatariche rpersonal lifewould help
his acting.“If youreall ylookatgoing to another
levelofthe humanexperience,youhaveto
explor ethoserelationships.”Then he diverts
again on to his favoured theme, howAfrican-
Americans shaped theUS. “I canliter ally,when
youcome toNewOrleans, Henry,takeyou and
we can stand aswe’resitting herenow,onthe
birthplace of jazz:CongoSquare, wherecaptured
Africansfound their freedom,culturally, before
theyfound their physical freedom...Henry,
playasolo,befree, be an individual withinthe
constraints of the song.”Thetra vellingsalesmenhaveevaporated
from America’s roads.YetDeathof aSalesman
enduresbecause of its themes: the proud man
with the wrong dreams,the old-timerbeing
surpassedbynew technology(avoicerecorder),
the husband who cannotrecognise his wife’s
devotion, the father who cannot hearhis sons’needs, the materialist whoyearns for contact
withnaturebyplantingafew hopeless seedsin
his back garden.
“I am notadimeadozen,”protests Willy
Loman,evenasthe market values him less than
that .His wife Lindadescribes himas“onlyalittle
boat looking foraharbour”.
DoesPierce like Loman?“Ilove Willy, Ijust
wish that he could seehis hubris and the mistakes
that lead him down thepath of self-destruction.”
This month, aswell as the play, Pierce canbe
seen in the final seriesofSuits,anewseriesof
TomClancy’sJackRyan,and twofilms,Clemency
andBurningCane,both showing at theLondon
FilmFestival.Unlikehis formerSuitsco-star
Meghan Markle, he has no intention of giving
up acting (“I’msureshe missesit”). But when
Iput it to Pierce thathis trajectory bears no
resemblance toLoman’s decline, heobjects.
“Fame is obscurity in waiting...Inever felt
and Istill don’t feel thatI’m setfinancially. That
is th escariest thing about playing WillyLoman.
Ican playacharacter in theatre, TV and film, and
after it’sover, it’sover. With Willy Loman, it’s
alittle different.Lookingatyour inadequacies,
wondering ifyour bestdays arebehindyou,
tryingtoliveapurposeful life... LikeIsaid, Ihave
20 summers left.Ihavemoredays behind me
than aheadofme.”
Pierce isawareof the differencesbetweenthe
West End and Broadway. He onceperformedin
aBroadwayversion of Caryl Churchill’sSerious
Money,which hadbeenasuccess inLondon but
which majoredonswearing. “The C-word in
America is likethe third rail in the subway. Here
it’sdifferent.Look, Ican’t even sayit,”helaughs‘BurningCane’(2019)