Lamorne Morris on the Quiet Courage of Deputy Witt Farr in ‘Fargo’: Season 5 on FX

Veteran actor and comedian Lamorne Morris is probably best known for his role as Winston Bishop in the popular sitcom New Girl with Zooey Deschanel. His turn as Deputy Witt Farr in Fargo’s season 5 could not be further from his New Girl performance. As Farr, Morris plays against the more effusive and comedic parts he’s largely played in the past. Morris’ Witt Farr is a quiet and unassuming man who when called into action, pulls on a strength and reserve that perhaps he doesn’t know he has within him.

I was stunned when Morris was nominated. Not because of how excellent his work was, but because he was surrounded by more eccentric and colorful characters in supporting roles. There was a lot of buzz around Sam Spruell’s tremendous performance as Ole Munch and Joe Keery’s wicked son of Jon Hamm’s blackhearted sheriff, Roy Tillman. But at the end of the day, when the ballots were counted, it was Morris’ reluctant, kind, and brave deputy who’s name was called. In Fargo, Morris shows how courage cannot exist in the absence of fear. Deputy Farr is afraid, but he keeps going forward. He does his job. No matter the cost.

Here is my conversation with Supporting Actor nominee Lamorne Morris.

Awards Daily: Deputy Witt Farr is not a showy role, but I think what’s important is what the character does is ground the series. He’s the least eccentric, most normal-ish person in the show. Were you aware of that as the show was playing out, or did it come to you later? 

Lamorne Morris: I was. When you read the scripts, especially when you know who’s cast, you can get a sense of how certain folks will play it and what edge they’re going to bring to the character. In typical Fargo fashion, you have characters that are up high, down low. It’s a cacophony of characters, everything is moving in this motion. I look at everything that I do like a puzzle and I ask what’s needed in this particular show? As one of the main characters, there is someone that has to ground it and I felt like folks who knew my body of work would know that this was a change of pace for me, especially given my history of broad comedies. I think it definitely opened the eyes of a lot of voters. I think that’s probably why. I had this conversation with Noah yesterday and he said it felt great to see me get nominated for something where it wasn’t overly splashy.

He said because you did the thing that needed to be done in the show, it helped the show in such an important way. We got 15 nominations this year and I’m just happy to be a part of that puzzle to be honest with you. When you step on a set you want to be dynamic, but you also want to fit in. And for me it was a choice to make. Some of his backstory, that I was given and that I made up, definitely lended itself to a more introverted type of character who really just wants to be left alone, but this thing keeps happening and he keeps seeing this woman and he doesn’t want to owe anybody anything. There’s this debt that needs to be repaid and so he has to handle it the right way. Basing this character a little bit off of people that I know that have similar isms, it felt right. It felt like that was the move to make. 

Awards Daily: There is a sense with Witt that he’s always been serious about his job, but he’s never been in a position of this size before. You have to project that a lot, not by what you say, but by how you appear. I think your eyes tell a lot of the story. Were you very aware of how nonverbal your expressions needed to be to get that feeling across? 

Lamorne Morris: A lot of times when it’s not on the page, the director is leaving that up to you to convey. I was speaking with Juno about this yesterday. In that shootout scene at the Gas-n-Go, we had a lot of communication that was non-verbal. When she doesn’t want to answer a question, I could see it in her eyes, what’s happening. Even off camera, we’d lock eyes and make sure we were still connected and engaged in the scene. By the time we were done filming, we could read each other’s thoughts in a way, because we were so used to connecting on that level. And I’ve always been told I have expressive eyes, or kind eyes. That’s always something that I pride myself in–keeping it here inside and letting the audience see it. You have to emit that through your eyes. The eyes being the gateway to your soul. Being this kind character, I think the best way to portray that sometimes is in facial expressions and the energy you give off. 

Awards Daily: I got the sense that Witt was discovering his level of courage as the story went along. 

Lamorne Morris: You notice in the beginning, once the shootout starts, there’s this moment where he’s behind the door of the car, protecting himself from being shot. And he gives this look to God like, hey man what is this? And then he’s running, and he’s shot again, but then once he turns around and he starts shooting back, you can see his confidence boost a little bit where it’s okay, it’s not about praying at this moment. It’s about surviving and getting out of there, and helping this woman to the best of your abilities. And now you have to do it while you’re bleeding out and so now the instincts kick in. For me, the backstory that I gave Witt was that he has a former military background, but he just hasn’t used it, and he doesn’t want to, and he wants to be left alone in this town, so he’s just doing the rounds. He’s just doing his job, so this getting back in the saddle, if you will, was almost like, in a weird way, riding a bike. Once you know what you need to do to protect this person, you know what you need to do. You might not be used to it, you might be a little bit rusty, but if you see a bike laying on the ground, at some point you’re going to figure out how to ride it again. And I think that’s what Witt was going through in those moments. 

Awards Daily: I talked to Noah and Juno both this week, who by the way, both spoke glowingly of you. I told Noah that I thought that in a lot of ways, Witt was the invisible heart of the series. He wasn’t caught up in other things. He was just really a person trying to do his job. And what Noah said to me that was particularly resonant about your nomination is that it recognized the value of decency. 

Lamorne Morris: Oh yeah. He broke it down for me like that as well. And I was honored to hear that, because we spoke about, sometimes the bigger, flashier, guy with the accent or the crazy hair, whatever the case may be, whatever the flashy thing is, those are the ones that we typically think of. A lot of times, you’re right, the common man, the decent person who’s just punching in and punching out and wants to do the right thing day to day–it’s good to see that type of performance was recognized as well. 

Awards Daily: Jon Hamm is an actor that Noah described as “quintessentially American,” but he’s an actor who has shown a dark side. I think Mad Men certainly would reflect that. This is pitch black dark. So when your character recognizes that about Jon Hamm’s sheriff, you have an obvious fear of him. You know how formidable this person is. What was it like to share those few scenes you had with Jon?

Lamorne Morris: Intimidating initially, but Jon is such a tension breaker. He is large. He is a looming figure. He’s got this deep voice. And he knows that he’s coming in playing this really dark character, a very twisted fella. He knows this and so he eases the tension on set often. He’s really nice and funny. He’s just shooting the shit with you, telling jokes off camera and getting you loose. That’s what I notice about a lot of veteran actors who have been there and done that. They know who they are. He knows he’s Jon Hamm and he wants everybody else to be their best on the day, so he doesn’t make it a thing. He’s just casual and chill and the nicest guy, and it made it a lot easier for me to take risks when performing opposite him. He made you feel comfortable in those scenes, and even after a scene, he would always kind of give you a pat on the back, and say great shit, good work, bro.

It gives you that confidence, that motivation that you need to stay in the pocket. Even in scenes with the frantic Dot, she’s playing this crazy moment where she’s trying to communicate to me, this goes back to her eye contact with her eyes saying don’t worry, I got this, but at the same time, she is trying to escape. She’s got all of this crazy stuff happening in her head. Jon’s character is a menace, and you’ve got his psycho gang of thugs and his son behind him, played by Joe Keery. And this goes back to that puzzle. There’s a lot happening in that scene. I have to stay focused. I don’t know if he’s going to shoot me. I don’t know if he’s got a gun. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I know they’re crazy. I know they’d do anything. They’re literally kidnapping someone right in front of me. Witt has to keep a level head about himself and stay even while all this madness is happening around him. 

Awards Daily: It’s interesting you mention Jon’s size, because Juno, who obviously is comparatively quite slight to Jon—I think a lot of us are probably quite slight to Jon, referenced his size too. But I think in the other direction, Juno has to get across a character who is small in build but industrious–”the tiger.” I think it’s interesting how your character, when you’re with Juno in those scenes, you have seen the tiger. So you recognize something more in her. Again, this is about the unspoken, and it must have been fabulous for you two to work together that way. 

Lamorne Morris: Oh yeah, absolutely. We joke around about how we speak so much with our eyes that we know all these personal details about each other. And she’s got the most aggressive and communicative stare. Working with her has been eye-opening, for sure. Her process, when she stays in character, how engaging she is off camera, always staying in the pocket, is a good exercise for a lot of actors to use. When you’re out there in the elements, it’s easy to say it’s cold, I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to do that, or it’s easy to get out of character. With her, she stays in it the entire time and is always communicating with you in scenes, during scenes, after scenes, before the prep. The care that she takes towards our first scene in general is unlike anything I’ve been around. 

Awards Daily: How good does getting this nomination feel?

Lamorne Morris: Oh my gosh. It’s hard to put it into words. It’s surreal. You work really hard at this business and when someone presents a possible award to you, or a nomination, just an acknowledgement of what you did, it’s just a weight off your shoulders. It means the world. I could have gone any route in life, and I chose the arts, I chose theater, and it’s good to have a reminder that says hey, you chose correctly. I know the grind, I’ve been through the grind. I’ve had some really low years here in Los Angeles, when you don’t know what you’re going to eat for your next meal. I remember days walking around North Hollywood looking on the ground for change and every day I’d find at least a few bucks and I would grab something to eat, and that’s how I was living for a little bit. And to get here now, it’s like hey man, all the work has paid off. A win would be great, but the nomination has been awesome so far. I’m looking forward to just sharing that evening with everybody. I get really giddy around people. I’m excited to see certain folks and just wave. Hey, I’m sitting next to you. I just want to do that type of stuff. 

Awards Daily: I guess some of us never stop being a fan of great work. I certainly never do either. 

Lamorne Morris: What I didn’t want to do, I had a panel recently with Robert Downey Jr. and I was like don’t do it, don’t embarrass yourself, don’t be a dick, I have this massive poster that just says Downey Jr. where he’s with a gun in his hand from Tropic Thunder. It’s one of my favorite movies. I have a hallway with certain things that I may have done or whatever, but then I also have Tropic Thunder. And people ask, you were in Tropic Thunder? And I say no, I wasn’t, but I love this movie. I’m a huge fan and of so many people. And I am nervous that I’ll, I don’t know, that I’ll have word vomit or I’ll say the wrong thing when I meet this person or that person. I still get giddy.